Abel Reels

[spring fever]

fly reels come in all shapes and sizes. any fly reel meant for salt water use, including the Abel's, are not flimsy. now if you are thinking about a 'trout' reel, your point is well taken. but considering the fact that my fly reels have landed multiple fish >100#s, they are far from flimsy. choose the appropriate tool for the job is always critical so leave your antique fresh water reels at home for sure. and if you do this enough with a knuckle buster, you will soon learn that reeling with your dominate hand is the correct way to set up your reel. when you have a trophy fish rip off 400 yards of line on the first run, you will soon appreciate your dominate hand turning the crank.

I don't think FA was talking about switching to a non-dominant hand situation-dominant hand would still do the reeling but the non-dominant hand would set the drag which I understand is on the other side of the handles instead of the same side as with the Shimano's and Islanders. If I've got it wrong-cancel my above. LOL

 

[jeffywestcoast]

So this is what it has come too F.A... your going to saltwater fly-fishing reels for down rigger fishing?... wow pretty fancy reels for a guy that puts the rod in his guest's hand 100 % of the time.. i would stick with the shimano's for now till a islander type reel comes out with a smooth drag with no line creep, bound to be someone out there that will make this happen.. I want precision craftsmanship of an islander without the line-creep, i don't think that is too much to ask of a reel manufacturer and im sure somebody has one in the works for less then 800 bucks..

 

[reelfast]

I don't think FA was talking about switching to a non-dominant hand situation-dominant hand would still do the reeling but the non-dominant hand would set the drag which I understand is on the other side of the handles instead of the same side as with the Shimano's and Islanders. If I've got it wrong-cancel my above. LOL

thanks for the clarification. my Abel saltwater fly reels do have the drag opposite the handles but the common practice when using these for big ugly fish is to preset the drag. the only adjustments I have ever made were to reduce the drag as line peeled off as all of that line increased the drag.

what I don't appreciate about these knuckle busters in DR fishing is having to back off the drag to lower the weight and then to have to reset the drag all over again at some setting which is questionable. if there was a way to quickly release the drag like on my level winds, i'd probably move to a saltwater fly reel for DR fishing but its too much fussin' around for my taste.

 

[chris73]

Craven's suggestion was an example for my comments: http://www.allenflyfishing.com/kraken-reel-series/
This reel will most likely not hold up to the stresses of downrigger fishing. And I hear you reelfast, if someone could engineer a single action mooching reel that has a spool release switch that allows lowering on the downriger without touching the drag - would be wonderful! And no, free spool is not good enough - I do not want to palm it all the way down to 200+ - I want a restrained release.

 

[J-GLOBAL]

I have both Abels and Islander MR3s, and for a while was running 2 of each (I run 4 rods).
Both
The Islanders 'feel' better.
Somehow, Abels feel a little clunkier when retrieving, particularly when not under pressure.
The Islanders, somehow, just feel 'perfect'.
Hard to describe.

I don't fish that deep, rarely below 100' on the rigger, but so far Abel seems to have less of an issue with creep then the MR3s.
I haven't noticed an issue with either drag system while fighting fish.

That being said, I've already had 3 of my Abels drag clickers get stuck so they don't click anymore. It doesn't seem to have effected the drag, just the sound.
Brought them in and it looked like they were stuck to one side. Were adjusted, working, then back out on the boat yesterday and by mid morning 2 were silent again.
Never had that issue with the MR3s.

For me the big difference is the drag knob.
May sound a bit wimpy, but I prefer the Abel drag knob. Abel is rounded/smooth.
My hands are wet a good deal of the time and I find the MR3 drag knobs to be a bit sharp, they scrape away the skin on my index finger tightening and loosening going up and down in the rigger all day.
The Abels are smooth and don't do that. However add a bit of fish slime and they are a little slippery.

For now I've switched to all Abels but Im keeping one MR3 for those that want to use Islanders when on the boat.

Just my opinion, but the MR3s are seem to be a little more 'precision' than the Abels. But I like the drag knob on the Abels better and so far seem to have less of a problem with creep.

 

[Fishin'Zinn]

I happen to be of the few with an RST reel (I think), got a great deal on it or I wouldn't have bought it. But, it has been really awesome! Drag adjustment dial is on the opposite side of the reel, so it's out of the way of the handles, works really well in my opinion, but other people that use it seem to get a bit confused where the drag is at first. Well made and the switch for freespool/RH/LH retrieve is nice as well. The best part I would say is the drag... Holy it is good, very consistent, smooth and you could stop a train with it I swear! I have an Admunson reel which creeps like a mother, and used islanders before, and this reel does not creep if you set it right on the rigger. Drag is also sealed I believe so very little maintenance, never pulled it apart yet even, just rinse it off every time.

The only cons of the reel that I've experienced would be the Small arbor (Mr2 size, would prefer it to be larger like the Mr3/TMX4), and the handles when I started using it loosened, but I loc-tite'd them and it was a quick fix. The end of the day though, every reel if it's working will catch fish, so I am really not too picky anymore, nothing wrong with a good ole shimano mooching reel either, they don't creep on the rigger at all!


No real experience with the Abels, but looked at them (and the price, wow) and they seem really well built. I can think of better things to spend that money on. Like gas for the boat. IMO

 

[stones93]

That being said, I've already had 3 of my Abels drag clickers get stuck so they don't click anymore. It doesn't seem to have effected the drag, just the sound.
Brought them in and it looked like they were stuck to one side. Were adjusted, working, then back out on the boat yesterday and by mid morning 2 were silent again.
Never had that issue with the MR3s.
.

I just returned from Langara and the guide have all started using Abels. I LOVED it, but as mentioned above, the dragger "clicker" spring breaks all the time on these reels! One other complaint some had was that the backing would expand into the ported slots on the side. They didn't think it affected anything but they prefer the porting on islanders.