If you’re like me, you get your Orvis or LL Bean catalog or some other “wish book” in the mail and drool over the vast array of fly reels they have to offer. Modern reels are made from various grades of aluminum to high-grade plastic, and alloys unheard of before this century. Regardless of cost or material, there is one attribute they all have in common that you need to keep in mind:

Basically, a fly reel is nothing more than a place to keep your line. Period.

Oh, sure, reels have drag systems and high capacity spools and ball bearings, but, in the end, they are used because it’s hard to store 20 yards or so of fly line and another couple hundred yards of backing in your pocket without it getting tangled. But, really, the basic function of a fly reel is to hold your line in an organized manner.

Now, that being said, reels designed for large fish do require an effective drag system. Reels for most freshwater applications and many saltwater uses don’t have to have anything more than a rudimentary drag.

“What?” You say, “how can I fight a fish without a drag?” Well, friend, how do you think it was done in the old days before effective drags were developed? It’s simple—you fought the fish by controlling your line by retrieving it or playing it out with your off hand. When a fish took line, you doled it out to it as needed, creating the requisite drag by how tight you held the line. You also retrieved the line by stripping it in by hand. Tension in either direction was metered by your hands as line slipped through them. Obviously this is an iffy proposition when fighting large fish like tarpon and billfish. But that’s they way it was done, once upon a time.

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