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[FlyFishin Magician]

The battenkill ill be grabbing for lakes is the new click ones.  Super light weight, classic look and sound good!  I have the I on my nymphing rig, ill post a pic when I get home.

And I do like Orvis, but I like also like Hardy. 

Come to think of it I like lots of reels....

Yep.  Most of my "staring line-up" reels are Hardy's.  My Stillwater reels are Hardy click and pawl reels - older versions that were cast (not machined), but classics nonetheless.  My one exception is my Hardy Perfect Wide Spool 3 1/8 that I picked up this summer and it's a piece of art!!!  My salmon reels from my 7 and 8 wt single handers are machined Hardy reels from the early 2000's - made in England before they started manufacturing in Korea.  I do have one Korean made Marquis Salmon 1 for my switch rod and it is very nice.  I thank Hook for that one - ever since he showed me his Hardy collection on the river!  I believe he's got a Bougle, Marquis, and a Perfect Taupo.

Aside from the Hardy's, there are many other less expensive reels that will do the job very nicely.  I like the Lamsons - good value for what you get IMHO.  These are salt water protected, unlike the Hardy's, and have very wide spools for fast line retrieval and less line coiling.  I'll likely use my Guru on my switch rod over my Marquis when there are lots of fish (i.e. pinks), as it will take the constant beating.  The Marquis on the other hand will be used for steelheading.

Yeah, I guess I like reels too!   

[HOOK]

Yep.  Most of my "staring line-up" reels are Hardy's.  My Stillwater reels are Hardy click and pawl reels - older versions that were cast (not machined), but classics nonetheless.  My one exception is my Hardy Perfect Wide Spool 3 1/8 that I picked up this summer and it's a piece of art!!!  My salmon reels from my 7 and 8 wt single handers are machined Hardy reels from the early 2000's - made in England before they started manufacturing in Korea.  I do have one Korean made Marquis Salmon 1 for my switch rod and it is very nice.  I thank Hook for that one - ever since he showed me his Hardy collection on the river!  I believe he's got a Bougle, Marquis, and a Perfect Taupo.

Aside from the Hardy's, there are many other less expensive reels that will do the job very nicely.  I like the Lamsons - good value for what you get IMHO.  These are salt water protected, unlike the Hardy's, and have very wide spools for fast line retrieval and less line coiling.  I'll likely use my Guru on my switch rod over my Marquis when there are lots of fish (i.e. pinks), as it will take the constant beating.  The Marquis on the other hand will be used for steelheading.

Yeah, I guess I like reels too!   

Mostly correct -  I didn't like the weak check on the Taupo so I sold it and replaced it with a Cascapedia..........might have to add another Marquis salmon #3 to the lineup for my big 14' spey rod 

[RalphH]

I've had quite a few Hardys:

a St john - constant problems issues with loose rivets. Needed replacement every year or 2. Sold this one

a Marquis #6 - ditto plus spool seized on the shaft once but still have it

a Golden Prince 7/8  - spool seized 2x once in the field and ended my day. Still have it as it looks like crap and isn't worth selling but is still a nice little reel. At least they seemed to solve the rivet issues with this one.

A Perfect 3 5/8 from the 30s - nice reel made of very soft alloy and heavy. Sold it as I didn't like fishing with it since it was to a museum piece though the original owner polished off the finish. When he passed away a relative of his who was a friend gave it to me.

A Hardy Silex I bought in 1974. Nice reel and still works well.

Whenever I had the 3 reels serviced the tech told me these were consistent issues with the particular reels. Asking around I found most Hardys had rivet issues. At least rivets are easy to fix. If you are handy and have basic equipment you could do it yourself.

I haven't bought a Hardy since the Golden Prince which was in 1984 or so. At the time I asked at well known flyshop in Surrey and they told me at the time Hardy was rapidly losing it's customer base because of the low price performance and maintenance issues.

In the last 15 years or so there has been a revised interest in the 'vintage' reels from 30 or 40 years ago. Some of this is based on the mystique of the very old days - from the 50s and earlier - when the reels were hand made by craftsman and not mass produced. Up until the 80s Hardy dominated the fly reel market then rapidly lost much of it's presence. Some of their problems seem to have been trying to reproduce the classics from that era in a mass production environment.
 
I have no knowledge of Hardy since the 90s but their line up went through constant changes unlike the old line. Mostly they seem way over priced. Grey's reels are a Hardy line at a more reasonable price.
 
I wouldn't recommend any Hardy reel from the 70s or 80s due to maintenance and performance issues plus how easily the finish is damaged or marked. They are not 'classics' by any means but examples of declining British workmanship in an emerging competitive world market.

 For well under $200 Pfleuger Redington etc make great reels that will meet anyone's needs beyond that it's all just rod jewellery.

[A Frayed Knot]

I would like to think, that no one would intentionally use a reel from the 70/80s or further back that deserves to be on display. That aside, any one with basic mechanical skills can easily tighten up a few bolts, rivets or nuts.
Any mechanical device requires basic maintenance on the users part regardless of its state or quality, it just makes sense to me.

[FlyFishin Magician]

Hey Hook - I didn't know you sold that Taupo! I loved that reel, but you would know about the drag.  The Cascepedia is a beauty as well.

I've got a vintage Marquis 7 that had a rivet replaced.  It's not given me any problems, but I now use a LRH Lightweight and a Viscount Mk 3 as my trout reels since around 2000 - 2001.  They've worked flawlessly since I got them - no rivet issues and they remain in prime condition.  My dilemma will be whether to sub out one of them for my new Perfect.

My flyfishing "mentor" has a Golden Prince 7/8 which was his first Hardy fly reel and it's pretty beat up.  I think he had spool problems with it as well, but I haven't seen him use it in several years.  I believe he replaced it with a Reddington.  He also used a Battenkill 5/6 for a number of years before we got him a new Hardy LRH Lightweight for his retirement.  The new LRH, though made in Korea, is fully machined and technically a better reel than the English made one that I have.  It's actually a pretty good buy for what you get.  For river fishing, he has a centrepin rod with a Hardy Silex that's still clickin' strong...

[RalphH]

I would like to think, that no one would intentionally use a reel from the 70/80s or further back that deserves to be on display. That aside, any one with basic mechanical skills can easily tighten up a few bolts, rivets or nuts.
Any mechanical device requires basic maintenance on the users part regardless of its state or quality, it just makes sense to me.

If you think a reel from the 80s deserves to be 'on display' I think you hugely overestimate their value. How many cars from the 80s are on display? Most of the non Hardy reels I bought since then gave me years of trouble free performance. Hardy's needed yearly service.

[clarkii]

Its a shame if a reel meant to be fished are held as museum pieces.

And all reels are meant to be fished...

Anyway here are the photos of my battenkill.



URL=http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/djt41020/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20141109_103044_zpsa08521e1.jpg.html][/URL]

[A Frayed Knot]

It's true reels are meant to be fished but most reels now are so old they deserve to be displayed, most don't even have replacement parts in existence, I wouldn't want to show up on a river just to have an accident and chip a reel or something worse. On the other side, if your coddling a reel the whole time, you arne't fishing either.

Things aren't built to last anymore, they are built for quantity not quality and don't let them fool you, every real even those fancy 900 dollar reels probably have like 60 bucks of raw materials.

Point in case, take a look at iphones, 400+ dollar devices, apparently less then 170 bucks of actual material. You're paying a premium to be in bed with the company.

[RalphH]

Most of the cost of putting a product on the market is just that: marketing, promotion and distribution. Something to remember the next time someone complains how lifetime warranties are pushing up the price of fly rods and reels to the point they are unaffordable. More rods and reels are given away through promotion (ie to "Pro- reps' etc) than are replaced via warranty,

[clarkii]

Its not that bad.  I know the details of farbanks pros.  They get 50% off x number.  It is very rare they get given gear, rather its just discounted.

And iphones are overpriced.   Look at the diff between the 6 and 6 plus...

Im running a 300 s2x.  I wait before I get the flagship phone by two years.  Its cheaper and worked fine.

Oh a dream reel for me.

Speyco.

[ajransom]

The lamson konic is a good reel and saltwater protected, but I don't believe that it's machined. At least it wasn't a few years ago. I think the guru is lamson's entry level machined reel. Either way, you can't go wrong with a lamson. I've got a guru and velocity and other than a few hick-ups with the "gland cap", they're excellent reels. Theres more discussion about this on the flybc forum.

X2 for the Konic. I've had one for a few years it's one of the best reels for the price. They are discontinuing them too so most shops have them on sale. I know M&Y has a few on sale at the moment. Well worth it for the price!

[A Frayed Knot]

Its not that bad.  I know the details of farbanks pros.  They get 50% off x number.  It is very rare they get given gear, rather its just discounted.

And iphones are overpriced.   Look at the diff between the 6 and 6 plus...

Im running a 300 s2x.  I wait before I get the flagship phone by two years.  Its cheaper and worked fine.

Oh a dream reel for me.

Speyco.

Speyco is nice.

And yeah I still use a Iphone 3gs, if it ain't broke. Don't fix it.

If you think a reel from the 80s deserves to be 'on display' I think you hugely overestimate their value. How many cars from the 80s are on display? Most of the non Hardy reels I bought since then gave me years of trouble free performance. Hardy's needed yearly service.

I don't overestimate their value at all, I appreciate the craftsmanship you don't get that nowadays, I don't care what anyone says. I spend most of my days around machines, cars and the like, while I put myself through training. Most old cars are indeed on display, like those cars you see at show and shines with the collectors plates, you can't drive those around, you'd lose the insurance I am pretty sure, so they are all mostly for pure display its just the less fancy rebuilds that aren't collectors you see driving around more often.

[clarkii]

Ralph, there are more cars from the 60's that aren't piles of rust then cars from the 80's on display!

[A Frayed Knot]

Ralph, there are more cars from the 60's that aren't piles of rust then cars from the 80's on display!

DeLorean DMC-12!

I have no idea why I picked that one... there are way better options, haha might be because I watched Back To The Future!

Anyway back on track, there are a lot of reel options, the links I posted are a great way to compare them and see what'll work, of course hitting the pro shop and handling a couple will go a ways as well.

[RalphH]

the Delorean was manufactured in the early 80s. Islander, Nautilus, Abel, Pate, Sea-Master, Fin-no, Ross and many more all made reels that for workmanship and fit and finish could clobber any Hardy from the 80s. Hardy & British reels made better reels for Orvis (find a CFO from that time) and Sage than the reels they put out under their own name. S.A. system 2 reels, I had 3 , still have 2 - while they were ugly were far more rugged and reliable than any Hardy from the same era. They were about the same price & made by British Reels.