Going into the market for a closed face reel, but which one is best
1) abu 1044 / gold max (?)
2) abu 506or similar
3) Daiwa harrier 125
4) Dam CF

or any other i may have missed. Mainly for trotting. Your advice welcomed! K.

almost any of the 50'series if you can get one a506m which has the twin rings around the spool housing , for a general one the 501 takes some beating , the 1044's are quite heavy , as for daiwa , see if you can get the 125m with rear drag a better reel than the original 125 but still a good reel , another to consider if you can find one is the French "crack" reel a superb reel but quite hard to get hold of if ya find one keep hold of it cos it will appreciate in value

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THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN , BUT THA CANT TELL HIM MUCH


i am sir a brother of the angle,of idle time never idly spent !!

when you leave the river take nothing and leave only footprints

For fans of those classic ABUs, nothing else will do. I would probably settle for a 125m though.

theres a lot of varied opinions on closed faced reels ,i've owned or used most ,and know them inside out ,litterly (i've striped and serviced them ,even modified some)

1) abu 1044 / gold max (?) / okish but poor occillation ratio's ,the 1044 is a tad heavy ,the 507 goldmax was never quite good enough
2) abu 506or similar excellent and was my personal favorites
3) Daiwa harrier 125 these are like marmite ,you either love em or hate them ,although i like marmite i don't like these
4) Dam CF not too bad
5) old 704's early models had pin release problems ,like the simular geared 1044's and goldmax's okish i guess ,but i dont like them seen too many bad ones


but if you want the best closed faced reel, get one of the new abu 706's ,if carlsbourg made a closed faced reel ,it'd probably be the abu 706 ,the only other reel too come close is the original abu 507 (a good one will cost you more than a 706) the bigger brother too the former king of closedfaced reels, the abu 500 range (506/1/3/5 & 506m)

I cant beleive non of the above post`s mention the ryobi techno match.Before switching over to fly fishing I was heavily involved in match fishing and was captain of a famous team.We fished matches all over the country and lots on the river`s.All of the team used the ryobi`s for their running water work,despite being sponsored by daiwa.There are 2 model`s one is green and one is black,the green one is best but the black one is still good.They are no longer in production but alway`s come up on ebay.
Cheer`s
John

It would have to be a 501 imho. A great reel and bombproof.

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Interesting how the 506 still get a recommendation after all these years.
It must be over 25 yrs since I used one of those.
It was standard practice to remove the spring and backwind ,which asks the question why not buy a 501 in the first place
They were very much the best all those years ago and everyone who match fished had one.
I remember getting some bad tangles around the inside of the spool cap just were the spring has housed. If you were in the habit to let your line develop slack on the retrieve.
In the end I replaced the reel with an Abu Diplomat, which was lighter and less prone to the odd tangle.

I am back at the course fishing again after a long lay off
but now I only fish the centrepin.

My question would be why bother? unless its just because of a love of 70s gear. I used a pair of 506's for all my trotting on the Trent "back in the day" - one got nicked but I still have the other - modified to removed the anti backwind as mentioned above. However, as fond as I am of it because of its memories, since I switched to a centrepin some years back for trotting I have never used the 506 since. Actually thats not quite true - I have it loaded with 12lb line these days and sometimes use it for spinning! - bizarrely thats what they were originally designed for, even though its not what they got used for (well not in the UK anyway). For whatever reason you get one, if you do it just has to be an Abu 500 series - 506 or 501 - just because of their iconic status IMHO. Of course then you'll need a 13' hollow glass 70s match rod to go with it (still have my 13' transluscent orange Shakey Alpha match rod!)

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The older you get, the more important it becomes not to act your age

I also use a centrepin more often than a closed face - but I can definitely cast further with a CF than with a 'pin, and a 'pin can be a more trouble than it is worth in windy conditions.

I used to use my Silstar closed face for pretty much any light line fishing that I would otherwise use an open face for, not just trotting but waggler fishing and light quivertipping on stillwaters. It doesn't see so much use these days, and it is feeling a bit tired, but I might still treat myself to a new one at some point.

I enjoy using my centre pin but for longer casts I now use an Abu 506 which I recently acquired having had my original reel nicked some years ago.

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“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary