Hi all,

At a time obviously where cash flow has never been as vital I think alot of consumers are becoming a little more educated and discerning with their spare cash... A question that has been bugging me for quite some time:

"As most machined fly reels are made in china with aception of a few why are SWFF reels of any repute at 'pie in the sky' prices averaging anywhere between £150 to £300 pounds for a Snowbee to a Tibor or Abel let alone buy spare spools, yet when it comes to SW spinnning a decent reel by band names like Penn, Diawa Abu or Shimano will set you back anything between £30 to £60?"

My problems is this... Diawa and penn SW reels have been around for 2 decades I have 20 year old penn salt reels that are still operating great after large saltwater fish year in year out with stead fast clutch systems...

Yet buy a SWFF reel which has far less components than a spinning reel and although the clutch system is encased and the reel maybe in bar stock aluminium they priceses are trippled before you even look at a spare spool for diversity of use.

Are fly anglers just easy targets for shiny things with large price tags... and are major major manufacturers taking the p!ss compared to our spinning counterparts?

Dont forget R+D, overheads such as duty for raw materials, staff , insurance , you name it , then distributers profit , then Mr tackle shop who also must earn a living.

Yep , worth every penny of the £500+ for a good reel , cheap reels dont last , on the chinese stuff, do you think they use type 2 or 3 anodising ?
I know not.

I have 6 Nautilus NV series , supurb , and a 12s and a spool for spey and blue water , in fact just ordered another 12s and reel spool.
They will still be going in years to come as they are serviced every trip.

Joey there is a difference between stuff made in the far east in factory's and hand made stuff made buy the likes of Abel Tibor Nautilus etc etc.

WCB

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It's simply supply and demand - just think how many spinning, multiply or similar are sold wordwide, compared to the numbers of fly reels. If you go back a few years when the 'baitrunner or big pit reels' first came out they cost an arm and a leg - however you can now pick them up very cheaply.

Carl

You can go pretty high prices in the Spinning arena as well - Sustain/Stella reels by Shimano costs in the vicinity of £500, and similarly in the baitcast reels. Not to mention the exclusive Van Staals, etc
This subject is nothing new, and gets brought up all the time (couple of times a week at least). Sure you can fish in the salt with a Rimfly for £10 and a wet rag, but wouldn't you rather have an Abel/Tibor if you had a choice?

Fare enough guys but it still doesn't explain why including import duties why are the SWFF reels so much more expensive than a good performance spinning reel?

I personaly use the Alvey 250 from Auzy a little on the heavy side, graphite with brass components, holds the world record for Baramundi on the fly rod, and handles anything on a 10wt + rod including blueshark, mako, sailfish, yellowfin tuna and kingfish... with a clutch/drag system that has in magazine articles been connected to a lathe machine at full steam and held up without overheating. Buy them from Auzy for as little as 80 euro.

All I'm saying is more complex SW fishing reels have been around for years and cost no where near the same prices including import tax... etc some of the large penn big game fishing reels are coming in at less than a Alba or Tibor top of the range... it just doesn't seem to equate for the average consumer... maybe it's me?

Good point! "Small niche within a niche sport, less competition, larger prices?"

I would agree to certain extent. But I have a Charlton saltwater fly reel I bought some years ago in the USA and that is machined from a solid billet of alloy by a relatively small company in small numbers. The machining is perfection so is the drag. It is cheaper i agree to buy there but still cost me several hundred dollars. There is just no comparison with it and some of the chinese cheapie fly reel clones on the market.

I may be mistaken, but aren't all spinning or baitcast (even the topend ones) all forged reels, not machined? Though I suppose CNC needn't be necessarily expensive, as the Chinese/Korean outfits have shown.

Crikey Joey an Alvey - that's a blast from the past. I remember my friends (past and present) fishing with Alvey Sidecasts in the surf for tailor and Spanish macks. Is your Alvey a Fly reel? I didn't think they were too successful.

Cheers,

You're absolutely right, Joey. Both SW and FW FFing reels are a total ripoff and you hit the comparison nail on the head. Spinning, level-wind, and baitcasting reels are all infinitely more complex with hundreds more moving parts than a fly reel but fly reels always cost more.

I was just thinking about this the other day as the new fishing catalogs fill my mail box. The market for spinning reels has literally hundreds of quality models for less than $100. I have a couple of Shimano SideStab reels that sit in the boat all year and get no maintenance whatsoever and they're over 10 years old. Try that with a fly reel if you could, but then again it's pretty tough to find a fly reel that costs >$100.

Grouse