Addiction?

It may finally be time to consider myself a "collector" of reels, rather than an angler who buys reels to meet specific needs or rods to one who buys them for their inherent beauty, functionality or some other aspect that interests me.

With this rationalization, I can now live with the fact that I have more reels than rods to use them on. Funny part is that I know where it all started. I was Winter steelheading on a centerpin for the first time. Don't be a hater. Below the bobber, my pin rig is not very different from an indy fly set-up. I hooked a very large fish. And now I get to find one of the greatest challenges of the pin - no drag. It's just your palm and your brain trying to figure out how hard you can push 8# tippet. In the end, I landed a VERY nice brown trout. And without a triple-sealed, carbon unobtanium, Space Shuttle grade drag system. Since then, though I don't fish my pin a ton (I really mostly use it as a tool for certain situations), I love doing so. Every fish I hook is a direct connection from man to fish.

When I began exploring swinging for steelhead on a two-handed rod, the traditional click-pawl style reels immediately caught my eye. They also caught my ear - I love the sound of a good clicker. It all started with an Abel Spey series reel. I figured my classic Scott ARC 1287-3 was a classic soulful rod, that needed a reel with equal levels of class. Then an opportunity to pick up the new Abel Classic smaller reel. This (of course...) was paired with the addition of a Scott G2 905-4 rod. The penultimate classic dry fly set-up. A second Abel Spey might have slipped in there for my Scott L2h switch rod.


Kingpin Spey "Great Lakes" atop a Sage TCX 7126

Oh, and perhaps the most amazing of them all, a Great Lakes Edition of the Kingpin Spey reel. This bright green beauty is one of only 25 made and looks oh-so-sweet atop a Sage TCX 7126.

This Summer, the sickness added a new dimension - trout reels. I mean, if you think about it a drag on a trout reel is nearly useless. I stripped in a 23" brown this Spring and never touched the reel. In rapid succession, I stumbled upon two "used but new Abel Creek series reels  - an both AC2's in large arbor for my 4-weight and standard for my 6-weight.

 Now, I'm eyeing the newly introduced Bozeman Reels SC Series. Uber retro cool. I'm hoping it will just replace the Abel Classic which is a touch too heavy on the Scott G Series. Or, maybe they'll just go on my bookcase.

I need help.

-Sean-