Fishing Reels Facts

You’ll find the right fishing reel after you know and understand the four basic models. These are the spin casting reel, the spinning real, the bait-casting reel and the fly-fishing reel. Though your motivation, passion or appetite may bring you to the fishing hole, all fishermen’s reasoning is the same—to catch fish! And though this underlying truth is told, the way and style (the way you play) is quite different.

1. Open Face Reel

The spinning reel is the next most common type of fishing reel. You’ll notice this style by its “open face.” This means the reel is open and not closed like the spin caster. You can literally see a spool of string with a wire bail (loop) over the top. By holding back a trigger switch or the wire bail by hand, you can cast with this reel much farther. Once your timing becomes perfect, you won’t have to worry about the familiar “bird’s nest” that occur when these reels are used improperly. Because the string is housed on the spool, you can cast quite a ways father than the closed-face variety. If you use a 10 to 15 lbs test line, you can play and land some big bass with these. If you like lures rather than live bait, these reels will keep the fun spinning.

2. Closed Face Reel

3. Semi Open
(These are newer style reels, and really take some time to get used to. Not recommended for beginners)

4. Fly Reel

The final type of fishing reel is the fly fishing reel. These, in particular, have so many variations that to talk about them all would take way too long. Essentially, a fly-fishing reel is used for fishing in streams and in moving water with an artificial, heavy fly. Aim is critical. Fly fishers routinely fish for trout, salmon, pike, bass, carp and some other marine species.

When casting a fly fishing reel, the reel actually has nothing to do with the cast. This is to say that the reel holds the line while you pull out the line from the reel, keeping it loose and close to your feet. You’ll have to free the line that you want to cast. By pulling up on the lever, the spring-loaded coil (reel) pulls the line back in while your hand, again, controls the drag. With practice, fly-fishing gives the most play for the sport of fishing. 

Each person will have their own preference as to the type of reel they like to use. It's also based on the type of fishing your going to be doing and just how dedicated you are to it.

Fly fishing takes a lot of practice to get good at. It's pretty interesting watching a person do fly fishing. You really have to develop the skill much more than normal lake fishing.

I have tried the new style semi open reels and did not like them. Every time I cast, my line would spin out and keep spinning no matter how much I played with the drag. Nothing more irritating than a mess of fishing line.