hey you northerners, whats with the funny reels

B

B~C

New member
I've noticed that mooching reels are a very popular item for salmon fishing just about every where north of here. I'm thinking there must be some good points to using that style of reel and yet, nobody around here uses one. I've inquired at the tackle shop about them and nobody knows squat.
Do any of you B.C. anglers use a mooching reel and if so what do you like about them?
thanks
 
BCK,

They are lots of fun until you let a stray digit get in the way of the handle knobs with a fish running against the drag. And/or, decide to help the drag a bit on a big fish by using the palm of your hand. Only takes a couple of times before you figure out the safest place for your reel operating hand (while a fish is running) is in your pocket.

Load em up with 400 yards of line and they start getting heavy and don't balance well with the typical rods we're using down here. They couple them to 10-11' glass rods and everythings aok. I like them because they can be set up for a left hand retreive.

They make some real nice (read expensive) center pin reels out of machined brass up there for the affluent which are much lighter. Essentially, an extra large fly reel with a drag system.
 
Raven Dave has a fly reel similar to one of those that cost more than all my fishing rigs combined.

They make those things for sturgeon fishing, too:

Hose%20Reel.JPG
 
B~C

If those mooching reels look fun to you, maybe you'd like to just hand line the fish.

A real man should be able to stand up in a rowed dingy and take on a marlin, a-la Hemnmingway's "Old Man and the Sea".

However-

Plan on losing, and don't tie the bitter end of the line around your leg.

Joe.
 
I'll pass on the hand linning...I have often thought it would be a kick in the pants to try sturgeon fishing from the kayak in the estuary

TST, I can see where the digits could end up wounded, I'm going to try one if they have them at the sportsman show for a good price
 
Those are commonly known as knuckle buster or knuckle duster reels, depending on who you talk to. One of my good buds does all his salmon trolling with one and has landed lots of nice kings up to 35lbs on them. (although his brother landed a 50 plus at la push :shock: )They let you feel the fish better( some say), but you lose the mechanical advantage of a star drag levelwind type reel. So one turn equals one turn on the reel instead of three or four that you get with a star drag, which can make it tough if the fish is running straight towards you. I believe if memory serves, that you can't just keep reeling in when the fish is running, so they take a little more finesse. I also believe they are more popular in canada than down here. I have fought one ten lb blackmouth on a knuckle buster, and it was pretty fun. I have been wanting to get one sometime but haven't gotten around to it as you need a rod that will balance that type of reel. And yes just like most fly reels you can change one model to right or left retreive. Where with a star drag you have to choose right or left retreive. And can not switch it. Man am I jonesing to go fishing!!

Sark
 
Gary (gflr) has a reel like that and used it while trolling on my boat. He brought a 20# (or so) king to the boat on one this summer a Sekiu. I didn't try it. However, the spools on those reels are much larger diameter than the spools on a typical bait caster or spinning reel so I'm not sure that there's a huge advantage to the 4 or 5 to one gear ratio on the smaller spools. E.g. I think you might still retrieve as much line per turn on the "knuckle busters".

Roger
 
Not from B.C., but from Bellingham so I guess I'm close enough. I do use mooching reels when salmon fishing. Have a pretty basic Daiwa reel and an Islander MR2 which is the big fly reel type set up in discussed earlier. Islander also makes the MR2 in and anti-reverse setup for those that are worried about Busted Knuckles.

The use of mooching reels does seem centered around B.C. and the farther away you get the harder it is to find them in fishing stores. Even in Bellingham, the nice ones are usually a special order item.

They are fun, and do let you feel the fish more while playing it. They take a bit more skill and you do have to watch out for you fingers when the fish runs. The fun part is that you are not just cranking in weight and letting the drag take over when the fish runs.

The better mooching reels are very cool also, almost works of art. They can be found at http://www.islander.com/salmon_moocher.htm.
 
HI ALL, :beer :beer
I HAVE BEEN USING THE DIAWA 2000 REEL OF THIS TYPE ON A 11 FT LOOMIS CUSTOM ROD FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS.
YES, YOU HAVE TO WATCH WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR HANDS WITH A FISH ON. BUT, I HAVE FOUND THAT IT IS MORE FUN FIGHTING FISH WITH IT AND REQUIRES MORE THOUGHT WHILE YOU ARE USING IT.
THE 11' LOOMIS ROD FOR THIS REEL TYPE IS A THINK OF BEAUTY. I THINK THAT I CAN FEEL LIGHT STRIKES OR A FISH JUST MOUTHING THE BAIT BETTER AND SEEM TO CATCH MORE FISH WITH THE FINESS SETUP AND APPROACH.
I CHANGED OVER TO THE NEW FLUROCARBON LINE AND THAT REALLY SEEMED TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF HOOK UPS.
TIP IF YOU GO TO THIS LINE READ THE INFO THAT COMES WITH IT AS SOME KNOTS DON'T WORK WELL WITH IT.
REGARDS TO ALL STIMPSTER :beer :beer :beer :D
 
Here ya go http://www.peetztackle.com/

I have 2 mooching reels, they are a hoot, I love salmon fishing with them, one is from peetz, its wood and brass I also bought one of there rods with gold and ceramic guides. The reel has a line counter and a brass wingnut for the drag. I have it spooled with spectra and when the salmon makes a run you better have your knuckles out of the way. A reel conversation piece on our company charter trip outside the golden gate. The other is a shimano, still in the box, haven't used it yet.

cant wait for Salmon season, just a couple more months...;)
 
As Roger stated I use an Alvey 525C52 reel (http://www.ausfish.com.au/alvey/6.shtml). I have found that it will bring line in VERY FAST as 1 revolution brings in almost a foot of line. The thing about my reel is that it is NOT a knuckle buster. When the spool lets out line from the drag the handle doesn't move. When you combine this reel with a long rod (Mine is 10 1/2') you find that the combination works very well.

I have also used knuckle busters and fly reels. My take is they are great but I would much rather have the Alvey or a fly reel over the knuckle buster! The problem is that the knobs are too close to the edge of the reel so you can't palm the reel to help slow down the fish without chancing banging your knuckles.
 
When mooching in 150-200 ft. of water you are going to have a lot of slack line out in the water. When you feel a fish hit your bait you need to reel down quickly to take up the slack and THEN set the hook. Mooching reels will reel in faster than baitcasting reels.... and they're just plain more fun to fight a fish with.
Less effort and more fun, ya can't beat that. :thup
 
Wow, alot more people using them around here than I thought. But I honestly can't believe they would reel in as much or more line in one revolution than a star drag level wind. Is that really true? I just looked up the reel that I use, I beleive its a penn 321GTI And it has a 4.3:1 gear ratio, which I assume means the reel spins 4.3 revolutions for each full crank of the handle. It seems that it would be hard for a knuckle buster or whatever to keep up with that, unless you used a very large reel since they are all 1 to 1. But I know some use much smaller level winds which would hold less line and have a smaller diameter. I'll have to check them out more closely, especially the ones that the handle doesn't turn when a fish runs, thats an awesome feature.

Sark
 
Those Alvey reels look like a pretty good value, is that internet site the only place you can buy them? if so, how is it doing business with them? Some of those Alvey reels look a lot like the Mike's red sturgeon reel :)
Could these be used as a cheap Halibut/bottom fish reel? they hold plenty of line, but would they to much work hauling everything in.

I too wonder about the retrevial speed compared to the ever popular Penn 320
 
Sark,

My Alvey is 5.5" in diameter. So the line is actually filled to about 5". Thus 1 turn of the reel brings in about 15" of line. The diameter of the Penn is about 2" so you bring in about 27" of line per revolution. On my old Penn 209 the ratio is 2.3:1. Given that it is about the same size as your Penn it brings in 14" of line per revolution. After catching hundreds of fish on the 209 I have NEVER not been able to reel fast enough to keep up with a fish.

I'm not knocking the level wind. They are great reels. But I sure do like the Alvey. Plus the extra long rod works great for taking up the slack when releasing the line from the downrigger clip.

If I wanted to spend some big bucks, Islander makes an awsome Mootching reel with the anti-reverse feature. But they are pretty spendy!
 
I got my reel off EBay used. They are pretty rare to find on EBay though. There are a few web sites stateside that sell them. If you google for "Alvey Reels" you will get a lot of hits.

Mine has a very nice smooth drag. The star drag on it works very well. I've got it loaded with the Dacron braid that came on it plus 300yds of 60lb Power Pro.

BTW: These reels are HEAVY! Don't expect to carry one around all day :) I think the 525C52 I have weighs in around 2 lbs.
 
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