Review of No 278 Fly Reel by Magnus Angus

Tackle 4p_New style template FF&FT 03/03/2011 09:29 Page 4
TACKLE B AG
A smooth operator
Daiwa Lochmor SLA 7/8
Ritual reel
Charles Clemes
278 reel
Handsome reel. Pale gold will turn some people off,
but who wants everything to be matt black or dirty
olive? Not me.
In my hand this feels light, rim to rim the
diameter is a fraction over 100mm, a true large
arbour but still only 125g (4.4oz). Fit and finish are
good. Actually the fit between spool and body is
very good indeed; this uses a familiar quick-release
mechanism which can leave a little play between
the two main parts, very little or none here. The
spool release lever is tiny, discrete but thinking of
function, when I want to change spools in a hurry,
it’s fiddly.
Anywhere my hands might touch the SLA when
I’m using it has had a lot of attention, very smooth
indeed. Inside the spool, where line meets metal,
Flush
fitting
drag knob.
the flat surfaces are similarly smooth,
the edges around holes are crisp, no
ragged line cutting edges but a little
more roundedness, more radius,
might be comforting.
The wooden handle is large
enough and the spool is properly
counterbalanced. Bringing line in the
spool runs free, no check, drag on the
way out, silent in both directions.
Smooth
On the back, the SLA drag knob is
incremental
fairly flush to the reel, clicks as I
drag.
adjust. I like that nothing can tangle
around the drag knob, but it is fingertip sized and a little fiddly.
Daiwa has fitted a smooth drag with a relatively
light drag range which adjusts positively (clicks) in
small increments – I like that a lot. Having a smooth
drag is pointless if I can’t set the reel for my tippet
strength.
Inside the body, the small drag housing protects
sensitive friction surfaces very well – no grit getting
in there. The spool hub holds a small one way
bearing/clutch, which can be reversed to change the
winding direction. This is a 7/8 model and the
capacity to deal with those line weights, Daiwa lists
this at WF8F and 130 yards of 20lb backing – no
arguments from me.
Overall, this is a reel
I’d use in a heartbeat. I
like the large arbour
form. I like the silence
when the spool turns. I
like the smooth drag. I
like that I can adjust that
drag in small steps very
much indeed – the
deciding factor for me.
Large
wooden
handle.
76
APRIL 2011
Price: £110 (spare
spool £54.99)
From: Daiwa stockists.
This design harks back to the
raised-pillar reels from Sharpes
and Hardy my grandfather and
his uncles used on their cane
rods. This is the 5/6 model for
#5 or #6 lines; 278 refers to the
spool diameter, 2 and 7/8ths
inches. The sample came fitted
with a Cortland Sylk line and
aesthetically that looks about
right – when I pick this up I feel
there should be a silk line on
the spool and a cane rod
waiting for me.
It is rather well made, too.
The frame and spool are
machined anodised aluminium,
nickel silver pillars and screws,
ivorine handle. Touches there
of the link between Charles
Clemes and its parent company
Anderson Wheeler, who use
nickel silver screws in gun
making.
The adjustable spring and
pawl clicks in both directions,
louder going out than in, and
the pressure can be adjusted
with the wee brass wheel by the
reel foot. The clicking pawl
hides how smoothly the spool
turns on its ball race and
phosphor bronze bearing,
which is the point of a ‘check’,
this needs that pawl clicking
into its cog or the spool would
just spin and tangle the line.
Where a vintage reel in this
style would have a tiny arbour
in the centre of the spool, this
has a ‘quarter arbour’, bulking
it up slightly so I turn the handle
just a few less revolutions when
I bring in the line. Where a
vintage reel of similar design
would probably have nothing
but a handle on the face plate,
the designers of this reel have
opted to pander to modern
tastes by matching the handle
with a counterweight sunk into
the face; nice place for an
owner’s name to be engraved
and, who knows, maybe the fish
of a lifetime will take line fast
enough to make it count.
As a working reel, this has
nooks and crannies where mud
and grit will get trapped. The
wee check adjuster is fiddly,
changing spools is anything but
quick and in any case I have no
idea if spare spools are even
made. I doubt if any of that
FLY-FISHING AND FLY-TYING