TROUTSPEY REELS | FULL CAGE
Our Troutspey fly reel lineup in a few colors (above), and spools off to show the “full cage” bottom left.
What’s a Trout Spey Reel? Well, you can use any reel for spey fishing, and we have never tried to make the entry to Troutspey expensive. We typically encourage customers to get a rod, then find an old 6 or 7 weight reel to start out with. But after a while you’ll want to get a dedicated reel. This is especially true if you like using a monofilament based shooting line system, and 80% of our customers and most of our staff do.
For that system a “full cage” reel is preferred (above, bottom left). With out it, you’ll find that your mono shooting line slips between the frame and the spool. The frequency of this frustrating occurrence depends on the reel you’re using and the type and diameter of your mono shooting line. It can range from a couple of times a day, to every third cast. Each time you need to quickly remove your spool and let the mono return to the front of the reel. Full cage reels eliminate this possibilty.
Other than the “full cage”, reels for trout spey are the same as any other. They are often ported less, which makes them slightly heavier than the average trout reel. This is to help counterbalance a long rod, and provide a pendulum effect. They are typically not “large arbor” style reels, and have larger full depth spools that can accommodate backing, a 100’ shooting line and fat spey shooting heads. Or if you’re an integrated line user, they have the room for those big 150’ lines.
So, you can use any reel you wish, but if you ask us which “spey” reels we carry, we will answer with these 4 full cage reels:
GALVAN SWING
This is our premium and Troutspey reel, and like all California built Galvan Reels it is gorgeous. Based on the flagship Galvan “Grip”, it probably has more drag than you need for trout. This is a much stouter drag than the ever-popular '“Torque” series, built for Saltwater applications. It is insanely smooth and has excellent micro-adjustment capability. Because we’re often fishing straight off the reel when swinging, we love the ability to set the drag precisely. While this is the most expensive reel in our Troutspey lineup, I actually feel they are a great value. Cosmetically, we love the un-ported backplate, but do wish we have a couple more color choices, as it only comes in Gunmetal Gray. At least black?You’re getting the highest performance fly reel, made in the U.S. for just over $500, a price that is no longer the top. It is available in perfectly sized 2-3 and 4-5 models, and we use them exactly as specified.
SAGE TROUTSPEY
If you’re from the 90’s, you’ll remember this great color and design from the Sage 500 series clickers (made by Hardy, if I remember correctly). This reel, however, is a full disc drag reel, designed from the ground up for spey applications. Like the Galvan, it features an oversized drag that is more than most troutspey anglers will need, but better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. We like the 1-2-3 on our 2 weights, and the 3-4-5 on both 3 and 4 weight. At $425, it’s seems expensive for an overseas made reel, but this is a very nice reel, both cosmetically and from a performance standpoint. Both look great, but that bronze version belongs on every Sage HD. This reel has been around for several years and is our best selling spey-specific reel. I’ve never heard a complaint.
GALVAN GEN TROUTSPEY (Custom)
As far as I know, you can only buy this reel from Headhunters, though some other shops may have put together a few of these. This is a Galvan GEN (Galvan Euro Nymph) Reel, with a Galvan Torque 6 spool. Former shop tech nerd Dick Macgill figured this one out. Euro-nymphers like the full cage for the same reasons (skinny running line), but they also like big, low volume large arbor spools with a high pick-up rate (they would use this on a 3 weight single hander). Dick realized that the more voluminous spool fro the Torque 6 fit perfectly. And you get some cool colors! We called Galvan and they were happy to slap together some hybrids for us. This reel is a great crossover that can be used on single or two-handed rods, and if you already have a T-6 and/or extra spools, you’ll be super set. We recommend this for 2 and 3 weights, but feel it’s a bit small for 4 weights. Since the arrival of the Galvan Swing, we likely won’t carry these after our current inventory runs out. We also carry them in black and blue spools. At $465 for custom, made in the US, you cannot complain. Use it on your 6 weight single hander in the summer, then move it to your 3 weight spey in the autumn.
ORVIS SSR
Stands for Swing, Step, Repeat! This bomber, utilitarian spey reel from Orvis won’t win any Beauty contests, and it only comes in one size (III) for lighter trout spey applications. We’d probably keep this on our 3 and 4 weight kits, and find something else for our 2 weights. It’s built on the Orvis Hydros platform, which is a popular and proven reel here in the Northern Rockies. The biggest compliment I can give this reel is that when I use it - and I use these alot - I never think about it. Drag works perfectly with the right range for swinging, it’s smooth and quick to reel and pick up line, and it has a rounded reel foot to wrap my super long leader around with out kinking. The black finish seems very tough so far. At $379 this is our lowest price full-cage reel. Like the Sage above, it’s made overseas but is not a reel that screams it. The finish isn’t quite as nice as the Sage, but operationally it’s flawless. If you’ve used Hydros reels you know what I’m talking about. Hopefully we won’t see a price increase this fall. A perfect place to start.