Fly reels used to play second fiddle to rods, at least in the fly-fishing world. Volumes have been written about the nuances of bamboo, fiberglass, and graphite fly rods. But the reel? “It’s just a ...

We took five reels into consideration for the purpose of this feature—reels manufactured by Abu Garcia, Daiwa, Penn, Pflueger, and Shimano. Honestly, given the technology that goes into reel design ...