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for that price i could buy a used car every time its ash tray gets filled up for next three years. i have never targeted gt or marlin using fly rod but my lamson have been serving me well considering i always soak and wash reel after fishing where i live (antiguia and barbuda).

FWIW, i stil use my loop tradional reels.
pre-setting "drag" so that taking more line from the reel stil works, and to prevent overrun when the high speed flyline makes contact with the reel, when i need more braking power i'll place my free hand on the outer rim of the spool.
Have to be carefull with the spool's lever though
After setting hook i turn the rod 90 degrees outward (or ccw, being right handed) to prevent the line getting tangled up in the spinning reel, hitting the free line that is on the water with my free hand, or sometimes guiding the free line towards the reel to prevent massive overrun.

Despite whatever quality of reel (i have tried many) there's nothing better than cleaning the reel after every session, to keep it in perfect shape, some oil or wd40, some q-tips and a rag works fine for me, even with the older reels i use.(17 years with my 3w now), there's something therapeutic about cleaning your gear after a session.

I do however have some reels equipped with disc drag systems, even they tend to stop sealing correctly on the o-ring, i replaced them for o-rings made of viton, lasts a lot longer, finding the right size can be a challenge (i can have then made to size and material due to my area of work), but even they will eventually wear, when salt water enters the needlebearing the end is near..
I refuse to believe that maintenance free even exists.

I have a handful of older reels that I purchased because they were the best I could afford at the time. I'm talking SA System 2 and Ross (Momentum?) that have bushings instead of bearings. I thought I would replace them as they wore out and I could afford better.

Despite years (decades) of salt water use, they are all still functional.

It dawned on me that an oiled bushing is essentially waterproof, while bearings with the much larger percentage of open space invite water in.

I have since replaced the SAs with reels with better drags, but still use the Ross reels often.

I'm a little late to this discussion, but I'm about to order two reels from Danielsson for saltwater. If anyone here has one please let me know if you're happy with it. Thanks.

https://danielsson-flyreels.se/en/

Hi!

I have a couple of Danielssons that I regularly use in saltwater. Two of them are Originals and one a L5W 6-Nine. I am very happy with them all. The quality is really good (especially when price is taken into consideration) and Danielssons service is also topnotch. I highly recommended them. I should state though that I mostly use them for fishing after searun browntrout - a fish that hardly puts a great strain on a reels braking-performance. I am sure that there are others in this forum that can provide you with information regarding these reels and their braking-performance under more severe conditions.

Cheers Thomas

Hi Gene,

I personally don’t have any, but I know many Sexyloopers who do and they all tell me they are top notch. I often recommend them when asked and think they are some of the best reels on the market. I don’t know about salt however!

Cheers, Paul

I have used the L5W 6nine without any problems for bonefish.


I don't know how the bigger ones hold up against bigger fish that need heavier drag, but I doubt they would fall through as they are well thought through reels.

Cheers
Lasse

I have used the L5W 6nine without any problems for bonefish.

Were you hungry?

Paul Arden wrote: ↑Mon Jan 10, 2022 3:26 pm

I have used the L5W 6nine without any problems for bonefish.

Were you hungry?

Very... the salad turned out to be alive so lost the appetite the evening before

From a different site......a number of opinions about Danielssons
https://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk ... -f3w-7ten/