Ken - dead on.

I love flyfishing, I'm not an elitist by any means, and I don't like to peg it as an elitist thing, but to some degree, it is. There is no denying this. The market for flysfishing is a more upscale market than the general fishing market. They can pretty much charge whatever they want, and there will be plenty of flyfishermen willing to pay the price. I am not one of them. If John Merwin says that a $39 reel is perfectly satisfactory, then I will save money next time I buy one.

It's unfortunate that we, as consumers, let this kinda thing happen. No matter how little sense it makes, if we can afford it, we will pay a price that is way too high for what the product really is. The cost and work it takes to make that baitcaster is far more than for the fly reel, yet the fly reel's price tag is higher. Stupid.

Maybe this can be a new direction for F&S. There could be a new segment in every issue, or a new blog every week that lists and reviews gear that is cheap, yet gets the job done as well as the pricey stuff. That can be the F&S stimulus plan. All of us want new gear, and many of us can't afford the new gear we want. So open our eyes to good products at better prices.

I'm afraid to buy cheaper gear, but when an F&S editor says it's good, my fear goes away and I buy it. There needs to be more of this happening.

I usually do extensive research before making significant purchases for sporting gear. 99% of the time I have found that mid-range priced gear in quality brands is the best value. Most of my gear gets hard use, especially fishing stuff. I just can't see laying out hundreds of dollars for a fishing rod that is going to be stepped on by labs, strapped to atv's, taken for slides down the side of a canyon, etc. Even in optics where you usually get what you pay for there are binos etc. that I just can't imagine are worth the price. Of course I have never owned them so maybe I am wrong. I just can't imagine how I would feel if I left a $2000.00 set of binos sitting on a rock somewhere. Or busted a scope of the same price range. The Leupold VXIII on my A-bolt is probably the spendiest piece of gear I own and it has survived multiple falls, horseback rides and even having my haul rope break 12 feet up from the ground. For around $600.00.
That being said the cheapest stuff often costs you more when you have to replace it with decent gear that you could have bought in the first place.
Fly gear is sometimes ridiculously priced, at least for me. I would go with a quality brand in the medium price range after talking to alot of people who have used it. The fish definitely will not care and you will be able to afford the replacement if the unfortunate happens.

I can't see putting a $39 reel on a $700 rod. It's like putting cheap tires on a Ferarri. It just ain't right!

buckhunter...
If you can afford the Ferrari, you can also...

Ths basic idea of a fly reel is to hold the flyline. That being said why would anyone over pay for a reel. The only exception I can see is heavy fishing like Tarpon and the like in that case you will reel in the fish. Most times its used to hold the line and in 50 years of Trout and Bass fishing I never reeled in those fish with my fly reel.
Bottom line access the need for an expensive reel and chances are a $30-50 reel will do it all.

I own several reels including a delicate vintage Hardy, but I still do nearly all of my fishing with a Pflueger Medalist 1494 I purchased in the mid-1960s (when the Medalist was at its peak of quality). It worked for me then and it still works for me now. It is sturdy, and after all these years of hearing its comforting sound any other reel's sound seems foreign to me. I usually outfish most of the people I'm with or meet on the stream, but when I don't it is because they know the stream better or are more knowledgable about which fly to use and how to fish it; not because of our reels.

We use what we like. Arnold Gingrich, I believe, referred to fly reels as the angler's jewels. And in the case of fine reels, he was correct.

There is nothing wrong with a 45 year old Pfleuger Medalist. I gave a 1494 to a 13 year old boy who was starting out, in 1992. I had purchased it in 1966 while a student at the Univ of Utah.The kid has used it hard for 17 years and it is still as good as the day it came out of the plant.

I have owned reels from across the price spectrum. An Archie Walker Trout reel cost me a week's pay (take home) when I ordered it, and i waited 6 months to get it.
It stays at home these days because it's too valuable to fish... :).

I have owned Hardy Hardy's, and reels they built for others, including one of the original, unmarked Orvis CFOs. Lightweights, a baby St George, a JLH (my favorite Hardy model) and a Perfect have all been mine. Currently, I have a JLH and one of the green Winston Perfects. My wife has an LRH.

J.W. Young's have come and gone; one was labeled Battenkill.

I even had a couple of early resin Berkleys.

Now as to the cost factor:

Quality always costs more. Better design (well, not always), better metallurgy, better castings, better machining, closer tolerances, exacting heat treatment and better finish are never cheap.

It all adds up to durability, light weight and aesthetics.

All of the above is in reference to trout reels. Saltwater reels are a separate category. The demands placed upon a reel by large fish and harsh conditions dictate the need for a a high quality product. Still, the Pfleuger 1498 is used by a lot of people. I have one myself.

If you want an inexpensive reel, go to ebay and search out a NOS (new old stock)Medalist. I've seen them in the original box for under $50.

I love my fine reels, and am currently covetous of a Marryat Baby #2 to match up with the 7' Scott 3 wt. glass rod that never gets used a lot simply because I don't have a good reel to fit it.

Just the humble opinion of a long-time fly fisher.

Where has this article been all my life?