BUZZBAIT
CENTRIFUGAL ENERGY (BELOW) MODERN REEL BRAKES MAKE
WHETHER USING THE POWER OF MAGNETS (LEFT) OR
CASTING A NO-BRAINER. PHOTO: BRAD WIEGMANN
PENN Fathom: Adjustable centrifugal brake and spool that separates from the pinion gear and spindle.
www.pennreels.com $199
Daiwa T3 Magforce 3D: Free-floating, lightweight aluminum spool and eight ball bearings.
www.daiwa.com $429
Shimano Chronarch 150 C14: Winner of 2013 ICAST “Best of Show Freshwater Reel”, metal-free for no corrosion and side-port offers easy- access to cast control.
fish.shimano.com $269
Quantum PT Smoke 150: One-piece aluminum frame, weighs 6.8 ounces, ceramic drag and nine- position casting system.
www.quantumfishing.com $219
To further improve the performance of their [TACK LE]
GIMME A BRAKE! C
all it a backlash, a professional over-run, bird’s nest or zing-pow!, when a cast with a conven-
tional reel goes haywire, the result is an explosion of fishing line followed by a long string of curse words. During a cast, the spool spins at up to 20,000
revolutions per minute and the lure flies faster on the ascent than on the descent. If line comes off the reel faster than the lure is flying, the line will pile up on the spool making a massive tangle. Back in the day, it took an “educated thumb” to
match the spool’s speed to the lure’s speed. Today, conventional reels come with sophisticated brak- ing systems that make casting a no-brainer. According to Ryan White, custom reel guru
at Hatteras Jack (
www.hatterasjack.com) in Ro- danthe, North Carolina, reel brakes come in two forms: mechanical and magnetic. White explains that a mechanical brake uses centrifugal energy to apply pressure to the spool. The downside of a
24…KAYAK ANGLER
magnetic brake, Daiwa’s new Magforce 3D actu- ally retracts the spool inductor as the spool slows down. “That allows the spool to turn longer,” ex- plains Curt Arakawa, marketing manager for Dai- wa. An external knob allows the angler to further fine-tune the brake in small increments. “It offers almost infinite adjustment,” Arakawa brags. Reels built for extreme long casts feature a
HIGH-TECH CONVENTIONAL REELS MAKE CASTING A BREEZE BY BRAD WIEGMANN
centrifugal brake is you usually have to remove the side plate to make adjustments. Quantum Fishing’s new Advanced Cast System
3 self-adjusts the brake depending on casting con- ditions. “By engaging more pins as the reel spins faster, the brake will apply more pressure when casting into the wind or less when flipping and pitching,” explains Joe Davis, research and devel- opment engineer at Quantum. He adds that the reel also uses an external dial
to set the brake from free spool to heavy tension. “You don’t have to open the reel to change the set- tings,” he says. For the best cast control system, Ryan White
recommends a magnetic brake. “This system uses a magnet on the reel that reacts with metal on the spool,” he explains. “The brake pressure is vari- able through the cast and you can adjust the brake without a screwdriver and a magnifying glass.”
spindle that disconnects from the pinion gears to reduce friction. Penn’s new Fathom series takes it a step further with a spool that spins independent of the pinion and spindle. Mike Rice, product manager at Penn explains,
“The spindle and the pinion do not need to turn relative to each other during heavy loads.” This means line goes out and fish come in with less work from the angler. Shimano’s Calcutta TE DC takes the cake for the
most advanced brakes. The reel uses a mini com- puter to control the brake pressure for maximum efficiency. “A regular spool spins at 18 to 20,000 rpms,” says John Mazurkiewicz, marketing man- ager at Shimano, “but the TE DC will spin up to 30,000 rpms.” The reel can apply braking pressure at intervals up to 1/1000 of a second to adjust the spool’s rpms through the cast. To launch a lure into the stratosphere, custom
shops can pimp out a reel with a variety of casting aids. “We install magnetic brakes, ceramic bear- ings, even hand polished spindles,” White says. “When it comes to adding a few more feet on a cast, the sky’s the limit.”
DIGITAL EXTRA: Click here to watch Kayak Angler editor Ric Burnley set the brakes on his casting reel.
Cast Control THESE REELS HIT THE BRAKES ON BAD CASTS
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