We've had several posts regarding this reel. I had been looking for a cheap light reel to test on a particular fly rod; every since Pearow mentioned this reel in a post I've considered picking one up for my application. This post contains some content that is outside of the UL realm; the material that is outside the UL realm is used to provide a complete explanation of the experience with the reel; I apologize and be assured of my un-wavering enthusiasm and dedication to the ideals of UL Fly Fishing, i.e. size is relative. stealth and etc.
Out of the box the reel foot did not fit my UL rods or even some larger rods; the reel did not even comfortably fit in my native custom uplocking 3wt. After some very easy filing for some 20 minuets (during idle time (i.e. while my computer boots)) the reel foot fit even my CGR 2wt. See picture below of reel foot after re-shaping. Plenty of foot left!
First I fished the reel on my 3wt. During about 4 hours of fishing, the running line slipped through the space between the spool and reel housing 4 times. I returned the line to it's proper position by either removing/replacing the spool or slipping the line back through the space between the spool and reel housing. This misplacement of line occurs when there is slack in the line adjacent to the reel at the end of the cast; this is not a perfect cast but happens frequently in my casting if there is wind.
I also fished the two weight and had the same infrequent misplacement of line. I have a few pictures of the 2wt with reel mounted and fish:
I also fished a 5/6 weight with this reel. I specifically wanted this light, cheap reel to better balance the CGR 5/6 wt which has a counter weight attached. Without the counter weight and a light reel the rod is too heavy for me to fish very long. With the counter balance and a light reel I can fish for 4 hours (at least) daily.
Paying credit, I got the idea of mounting the counter weight from mbarker68, though mbarker68 would have implemented a more elegant counter weight as the post's of his work suggest. Here are some pictures of the reel on the 5/6 weight:
The line would not misplace as described above with 4 wt line and above. However the line can be forced through the space between the spool and body. The pictures below demonstrate that the thicker line will cause the spool to flex with pressure but that the spool's memory return the spool to it's proper shape:
For my limited purpose, the reel is useful. I would use the reel like a click and pawl. When the drag is set to minimum, the reel offers just enough pressure to prevent spool overruns while casting. One of my complaints of my other fly reels with drags: at minimum drag setting one has to adjust them to prevent overuns; I am annoyed by this.
I can use the Cahill reel on my CGR 2wt as the reel balances it better than the Cabelas' Prestige ll.
The reel does not balance my other rods, except for the counter balanced 5/6 wt, as well as the
reels presently assigned to the rods.
BTW, I have about approximately 75 yds of backing on the Cahill reel.
Below are some pros and cons.
Using the Cahill reel as a click and pawl does not guaranteed a large fish will not break the reel: I hooked a large, very very large, carp that broke a click and pawl reel after an hour of constant give and take of line. Hope the opportunity to test the Cahill reel under the same conditions presents itself.
I fish blocks away from my house so I am not interrupted very long if I need to replace a reel.
I started these trials using the Cahill reel with old 3wt line (knew I was keeping that line for a reason) and only went to good line as I gained some confidence in the reel. A reel that potentially damages fly line is risky to use. My demonstrations show that the line misplacment's did not damage the line, but this was under ideal conditions; what if a large fish exploded on the fly as it hit the water and coincidently the line became misplaced, is damage possible?