My old reel was an ABU 505 closed face reel which was unusual in having a star drag on the main handle axle (you can also reel back to reduce the drag suddenly). The reel was intended as a specialist light freshwater spinning \ reel - although I expect many a big Scandanavian salmon was caught on one. I used it mainly for coarse fishing with 4lb line.
The new Shimano fixed spool reels seem to come in 2 main flavours, FA (front drag) and RA (rear drag), which some variations, such as fighting dray, MRA. For some reason, the rear drag ones strike me as most practical - but I'm not familiar with the front drags -- anybody care to comment on them?
Also any opinions of retreive ratios: 1:4.5, 1:5, 1:5.5, 1:6, 1:6.2? My current reel seems to whip the lures in obscenely fast -- I wonder if it might be too fast. Our other little Shimano spinning set-up, which is probably nearer the other end of the spectrum w.r.t. retrieve ratio seems fine, perhaps a little low. Like so many, perhaps one in the middle is "just right"!
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