Fishing The Fly Scotland Forum

Rob Brownfield

Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« on: 18/04/2017 at 12:14 »
Afternoon all,
My favourite reel of all time is the SA System 2 Large Arbour reel, but sadly its been out of production for a while. The odd one comes up on ebay, but are often gone within minutes!


A potential replacement from Scientific Anglers is the Ampere Electron LA, but I cannot find a UK supplier for the reel.


Any suggestions?

Hamish Young

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #1 on: 18/04/2017 at 14:58 »
Any suggestions?

Yup. Expand your collection of Orvis reels  :z16 There you go, that's a good suggestion  :z18

Rob Brownfield

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #2 on: 18/04/2017 at 17:55 »
Yup. Expand your collection of Orvis reels  :z16 There you go, that's a good suggestion  :z18

Unfortunately, no thanks. ...unless I can find any of the older Machs.


Derek Roxborough

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #3 on: 18/04/2017 at 22:21 »
Not SA but SKB I have a large arbour SKB reel, which looks almost like your SA reel, I have used it for 3 years now with no problems, Derek Roxborough

Rob Brownfield

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #4 on: 19/04/2017 at 08:59 »
Not SA but SKB I have a large arbour SKB reel, which looks almost like your SA reel, I have used it for 3 years now with no problems, Derek Roxborough

Thanks for the recommendation.

The SA reel has a super silky smooth silent  drag with a very low start-up inertia. Its fantastic for light tippets and small flies.

The engineering that went into the reel was very high quality and its the drag and quality that I have struggled to match (except on £500 reels)

I also love the colour :)

Derek Roxborough

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #5 on: 19/04/2017 at 19:02 »
mine was 70 squid with 3 cassettes and a case , very smooth, and reliable, I wouldn't pay £500 for a gold reel,all it does is hold my line reliably  :z13 Derek Roxborough

Rob Brownfield

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #6 on: 20/04/2017 at 09:29 »
mine was 70 squid with 3 cassettes and a case , very smooth, and reliable, I wouldn't pay £500 for a gold reel,all it does is hold my line reliably  :z13 Derek Roxborough

Playing large river trout on small hooks and light tippets means I like a very smooth drag. ...and the SA reel cost me something like £130 new...I also would not pay £500 for a trout reel...  :z18

Liam Stephen

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #7 on: 20/04/2017 at 21:38 »
Danielsson are as smooth as I've used Rob! 👍🏻

It's got no drag though.....

Derek Roxborough

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #8 on: 20/04/2017 at 22:27 »
my SKB has a super smooth drag as well , but I generally play the fish off hand,  :z12 Derek Roxborough

Dave Robb

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #9 on: 21/04/2017 at 08:00 »
I got the Orvis Mirage II reel at the turn of the year as it was in the sale plus with an added free spare spool.

I returned a Hydros SL to take advantage of the offer. 

I wish I had kept the Hydros SL.  For Orvis' apparent premier reel, there's something about the Mirage I really don't like.  The fly line keeps getting stuck within the reel.  It doesn't seem to stay in place, doesn't load onto the reel properly when winding in and is just a general pain in the back side.  Never had this issue in the past.


Rob Brownfield

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #10 on: 21/04/2017 at 13:53 »
I got the Orvis Mirage II reel at the turn of the year as it was in the sale plus with an added free spare spool.

I returned a Hydros SL to take advantage of the offer. 

I wish I had kept the Hydros SL.  For Orvis' apparent premier reel, there's something about the Mirage I really don't like.  The fly line keeps getting stuck within the reel.  It doesn't seem to stay in place, doesn't load onto the reel properly when winding in and is just a general pain in the back side.  Never had this issue in the past.

UI have the same issue! I ended up putting tape on the spool cage to try and reduce the gap....a tip I read on several sites where people were having the same issue.

Dave Robb

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #11 on: 21/04/2017 at 15:49 »
Excuse the ignorance, but tape on the centre prior to backing line being applied, or to the sides to make the reel narrower for the line to sit in?

Rob Brownfield

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #12 on: 24/04/2017 at 08:04 »
Excuse the ignorance, but tape on the centre prior to backing line being applied, or to the sides to make the reel narrower for the line to sit in?

On the edge of the frame to close the gap between frame and cage. I keep having the line slip between them.

Rob Brownfield

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #13 on: 24/04/2017 at 08:05 »
Danielsson are as smooth as I've used Rob! 👍🏻

It's got no drag though.....

Smooth you say? lol...I seem to recall it sounding like a metal bucket fill of pebbles ;)

Liam Stephen

Re: Scientific Anglers Reels in UK
« Reply #14 on: 24/04/2017 at 09:53 »
The midge are pesky but the bigger dry fly are work horses!  :z16


 




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