Musings on German engineering

My current favourite fly reel is from the Henschel factory in Germany which I received by way of Simon Chu (tackle whore). The reel is bullet proof, the drag is smooth and strong, the design is functional and the whole thing has the feel of a tiger tank. (Unlike their website which is flaky, hard to use and their fly chick is ummm.... stunned looking). Best of all, the drag control is on the same side of the reel as the handle,which is cool as you don't need to be swapping rod hand to adjust the drag. If I were serious about chasing big sharks, marlin etc on a consistent basis then there's little doubt in my mind that I'd pick a big Henschel over an Abel, Tibor, Hatch or Shilton. I own models from each company so feel able to make a relatively decent judgement call. My Abels, Tibors and the Shilton I have are all drawbar type models with big cork drags and are lovely reels with enviable records on fish of all sorts, so its very much a personal call.

On the 'trout' reel front, I have 2 Lamson Velocity 2's, one of which has been used extensively in salt water as my kahawai/small snapper reel. After 5 or 6 seasons in the salt, its guts have given up so I'll have to take it in for an overhaul. When these reels were released amongst all the fanfare it was claimed to have a sealed drag and be saltwater resistant. In my observation they were a bit optimistic in making that claim. Having said all that a few years ago Waterworks Lamson upgraded the bearings etc so they probably are a longer term salt option now. But here's the thing..... those reels wouldn't have made it out of the Henschel factory as they would fail QA. That's probably why Henschel's cost 2 and a half times a Lamson. But I'd not expect to have the Henschel overhalued any time in the next decade. A bit like a BMW vs. a Great Wall ute I expect, both get you there but....





.... when you get the Beemer serviced its going to hurt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!