Fly Fishing

alfredo01

i just got a ORVIS battenkill large arbor IV reel. i live in saltwater with all sizes of tarpon, snook, permit, bonefish, and other big game fish but i want to know how big a fish can i catch it haves almost half reel filled with backing.

greg · Posted: Mon 01/11/10 8:36 am Post subject: IV Battenkill

If you plan on using this reel for salt water species, I can't stress this enough, keep it clean!! After every use, wash the reel and line with fresh water. This is important to any reel used in salt water. Sounds like you have 250 to 300 yds. of backing so you should be in good shape for most of the species you mentioned. To be honest I would not go after 150 lb. Tarpon with it as you could damage the reel. Were I you, I'd take some time and go into one of the salt water fly fishing stores or shops and compare what you have to other salt water reels and get opinions from people working there. You also can call "Orvis" tech. support and they will be glad to discuss the reels uses with you. They are on face book as well as the internet home site.
Good Luck
Greg

shemkens · Location: Manchester, Vermont

Since I'm the reel guy at Orvis, you might as well hear it straight from the source...

The BLA IV is a great light duty saltwater reel provided that you follow the advice of the previous post, which is to clean it with fresh water after using it in the salt. This includes removing the reel from the spool and rinsing off the spindle.

The recommended capacity on the BLA IV is 200 yards of 30# Dacron Backing and a WF8 fly line.

You could put 300 yards of 35# Gel Spun backing on this reel and conceivably fish for mature tarpon with it, but you will be severely undergunned.

This reel is best suited for bonefish, snook, permit, small jacks, baby tarpon (20-30 pounders) and anythign you'd chase with an eight weight or nine weight rod.

If you want to go after the big boys, get a 12 and an appropriate reel that will pull at least 5# of drag. Orvis, Tibor, Abel, Hatch, Nautilus, Ross etc. all make great reels that will deliver the goods.

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

Hey Steve,

Thank you for jumping in on this! Appreciate your taking the time to do this. So, since you're the "Reel Guy" at Orvis ... perhaps YOU could give us a little personal insight into your newest invention - the
Mirage Fly Fishing Reel. I know that you have been working on this reel for a few years now and you and the entire Orvis Company are super proud of the product. I did get a chance to use one during a brief duration this summer, but Tom R. took it back from me Mad

- But, even if he hadn't I am still not the type of person to give sound technical advise on anything related to the technical aspects of fly fishing gear and equipment. I leave that up to guys like you, kory and the boatload of "Flies And Fins Crew Members" that ARE gear junkies and DO know what they are talking about. As everyone knows, my "technical" knowledge and skills sets are ... let's say ... pretty close to null and void due, in part, to my obsessive nature and having a hard time focusing on anything but FISH. I'm getting better though and even may attempt tying my own flies this season ... but, when the fish "show up" that may or may not happen. Thanks again, Steve. Sounds like you are on track to get the same type of consumer response from the Mirage Reel as you did with the Helios Fly Rod. I hope so! Good Luck.

shemkens · Location: Manchester, Vermont

Of course I will talk about the Mirage! I'm so jacked that this reel is finally on the market I can hardly sleep. As you know I like to fish a lot, and I could be considered a compulsive gear geek, especially when it comes to reels. When I came to Orvis over fours years ago and started developing fly reels, I came with suitcase full of Tibors, Abels, Ross reel, Waterworks, Sage, etc. Those things were my babies! While at that point, Orvis had some fine reels, as I rolled up my sleeves I was excited to start working on a reel that when you thought best steelhead reel or best tarpon reel (two species I really like to fish for) - you immediately thought Orvis in the same breath as some of the other brands I mentioned about. This is the same breakthrough we experienced with Helios. You can say what you want about Orvis selling dog beds and fly rods, but I'll put the Helios up against any fly rod on the market. Like Orvis or not, the rods kick some serious ass. And I wanted to make that same mark with a fly reel.

So I did a lot of research. I looked at the aforementioned pieces of my own personal property that had started to collect dust in my basement. I thought about the things in reels that I really liked. Engagement mechanisms that seemed foolproof to me. The Mach had been a very successful series for Orvis and as far as I know, one of the first reels to have a stacked stainless and Rulon drag with an easy conversion from RH to LH by flipping the bearing over. The big liability with the reel, IMHO, was that it wasn’t sealed. So I started working with an independent designer and buddy of mine over in NH that works for a company that makes a lot of very very bad to the bone aerospace and military parts. Our primary task was to put a lid on the Mach. I leaned heavily on him to help take the mechanical concepts that I had in my head, and the aesthetic concepts in my head, and make them into prints that could be made by machine shops in the US and overseas.

The first ones we made were as ugly as a gut shot iguana (to borrow one from Kurt Vonnegut) but brother did they fish. We went to FL for a week in June of 2008 and something like 30 big tarpon were landed on one reel. I still have it here sitting at my desk. I can not overstate how ugly it is, but we knew we were on to something bcz the guides were like, “Damn, that’s one ugly reel but it works great.” About the same time, my buddy Conway Bowman starting using one for makos and blues out in San Diego and had similar success. He caught something like 30 fish up to 200 pounds on it before it started to have some issues. Keep in mind that these were early prototypes from nearly two years ago.

So we experimented with drag surfaces – titanium, carbon, Rulon, etc. and with engagement mechanisms – with clicker detents and acoustic signatures – O-Rings and bearings. Ultimately I settled on a carbon and stainless stack where the carbon discs float between the keyed stainless washers. When I showed it to one of my business partners in Asia, he said, “Very nice. Just like brakes on fighter jet.” Apparently he had worked closely on the Taiwanese fighter jet program. I was like, “Sweet. If it works for jets, it will work for fish.” So we tested them. In Panama. In Mexico. In Florida by 6 different guides. By Conway. We had them fished in the freezing cold in Michigan. I got an email from one of the MI guys over the weekend. “I can’t make it fail.” I love it!

Perhaps the thing about the series I am most excited about it the VII size. I like to tarpon fish A LOT and there is a certain reel company down in FL that makes a reel named after a certain ocean that borders the West Coast of the US that is THE hot ticket for the serious tarpon angler – it just picks up more string than anything else out (barring maybe a huge *ss Galvan). It also weighs in close a pound (I’m exaggerating but not by much) and will cost you a grand. So I’m pretty damn proud of the Mirage VII with the shallow spool. It holds 325 yards of 30# Dacron and a 12 weight, weighs less than 12 ounces, and picks up close to a foot of string with every crank. I absolutely can not wait to give a tarpon the beat down this Spring with the Helios 12 weight or a big Mako with Conway this summer on the 14 weight.

Thanks for letting me ramble. Mirage and Helios are definitely the highlights of my career at Orvis, and I hope people have as much fishing them as I have had making them happen.

greg · Posted: Mon 01/11/10 7:13 pm Post subject: New Reels

Licking my chops! waiting to see one of these reels and after discussing it with my dealer, all I need to know is sizes. Ya, I own a few reels and can't help myself, I am a gear nut but enjoy it and love all my equipment present and future.

lungdoc · Location: Cumberland, RI

I own reels from several different makers. The Orvis reels are average in my opinion. At times the drags are uneven, especially with more powerful saltwater species. Over the past 2 years I have come to really love the Nautilus NV series. They are pricey but have an incredibly smooth drag and are require minimal maintenance. As an added bonus they are very light.

shemkens · Location: Manchester, Vermont

I am sitting in my chair at the big O writing this so thank goodness I work for a great company that lets people be passionate and have opinions – (and not Google in China). Nautilus makes a kick ass reel, as do so many other reel companies. Orvis has made some duds, as have other very well respected and much beloved, made in America reel companies. I'm the reel guy at Orvis and I own and still fish reels made by Tibor, Sage, Galvan, Abel, Ross and Waterworks. They rock. I’ll never sell them. If I had children I would love them almost as much as my reels.

Reels are like watches. Even the cheap ones tell time. And yet some guys like a Heuer or a Rolex. Does that mean it tells time better than a Timex? Maybe. But $5000 better? Probably not. That isn't to discredit the guy that buys Rolex, it's just that the Rolex isn't accessible to everyone. You'd never let someone get away with saying that Timex watches were all pieces of sh*t bcz the battery on one wore out. You get a new battery or you buy another one. The watch cost 20-50 bucks. What's my point?

Orvis makes great quality fly reel at a reasonable price. We get a lot of flack for being overpriced, but I can say with confidence that our fly reels present a great value proposition for the average fly fisherman. In a lot of cases we have fly reel options that are a great value for the hard core guide or hard core fisherman that does not have $500 to spend a reel. I don't know what Orvis reel you've had some issues with in terms of inconsistency. We've had some duds. But FOR THE MONEY I think that over the past 10 years we've made some of the best fly reels on the market. For the money. Comparing some of our more popular models over the past 10 years to a Tibor or a Nautilus would be like comparing a Timex to a Rolex. Is it really an apples to apples comparison? Prolly not. Are the Tibors better. Yes. Are they accessible to the average guy? Are they $500 better?

Until now. The Mirage is a reel that puts any of the issues that Orvis has had with big games fly reels in the past - Odyssey, Vortex, Mach, V02 - and leaves them in the dust. I'm very excited that a company like Orvis can introduce a high performance fly reel in 2010 some 136 years after Charles Orvis applied for a patent for the first ventilated fly reel in 1874. It's pretty cool.

And the biggest size dead pulls over 15 pounds of drag. And costs hundreds of dollars less than some competitive reels that are made in the same factory. And matched with Helios it might be the sweetest fly fishing outfit ever. My point is that we have gotten better. This is a reel that the Orvis lovers and Orvis haters should take notice of. Why? Bcz it’s awesome. It’s beautiful. It was tested for hundreds and hundreds of hours by some of the best fly fisherman out there. And it’s a hellava reel for the price. If you want to spend your money elsewhere, then by all means. I have helped put Ted Jurrasic’s kids through college so don’t think I’m some dyed in the wool “fish Orvis or die” zombie.

There are some out there that might cringe. I mean Orvis? They sell dog bed's for chrissakes. And patch madras shorts. But I hope for others it just makes them glad that there are people out there developing fly fishing gear that are as jazzed about fly fishing as they are.

lungdoc · Location: Cumberland, RI

Thanks for the update on Orvis gear. I did not mean any insult from my post (hopefully none taken). The issues I have had in the past were with the vortex series reels. Sounds like I should check out the Mirage. Will anyone be at the MArlboro show this weekend?

shemkens · Location: Manchester, Vermont

No offense taken. Hope I didn't come off too defensive bcz that's not my intent. I think we take a lot of sh*t in the market place bcz we're big and we're old and we're a very easy target.

If you have problems with your reel we want to hear about it. We take the quality of our products and the satisfaction of customers very seriously. I'm excited you're willing to give the Mirage a fair shake bcz it deserves.

There will be some Orvis folks at the Marlborough show walking around but our presence will mostly be through some of our dealers- off the top of my head maybe Scotty W. from Bear's Dean and I'm sure some others.

robcecc · Posted: Tue 01/19/10 10:16 pm Post subject:

the mirage is the real deal at half the price of other reels in its class
light and strong and plenty of pickup

alfredo01 · Posted: Wed 02/03/10 9:02 pm Post subject:

well i did this forum for my orvis large arbor battenkill IV,
i already check its drag and it seems very good bcz
it can put the reel very hard to keep its line inside,
i looked a lot of vids on youtube about mid tarpons and it seems
the reel can take them because they dont run too much
i have ''wf9'' and 30 lbs dacron.

Shakeyfly · Location: MA

I am really interested in one of these Mirage reels, and the orvis guy is on this site so I might as well ask....

and I will probably get burned for this question. Usually I get a the Toyota comparison, or the 80% of ford fact, so I will ask anyway....

Where are these reels manufactured? It does influence my descision when comparing apples to apples. but the price looks right for this reel, and the performance sounds incredible. but I am just curious... Thanks Smile

mgedge · Posted: Sun 01/16/11 9:17 am Post subject: For the Orvis Guy

Reading this topic, it seems that I might have made a bit of a mistake. I was looking ahead to adding a 12 wt saltwater rod to my small, but growing inventory ... and I found a Battenkill Large Arbor VI on ebay ... new, but at a reduced cost.

Should I be thinking seriously about a higher end reel? Some of the earlier comments about the Battenkill LA leave me with some concerns about the ability of the reel to handle the types and sizes of fish that I would hope to target with a 12 wt rod.

Jeromecebu · Location: Phoenix, Arizona

Just a note to the Orvis reel guy on the Mirage reels. I had a few BLA reels but when I heard about the Mirage reels I checked them out. I gave all my reels to my son and now own 6 Mirage reels and 5 Helios rods. I used a Mirage VI with a Helios 10wt rod catching Kings in Alaska this past year. I'm fairly new to fly fishing but the Helios rod had me casting like an old hand and the Mirage reel handled 50 lb Kings with no problem. (another guy on the same trip had his reel burn up and virtually explode) I plan to take my Helios 12 wt and Mirage VII to Mexico this year for my first time saltwater fly fishing. I particularly like the fact the the Mirage is sealed against dirt sand etc, the drag is positive and smooth with no jerky aspects and the drag knob is easy to use. (this was one thing I didn't care for with the BLA reels) I really enjoyed reading about how the development of the Mirage reel came about. Thanks for a top rate reel at a good price. I'll put the Helios rod and Mirage reel up against any other combo out there.