I was just watching IDO where James is at Devils Lake. I noticed he is using a fly reel; I have two fly reels I’m looking to convert to use on the ice. Is there any difference between using an actual fly reel and the in-line reels? I’ve never used one but last year I was interested in them and I’d like to try them out this year. Also when is it better to use one rather than a conventional reel?
From what I have seen many fly reels will work on the ice, but like everything some work better than others. I personally like a reel with a longer stem on it like a black Betty but if I had a spare fly reel around I would probably use that on the ice too. The main reason for straight line reels is to eliminate line twist that can cause jigs to have unwanted spinning. I have found big gils to be extremely picky when it comes to spinning jigs so I will normally use a straight line reel when targeting them. I have used 1:1 ratio reels in deep water but I prefer to not use them in much over 15 feet but there are times.
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