in line ice reels

I know this subject is a little early but there is still 30″ of ice still on lake minnewaska and I have a new noodle rod by TUC. Does anybody have the inside scoop on new in line reels with a drag system coming out next season? I checked out a 6061 Black Betty and was not impressed with the fact that it didn’t have instant anti-reverse on it. Does the Eagle Claw reel have this feature? Any info to gain knowledge would be great. Thank you for any help. Ray

With the Eagle Claw after the freefall it takes around 2 turns of the crank to lock the spool. Maybe not what you are looking for but that is how ut works.

I have both the BlackBetty and EC Inline reel. I love both of them. BlackBetty does come with instant anireverse. When in freefall it does take one turn to take the freefall out. I did hear that BlackBetty will be redesigned for next year since there were many issues with it. Im not sure about what other features will be included.

instant anti reverse on both my 6061’s best reels I have owned for ice….

I have two of the bb 6061 reels love them, but frist trip out burned up the blades in the clicker and the drag needs some help, I would say for the first run not bad, for sure a move in the right direction I have them on a pair of 36′ tuc precision rods used for dead stick

Maybe the one that was at Scheel’s had a problem. The reel felt smooth but still would reverse reel for about a 1/4 turn. That in my opinion is not instant anti-reverse. It was a demo reel. Thank you, Ray.

I have the Eagle claw reel and love it. I have tried the 6061 also and feel that both reels are exactly the same.

Have 4 EC reels. It would be nice if you didn’t have to turn the reel 3/4 the way around to stop the free fall but once you do anti reverse is locked in. I have 6 rods with me when I go out, next year all 6 will have in lines on them. The EC stood up to a monster musky this season. These reels do have room for improvement but I will most likely never purchase an open face reel for ice fishing again. JMHO.

I have 3 Razors and love them. The only drawback is spool over run if you don’t set the drag right.They have a good drag system and the drag knob stays where you put it.I have had the line get behind the spool a few times in the wind, but that happens with any spool reel.They do not have a free spool like the EC or 6061 so in a shack you need a lot of head room or a short rod to let line out fast.To me they are worth the money,no line twist and 12″ line pickup per crank.I only use them for panfish but have landed many northens and bass on powernoodles with them.I’m working on a way to encase the spool so the line won’t get behind it.

The black betty is virtually identical to the ice-tech for 1/2 price. The difference is the bettys spool is 4 times deeper, preventing line ow off. I have 2 regular Betty’s a few 6061’s and eagleClaws inlines. Both the 6061’s and eagleClaws can be dramatically improved by tweaking the drag and changing grease and oil in both. Adding Teflon washers to the drag arbor on each solves that issue. The instant anti reverse is true when the handle is engaged. There is a 1/8 to 1/4 turn process to engage the reel. After that both e/c and 6061 are zero back play.
The ice tech of wich I have 2 center pins are a beautiful reel. The functionality of the spool design is very poor though. The reel style ice techs have the same issue as the center pins. The spool is not nearly deep enough and the line blows off. I solved to issue best I could to make them functional. I use women’s hair ties, like a big rubberband. It keeps the line from blowing off the spool. I would not buy another of there reels again due to this design flaw. They are terrible to fish outside in the wind with. The line blows slack near the reel. Blows off the spool and your done with that reel.

Anyone have any info on what kind of “backing” to put on the basic inline reels like the frabill 101 or the clam spooler? or is it even necessary to do it?

I use some mono usually just to fill the spool a little.
Kind of like a fly reel. Mono does not seem to hold the mold in as other filler lines.

Use electric tape same as you would for braid on a spinning reel. You can build a even layer and not have valleys like mono or Dacron as others use will give you. Plus the tape will not break down as mono does.

Is there some sort of line that people put on their reels that is super thick then a fluoro leader after that. Like the backing that trout fishermen put on their fly reels? but I don’t see how that would work for ice fishing reels since that kind of stuff is floatable backing.

I have been fishing with a 30″ and 32″ TUC precision noodle rod and run a DAM Quick reel on one and a Okuma SLV on the other…the reels are a bit more expensive, but well worth the money. These reels are a bit heavier than something like the Frabill or Clam ones, but I think they make a perfectly balanced combo for the split-grip style handle I have on my rods. …just my opinion…

I heard next year eagle claw will be coming out with multiple models of their inlines, not sure when they will be released or how many models, assuming they’ll have them at the ice show. I’m thinking/hoping one of the modifications will be to accommodate the pencil grip issue as I saw a lot of complaints on not being able to. But at $30, if they didn’t change a thing the reels they had this year were phenomenal at that price. Hearing of the multiple models really has me looking forward to what they bring next year, and how some of the competition responds to reels like the eagle claw/6061! Absolutely loved mine this year.

I ran across “Tight Line Extreme from Ice Hopper” on the Sportsmens Direct website and it look like a pretty nice reel. Does any one out there have any experience with this product. If it is good it is probably be my next purchase.