Hi, I've enjoyed reading the posts and responses for the last few months, and now I have a question. Which is a better reel seat to go with, the up-lock or down-lock, or does it matter? I am about to start my second rod, a 5 weight, medium fast action, 9'. Also, do the nickel silver real seats need to be polished occasionally? Hopefully this is not an often addressed question.

Thank you, John

Be carefull what you polish silver plate with. The silver can be taken off with the wrong polish. Just wipe with water

Most of my fly rods are uplock style. But I doubt it really makes that much different. Down lock might actually balance out better on a longer rod like that.

Get an idea of your guides and seat and reel and line to be used to know how the balance will turn out. put things together (or use equivalent weights) to know if you should do up or down-lock. Also, lengthen or shorten the grip as needed.

Personally i've used up lock on all but the really long rods where I need to counter balance the added blank weight from the length.

balance is always listed as a consideration with fly rods and their reels. but if you fish at different distances (10, 15, 30, 50ft), the amount of line on the reel changes the weight of the reel throughout the day. and if you have line hanging during fishing, even more so. there are many bamboo flyfishers (just an example) who go with the hardy lightweight reels which are surprisingly light at under 4oz. and then there are those who prefer the heavy older medalists. i think balance is important but not so much as everyone says. i certainly wouldn't hang a 6-7oz reel on the end of a 7ft 3wt rod. related to that, i think the balance issue between up and downlocking may be similar. what does everyone else think in regards to that?

personally, i like the look of downlocking reel seats on fly rods. i usually wrap and fish 8ft and under fly rods, 3-5wts. i'm about to wrap a 9 foot 4wt soon and think i will go with downlocking again though it will be the first time for that length. usually i use cap and ring but this time i might try a nice screw seat in downlocking style. one thing i've noticed in using an uplocking seat after so many downlocking seats is that i tend to have line wrap around the butt of an uplocking style. irritating to me after being used to DL cap and rings. conversely many say the uplocking style offers the ability for the reel to be away from the ground when you lean the rod against a tree. i simply take an extra second to place the rod in a clean spot (still others say throw your hat on the ground and use it to protect your reel).

i think overall in the end, you'll find just as many who prefer DL as those who prefer UL.

as for polishing, i've turned to bluing nickel silver hardware so do not notice the natural tarnishing of the NS. on one seat i did for a ladyfriend, i did notice it had tarnished a bit. you might simply call it a nice patina. i used a bit of silver polish on it and it cleaned up as new. i have no idea if that polish caused any damage in the long run since i haven't seen that rod in years.

eric
fresno, ca.

Eric has a good summary. Downlocking seats are used on lighter and shorter rods. For a 5 wt, I would use an uplocking seat personally but the DL would work as well. Balance should be considered, but in the mode of the angler's typical casting distance. Good discussion Eric.

Anything above a 5 wt, I would move to an uplocking seat as they are a little more substantial. The DL seats are all pretty lightweight.

Terry

Apparently this doesn't happen to most folks. When I fish with my older down locking reel seats they tend to come loose. Regardless of the why....ie I fish wrong, hold rod wrong.....bottom line is they tend to loosen while I am fishing. Perhaps newer better quality downlocking reel seats do not do this. I dunno. But, I never have this problem with uplocking. Therefore I use nothing but uplocking regardless of rod. Possibly the constant downward gravity of the reel helps keep the tightening rings snug. Don't really know.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/19/2008 12:08PM by Jim Williams.