What's the advantage/disadvantage of the uplocking and downlocking fly reel seat? I have made only a handful of fly rods (all downlocking) and am toying with the idea of turning some of my spinning seats around.

Length and preference. Uplocking are shorter? I believe. I have never used a downlocking seat. Uplocking is becoming the most common on trout sized rods at least.

The reel position on the rod changes minimally in that on an uplocking seat it moves slighthly forward on the blank. The advantage to this is that when a rod is leaned against a tree, etc...while in use, it will tend to keep the real and line cleaner by not allowing it to touch the ground where sand/gravel can do their thing. The disadvantage with an uplocking seat is that with certain handle shapes,you don't have enough cork material (i.e. diameter) in the butt end of the handle to allow for a hidden seat hood.

Stephen,

When I built my first several fly rods, I used ALL downlocking configurations on them. I thought that putting the fly reel as far towards the butt as possible would be 'better' (I'm not sure exactly why.....).

What I learned, however, is that each blank is different, as are each fisherman.

The natural tendencie, at least 'my' natural tendency, is to grip the rod where it balances best. THAT takes into account not only the weight of the rod/reel/guides, but also how you cast, etc....

So what has happened is that on most of the down lock rods I built, it works just fine.

On the others, there is a minor 'glitch'. Seems the 'balance point' where I naturally want to grip the rod is just above the reel. No 'real' problem, it's just that my fingers are curled around the locking rings/nuts insead ofthe nice cork gripping surface. That tends, at least for me, to loosen the nuts. On these rods, I just have to remember to occasionally retighten the nuts.

I chalk this up to inexperience. Before I began coming to this site, I'd have never thought much about it. Now I can see the 'mistakes' I've made.

I'm still using the down lock on some rods, but I'm spending a bit more time 'testing' before I make that final decision.

Anyway, while I'm no kind of expert, I would advise trying it both ways, if 'just right' is important to you.

Otherwise, the 'up lock' is what the majority of factory rods use.

Good Luck!

You guys may remember that article in RodMaker which showed how to make a seat with two moveable hoods so you can shift the reel either direction to the get the balance you want. I made one and think I will do it on all my rods from now on. I did find that if you want a seat that won't come loose you just about have to use a Fuji or similar graphite and nylon type seat with the cushioned hoods. They really do stay put.

One difference I've noticed between uplocking and downlocking has come into play based on my particular casting style. I find that on uplocking reel seats, a portion of the fly rod butt becomes something of a "catch" for loose fly line. This sometimes results in having a bit of fly line tangle when you try to retrieve for false casting or reeling in. On a downlocking reel seat, the fly reel sits so close to the end of the fly rod that this problem doesn't occur.

Now I realize that other fly casting styles may not run into this, but this is the one reason that I make all of my personal use fly rods as downlocking.