Tarpon fly setup
snook_smuggler
Posts: 37 Deckhand
I was going to buy the Tibor Billy pate reel for tarpon. Do any of you have it for tarpon and if so do you like it?
I was also going to accompany it with a G. Loomis cross current saltwater 11 wt fly rod. I was thinking about putting monocord on it. Anybody have anything to say about it?
I was also going to accompany it with a G. Loomis cross current saltwater 11 wt fly rod. I was thinking about putting monocord on it. Anybody have anything to say about it?
Replies
Snook_smuggler....Do you already have other fly outfits, but this is your first "big game" setup? If so, are you already using direct drive reels? If "yes," to the last question, then the Pate Direct Drive is a very good reel. What I am about to tell you, applies only to the direct drive models. It is an old school reel, like the Fin Nors, Seamasters and such, in that they are a bit heavy, as compared to other makers, such as Tibor, Abel and Nautilus. The frame and spool are not "ported'" (have a bunch of holes in them, to reduce weight) People mistakenly like this also, because in addition to being lighter, they say that sand and debris can be flushed out easier. I SAY....that if the reels did not have so many damned holes in them in the first place, that sand and debris could not get IN as easily! These reels are also very simple, with like only 3 moving parts......very easy to clean and maintain. However, the Pate has more backing capacity than the same size Tibor and that has its advantages. It is also somewhat cheaper than a Tibor. The drag surface may not be as much as the competition, but in a DD reel, you do not need a lot of drag, because you'll be applying extra pressure to the fish in a manual sense. Some people refer to this as "palming," but again, I think that this has become somewhat of a misnomer, especially with bigger stronger fish.
That is the Pate Direct Drive in a nutshell. Personally, I think it is a great reel for tarpon and mid-size offshore species, like dolphin, amberjack, blackfin tuna, sailfish, and even the much larger Pacific sailfish, as IMO, they're kind of wimps on a pound-for-pound basis, as compared to their Atlantic cousins. Like the old Fin Nors, etc., they are built like tanks and are nearly indestructible. With some of these light weight reels, you really need to be careful about accidentally dropping one onto a hard surface. Not so with a Pate.
NOW.......Having written all this.....if you are considering the A/R model Pate (anti-reverse) then all this goes out the window. Personally, there's only one time when I would use an A/R fly reel, and that's if my life depended on it; especially for big fish, like tarpon. There is another thread on this forum about the discontinuation of the Pate DD reels and you can read at least one other's opinion of the anti reverse models.