When the world fly fishing championship is on the line, the reel doesn’t need to be overly sophisticated nor have a drag designed to stop a pissed off tuna. What is needed for the competitive angler is the same thing the rest of us need; a reel with spool that is optimised to quickly retrieve line, and a clicker drag that prevents over-run by having a modest amount of resistance.
The clicker system for fly reels was designed 100 years ago and is still used today because of its ability to provide uniform resistance on the outgoing. While rods continue to get lighter the reel needs to continually evolve so they can balance with the rod. Shadow Click reels are the ultimate blend of function and simplicity. Competitive anglers often run extremely thin line, so we designed the reel to be able to retrieve the line and prevent it from getting pulled under the frame; a feature often only available on much heavier full-frame reels. The Shadow reel has a unique pivot fame that allows the user to run their line through the frame and “capture” it to prevent tangling.