By virtue of simply surviving as a fly fishing blog for going on eight years (with a couple of dawdling interruptions along the way) we get a slew of requests to review, read, comment on and / or endorse products.
We truly appreciated when smaller, independent entrepreneurial types get together to create tools or gear that solves a challenge all (or most) fly fishers face.
The Reel Winder guys, Steve Lepley and David Humphries, have tested and refined a concept to help fly fishers manage line changes (and care) without the (at times impressive) expense of extra reel spools and be readily portable to make it easy to manage at base camp, in the truck or in the boat.
Their story is well laid out on The Reel Winder website as well on their Kickstarter page here. Pricing looks very reasonable for the unit, about what you’d pay for burgers and beer for two in Craig some evening, and their Kickstarter incentives are well matched.
We’ve been sent a prototype unit to fiddle around with and it’s easy to use and gets the job done; to our eyes and simple minded, ‘just get it done and get on with fishing’ mindset, The Reel Winder will be a keeper.
And for those to whom it matters, and it damned well should to all of us, it will be manufactured stateside in Michigan.
They’re making progress on their Kickstarter campaign; please give it a look here.
We’re in.
And here’s a quick line change demonstration.
