On 22 Aug 2005 06:53:05 -0700, "riverman" wrote:

have a fly fishing friend who has only one arm. He uses automatic
reels - for salmon and steelhead as well. He uses a pumping action to
bring them in, holding the line under his finger while drawing back on
the rod, then releasing the line, squeezing the lever, and lowering the

rod to gain line. He does well with it. Another reel he got is called

a Franco Verelli. It has a cam lever that rotates the reel when it is
squeezed. The advantage to that one is that it does have an adjustable

drag.

Peter Collin


How does he land and unhook them? Can he manage that one-handed, or
does he always fish with a buddy?

--riverman

First, I think Peter means "Vivarelli," (unless it's a knock-off, sorta
like a gen-u-wine gold-tone krome-plated Tijuana "RolleXXX") and second,
depending on the size of the quarry and the conditions in which the
angler finds himself, a one-handed release (or landing) isn't all that
difficult. Oh, and third, Verelli or Vivarelli (or RolleXXX), I'll
still pass on (semi) automatic reels...but, I suppose, I have two good
arms, so I'll modify my previous "no (semi)automatic reels" to "unless
you only have one arm..."

TC,
R