"snakefiddler" wrote in message
...
while at my buddy kim's homeplace over thanksgiving, his brother gave me a
reel that he had had layin around. it's a pflueger summit 1294, (it has a
floating line on it.). he knows little about it, as he does not fly fish,
and bought some fly fishing stuff on whim some time ago. all i know about
reels is that the one frank sent me goes with my cabela 4 weight. i've
tried to learn more about reel selection from web-sites, but have been
unsuccessful does anyone know anything about this reel, is it compatible
with my rod, and how does one go about matching reels with rods?

thanks in advance-
snake

BTW, is the the same model/make?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

Generally, you can tell the 'weight rating' of a reel by how much line it
holds. The heavier lines have a thicker diameter, so naturally a full length
of thicker line will necessitate a larger reel (especially when you add the
backing). Also, if you consider that bigger reels are used on bigger rods,
to catch bigger fish, then there is a certain 'beefiness' factor that goes
along with it: the smaller (2-4 wt) reels tend to be more delicate. They
also don't have drags, as you aren't muscling in anything so big that you
can't palm the drag.

From a quick google search, it looks like the 1294 is a 4-6 wt reel, so it
ought to work on the rod you have. However, it seems to be a piece of crap,
so you might want to just toss it in the bag in case you drop your better
reel overboard.

But I'm still new at this, too. I'm sure more experienced voices are going
to send you a more excellent info than this....I look forward to their
responses also.

--riverman