Microlight Mini Ultralight Spincast Reel

I take this backpacking. I'll fly fish whenever possible, but on some of these mountain lakes sometimes you gotta have a spin rod to get out to where the fish are. The reel that came on my little collapsible Eagle Claw was crap - it was also open-style and had a huge angled handle, so it was awkward as heck to pack with other stuff. This little guy is perfectly compact. It fits in so easily with all my gear and weighs nothing. The fact that it was cheap too, it's no big deal if it gets busted up. Casts surprisingly far, though the retrieve isn't super-smooth. I wouldn't use this as a primary means of reeling, but it would be a pretty handy back-up for a lot of people. Oh... and it catches fish too.

I bought this to use on my Crappie rod. First trip out I got into some Crappie and after I set the hook and start to reel it in it would not reel the line in. Sometimes I could put tinction on the line and it would catch and then let go again. I went with a different reel. I might pull it back out of the drawer and try another line.

Cheap

When I casted it out no problem started to reel and it didn't click when engaging the line other than this no problem this is only very minor thing everything else was like a dream

It's very small, smaller than the Zebco Micro. Which was what I wanted. The Zebco foot arrangement would not fit in my very old ultralight rod, but this one fit fine and is the right size overall for that rod. This reel is not as robust internally as the Zebco Micro, but it functions just fine, is small and lightweight.

I've been searching for a really good micro-lite spin-cast reel and still haven't found one. I've tried several so far and they all have their shortcomings.This reel seems solid, made of a heavy metal casting (heavy relative to other micro's that is). It casts well, especially with the line that came on it, with some better quality line it should cast very well indeed. The problems I've found so far are the gears are noisy and the handle is a little too close to the body for my big hands. I've only used it a couple of times, and caught several 1/2 to 1 pound large mouth bass, and it did the job.

Cute as a bug's ear - nice and compact and built from solid materials - I put this little jewel on a very whippy but proven dependable telescoping 5.5 ft. South Bend Rod and they proved to be the perfect combo. This little reel felt better than a similar reel I have two of from a different manufacturer and this one is heavier and quieter and more pleasant to use generally. - It is 20 degrees but I did go out and take about 20 practice casts in the wind and snow and I really loved everything about this reel - It seems equal to similar products I have paid 4 times more for.

Worked great. Caught and released 5 rainbow trout at Lost Lake High Sierras. Perfect for backpacking