Now let’s understand the design behind both
the Disc Drag and the Click and Pawl drag
systems. We will start with the older Click and
Pawl sometimes called a Spring and Pawl as well. This
system is the very basics of brag systems. A toothy gear
is attached to the reel spool. The Pawl, which is sometimes a
small triangular piece of metal, is
under spring tension and pushed
against the teeth of the main gear
on the spool. As you strip a line or
a fish pulls on your line the Pawl
bounces over the teeth of the
gear causing the clicking sound,
“which is where the Click and
Pawl comes from”. The pawl
bouncing over the main gear is
the drag or your reel. Again this
reel is meant for small fish,
(ie…Trout, or Panfish) Some Click
and Pawl reels do have
adjustments for tighter drags but they do not allow for great adjustments, only a small amount of adjustments. So if you hook into a nice game fish you are left with a system that cannot handle the action from the fish. Of course there is an old method to slow down the run of the fish. Palming the reel, or providing your own tension as the drag. The true application of the Click and Pawl reel is to avoid backlashes when stripping your line. Another reason these reels are known for their basic ability to hold line is they are the cheaper option as fly reels go.
Understanding
Fly Reel Drags
Continued