Advantages of Large Arbor reel?

[G-Man]

Do you recommend a large arbor reel?

Does it just have more line hold capacity?

Advantages or disadvantages?
Thx
-Greg

Ah, replacement spools may be harder to come by.

[capemike88]

"Does it just have more line hold capacity?"

Actually, it has a smaller line capacity, the biggest plus, besides weight, would probably be the faster line retreival.

mike

[masssalt]

Disadvantages:

Costs more
Weighs more
Holds less backing
Because of the weight issue, most designs are lightened up to the point that they are actually less durable.

Advantages:

You never get a really low retrieval rate
By using a reel with a larger overall diameter, your fly line stretches easier for casting, but you could accomplish the same thing with a regular arbor if you went to a larger diameter

[ikan besar]

I own a number of both large and normal arbor reels and have never lost or caught a fish due to arbor size.

If you have a normal arbor reel, use spectra backing and your arbor won't shrink that much even with a few hundred yards stirpped off of it.

If you use a large arbor reel, use spectra backing and the capacity woes will be nil.

Don't worry too much about arbor size - going fishing is far more important than a .5" gain in arbor size on your reel.

[bones]

Ditto to all of the above. When I switched from 8wt rods/reels to 6wts for battling redfish I found the 6wt reel to be simply too small to retrieve at the speed I needed. Glad I had not spent much money on the reel. I considered a large arbor reel but noted the diameter of a 6wt LA to be only insignificantly larger than my regular size Lamson 8wts. I rigged the 6wt line and 20# backing onto my 8wt Lamsons and it works very well on my 6wt rod, and the balance of the rod/reel is uncompromised, plus I've got more backing than I could ever need. So now I have several spools rigged with different weights of line and use the same frame, depending on what type of fish I am targeting.

I think the large arbor reels are over-rated