Last Friday I had picked up an Allen & Co. Alpha 2/4 wt reel from Justin to go on a 4wt rod. I had already picked up a XL in 5/6 wt and am very happy with it so I decided to go the next step up on his reel line to see what the Alpha had.
When I first received the Alpha on Friday 04/09/2010 I was blown away by its appearance. My first impression on the reel was "WOW!!!! What an outstanding looking reel".
So of course, after examining this reels external beauty, by my nature I had to dig into it a little more and find out every little thing that made this thing work. After taking the spool off and examining the spool I found that there were two small ball bearings, one on each side of the spool to slide over the drag stem and keep out any play in the spool much like the two ball bearing in the XL series. One modification from the XL to the Alpha is that the one way bearing has been moved out of the spool and placed directly in the drag stem. I have not noted any real performance differences with it being moved there. The only over all advantage I could find with that is it lightens up to spool and makes it easier to change retrieval sides. The line capacity of the reel is about average for a reel this size. I had spooled up a airflow ridge line tactical trout 90' WF 4wt with about 30-40 yards of Dacron backing and I also had put on a Shark Skin trout taper 100' WF 4wt with about 20 yards of Dacron backing just to see what it could really hold. For a 4wt rod you won’t need any more line than that I don’t think, right?
Now to the frame. After fiddling with the spool for a few minutes I had moved on to the frame and drag system. The frame it self is very durable, I had to text Justin and actually ask him if it was a different material than the XL because of how sturdy it was but still very light. The cuts defiantly look nice on the frame but play a very big part in the sturdiness of this reel. After examining the frame I moved on to the drag system. The drag is a large carbon sealed disc system with a wide variation in drag tension. The drag on this reel does not have the start up tension than needs more pressure to start like some that you see on other companies reels. That in tern makes it very gentle on fine tippets and makes it much harder for a fish to break loose. A large drag knob is incorporated on the reel with large cuts so your hand will not slip. This reel defiantly has a top of the line simple drag system that will take some real abuse to wear out.
I was ale to get out this past weekend to fish it and test if my initial observations were correct. By the end of the day I have landed 9 Mountain white fish ranging from 15-21 inches on this reel with out loosing a single fish due to the drag start up tension and was able to land the fish quickly with the mid arbor design. After hooking that many white fish on this reel I have no doubt that this reel will last a life time.
Thank You,
AB
When I first received the Alpha on Friday 04/09/2010 I was blown away by its appearance. My first impression on the reel was "WOW!!!! What an outstanding looking reel".
So of course, after examining this reels external beauty, by my nature I had to dig into it a little more and find out every little thing that made this thing work. After taking the spool off and examining the spool I found that there were two small ball bearings, one on each side of the spool to slide over the drag stem and keep out any play in the spool much like the two ball bearing in the XL series. One modification from the XL to the Alpha is that the one way bearing has been moved out of the spool and placed directly in the drag stem. I have not noted any real performance differences with it being moved there. The only over all advantage I could find with that is it lightens up to spool and makes it easier to change retrieval sides. The line capacity of the reel is about average for a reel this size. I had spooled up a airflow ridge line tactical trout 90' WF 4wt with about 30-40 yards of Dacron backing and I also had put on a Shark Skin trout taper 100' WF 4wt with about 20 yards of Dacron backing just to see what it could really hold. For a 4wt rod you won’t need any more line than that I don’t think, right?
Now to the frame. After fiddling with the spool for a few minutes I had moved on to the frame and drag system. The frame it self is very durable, I had to text Justin and actually ask him if it was a different material than the XL because of how sturdy it was but still very light. The cuts defiantly look nice on the frame but play a very big part in the sturdiness of this reel. After examining the frame I moved on to the drag system. The drag is a large carbon sealed disc system with a wide variation in drag tension. The drag on this reel does not have the start up tension than needs more pressure to start like some that you see on other companies reels. That in tern makes it very gentle on fine tippets and makes it much harder for a fish to break loose. A large drag knob is incorporated on the reel with large cuts so your hand will not slip. This reel defiantly has a top of the line simple drag system that will take some real abuse to wear out.
I was ale to get out this past weekend to fish it and test if my initial observations were correct. By the end of the day I have landed 9 Mountain white fish ranging from 15-21 inches on this reel with out loosing a single fish due to the drag start up tension and was able to land the fish quickly with the mid arbor design. After hooking that many white fish on this reel I have no doubt that this reel will last a life time.
Thank You,
AB
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