I just bought a March Brown 6pc 9'9wt rod and would like to match up a good salt water reel with it? Has anyone ever used a March Brown before? This is the 1st one I've bought and wanted to know anyones thoughts on them.

• pflueger medalist, $30, cheapest that will get the job done without any real backing capacity,

• okuma integrity, $70, cheapest that will get the job done with some backing capacity

• tfo "large arbor", ~ $300, will definitely get the job done and will last forever

• abel, tibor, nautilus (~$700) if you have to have the best and/or drive an acura/navigator

I have also been pleased with Ross Large Arbor reels, but LHD pretty much has the price bases covered.

To give you some good advice a few more questions need to be answered. What type of action does the rod have? How strong is the but section? Are you going to be chasing fish inshore or offshore (this is the BIG question) Once you answer these then I can give you some advice as to style of reel and possible brands to look at.

Rod action has zero percent effect on reel selection.

I won a March Brown in a raffle, lawn cast it a few times in the back yard, then donated it to a charity auction. Mine was a seven piece rod that needed an instruction booklet to put it together and was stiff at each of the ferrules. When you have six ferrules, that's a lot of stiffness.

I second LHDs comments about reels, though I wouldn't be caught dead with a Pflueger in the salt. A reel is much more important in saltwater fly fishing than it is in freshwater, so I'd buy all the reel you can afford, with a solid disk drag.

that must be why all the March Brown rods on Sierra Trading Post at low prices.

That's were I bought it. Sierra Trading post has the March Brown's really cheap right now and I needed a heavier rod that I could travel with. It was delivered today so I'll go home and check it out. Thanks for the info.

There are a number of reels that will do fine in the salt in the $100-175 range as well. That's a sweet spot for reels to me. For 50% more money, you can usually get twice the quality.

Abel reels all the way. Only reel I ever use period because it is the best fly reel you can buy for the money.

I've bought a sage 1680 for $100 and have been very happy with it. I've only used it in the salt a few times and didn't hang any real fighters but it seems like a solid reel for $100.

Ross Reels is probably your best bang for the buck. I have Ross Cimmaron 5 that holds over 300 yds of backing. Which is plenty of backing for them large Jacks and Kings. Another good thing about Ross is their lifetime warranty and yearly cleaning through the company for only the price of shipping the reel to them.

I have been using the same Pflueger Medalist 1498 on a huge variety of Saltwater gamefish for 30 plus years....Never had a problem....I know it's not trendy....all it does is function. You can buy reels with better drags...but unless you are fishing for BIG Tarpon, Trevally or the like....it will get the job done.

Like ole Al says; just take em in the shower with you and theyre ready to go tommorrow-p-

Coltons are my pick. Bob's from Texas but lives in PA now. He's a heck of a guy and knows what he's doing. I own three CRGII's paired to a Tradewind and two Leviathan rods and just love them. They're built like M1911's and a good thing too because I'm a clutz. Just call him and tell him what you fish for and in the most likely conditions that prevail and he will match a reel and rod for you. OBTW, lifetime warranty.

coltonfly.com