Eagle ClawIn Line Ice Reel

Very smooth and works like a charm

This Eagle Claw ice reel is a great addition to the fishing gear. I have several that I use myself, and now I buy them as gifts for friends. With the push of a button, the line goes out effortlessly, and when you reach the desired depth, just give the crank a small turn to engage the spool. What I like best about this reel is when I’m fishing with a novice fisherman, and a fish is taking line, often an inexperienced person will continue reeling, even though line is going out. When that happens with an open faced reel, the line just gets twisted, causing a bad tangle, which turns the beginners day into a nightmare. This reel never does that, because it’s a simple winch spool. They can crank all day and never tangle. The only negative thing I can say about this reel is that you need to hold a finger on the spool when it is in freewheeling mode. If not, it can result in a backlash. I hope this helps.

Never had a in-line reel, was interesting and had to but it to see what it is like. The materials are high quality and has the feel of an expensive purchase. Still getting used to the speed the line goes out when dropping a lure and not getting over travel, tricky to set the tension for this in the reel. The reduced line twist is definitely noticeable and a highlight. The way the line goes onto the spool can be lopsided though, it does not distribute back and forth for full coverage as a typical style retriever does, but does not seem to be a problem (I loaded the line using finger to go back and forth for even coverage). All in all, worth the price, good purchase.

Great deal

this was my first experience with this type of reel. Had this for one season of ice fishing, and the line keeps slipping past the line guard and gets tangled in your reel. If left unnoticed it gets in the gears and jams up the reel. Unless you take it completely apart to clean out the gears it doesn't last long. Worked fine when not tangled.

I was talked into buying one of these by my brother in law. What a great reel!! I absolutely loved it. Switching it from left hand to right hand is very easy. I let my son try it on our last trip and I never got it back the rest of the day! I have since ordered another one so we don’t have to fight over it. I’ve tried many inline reels and this one is great and very affordable! Don’t hesitate to try one. You won’t be disappointed.

Put this on my 13' long crappie dabbling rods to reach out and do vertical presentation into brush and trees. Fantastic reels for this purpose. Much better than spinning reels as you can push spool release button and when friction adjust setting is set by you to match weight of jig can let lure drop slowly to desired depth and then reengage spool to put lure right in front of target fish. Set drag tight and just lift your catch right up out of the brush with your long rod. A must have for this type presentation. Will work on fly rods for same presentation when crappie fishing.

I picked up another pair of these reels for a pair of new custom panfish rods. The reels work real ice for the money and over all are a nice product. the two complaints that I have are there is no guard on the back of the rod to prevent your hand from rubbing against the spool when you are fishing. A little change in my grip and fishing with smaller gloves or no gloves at all seem to have fixed this. I also notice that due to a gap between the spool and the main frame, when jigging or setting the hook I have had the line fall out of the reel, then get wrapped around other parts of the reel, causing me to break the line when trying to retrieve. once I noticed this issue a little bit more care when I am fishing and I don't have these issues any more.over all a good reel for the money just took a little bit of getting use to for me. Will purchase this reel to put on the next ice rod I decide to build.

Use it for smelt fishing, really happy with it & caught fish the first time out!

Good value for the price. Used it probably 40 times, no real issues. Not as smooth as the high end inline reels but also $100 bucks cheaper. I will buy another one.

Good quality for the price...not a cheap knock off from u-know-where...

Reasonable price

Not a super heavy drag...but fort panfish its great