I have had the opportunity to fish this 4wt Lamson Konic 3 times in the last 3 weeks. I'm diggin it. It's Lamson's least expensive reel, but I quickly understood why Lamson has a stellar reputation. It seems to balance well with the Scott A3 8.5 4 weight I am fishing it on. It just feels right. It is a true mid-large arbor reel, and picks up line quickly. The drag is fine tunable, and when I pull line of the reel, the spool moves and stops easily on command. It doesn't take a strong tug to get it going, nor does it continue to spin after I've stopped pulling. It reacts proportionally to the power I put into it.
Fishing primarily small streams in WNC, a reel has never been a huge priority to me when fishing for trout. However, if you have a fish 16 inches or larger on, the reel suddenly becomes important. This reel gives me confidence handling big fish, and has already worked 4 fish over the 16 inch range well.
As always, I didn't spend full retail on this piece of equipment. I caught it at a going out of business sale for $99 instead of $125. It's the best reel I've ever owned. It out performs the Ross Flyrise I have ($100 reatil, I paid $80) and the Reddington Redfly 2 ($80, and a gift). I do like both the Flyrise and Redfly 2, but I think the Lamson and is worth the extra.
** A year and a half later and I like the reel even more. It has been durable, and the o-ring system to remove the spool is intriguingly simple. If you firmly push the spool out from the drag side of the reel, it slides right off. If you try to pull from the spindle side, its locked on tight. No buttons needed. You can easily change right to left hand reel from there, and tighten the drag mechanism if needed.
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