Hi All,
I havnt put much forward thinking into my Salmon and Steelhead set up, but its time. Im set in the fly rod department. What I have is a Pflueger Medalist 1496 1/2 and a Olympic 460. "I am thinking" the Medalist
would do the job fine, but the Olympic Im not sure because I have no background to go on. I dont spend a
lot on my equipment, but I dont buy crap either. Thoughts and recommendations please.

Canton

To me, the Olympic Medalist close was always a curio - I'd never consider putting one on a rod.

Marquis Salmon is likely not in your price target, but I'll agree about palming rim being useful for fish this size in current.
That said, you can do some pretty good thumb drag on a spool faceplate.
If the choice is Olympic or Medalist, I'd go with the Medalist.

I used a Hardy Marquis 8/9 Multiplier. Seemed to work fine.

Of course those catching larger fish or fishing fast water may want a larger reel.

I was at the vintage store today and found a Daiwa 275 in VG condition. I think it a salt water fly reel, very heavy duty. It was only $29
but appears to be too much for what I would need, so I passed.

Yes, thats what it said on the reel. Ill have to google it, Im not familiar.

In my youth a Medalist was the thing to have steelheading in the Columbia/Yakima/Snake when I grew up. We used 1495's, the 1496 will work fine. I've always found the 1496 a bit too big for my liking.

I never got used to the palming /exposed ring thing, caught a zillion salmon and steelhead wo that, lots of ways to add drag, stick your fingers inside against spool or against line, or just change angle of rod,

I agree the Olympic (if it's just the clone I'm thinking off) might work fine, but they are kinda poor reels.

Have fun!

Pacific Steelhead are a bit more active (or at least have more places to run) than the Great Lakes steelhead.

I would try the Medalist. But I definitely agree that a counterbalance would be a big help.
If you are wearing gloves, you hold the line against the grip for a bit more tension.


If the Medalist doesn't work, you will have a great story and you can regroup from there.

I prefer not to be out gunned, even for Erie Steelhead.

I would add the counterbalance to the Medalist, and fish it without reservations. However, I have no experience with the Olympic.

There is no effort involved in sticking on a counterweight, but not much benefit either. The most important thing to do with any screw-assembled reel is to use a good fitting screwdriver to check the snugness. Even if only one is found slightly loose, remove them all and use a mild (tool-release) threadlocker, or nail-polish, or even just the poor-man's nylock, a shred of fine tippet material. The screws should be snug when reinstalled, not ram-tight. The purpose is to "lock" them in place. Otherwise, vibration, sometimes combined with migrated penetrating oil used elsewhere on the reel, will eventually loosen one or another of the screws. You don't want the frame skewed when a pillar comes loose as a big fish takes line. The drag and the reel, with or without a counter weight, and with or without a palming rim spool, will work fine.

To feel what the counterweight does, hold the rod in your hand and strip off line quickly. The reel does a wumpa, wumpa, wumpa, because the handle puts the reel out of balance. Is a counterbalance necessary? no. Does it make the medalist much nicer? yes.

I haven't put them on most of my pfluegers, but I 3 of the 4 medalists that I use regularly have a counterbalance. The 4th is my first fly reel, a 1494 CJ that is indestructable and I use when I know it's going to get banged up.

However, I wouldn't wait for the counterbalance to go fishing.

The Medalist 1500 RC Series have rim control. Possibly can just find a spool to fit on your reel that currently doesn't have rim control.

Barry