I picked up this neat little Soviet Reel (named the "universal" or "all-rounder") from an internet seller. The box says it sold for 4 rubles and 50 kopecks in 1990 which with inflation is around 3800 ru today (roughly $40 USD). Drag can be turned on and off with the switch on the back.

Please forgive me if I don't quite get the pics right, its been a while since I've used this forum.

I think it's like the old AMC Gremlin automobile - so ugly it's cute. How does it handle?

There are some different ideas in the design. Although I'm not sure how well the reel will wear with time, especially the drag and spindle.


Tom

I get this mental image of Chekov promoting it on a Star Trek episode.

Do we need to take our shirts off when fishing it?

How does it handle? Not great honestly haha. I haven’t lined it up yet (I am shifting around all my reels and lines to use on my fly rod collection so the same line class rods can be used at the same time—I’ve got some kids I’m going to try introducing to fly fishing finally) but as I reel I can feel some play in the spool as the handle reaches the bottom and the spool rubs against the frame. It’s exacerbated when the drag gets tighter controlled by screwing the spool on tighter. With less drag, the from screw seems to want to come looser


If it doesn’t simply remain a fun little curiosity it’s definitely getting used as a beater/kid reel


To the other questions it weighs 148g/5.2oz, I havnt come across a Soviet fly rod anywhere on the internet, and shirts are optional when using it