'Allo Alvey!

[JustJames]

Until recently I had never owned an Alvey reel.  But it seemed like that was an oversight.  I don't do beach fishing very often, but when I do, I enjoy it and it seems like an Alvey reel is the right tool for the job.  Before I had even tried one, I figured I looked their old school cool, and I definitely like their reputation for rugged simplicity.  They are plentifu and inexpensive second hand, so I tracked down a second hand one and this morning I gave it a try, heading down to Curl Curl before sunrise and before the wind came up.  The reel has what looks like 20lb line of indeterminate age and brand.  I had read that having a swivel is essential to prevent line twist (of which more later).

 

So now I have used an Alvey reel, caught a fish with and can give a noob's first impressions of using an Alvey.  This morning there was a southward current running along the beach at about a bajillion miles an hour.  Even using a pyramid sinker, my bait was heading towards Sydney at quite some speed.  That won't have helped with the line twist.  Alvey's create line twist because the reel is swivelled so that the outside of the (open) reel faces the casting direction, but line is wound back onto the reel.  You know you've got line twist - despite a swivel being present - because the line tries to curl around itself.  The cure, which I will try later today, is to wind line off the reel with no terminal tackle and let the line untwist itself.

 

Alvey's have a properly loud clicker (it's not really a ratchet because it doesn't work in only one direction, but that may just be my reel).  There is a drag setting, but it seems to only allow adjustment between none and minimal.  That may by ignorance, but it doesn't bother me.  I like to use minimal drag and circle hooks and let fish catch themselves.  I am sure that there are people who are expert at striking to set a hook, but I am even more sure that there are many more people who rip bait away from hungry fish too soon, and rip fishes' faces off.

 

As it was a reaonable sized bream of 35cm set the reel's clicker off, with an easily audible sound very similar to the TLD reels I use for trolling lures.  Winding a fish in is different to using an egg beater reel in a few ways.  First, you need to stop the reel  to grab a winder.  Second, there is no drag clutch so you need to manage the line tension in a similar fashion to using a hand line, after all an Alvey is basically a hand line attached to a rod.  Third, you need to use your non-winding hand to ensure that line is being laid neatly and evenly on the reel.  Again, this is similar to using an overhead reel.  Finally, there is no gearing, so you need to do a lot more winding to bring your catch in.

 

It's very early days yet, but I think I am going to enjoy using an Alvey.

 

I ended the sesh with the aforementioned bream and a shovel nose shark who was sent back into the surf.

[Green Hornet]

Welcome to the world of Alvey’s, they can take a little getting used to but they are certainly worth the effort. Blackfish aside, I wouldn’t use any other reel when fishing with bait.

Regarding your line twist, I assume you already know you must have your swivel above any other part of your rig as well as use a swivel that suits your line diameter to be effective. It also helps just after casting to allow your line to go slack just for a few seconds once your sinker hits the bottom. This takes the tension off the swivel and lets it do its job a little better.

If the sweep along the beach was as bad as you say, that can cause the twist as well. Letting your line go slack like I mentioned above every now and again will help there too.

 

[XD351]

Welcome to the alvey fan club ! The only reel that you can take into the afterlife that will survive the journey 🤣🤣

The only thing with all sidecast reels that you must be vigilant with is line control in a  strong crosswind - I have had a few times where I let the line go slack and the wind started to blow the line off the side of the spool .

[rickmarlin62]

Buy some good quality  small ball bearing swivels  they are ten times better than standard brassys

[noelm]

I used to have a couple of small Alveys on cheap short rods with Squid jigs tied on, (for those moments a Squid shows up) they stayed in the boat, out in the weather for about 8 years or so, never got looked after, and are still OK today. They are “different” and take a bit of getting used to.

[wazatherfisherman]

Hi Justjames I wouldn't even know where to start on my favourite topic about reels, welcome to the Alvey brigade!

The joy of using these reels comes from many different aspects, but my favourite thing would be fighting your fish WITHOUT using a drag system (mostly)-it's the fisher against the fish and you need to 'judge' everything 'manually'.

If you have any questions about them just message me- I have loved using them for close to 50 years

Waza

[JustJames]

Thanks all for the positivity and offers of help.

 

I knew that it's important to have a swivel immediately before the terminal tackle, which I messed up on by having a running sinker clip which negated the effect of the swivel.  I will get some small ball bearing swivels and use a 'restricted sinker rig' or similar to allow the swivel to do its job. 

[Green Hornet]

Just keep a close eye on your ball bearing swivel while fishing. Because they have finer tolerances and more moving parts, they are prone to seize up if the smallest amount of sand gets inside.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying don’t use them, just something to be aware of.

[noelm]

Just to explain (for those that might not know) why/how an Alvey causes line twist. It’s really quite simple, but……when you wind in with an Alvey, it just winds line on like an overhead reel, not like a spin reel, but, like a spinning reel, when you cast, the line comes off the side of the spool, every loop off initiates one twist in the line, so, first cast, you have (say) 20 “twists” you wind in leaving those twists in the line,  cast again, another 20 twist are added and so on, until you end up with the mother of all tangles! Unlike a spinning reel, you cast out, the line is twisted, but when you wind in, you “undo” the twists, get how it works?

Edited October 4, 2023 by noelm

[rickmarlin62]

Good quality ball bearing swivels have tight tolerances   never had sand in one

[Green Hornet]

13 hours ago, rickmarlin62 said:

Good quality ball bearing swivels have tight tolerances   never had sand in one

Perhaps we have finer sand down where I fish. I gave up using Sampos on my beach jew rigs due to constant clogging. Still use them around the rocks though.