Apex Light

A P E X  |    The Highest Point Of Achievement

Creating the next generation fly fishing reel has always been a dream at REEL Fly Fishing. We do this by pursuing new designs, pushing CNC boundaries, introducing new carbon lattice drag systems and experimenting with robust coatings.

A good fly reel will have either a fantastic drag system, amazing aesthetics or perhaps even offer weight specific features – but a truly great reel will have all of these aspects.

Introducing the APEX Light, a fly reel built with an obsessive desire to be the most visually appealing fly reel out there!

Creating a new fly reel is an incredibly exciting process, and after countless revisions and adjustments, we settled on two final 3D renders.

It was clear that both these sensational designs would need to make their way into production, hence we have two models, the APEX and APEX Light.

The Design and Features

The APEX Light fly reel range is all about a minimalist look, stripped out design and weight specific features.

The design ethos behind the APEX Light was to create the ultimate open spooled light weight fly reel with a minimalist contemporary design. Through the same use of the V-shape spool shape we were able to remove the hoop from the spool entirely. This helps to create that ultra clean side profile with incredible strength.

We routed out every bit of excess of material that was possible, in order to save even more weight. The rear frame arms, front spool arms and ventilation holes are a testament to this process.

The drag system on the APEX Light is almost identical to the APEX. For the Light version we adjusted the carbon discs to lower drag ramp, this resulted in a slightly lower maximum pressure but a more gradual spectrum of pressure. The APEX Light is a formidable light tippet reel and excels in the larger format as a Euro Nymph reel due its closed frame design. Having a closed frame design removes the chances for thin tippet and indicator lines to pass through the gap that is usually present on non-closed frame fly reels.

Weight Specific Breakdown

The current two weights for the APEX Light have individual features that are specific to their class.
The APEX Light 5.6 has an open frame design with a slower drag ramp up due to the reduced maximum drag pressure. The APEX Light 7.8 features a full frame design and increased maximum drag pressure, we adopted for this approach on the larger weights for increased strength and robustness. The full frame design and large arbor spool of the 7.8.9 model lends itself exceptionally well as a Euro Nymph reel, don’t be put off by its size, a larger reel has many benefits in the Euro style.

A heavily textured rear drag knob controls a beautifully smooth completely waterproof barrel styled multi stacked carbon drag system. The drag can be adjusted incrementally from zero (no free-spooling to avoid over-winds) to an almost impossible maximum pressure. A low audible click is present on both the retrieval/outgoing of the spool.

Start-up inertia and overall drag usability is an extremely important aspect of a truly next generation fly reel, the APEX Light range has a multitude of different latticed woven carbon discs that provide almost zero start-up inertia while still remaining cool and maintenance free. Different types of carbon weaves provide different attributes to a fly reel drag system, the heavier grained provide more stopping power whereas the smoother ones provide more gradual ramp up and less drag pressure. The APEX light has an extra smooth carbon disc to reduce low end drag ramp up, the APEX is the heavier hitter with an extra heavy weave to provide that ultimate stopping power.

The days of having to service and care for your drag system is long gone, no need for oils/greases or lubes, the drag system innovation is the aspect that really sets the APEX range apart from nearly every other reel available in South Africa.

CNC design cutting is pushed to the limits on the APEX Light range of reels, each reel starts out as a block of the highest quality A6060-T6 aluminium bar stock – the same quality aluminium airplanes are made from. Through a lengthy highly accurate CNC needle point milling, the APEX Light is slowly turned and refined. Machined fly reels are robust, rigid and extremely durable in comparison to lower cost cast reels. The knobs, frames, spools, reel seat and other components are all new and unique the APEX range and fully machined to ensure precise close tolerances that you can expect from a world class fly reel. We make use of a 5-axis CNC machine to create the design on both the APEX and APEX light range.

Model   |   APEX Light

Weights Available   |   5/6 and 7/8/9

Arbor   |   Large

Colour   |   Dusted Black with bright red inserts

Anodizing  |   Type II dusted anodizing

Drag  |  Waterproof barrel style multi-stacked carbon washers

Spool  |  3D rotor balanced spool

Retrieval   |   Left/Right hand

Packaging   |  White box with RFF protective bag and instruction manual

Seasonal sticker included

Weight   

• Apex Light #56   |   164 g
• Apex Light #78   |   190 g

Designed and manufactured in collaboration with the best South Korean manufacturer exclusively for Reel Fly Fishing. Our manufacturer specializes in ultra high end top tier American, UK, Swedish and Italian fly reels.