Islander Reels MR3 – Product Review

Last summer I spent 85 days guiding on the coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) with my brand new Islander MR3′s.  Both I got brand new in June 2011.  I had HIGH expectations that this reel would be awesome due to the fact that they are worth almost $600 each!

The MR3 is machine crafted out of solid aluminum and have a very nice finish, I find them to be a good looking reel. The Mr3′s have a larger arbour than the MR2′s which allows it to hold a massive amount of line, which I found to be completely unnecessary even for the 40-60lb salmon I was catching. 

MR3 Pros –

- The line capacity is quite a bit more than the older MR2′s.

- It’s an islander reel therefore it is well made and has excellent components.

- Made from solid block of Aluminum and balanced well.

- The new stainless bearings allow the Islanders to spin almost as well as a centerpin.

- The drag is excellent when properly cleaned and greased.  No other saltwater reel has a smoother drag system than an islander.

MR3 Cons -

- The MR3′s don’t have a freespool switch like the MR2′s do.  What this means to a fishing guide, is that everytime you have to set-up your gear on the downrigger, you have to manually loosen the drag to drop the gear down, then re-tighten the drag to a proper setting once your gear is down at the proper depth.  This doesn’t sound like a lot work, but when you are bringing the gear up and down 50 times a day because of Coho or weeds or etc… you begin to dislike the MR3′s drag system.  On the MR2′s you simply flick a switch and the reel goes directly to free spool, and when you flick the switch back the drag is at the same setting it was before you went to free spool! This means you don’t have to touch the drag at all, and it will always be in the right drag setting.  Not only that but the larger star drag of the MR3′s will get caught in your guests gloves, or hands and will loosen the drag unknowingly, causing a nasty rats nest!  Whereas the MR2′s have a very small drag knob that can not easily get caught in the hands of your guests.

- More on the drag system; the back of the MR3 reel has vents,  these vents allow rain water to wash the oil and grease off of the cork which applies the drag to the spool.  On a very wet day, the drag will start to chatter when playing a fish or worse pulse heavily.  This is a pretty scary situation when your guest who had paid $5000 to catch a Tyee is fighting the drag on the reel while playing a fish.  This is the reason why I had to apply duct tape over the vents.

- The MR3 creeps when you have it set up on your down rigger.  This means it slowly lets line out a click ever couple of seconds which forces you to apply more drag to stop it from doing that, which means that you have to remember to reduce the drag when your client has a fish on… while they are playing the fish… never a good idea.

I give the MR3′s a 7 out of 10.

Islander reels have an excellent reputation as having some of the best reels made for Salmon fishing on the planet.  They have been in business a long time and they have always made a great product.  I think the problems that I have highlighted in this review can easily be resolved by Islander reels.  Until then, I recommend buying the Islander MR2 as a guide quality saltwater reel.

Tight lines,

Ian Barker

Category: BC, Product Review