Hardy Golden JLH Ultralite

Pros: Hardy cachet, a work of art, authoritative click, smooth action
Cons: The price

What is it?
The JLH Ultralite was introduced to market by the House of Hardy, Alnwick, England in 1999. A freshwater click check reel, it is one of the lightest of its genre. The #6, for example, a 3 1/4" diameter reel, weighs only 3 5/8...

Pros: A premier reel, lightweight, handsome, unique, and it sounds great!
Cons: Price

All the useful information you will need on this reel is already provided in plilikoi's review. It is worth noting, however, that you can find much lower prices for this reel in the UK. I have seen the size 6 and lower models for as low as 91 pounds,...

Pros: Light, quality built
Cons: Drag not suited to lots of large fish

OK, I'm biased. I've had my #6 JLH Ultralight for over 9 years now and it has been my workhorse reel for 5-6 weight rods during this time and I love it. The drag is a click-pawl type and is nice and light with a good drag for smaller fish.

The only problem I've had with this reel over the years is that I wore the teeth down on two of my spools. However, bear in mind that this problem probably arose because I am from New Zealand and was using this reel on some big, strong fish in some big rivers and lakes so sometimes I had to crank the tension up tight! If you are likely to be catching lots of 4lb+ fish, get a disc drag. To their credit, Hardy fixed the spool problem and only charged me the freighting cost.