Sonik SKS fly reel review

What is the Sonik SKS fly reel made from?

The Sonik SKS fly reel range are made from polished die cast aluminium and are painted matt black, so they have a smoother finish than some other die cast reels on the market.

The SKS fly reel is Sonik's entry level model and can be picked up - at full price - for £40-50, depending on the size. For the money, you get a decent bit of kit with good looks, a smart modern design and surprisingly good build quality.

What sizes are they?

The Sonik SKS fly reel comes in three sizes: #3/4, #5/6 and #7/8. These cover all of the common river and stillwater uses in the UK, so there's something for everyone in the range.

How do they feel to use?

At full price, these reels sell for just under £50, but I picked up a #5/6 model for George for about half price. This was a bargain as it's a great reel for that price.

To me, it feels very similar in overall build quality to the Vision Deep range. I wonder whether they're all made by the same manufacturer?

George's reel holds a long specialist distance casting fly line, a six weight Barrio GT 125, as well as plenty of backing, so line capacities are very good. Some reels with smaller arbours might struggle to hold a line like this or a thicker Barrio SLX.

He's had a good six months of use out of his now and it's performed excellently. It's proved resilient to scratches and the drag has remained smooth and functional, despite the amount of use and the amount of mud it's seen.

Update: George has now learnt the hard way that you should be careful when attaching your fly reel to your rod. A small drop of a few feet seems to have bent the frame slightly and his favourite reel has now jammed solid. Oh, well. It was good while it worked.