Shilton SR8 Reel Review & Saltwater Fly Reel Comparison - The Toughest 8wt Reel
The New SR8 Joins the Legendary SR9, SR10, SR12 Fly Reels - Plus New Colors for 2025!
Check out the Shilton SR8
The Shilton SR8 is here, and it's awesome. This is my new personal reel, I am taking two for myself right away. Essentially a slightly smaller version of the SR9, the SR8 is the ultimate 8wt reel. There are also three brand new colors for 2025, Dark Green, Orange, and Lime Green. These colors will come to the entire Shilton reels lineup in January 2025 but for now we just have the SR8 in the new colors.
The paragraphs below this one are taken directly from my previous SR Reel Review. Most things are the same on the new SR8, it's just been scaled down a little from the SR9. I have owned the SR9 for many years and love it, so of course I am immediately picking out a couple of SR8 reels for myself before they even reach the shelves at our shop. I'll go into more detail once I get a chance to fully test these new reels but since I have owned the very similar SR9 (and the SR10) for so long, I have a pretty good feel for the series. I have taken them apart many times, switched retrieves for customers, cleaned and inspected them like I do for all other reel brands. So I know these reels pretty well.
My original Shilton SR Series Reel Review
Everyone wants to know more about Shilton reels. I am always happy to talk about them and I own a few myself. They are the reel of choice for remote destinations due to their bulletproof reliability and stopping power. Very simple and elegant design, not much that can go wrong. These are highly specialized performance fly reels for serious saltwater use. Giant Trevally (GT's) are the species these reels have mainly been tested on, and the smaller reels are just scaled down from those. South Africans love them for Tigerfish on the Zambezi river as well. Mongolia for Taimen, Golden Dorado in Bolivia and elsewhere in South America like the Amazon, Shilton reels prove themselves over and over again.
Shilton reels are very cool, I own a few myself and I use them all the time. I have also sent them with clients to the Seychelles and other destinations around the world many times, and heard nothing but great feedback from anyone who got one from me.
"Shiltons are the reel of choice for remote destinations due to their bulletproof reliability and stopping power"
Those of you who know me know that I have tested pretty much everything there is in terms of high-end saltwater rods and reels, lines, and so on, and while that may not make me an "expert" by itself, it should at least establish that I have a pretty good frame of reference for which gear feels best and works best. If you're considering Shilton for your next reel, it's a great choice.
There are two different series from Shilton which are for saltwater, and one freshwater series as well. SR series is the top end from Shilton, more modern designs than the classically styled SL series (also a great option). The CR series are freshwater reels which are also very nice.
Overview of the Shilton SR Series Reels:
The SR series are available in SR9 (8wt/9wt/10wt), SR10 (10/11wt), and SR12 (could use it as a big 11wt reel, but it's really a 12+ for monster tarpon and GT's). Don't worry about getting something exactly the right rod size, this series is meant to be able to cover a range of weights. They are very popular for travel to remote fly fishing destinations since they are probably the most durable and reliable of any reels on the market right now. You can literally hammer nails in with these reels.
Speaking of reliable, people of course naturally ask me "Why is it better than other reels?" - It's a big cork drag, very simple and very effective. Tibor and some Abel reels also have a cork drag (previously the Abel Super series but now the Rove), they are proven for decades now and work very well. Shilton just happens to have the largest cork drags of anything on the market. More surface area helps with stopping power, since your drag on these reels basically is just pressing the spool up against the frame of the reel to slow down the fish. Yes, that's it. That's the whole system, and you can get more drag out of them than many carbon fiber sealed drag systems (yes, really). I'm not saying it's a great idea to tighten your drag until the spool completely stops moving while you['re fighting a big fish, but with a Shilton you can do that if you want to (not the case for some other brand of reels). It's simple and it works very well.
Stopping power, reliability/durability, and very nice build quality. What's not to like? Price is comparable to Hatch and other high-end fly reels. Abel is considerably more money but also very nice. Nautilus and Tibor are less money by a little bit (somewhat depends on how you compare the models). Oh and Shilton reels come in a bunch of fun colors in addition to the usual silver or black. Note that Shilton calls silver reels "Titanium" although that is not the material just how they identify the color of the matte finish on the reels. Like how Abel calls their silver plain aluminum finish "Platinum" although to me that would imply a different color than just regular aluminum. Anyway, I don't name the colors but I like Turquoise the best personally, followed by Blue.
If you have any questions about Shilton reels, let me know.
