Alright, I'm gonna bite. I want to get one, I fished with one up in Nootka sound a few years back, loved it! Is there anywhere that sells them cheaper than the rest of the shops? $595.00 is alot of duckets to lay down for one.

I believe Islander uses a fixed price system for selling their reels to dealers. I could be wrong on that, but when I looked around for an Islander, the prices were identical no matter where you went to.

Most of our local stores (at the time) didn't even carry one, so I had to get one via ebay. I didn't save any money, but at least I found one.

I went with the MR2 over the MR3 because I wanted a knuckle buster, not another clutched reel.

I know Sky-Guy got one at the same time, but I don't know if his is the MR2 or MR3. It's the cool blue one!

I fished the MR3 out of Gilly's boat and it was nice. Just a personal preference at that point.

Yep, I scoured the world before I bought my MR3 and ended up purchasing one from Berry's Bait in BC. There is a guy in Washington who sells on Ebay that you can sometimes find is selling them a bit cheaper.

I bought this reel in blue and silver...: http://www.anglingbc.com/index.cfm/review/1
And couldnt be happier.

It performs flawlessly, is simple in design ( all you operate is the drag) and will probably never break. Easy clean up. Drag is ultra silky smooth when a fish takes line. Last but not least..... it has a major bling factor!!

Parker, a true knucklebuster doesnt have Anti-reverse, ya Puss!

Only the ARMR2 has the anti-reverse, right?

I thought the MR3 did, but in looking at the site, I guess not.

Now that I've looked at the site, Gilly had the ARMR@2', I believe.

I just have the MR2. No anti-reverse there.

oh ok, I thought you had the AR. you're excused!

Team Islander needs to fish together!

We might not catch anything, but at least our gear will look impressive!

if all goes well....I'll have my boat in the water next friday AM for an E-Bay Run. Wanna come along with your too long-a leaders?

Yes!

I own a pair of clippers. I can cut them down.

Besides, your boat likes me.

SmellslikeTuna.

Bottom line, you are getting what you pay for with these reels. This isnt a $500.00 reel that will go tits-up in 3-5 years like some do. You'll have it for the rest of your life..... unless you fish with people who like to throw gear in the water


Yes it does Parker, you have had some bender days out there on it, like last time!

This guy makes it look easy. As someone said the other day, few have the ability to any thread into a ho'ing thread quite like Parker.

I'm on the juice.

I'll eventually get incriminated by my trainer and someone at Balco, my reputation will be forever tarnished, and when I finally get sent to the MLBH Hall of Fame, I'll have a * put next to my name.

By the way, with the larger arbor on the MR3, completely filled with line ( we're talking +/- 500 yards of 20# test) I can retreive line *almost* as fast as my buddies with a 5:1 or 6:1 reel.

With a single action, Sometimes you have to seriously bust balls to catch up to a fish coming at you.... but that is what adds to the excitement IMO.

I'm picking up my centerpin downrigger rod that is being built for me on Tuesday.. I bought a Shimano Moocher to put on it to start out as I don't have the $$$$ to throw down on the islander right now but when I can I will.. I have fished them and damn are they sweet... smoooooooth as silk for sure

Watch ebay as said above sometimes you can find them a bit cheaper, not by much, but some, and no tax which helps take some of the sting away
My 2 cents

Heres a pretty pink one so Sol can match it up with Sherry's custom pink downrigger rod...

I'm on the JV team of centerpin reel users. I have a Daiwa M-One Plus reel, awfully smooth drag, and drop dead simple. Plus it's $50! LOVE IT!

I have MR2's and MR3's, I have grown to love the MR3 over the MR2. I like the simplicity and with the larger arbor it retrieves much faster than the MR2. It's really a simple fantastic reel. Turn the drag knob and your in business. Want to let line out without turning the drag knob just turn the arbor backwards I love them. Fished on a 11 or 12' moocher they are the cat's ass.

I have had an MR2 for more than 15 years. I has always operated flawlessly. in Canada I often fish two rods, usually my MR 2 on one, and typically a Shimano centre pin on the other. I find myself thinging"Shait, that fish is on the Shimano"

I convert my MR2 to a fy reel in winter. It has been perfect on tarpon, sailfish, and othewr bigguns.

Buy it, you will never regret it.

The MR2 doesn't convert to left hand retrieve from what I understand? Is that true?

Bought 2 MR2's several years ago at River Sportsmen in Cambell River. I think I paid $400-$450 Canadian (good exchange rate at the time) they were blems. The spool was a different tone of gold than the face plate.

I just keep replacing washers in my Shimano and as I was explaining to my wife the cost of those washers really adds up over time, but if I got a quality Islander reel, in the long run, we would save money.

Those are sweet reels and I will own one next year.

i have never fished a centerpin but hear all of this talk of how great they are. I would love to try it but dont want to drop $500 without a test drive. is there a "beginners" reel you guys would recommend? And what kind of rod would be a match for it? It may even be a worth a free trip to WP to let me play with your reel.

After all these years, I am seeing the knock-offs on my old Wynona reels from the early days. I still have 3-4 of them in the cabinet. One is stainless steel with a friction brake. One even has a piece of really thick leather that you used to thumb the spool. I still love to use them for mooching. I think one of these would make a great training reel before someone made the plunge for big bucks. You can get them for cheap on ebay or one of the tackle collectors sites. Mine are very smooth and about as fool proof a reel as you can get. I will see if I can post some pictures if anyone has an interest.

I started with a Daiwa M-One. I think it is a perfectly good reel. Then GutZ had a Shimano 4000GT, and I bought on of those. Slightly better than an M-one, but not by much. I can say that I have never had a single problem with my M-One, however Myself & Several other owners of the 4000GT have experienced things like screws coming loose internally, which makes a annoying clank when you reel.

You'll be fine with either of those reels for starters, then after you have used them for a couple years, even though there is nothing wrong with them, you might start looking at the Islanders. Like Said, they are made with great precision and sport an exceptionally polished Anodized finish.... = bling.

Rods, Nothing shorter than 10'6", fiberglass, e-glass, or a blended blank with a mooching handle. I like at least 10" of cork below the reel seat so it sits in a downrigger rod holder and won't feel like it might slip out. I use a 1264BP blank made by Rainshadow. Other off the shelf rods that work well are Daiwa Heartlands and Shimano Convergence rods.

If you go custom, Check out the salt water reel seat components that Kerry has at Rainshadow, they're really sweet!

With a single action reel and a long slow-action blank like mentioned, keeping barbless hooks in a fishes mouth is much easier than with a 8' 6" Fiberglass rod and a levelwind. Setups like this really shine when playing a fish around the boat. When you get a fish close and see color, you loosen the drag a bit so that before netting if/when the fish darts off or makes a quick turn, there isn't a bad jerk on the hooks. The reel just pays out line silky smooth and the hooks stay orientated correctly. The extra length of the rod from butt to tip also helps if you have to stick the rod in the water because the fish went under the boat, guiding a fish around an outboard, and during landing.

Lots of knuckle buster talk w/o mention of the Hardy Longstone. I'm considering a MR2 as I have an Islander fly reel and they are very nice however, they lack a little soul. They are close to perfect which might be a little sterile?

My good friend and mentor Rikk Taylor always fished sallmon with his Hardy Longstone. Whenever i think of him I can see that beat up old gray HL , him palming THE SPOOL, and the looong rod bent in a sweet curve. It's is a classic.


Damn, now I think I must have one. Do you have any idea what one iN fair shape might fetch?

I bougt a mr3 last year and I love it. This is the only model that converts to left hand retrieve It. as far as the armr2 is concerned you might as well get a level wind if your worried about bruising your little knuckles waist of money and I give my dad $hit about using one every time we go out. as far as prices are concerned holiday sports in Burlington WA will have the best. I dont recall what i paid but I know after shopping around they were the lowest.

I bought mine (MR2) off a guy on Ebay for around $450. He was in Washington so I got it pretty fast. He was selling multiple reels at the time...sorry I can't remember his name. I chose the MR2 because I wanted the freespool option which I need when mooching. I usually leave the drag off and use my fingers. If you add some dacron backing on it you'll be better off as far as speed while retrieving.

Heh. That's what I end up doing on the letdown. Just flip the switch to freespool and use your finger as a break.

Never tried that on a fish yet. I think I'll puss out and use the drag on a fish.

Most of us use on ly a very small amount of drag, just enough to avoid backlashes. If you use a lot of drag you may as well go but a level wind.

To me the whole point is to be more involved in the fight, by using your sense of touch as the drag.

Any damn fool can reel mindlessly while the drag does everything for them.

Ya...I always have it set really low anyway so it is basically has no drag. Just for fun sometimes when fighting a fish I'll flip the switch just to hear my real scream when the fish takes off.

How does one get a DR1264 with an MR2 to touch the tip of the rod to the water while using a downrigger?

I want that rod bent over and damn near on the water when hooked up to a rigger.

You guys re-setting your drags after the fish pops off the rigger?

I set the drag right at the breaking point. Usually a good wave will cause the reel to give, freaking everybody out (including me).

I've yet to hook a fish in the sound that puts up any real fight while on the Islander. A few line tugs, but that's about it.

Parker back the drag off! I caught my first Thompson Steelhead on an Island fly reel, the drag is so smooth it get set tighter than needed.

BTW, did you have a Aire Puma about 7-10 years ago?

I seldom use my Islander with a downrigger. But when I do, I do as you say, and just back it off fast once the fish is on. No big deal. I know some B.C. guides that beleive its a sin to use a downrigger and a sacralidge use an Islander on a downriger.It doesn't bother me a bit, but it does seem a bit like putting silk shoes on a mule.

Ya, and my mule looks damn good in them shoes!
I love moochin, just depends on the water your fishin.

Been doin the same thing with my busters in the riggers all along. I've wanted a Islander for some time now si I just ordered one--it'll be there when I arrive! Then to Barkley ta test er out!

I've been fishing shimano 2000's for 20 years, broke a couple of the springs inside and replaced a few drag washers but that's it. my friend has a 4000 and it has had the screws come loose (like mentioned above) , mostly an inconveince. now I have a trophy xl large arbor, it's machined anodized aluminum, what some call a knock off islander. every bit as smooth as any other reel out there. i've been all through it and i can't see ever breaking or wearing out any part of it except the 2 little springs for the clickers. it a great reel, cost me about 300$ in canada. in my opinion it is good as an islander but i am looking long and hard at the mr3, probably have 1 someday.

I fish my MR3 with a Sage 12' rod in downrigger all the time. The rod tip is usually almost touching the water when set in the holder. I set the drag just tight enough to keep the line from easily slipping off. I've had plenty of puget sound fish that gave me a good tussle on this setup.

I usually do a quick turn of the drag if I can w/o getting my knuckles hammered when grabbing the pole. Just the other day I had a nice king at PT that jerked it off the rigger and there was not way I was touching the drag as he had it singing right off.

Like Dave I prefer to use my hands versus the drag. Makes it more of a challenge and fun.

the ultimate combo by far is a 1208C-2CH and an MR3....
I also have run Longstones for years but retired them last season....nothing sounds as good as a longstone screaming!!!!!!

I guess it's about time I come out of the closet. After a few trips north the last few summers I fell for the long rods and knuckle buster reels.

What I didn't like was using down riggers. I wanted to apply the Canadian set up to the coastal bays of Oregon where we typically fish water from 6' to 20 ' in depth. It was the rod holder that was holding us back. Neither Scotty, Fish On, or Folbe had a product on the market that fit my needs. Through a night of Jack Daniels a buddy and myself designed a rod holder on a cocktail napkin that would allow us to fish a Loomis SAR1265BC with a Islander MR2 reel on our local water. It is set up to hang between 4 to 12oz of lead and lets us fish the bottom of the water column where the Tyee resides.
We gave it a test run on Tillamook Bay last weekend it it worked awesome! Holder is home fabricated aluminum, coated with a spray on rubber to protect to cork, the upright is a stock Scotty extension that was fitted with some 3/8" thread and a knob ( to allow adjustment ) purchased at the home depot.
I will fish this set up hard this fall rolling herring at the coast and then bring it out again when the springers hit the Columbia and Willamette.
As for the expense of the Islander / Loomis combo. You might as well buy it once and have it last you a life time then to buy junk that will fail once a year.
Here are the pics.

Her's a photo of Rogue Rods Canadian Handle....graphite rear grip that is awesome coming out of the holder...
I fish over 60 day's straight each summer and I can't tell you how happy I am with this set up .....

I enjoy using my "Keen Kaster" for mooching, It is extermly light and the way the edge is rolled over makes it very easy to control the line tension. These reels are often on ebay, and they are inexpensive. I prefer them over Winonas.

MR3 love it!!!!!

Well after reading all your reports on the MR3 I had to join the club.
Just replaced my Shimano with the MR3, Purchased from Troutlet.com for $477 including shipping. I will probably use it on 10.5' G-loomis, My 11.5' Sage is too long for my 18' boat when fishing by myself.
I had problems with the shimano but easily fixed. While fighting a 27 lb King both handles fell off, I brought the fish in using the little nubs that the handles were screwed to while fishen by myself.

Cool! What Color did you get?> $477 is a killer deal.

islanders catch big tyees. heres one from bc that I got on an mr3. level winds are for sissys real men arent scared to get there knuckles busted.
http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh88/mikebrunson/IMG_0009.jpg

I think thats the best price I have seen. Thanks for the link!! I'm going to bite the bullet! I tend to like the Blue one. The gold colored one is just to "bling, bling" for me.

I went for the bling (gold), but I did like the looks of the black one. but from a distance it would look to much like my old shimano.
I looked around on the web and that was definately the best price, no tax and used express shipping for 10 bucks. the MR3 is a lot lighter then the MR2. Its definately a blast fishing with knuckle busters, but when fishen into the wind its tuff to get a tight line on Kings with the Shimano, which probably has the same spool size.