First Look: Hardy Averon Reel

I’ve had the pleasure to fish the Hardy Averon reel for a few weeks now. While a full review from guide Kubie Brown is here, I wanted to give out my first impressions with one of the newest additions to Hardy’s lineup.

The Averon has a fully-enclosed spool and frame, a welcome feature after their old Ultradisc UDLA reel, which had a partially-open frame that was prone to catching fly line at just the wrong moment.

While Hardy wasn’t specific about the drag system used in the Averon, the description of this and the one in the Ultradisc UDLA reel, are different on the website, so it’s a safe assumption the company made a few upgrades here. At any rate, I’ve used the old Ultradisc UDLA reel for a while now, and the drag in the Averon feels markedly smoother. It’s not as infinitely adjustable, but there seems to be less startup inertia, and I’m more than pleased with how the reel handled big runs from angry fish, like this rainbow below.

The reel is surprisingly light in-hand, and balanced out both my 9’6-weight Winston Air 2 and 8’6″ 5-weight Winston Air 2 wonderfully. Loaded with 60 yards of 30lb backing and Scientific Anglers Amplitude line, it’s just about at capacity, but the reel’s large arbor serves to quickly retrieve line.

The Averon feels fairly durable, since I took a nasty fall with it and it only has a slight ding to show for it. Overall, this seems like it’ll be a great addition to Hardy’s family of reels.