The Cimarron is the least expensive way to own a reel machined in our town, and it is not an entry-level reel in the way that phrase usually lands. Fully machined, fully anodized, built start to finish in Montrose about a mile from our front door — nothing stamped, nothing cast, nothing imported. This run came in Spruce, a new seasonal finish, in 4/5 and 5/6. Spruce reads as a deep satin forest green — dark enough to look nearly black in flat light, and unmistakably green the moment sun gets on it.
Why It Works:
The drag is the open-faced composite system off the Animas, which is the point: Ross did not design a cheaper drag for the cheaper reel, they carried the proven one down. What you give up against the Animas is frame weight, not stopping power or smoothness. For a first serious reel, a second-rod setup, or a loaner that has to survive being handed to someone else's kid, that trade is the right way round.
Product Features:
- Composite drag built on the trusted Animas system — the same stack that has been smoothing out runs for years, at a lower price
- Fully anodized machined frame and spool with enhanced frame walls — takes a knock against a rock without going out of round
- Bronze Cerakote drag knob and Cerakoted escapement cover — a harder wearing surface exactly where thumbs and gravel find a reel
- Brown canvas micarta handle — grippy wet, and it does not go slick in the cold
- 4/5 and 5/6 in this run — the two sizes that cover nearly every trout rod on the Western Slope
- Anodized in Ross's own closed-loop, zero-discharge Montrose facility — nothing from the process goes into the Uncompahgre
Best For / Not For:
Best for the angler buying a first American-made reel, for a backup that still deserves good line, and for anyone who wants Montrose machining without stretching. It will outlive several rods. Not the pick if ounces are the deciding factor — the Animas runs noticeably lighter at the same size for more money, and if you want a genuinely light frame with modern porting, that is what the Cimarron LT is for. Not a sealed drag either; regular salt or sand work belongs on an Evolution R.
Ed's Take:
This is the reel we put in people's hands when they ask what is good and cheap, and then watch them realize those two words do not usually sit together on a machined American reel. The 5/6 is the one to take if you own one trout rod. We got a single 4/5 and a single 5/6 in Spruce, and this finish is a seasonal run, not a catalog color — when it is gone, it is gone.
Care & Warranty:
Rinse after a dusty or silty day, dry it with the spool off, back the drag off between trips. Ross limited lifetime warranty to the original owner, valid only on reels bought from an authorized dealer, which we are. Service is done at the Montrose factory, usually inside four weeks, and you can walk it in to us rather than shipping it anywhere.
Ed's Fly Shop, 432 E Main St, downtown Montrose, Colorado.
