REEL SEATS

Grasshopper:

It has to do with the style of the reel seat itself in which way you lock your reel to the seat. Simply
Uplocking simply means that the locking nut turns “towards the grip” to lock in the reel. Downlocking means that the locking nut turns “towards the butt” to lock in the reel.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Sensei.

Grasshopper,

Unfortunately, when you select your rod after casting it and know that it IS the rod for you, whatever reel seat design is on the rod, that’s what you get. So, something I wouldn’t worry about.

Good rod designers will put the proper reel seat on their rod, whether an uploading or downloading reel seat, that makes the reel “in balance” with the rod.

Kenny is right. The rod maker decides what is best for the rod balance. An up-locking reel seat moves the reel slightly towards the grip and down-locking moves the reel towards the butt. Quite honestly, not many fishermen will be able to tell the subtle differences based on either style of hardware.