In this review
I’ll get the confession out of the way first, because honesty is the whole job here: I never liked the Cimarron. For years it was the one Ross reel that never did anything for me. I’d pick one up in a shop, turn it over, set it back down, and reach for something else.
I don’t feel that way anymore. The Coors Banquet edition ended up on my Madison. I figured I’d feel exactly the same. Instead, I love it. This is the reel that turned me, and I’ve fished it enough now to know the change of heart is real and not just the paint job talking.
The short version: the Coors Banquet Cimarron Creek is a $349, limited-run (1,000 serialized) click-pawl trout reel, machined and finished in Montrose, Colorado, with a cut of every sale going to Trout Unlimited. It’s built for light cane and dry-fly rods, not big water — and it’s the one Cimarron that finally won me over after years of setting it back on the shelf.
What it actually is
It’s a collaboration, and a Colorado one to the bone: Ross Reels and Coors Banquet, third year running, building a reel together. This is the Cimarron Creek — a click-pawl trout reel machined, anodized, and finished in Montrose, dressed in a buff Coors-gold with a hand-done red circle sitting dead center, straight off the bottle cap. It’s a limited run: a thousand of them, each one serialized. A slice of every sale goes to Trout Unlimited, and the partnership has pulled north of $200,000 into cold-water conservation so far — which means the money actually does something, and that matters to me more than the gold does.
It runs $349, and comes in three sizes: 2/3, 4/5, and 5/6. Mine’s the 4/5, and it lives on an 8-foot 4-weight Headwaters Madison — soft cane, medium action, the kind of rod that makes you slow down and pay attention.
The match
Start here, because it’s the part I didn’t see coming. On the Headwaters Madison, the Cimarron Creek balances like it was cut for the blank. A light cane dry-fly rod wants a reel that sits right and then gets out of the way, and this one does both. At 4.5 ounces, the 4/5 lands the weight right where your hand wants it, and the setup feels of a piece.
A click-pawl has no drag to speak of, and on a rod like this that isn’t a compromise — it’s the point. There’s nothing to spike a fine tippet, just a ratchet and a spring doing the one job a trout reel actually needs on flat water: hold the line, pay it out clean, and let you fight the fish with your hand and the rod, the way cane wants you to.
The sound
You don’t buy a click-pawl for the drag. You buy it, partly, for the sound. This one delivers. When a fish turns and takes line, the reel sings, and there’s a reason the people who fish these things go quiet and grin when it happens. It’s mechanical and honest, and a good part of why the setup feels like fishing rather than operating equipment.
The look, up close
Photos undersell it. The gold is warmer and deeper in the hand than it reads on a screen, and the red circle is genuinely hand-done, not a sticker — you can tell it’s a piece someone finished on purpose. It’s a loud reel, no argument. But it’s loud the way a good thing is loud, not the way a gimmick is.
The honest rundown — pros and cons
Here’s the real story — what it does brilliantly, and where it isn’t the reel for you.
Pros
- Beautifully made, and actually made here — machined and finished in Montrose, not badged and imported.
- A click-pawl is exactly right for cane and light dry-fly rods; no drag to spike a fine tippet.
- Balances a light rod beautifully. On the 4/5, it and the Madison feel like one tool.
- The sound. You fish a click-pawl partly to hear it, and this one’s worth hearing.
- A real slice of the money goes to Trout Unlimited — your reel does some good.
- Serialized and limited, so it’s a keeper, not a commodity.
Cons
- It’s a click-pawl: effectively no drag. If you want a sealed disc drag for big water or big fish, this isn’t that reel, and it isn’t trying to be.
- The finish is loud. If you like your gear understated, the Coors-gold will be a lot.
- You’re paying a collab-and-collectible premium — $349 for a mechanically simple reel. You’re buying the story, the finish, and the limited run as much as the mechanism.
- Three sizes only; nothing for heavier lines.
- Limited to a thousand. When they’re gone, they’re gone.
Is the Coors Banquet Cimarron Creek worth $349?
For a mechanically simple click-pawl, $349 is real money, and I won’t pretend it isn’t. But you’re buying a Montrose-made, individually serialized reel from a run of a thousand, one that fishes light dries beautifully and sends a cut of the money to Trout Unlimited. If you fish cane or light dry-fly rods and you want a reel with a story, it earns the price. If you just need somewhere to store your line, it doesn’t — and it would be a little offended you asked.
Who it’s for — and who should skip it
Buy it if you fish cane or light dry-fly rods, you like a click-pawl’s honest simplicity, and you don’t mind paying a bit extra for a reel that does some good on the side. It pairs naturally with a soft cane rod like my Headwaters Madison, and if you’re still torn between a click-pawl and a sealed drag, I laid the whole thing out in click-pawl vs disc.
Skip it if you need a real drag for big or fast water, or you want your gear understated — the Coors-gold does not do subtle, and it was never asked to. If low-key is the goal, one of the plainer click-and-pawl reels will serve you just as well and cost you less.
The verdict
I came in a skeptic and I’m leaving a fan, which almost never happens with a reel I’d already made up my mind about. Sound, feel, looks: it’s the whole package, and on the Madison it’s better than the sum of its parts.
If the gold isn’t your thing, or you need a drag, buy something else and don’t look back. But if you fish cane or light dry-fly rods and you’ve got a soft spot for gear with a story and a conscience, this one’s worth the money and then some. A Colorado reel, on a Colorado cane rod, fished only on Colorado water — and the one Cimarron that finally made sense to me. I didn’t expect to say that. Here we are.