Many years ago probably more than I care to remember when I started my game fishing career I used a French automatic reel. It was good at the time I fished in Dorset on a lake and chalk stream. I found the automatic reel to be great in that when I hooked a fish it very quickly got the line back on the spool and I was less likely to get snagged. The downside to this particular reel was its weight, very heavy and occasionally it ran out of steam and you had to rewind it whilst trying to control a fish.
However despite the disadvantages I enjoyed using it and often hankered over owning another. I can now confirm that I have one its called a Thinkfish Bold . Now this reel is very different beautifully made with aerospace aluminium which makes it incredibly light a great improvement on my earlier model, take a look below, this photo was courtesy of Jim Williams.
Its a modern and very stylish piece of kit with a very contemporary design. This is a large arbour reel so has bags of capacity #6 with 60 metres of backing. I have used it both from a boat and on a river and found it to be equally at home on either. The absolute benefit is the way that you can retrieve line instantly no messing. Here is some of the technical stuff that you might like to be aware of:
Construction: Aluminuim frame, spool & assembly, S/Steel gearing
Weight: 6.51 ounces
Diameter: 8.97cm
Retrieve Capacity: 1.2 meters by pull, ratio 1:5.5
Drag: Conic Multi disc
Line rating: up to #7
Backing Capacity: #5 = 100 mtrs, #6 = 60 mtrs, #7 = 30 mtrs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSznDWJh1NM
Spools are large arbor and easily changed with the press of a button. The reel comes with a full replacement guarantee in the event of failure in the first two years after purchase and unlimited free repairs (except for carriage costs) of any genuine defect from there on.
The reel lever distance from the rod handle can be adjusted with a simple saw tooth design on the reel seat allowing for different sized hands. Generally whilst fishing though you are not aware of the reel lever until you catch a fish it is then that the rapid retrieve becomes apparent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rbFpVqFGqI