Spinning reel

A spinning reel including:

• a reel body;
• a spool rotatably supported to said reel body;
• a spool shaft carrying said spool;
• a rotary frame rotatably supported to said reel body and for winding a fishing line onto said spool;
• a drag mechanism for applying a braking force against rotation of said spool, said drag mechanism comprising an adjuster for adjusting said braking force;
• a support member on which said adjuster is supported such that said adjuster can be adjusted in position relative to said support member, said support member including a portion which extends away from one side of said adjuster;
• a braking force measuring mechanism for measuring said braking force applied by said drag mechanism, said measuring mechanism comprising (a) an elastic member interposed between (i) a braking force acting member subjected to said braking force applied by said drag mechanism and (ii) a rotary member rotatable with respect to said braking force acting member, (b) a pointer provided at one of said braking force acting member and said rotary member, and (c) a display portion provided at the other of said braking force acting member and said rotary member, said display portion for displaying an indication of said braking force applied by said drag mechanism represented by a position of said pointer;
• and
• a reference position setting mechanism for setting a user-selectable reference position indicating an optimum braking force applied by said drag mechanism as adjusted by said adjuster, said reference position setting mechanism comprising a reference portion for setting said reference position and a position specifying member, said reference portion being non-rotatable with respect to said support member for said adjuster, said position specifying member being located at said one side of said adjuster and including a position specifying portion for specifying a position of said adjuster corresponding to said reference portion, said position specifying member being supported such that in a first mode it is operable to move together with said adjuster when said adjuster is moved to adjust said braking force and in a second mode it is movable relative to said adjuster to alter its position with respect to said adjuster, whereby said adjuster is able to be accurately positioned at a position to achieve said optimum braking force, said reference portion and said position specifying member in said first mode being movable past one another when said adjuster is moved to adjust said braking force such that in said first mode said adjuster can adjust said braking force both up and down relative to said optimum braking force.