In an aspect, provided is a fishing reel having a backplate that is mountable to a fishing rod and a spool rotatably mounted to the backplate. The spool has a circumferentially- extending line storage channel configured for storage of fishing line. The fishing reel includes a friction mechanism including at least one rotatable friction surface rotatable with the spool and engageable with a stationary friction surface during rotation of the spool relative to the backplate, and provides an actuator arm that is movable between first and second positions. In the first position, the actuator arm disables the friction mechanism to permit free rotation of the spool relative to the backplate, and in the second position, the actuator arm actuates the friction mechanism to cause frictional engagement between the rotatable friction surface and the stationary friction surface during rotation of the spool in a first rotational direction.
