Disclosed herein is a fishing reel having reliability in opening a side cover. The fishing reel is configured such that when the side cover opens, the side cover hangs from the reel body rather than being completely separated from the reel body, so that the user can easily open the side cover even when standing on uneven terrain such as on the rocks of a seashore. The fishing reel has a pillar structure which can conduct a first-extraction and second rotation operation such that even when the reel is designed in such a way that an end of the spool shaft necessarily protrudes out of the reel body, a rotating and opening operation of a cover assembly including the spool cover and the side cover is prevented from be impeded by the shaft, whereby even when in an extreme fishing environment, reliability in opening the side cover can be ensured.