I know fishing involves water. But is it harmful to your reels if you are stuck in a major downpour and your reels get soaked?

Probably not, but if you notice ANYTHING different about the reel's performance, it should be serviced.

For 11 years I paid the big bucks to fish in the rain with 10 rigs on the bow. Never had a problem with the reels getting wet.

But they were serviced the right way just prior to the season starting, and I made sure that I dried them out at the end of every tournament. I never stored them in any containers that didn't absorb water from the reels.

IMHO if your reels have been service properly, you store them right, they should hold up to just about any kind of fishing weather.

Now i'm just a fair weather angler.....

I never seemed to have a problem with my reels when it started to rain while I was fishing. DO NOT however let your reel go into the pond or lake. This happened to one of my spinning reels, it was a $30 wal mart special, like a shapespeare dimension. I drop the reel in for a couple seconds while wading off the shoreline and the reel never worked the same. It grinds and it real rough when reeling. I took it off my rod and it sits in my room collecting dust. I'm just glad it was a cheap reel.