If one faces periods when a drag is seriously needed to sustain a fight with huge fish, then likely he should spend the big bucks for something like a Fin Nor. My extremes are salmon and steelhead where, with an exposed rim, I pretty much use a drag or pawl to prevent overrun that might happen if I'm inattentive and get a reel stripping strike. For salmon and steelhead, I do want 175 to 200 yds of backing capacity and that can require a larger reel if one is using a double taper or maybe a long belly line on a Spey rod. With exposed rims and tippets in the 8 to 20 lb range, I can easily hold fish or break them off with friction on the rim.
If I ever go after tarpon or billfish, I will step way up, with most of the concern being hundreds of yards of backing capacity.
In near 40 years of fly angling, I've been cleaned out once, and I suspect it was a king or Idaho steelhead I snagged in the tail. Simply a down stream run I could not stop, and it made the rapids before I could reach the bank for pursuit on land. Did not truly clean me out, as I grabbed the reel with about 5 turns left and snapped the leader.
With trout and such, I will still venture forth with an old Pflueger or Hardy on a glass Fennwick and may spend a week without ever giving the reel a thought.
Regardless of ones choice, the real goal is to have fun, and it doesn't take $800 to do that. Thinking back, some of the best were childhood days with kite string, a bent (straight?) pin, willow stick, and 4 inch sunfish in a warm water creek. Now those were good days, and I got there on a bike with a band aide box of worms in a shirt pocket.
Much like hunting, it's easy to go overboard when one sees $2,500 handmade reels at a clave. I've certainly done it with some rifles like my 1960's 600 Rem that cost $99.95. It's wearing a $400 Leupold.
I still treasure days in/on the water, but it takes a Ford 350 crew cab to get me and all my gear there now.
Have a good one.
Last edited by 1minute; 01/06/19.
