Ross has two lines. Ross America and Ross international. I agree on the Pacific rim Ross's but the American made ones I have owned were excellent, a true value. Several have stood up to 100s of bonefish being run, wet & dry, clean & dirty. The anodizing was so much better than other entry reels of that era 1980-90s. Have not bought a new one recently and I only wish I had stocked up on extra spools. I have also taken fish up to large Kings with a Pflueger medalists. The early tarpon fisherman such as Lee Wolff, Lefty Kriegh, Flip Pallot and many others used them on big Tarpon and even Marlin successfully.
I would look for type II anodizing first and then for a cork or synthetic drag for salt water fishing. For typical trout fishing the reel is just a place to store the line and not critical.
I have toasted a number of the reels you are touting...
I agree the agonizing is good, but so are many others with much better records for toughness. Salmon are not really that tough compared to many warmwater saltwater fish, but numbers can be such that reels get serious workouts, quickly and long term. An ordinary salmon day count would be an unreal bonefish day.
Sierra Trading Post currently has a half-dozen choices on Lamson reels. All of them have the exact same drag components which have proven themselves for a long time. STP sometimes gets Bauer reels, an extremely tough reel for absolutely any application.
