S
Sylvaneous
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2006
- Messages
- 961
I got a little thing on facebook from Bauer fly reels. I've never owned one and I don't know anyone who does, but I was impressed with them 25 years ago when I first saw one. Even though the star drag was also the nut that held the spool on and made adjustment on the water difficult, they looked and supposedly worked great. I never used one.
But I stepped off the carousel of newer/better equipment some years ago. I feel no compulsion to buy something just because it's different from what I have. Being so woke, it occured to me how ridiculous it is to assume billet aluminum machined to some tight tolerance and powerful drags are necessary to bring to hand a fish that weighs not 2 pounds and it caught at a distance of maybe 35 feet. And even then, many of my fish, I just hand-line in.
As beautiful and functional as all those reels are, and I bought a few of them, I think differently now.
It just struck me as funny, as it hadn't before. Really good line makes a huge difference. A great rod that works with you is a functional pleasure. As my dad said, "the reel just holds the line". I did not understand or fully appreciate that. That was many hours on the water ago. I've fished for a generation with spinning and baitcasting reels ranging from $20 to $150 and only ever had one failure: a bail spring on a spinning reel. No problem with dependability with vastly more complex reels. While I'm not anticipating getting a cheap Martin jobbie from a Big Box, I don't know of too many smallmouth or trout I couldn't have caught just as well with one.
Being woke and getting meta-. At almost 50, I no longer feel any urge to gild the lily. But I do think the flyfishing world is a better place with Bauer reels in it.
But I stepped off the carousel of newer/better equipment some years ago. I feel no compulsion to buy something just because it's different from what I have. Being so woke, it occured to me how ridiculous it is to assume billet aluminum machined to some tight tolerance and powerful drags are necessary to bring to hand a fish that weighs not 2 pounds and it caught at a distance of maybe 35 feet. And even then, many of my fish, I just hand-line in.
As beautiful and functional as all those reels are, and I bought a few of them, I think differently now.
It just struck me as funny, as it hadn't before. Really good line makes a huge difference. A great rod that works with you is a functional pleasure. As my dad said, "the reel just holds the line". I did not understand or fully appreciate that. That was many hours on the water ago. I've fished for a generation with spinning and baitcasting reels ranging from $20 to $150 and only ever had one failure: a bail spring on a spinning reel. No problem with dependability with vastly more complex reels. While I'm not anticipating getting a cheap Martin jobbie from a Big Box, I don't know of too many smallmouth or trout I couldn't have caught just as well with one.
Being woke and getting meta-. At almost 50, I no longer feel any urge to gild the lily. But I do think the flyfishing world is a better place with Bauer reels in it.
