Dingo,

My bad! But disc drags are apparently not that expensive. Notice that the discontinued Ross Colorado, spring and pawl reel, at $110, was only $35 less than the low end disc drag model they used to offer. I forget the model name, and I see that the low end model now costs more. However, my point is that disc drags don't have to add a lot to the cost of a reel. And it appears Ross uses the same disc drag on all price lines of their reels. Seems like wasteful weight and bulk on a trout reel to me.

Yeah, the average angler couldn't tell a cheap fly rod from an expensive one, if he's blind-folded. It seems like there just aren't many bad fly rods around anymore. Not like the days when clubs were common, even 10 or so years ago, cheap graphite sticks were pretty bad. I couldn't believe it last summer when a co-worker needed a fly rod to go trout fishing with another co-worker. He stopped at a hardware store in Wenatchee and picked up an amazingly functional 5 wt. for $36! However, when we were in Yellowstone last fall, it broke at the ferrule (could be he didn't have it seated properly, or it could have been insufficient graphite fabric at the joint). Anyway, that restored my faith that a quality rod should at least cost more than $50. Nonetheless, that was amazing. I can't buy the guides, cork, and reelseat for $36. The increasing quality of import rods are gonna' give domestic manufacturers a comeuppance, I'm afraid.

OK, so the closest we have to a persuasive case for disc drags on freshwater reels is for the novice to gain experience playing large fish. I might go for that. But I was a novice once, and I played steelhead on my Hardy Princess without a problem. I think if a person is coordinated enough to fly cast, they can probably handle the complex logistics of using their finger or palm to put drag on a fish. I just have faith in humanity, I guess.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.