That's a really nice price on the Calais and I appreciate the offer, but there's just no way I could swing it. The extent of my reel tweaking is to put the Calais washer in my Curados and Cardiffs and put a bigger handle on when I can get one.

If I value one thing in a reel, it's a strong but smooth drag with zero startup. I need reels that pay out line smoothly on 20 and 25lb test set near breaking strength. You guys have some sic finesse setups and stuff but to be honest I go a lot of trips without a rod lower than 16lb test in the boat. Sometimes I bring the Chronarch 100 with 10 or 12lb and in the spring I bring the 6 or 8lb and 12 or 14lb spinning rods with Stradic MG. Both get the job done nicely. I finessed an 11 and a half on the Stradic with 8lb Nitlon DFC florocarbon this spring and the drag was awesome :) But most of my bread and butter is just the Curado. A great reel for the price.