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Reel Light, Reel Expensive

 

Sunday, August 06, 2006
MIKE BOLTON
News staff writer
You can't blame Japan-based fishing tackle manufacturer Daiwa for being a little apprehensive as it approached the outdoors show that accompanied the FLW Tour Championship at the BJCC this past week.
The show marked the first time the American public would see Daiwa's much-heralded new line of Steez rods and reels.
It is a line of fishing tackle that begs the following questions: how much high-tech is too high-tech and just how much will consumers pay for a rod and reel?
Thanks to magnesium, titanium and super lightweight composites, Steez baitcasting reels weigh just 5½ ounces. Steez rods with their new graphite technology weigh just over two ounces. That's a rod and reel combination that makes a butter knife feel like a barbell.
The cost? About $1,000 for the rod and reel.
Daiwa happily learned last week that the market can bear more than one might think. The first two days of the show saw 13 of the rods and reels sold.
"Most people drive Fords and Chevrolets but some want a Lamborghini or a Ferrari," said Vic Sykes, the regional sales director for Daiwa. "There's a few that want that high-end technology."
It has long been known that casting a fishing rod is an unnatural act that wreaks havoc on the arms and elbows of fishermen. Pro fishermen may cast as many as 1,200 times a day. Many anglers on the pro fishing circuit have undergone surgery for "tennis elbow." It's a malady that affects weekend fishermen, too.
The fishing industry has for many years sought to reduce the weight of rods and reels in an evolution that has seen rods go from steel to solid fiberglass to hollow fiberglass to varying improvements in graphite. Reels have evolved from steel to plastic to aluminum to aluminum alloys to magnesium.
The incredibly light Steez rods were accomplished by a graphite process that allows graphite sheets to be laid on a mandrel at 45-degree angles while minimizing the amount of resin that holds the graphite together, Sykes explained.
A newly patented hollow reel seat not only reduces the weight of the reel seat, it increases sensitivity, Sykes claims. Even the dense but lightweight grip material has received a patent. It is noticeably lighter than cork or typical grip foam.
"The frame and the side-plates of the spinning reel are made from magnesium," Sykes said, explaining the reel's almost unnoticeable weight.
The lighter rod has less inertia to resist movement, reduce transmission of vibration and otherwise deaden the feel of a fish's pickup, Sykes said. All things equal, the lighter rod wins the sensitivity battle, allowing the angler to feel more bites and in theory catch more fish.
That's just a theory, of course. California's Ish Monroe was the only one of the 48 pro anglers in the FLW Tour Championship field to get his hands on the new technology in time for the tournament. He was blown out of the water the first day, catching just 2 pounds, 7 ounces of fish to his opponent's 15 pounds, 2 ounces.