so it is like a racheting type mech... only rachets in one direction n free spools back into position?? thats what I gather from the pic anyway.. I kinda like my old southbend spring jobs n the weight for balancing out the old boo rod I use em with.. Sometimes more weight is a very good thing! but I doubt many ppl would carry some of the rods i enjoy using as the trend in boo has gone pretty much toward short light weight, light line dry fly flingers for the graphite crowd to even considered them as fish worthy... sad actully that few will ever know what boo used to be...