Your Worst High End Gear Experience?

[hap]

Anybody have any really bad experiences with high-end gear? I am in the middle of dealing with another Bauer reel and for the life of me cannot imagine the lack of thought used for such a high end reel. I picked this on eup cheap at an estate sale. It had never been lined and all of the other reels there were RHW... My preference. It is an MZ4 and it has several really irritating "features" that scream "Cheap."

There is one 4x8 card folded in half on which they give you everything for their entire line of reel models, but not close to enough for any one of them. As an experienced technical writer it would embarrass me to turn in work of this quality... The fact it is the best they have after years of production is amazing.

Now the really annoying parts... despite the lack of clear directions, in part caused by the obscene clutter of trying to explain several models at once, it is not that complicated to figure out how to do the swap. But now I have no drag whatsoever. I suspect there should be a warning to not turn the shaft while swapping the four ridiculous sleeves and rubber cushions (little tiny things and when was dropped it made me very unhappy) but I did so because it is not easy to get at the little bitty parts with the surrounding rubber seal ring and such... I know it is a discontinued model, and it is obvious why.

I guess I will take it back apart and try to figure out what is wrong... SOmewhere between the Ross Vexsis and this reel there ought to be an easier way... Oh that must be why I like Lamson so much!
art

[appalachian angler]

My biggest issue is with cork quality. The last several 'high-end' rod purchases have had lousy cork. Middle of the road rods 10 yrs ago had better cork than the "premium" rods of today. Nothing worse than hard cork with NO springiness and tons of filler that gets sticky the first time it gets damp...yuck!

aa

[hap]

Well, working the rubbers out and going back to as good a guess as I can get this sucker has me beat. Having fished these a number of times I love the feol of the drag on these... But the route is beyond ridiculous...

[hap]

My biggest issue is with cork quality. The last several 'high-end' rod purchases have had lousy cork. Middle of the road rods 10 yrs ago had better cork than the "premium" rods of today. Nothing worse than hard cork with NO springiness and tons of filler that gets sticky the first time it gets damp...yuck!

aa

That is right there! Had a friend show me an ultra-high end rod yesterday wondering if it should be sent back because of the lousy cork.

[Marco]

And, as an alternative, buy the "cheap" stuff and sleep well ( as do I)

Mark

[Lotech]

Never been able to afford "High End" gear. Lucky me. If my stuff fails, it was cheap to begin with.

[hap]

A long time ago a friend told me to buy junk and if it needed replacing you needed better stuff... I have had too many incredible adventures with fly gear being destroyed by big fish and I have gotten better stuff as a result. I have blown out brand new Hardys on the very first fish... big solid Hardys... so I am past fishing junk for big fish... and a Bauer is not junk.

[PanFisher]

I have had a few instances where I had a hard time not laughing as my friends with the "High End" gear couldn't fish while I was catching quite a few on my cheap gear. I can't afford the "High End" stuff so I do my best to get a good value. I remember a Guide in Alaska laughing his head off as my son was catching fish on the $50 reel I had bought him, while some others in the group had their $500 reels pulled apart trying to fix them in the field.

[hap]

As a guide (in AK) I have seen some "special" stuff marched out for use... In general it got trashed... But sometimes it is true that good stuff is found for less. I have seen lots of logic-defying stuff last longer than anyone would have guessed. Not many $50 reels are going to look good after a serious week of salmon fishing though.

Up here we call it child abuse!

[Uncle Jesse]

In my mind there is a big difference in your need to fish high end equipment and most of the rest of us. You are taking other people's money to take them fishing. If I invite someone fishing it is to introduce them to fly fishing or using a float tube for the enjoyment of it. A few years ago I took a business client fishing, bought him lunch first and was sure he had some reliable lures and my best spinning rod and reel. But if a reel jammed on a big fish it might tick me off but it wouldn't cost me reputation or a guiding fee. I'm going fishing for the enjoyment and it more fun and cheaper than a head doctor.