I can count on one hand how many bass that I have had to land on a reel. Usually it is because all my line is out with a decent fish. It is nice to have some pretty good brakes on the reel though. I landed a 7 lber using the reel two years ago and had my 8wt with a disc drag. I am glad I did because the place I was fishing was weed and stump city. My tippet was 10 lb test so I could put the pressure on her. It was easy putting it on the reel because I had only stripped in about 3 feet of line so her first hard pull easily put me into the reel. I don't think I would have if I had to crank in 40 feet of slack. So I would say it all depends on the conditions of where and what you are fishing. It is just like with cars sometimes brakes are important and sometimes they are not, but hold on for dear life.

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Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick