>>2519265That's why I come to 4chan, the chaotic nonsense is like watching weeds grow in a park.
My take on reels though is that way too many people just buy new reels without considering second hand. Go to any pawn shop in my city (North Queensland, Australia) and they'll throw reels at you and beg that you buy them for rarely more than $50. You can haggle them and they'll always accept the deal because everyone and their dog has an average of 4 reels bought new, kicking around in their shed.
People buy new reels for "reliability" then hardly use them, then try to sell them and realise nobody else wants their filthy used real for the same reasons of reliability and because they're convinced they need a dozen ball bearings and the ability to reel submerged in a volcano with an adjustable dicksucker.
The average BCF customer will use Afterpay to buy a $400 reel and use it about 12-20 times before they leave it for 3 years, get addicted to meth or divorced, then pawn it for 50 bucks which the pawn shop will try to sell for $200. I then pop in, look right past it and pick up a daiwa baitcaster, manufactured before I was born, for $35 to harass barramundi and eels with.
10 years later, and after another 30 lifetime uses, that $400 reel will be back in the pawn shop again and I'll buy it for $60, give it a clean, spool fresh braid onto it and larp as Jeremy Wade like the jolly fucker I am.
That pawn shop had two of those old baitcasters, so I'm considering going back to buy the second one so I have a spare for every part for the reel, all in all it'll cost me about $70 for a reel and a spare. Sure it isn't a virgin, but I couldn't give a rats arse as long as the drag doesn't slip and it doesn't make crunching noises when reeling.
/blogpost