Graphite or "Plastic" haters

[Further North]

On 2/12/2018 at 8:07 AM, reason said:

I'd like to meet these roid enraged gym rat bass that are flexing all these graphite reel bodies. I'm surprised they aren't stripping all the aluminum gears, and melting all the color coordinated reel handle koozies.

I was wondering about this too...

 

For perspective, not bragging:

 

I spend a fair amount of time each year chasing and catching fish that can and do eat bass.

 

I cast big lures, and catch fish that approach 50" and weigh north of 20 or 25 lbs. 

 

I've never seen any of the things attributed to "plastic" ...or metal reels as a factor in the pursuit, hooking, or landing of these fish.I

 

I am left wondering what folks are doing to their gear to cause these problems, and/or if we (as a fairly large group) are simply seeing the failures that are statistically normal within any large population?

[DroneFisher]

On 2/14/2018 at 4:26 PM, FishDewd said:

I've had the front part of the reel foot on a cheap shakespeare spincast reel snap off during a cast a few weeks back.. only time I've ever had anything plastic break. Granted, those are very low quality reels so I'm not exactly shocked. It really depends on what kind of polymers are used for the plastic production. There are some cases in which plastic can have a higher strength than metals. For example, carbon fiber has a higher strength to weight ratio to steel and aluminum at a lower density. If a component of the same thickness is made from carbon fiber, steel, and aluminum, the one made from carbon fiber will have a greater rigidity and lower weight than the two metals. Furthermore, if we wanted to reinforce something and had a certain weight limit, the advantage again goes to carbon fiber since it is lighter than steel and aluminum. This would give it an even more superior rigidity strength (and therefore higher ultimate stength) compared to the other two common materials. So really... it depends on the weight, size, and how it is constructed that will determine what is actually stronger. The feeling of the metal being "superior feeling" is mostly an illusion and bias.

 

To give you an idea:

 

Edit: Whoo, 100 posts!!

Love this video. it is an amazing sight to see. 

[Czorn]

I own plastic reels. And I use them every day but when I go out to catch gar on the Trinity river, the plastic stays at home. A 4 foot gar will smoke a reel pretty fast. Think of what a 7 footer will do to it.

[PatrickKnight]

I have caught redfish over 30 inches on a Ci4 2500 as well as a FK 3000 and they did flex a bit but my BG 2500 doesn't. That being said those fish pull MUCH harder than any bass does. For bass fishing its all personal preference imo and I generally don't care I like and own both for different purposes. 

[the reel ess]

I see a lot of people have had better experiences with graphite framed reels than I have. I've owned two and both eventually lost some alignment to the point they would slip, momentarily freespool or bind. I got rid of both as soon as I could afford to replace them because I knew one day they'd fail at the worst possible time. I made a conscious decision to stay away from them thereafter. I hear a lot of good things about them these days and manufacturers might have worked all that out. I even see some of the Lew's reels that are kind of pricey have graphite frames. I'm just not ready to waste money on another one.

[J Francho]

Depends on the quality of the mixture.  I have Daiwas from the mid 80s that still work fine.  They don't have infinite AR, so they sit in a drawer, but they still work fine.

[Backroad Angler]

I did a bit of research on the differences between aluminum and graphite reels a few days back. I found this post on a different forum that basically summed it up for me.

 

http://forums.allcoast.com/images/icons/icon1.gif A classic response Ready for some strong opinion on this subject? This one was so good that I saved it in my archive Sombra  Member since Jan-9-04 68 posts Mar-27-04, 12:02 PM (PST)  55. "RE: Why Has The Price of Shimano TLD's Dropped?" LAST EDITED ON Mar-27-04 AT 12:07 PM (PST) Wayne, That BeastMaster question is one that I'm afraid I won't answer here. Besides, no one would believe a significant part of the reason, which was political in nature. I'd like to comment, but it wouldn't be in good taste for me to do so.  Now, speaking of taste...  I still maintain that properly designed and manufactured graphite body reels are great fishing tools. Fortunately for that opinion the TLD's history confirms that convincingly, as have the star drag models.  So why change to metal, especially in the star drag area?  Easy! It's purely a marketing ploy to get people to buy new reels at higher prices as far as this corner is concerned. Unfortunately most folks are buffalo'd by this tactic, trust in the perceived good will of the manufacturer and don't stop and ask logical questions like, "Wait a minute here. Something you guys are doing just doesn't make sense. If metal reels are better than graphite reels, how come you guys make both kinds? I mean, if one is better than the other, why not make them all the same way?" Answer, "That's a good question (gulp). Well, uh, lemme see here, the, uh, difference, no, I don't mean difference, the reason - that's it, the reason we, uh, we...well, ya know ummmm, the, uh, 'scuse me, I gotta answer an important phone call."  There ya go. Cat's out of the bag. The good old bamboozle stick has been waived and the victims have lined up for the fleecing.  Graphite bodies will be here eons from now. They do not degrade and last forever. Metal will have gone away. Both metal and graphite reels get ugly in time. Fish them long and hard and the graphites are going to keep on ticking, but the metal ones are going to hit the wall. And graphite reels don't corrode, rust, or get the rashes that metal reels do. Graphite reels can take a huge thump and walk away smiling. Metal reels (not the machined ones) dent and crush internal mechanisms. Graphite reels are very light compared to most metal reels. Scratch a graphite reel? No big deal. Do the same on a metal one? Uh oh, break in the anodize and here comes Dr. Rotskee!  Add more ball bearings to metal reels? Sure, this doesn't necessarily make them better, but it lets you raise the price based on the consumer's perceived (not the actual) price of ball bearings. This, in spite of the fact that bushings often do the job better than the balls and more ball bearing that aren't really needed merely adds things that can go south on you over time - expensive things to replace that you didn't really need in the first place. Hmm.  Do I have to continue, or do you see that "new (actually old)" metal, lottsa ball bearings, Star Wars named drag material bamboozle stick for yourself?  "Dartanium"? Even if the stuff was good, that name would be enough for me to start thinking Micky Mouse was coming up with and naming important stuff like drag material. I for one don't like that kind of silliness and in the final analysis insulting-to-the-consumer kind of wording - "Hey, they'll buy anything that we make, no matter what we call it. Dartanium? Heck, that sounds cool to me and they'll take it seriously, you watch!"  Besides, I think that "Popeyetanium" would be a better choice for a name. Or maybe "Mickeytanium"? Or how about "Wabbitanium"? Yeah, and you get a free ticket to "It's a Small World" with every reel you buy.  Jeez Louise! Close your eyes. That way you won't see the stick coming and it won't hurt as badly when it whacks you upside the head.

[puddlepuncher]

To each his own, but I can tell you for cold weather fishing I reach for my Chonarch and Stradic CI4 first.  Love the Met's but the metal reels freeze my hands a lot quicker than carbon when it's 25 degrees out.