Try this again, can't seem to get to post...
I'm with you Formerguide on the noise from click pawls. I like fishing smaller rivers alone and enjoy the peace and solitude. The sound of a click pawl reel is too loud and irritating for me. Really like my Orvis Battenkill for the quieter sound, light weight, as well as smooth operation and it didn't break the bank.
I do not need disk drag reels for the trout I catch locally, but I don't want to fish with click pawl reels. I hate them. I don't like the sound they make, I don't like the resistance both directions, I don't like the standard arbors, and I don't like "embracing tradition". I don't like bamboo or fiberglass rods either. Yes, 90% of the trout I catch locally could have been caught on a willow switch with my extra line coiled up in my coat pocket, but where's the fun in that? I like modern graphite rods, and reels with sexy machining and buttery smooth drags. I don't need any of that to catch fish, but that is what I enjoy using. I like to think I'm in the 5-10% that can tell the difference, but it really doesn't matter. You make a good point about snobbery and reverse snobbery. People should fish the gear that makes them happy and not place judgement on those who make different choices.
That's all the old click pawls used to do...... But I bet the disc drag brakes are a lot quieter....No, but they prevent over-run.
K
Lots of truth to that for me personally and I treat certain gear of mine differently because of the value (or what I paid for it). I hate nickin my better reels up and almost always use the protective pouch on them during transport, it definitely makes me look like an ass when some of my friends just throw their gear in and let them bang around on the sidewalls of the boat or better yet the back of the pickup and going over hell's road potholes at 35mph...I'm the only one breaking it down and putting it in the tube or protective carrier...I don't mind as much if I scratch and nick on the water fighting a fish or wading a tough stretch of water, but please not the back of a truck!Other than the obvious downside of high cost for high end gear (like rods and reels) is the fact that I am forever banging around or dropping stuff...inevitably on lakeside rocks and launching ramps. I'd shit my pants dropping a $400 reel on an $800 flyrod. While I certainly don't enjoy scratching my $200 TFO, or $100 Battenkill (or $60 Okuma) reel....it is not a trip ruining event. It's also cheap enough that I can have two decent rods rigged and ready to go in my kayak, one with a floating line and the other rigged subsurface (changing spools and stringing line through guides is awkward on a kayak...it's just much easier to switch rods)....