Lighten Up, Francis
Posted by Pete Robbins on Jul 5th 2020
For years, the bass fishing world has seen an escalating arms race in which the goal is not to beef up our resources, but to slim them down. It’s been especially pronounced in rods and reels, and while the jury is still out on some efforts (microguides, anyone?), for the most part many of us have bought into it. The rods and reels that I used in 1995 and 2005 are still largely functional, and may be more durable than some of their current counterparts, but it can be hard to use them after a day of slinging gear that weighs three-quarters as much.
I keep thinking that eventually we won’t be able to go any lighter and remain both break-proof and technologically-sufficient, and I’m consistently wrong.
For the past couple of years my go-to spinning reels have been the Shimano Stradic Ci4+, partially because they’re butter-smooth, partially because they seem to be indestructible, and largely because they’re so damn light. The 3000 size model is a ridiculous 6.7 ounces, and the 4000 is only 8.1. That means that the 4000 weighs substantially less than the 2500-sized versions that I thought were the deal just a decade ago. That gives me a bigger spool and arguably less fatigue in the same package.
They’re not leaving the rotation, but in the pre-non-ICAST-madness, I’ve gotten my grubby hands on an Abu-Garcia Zenon 30 which, get this, weighs less than 5 ounces. The handle by itself feels like a wisp of air. You might have to tie it down so it doesn’t float away. I’ve yet to fish it, and it may be a challenge to find a rod that pairs perfectly, but I’m more excited than I’ve been about a spinning reel in a long time. I may not be able to tell much of a difference between 6.7 ounces and 4.9 ounces in practice, but I’m glad that the tackle manufacturers continue to push boundaries. This technology may be expensive now, but given an application of Moore’s Law to the tackle world, eventually the benefits will widen and the costs should lessen.
