MRG

Let's face it, these marketing buzzwords such as Hagane and Zaion are typically 99.985% BS hype and .015% substance. The various big tackle company marketing departments like to engage in this practice of conjuring up interesting sounding names and applying them to something that has been around for years. In most cases, I think it's best to ignore this sort of hype and judge a reel based on functional and aesthetic qualities.

Yes, unless you're interested in Johnny Morris gear, your options are getting more and more limited at BPS these days. The only Fenwick they carry is some oddball travel rod. Cabela's has a fairly complete Fenwick selection. I bought my Elite Tech Smallmouth at the local Cabela's store a few years back.

Years ago (I think it was 1989), I lost my pride and joy (1987) Shimano Magnumlite XL 2652 spinning rod and Speedmaster reel. I came home from fishing one day and it was gone. It's still a mystery where it went. At the time, I was crushed. A few years back I came across the same rod at a flea market and bought it. After re-bonding with this rod, I think it still holds its own in certain applications. I have other fairly high end modern sticks, but the Magnumlite XL is still a good stick in my book. Other's obviously have the same opinion as I see these rods commanding a decent buck on ebay all the time.

I had virtually the same experience with my 6'9" M-XF Elite Tech SM spinning... My son broke it during a cast this past summer, so I sent it in under warranty. I knew that Fenwick had discontinued the ET Smallmouth, so I figured they'd probably give me something different. Sure enough, a couple of weeks later an Elite Tech Bass ETB69M-MFS - 6'9" medium fast one piece. My feelings were the same a yours regarding the replacement rod. The extra fast ETS was really a special rod with nice fast crisp action. The ETB is average at best, unlike the SM which was exceptional. I didn't bother dealing with trading the ET Bass back for another model, perhaps I should have. Possibly the ETB610ML-XFS (6'10" medium-light extra-fast)would have been more like the old rod. It's interesting that others feel the same as me regarding the replacement rods. At first I thought it was all in my head.Not that it matters to the fish... but, I also liked the color of the ET Smallmouth, I had it paired with a dark green Shimano Symetre. They looked great together. The green Symetre on the brown ET Bass doesn't look quite right. I wish I could get the old ET SM rod back again.