as you may have heard me say before imho the correct balance point of a rod is the center of the reel seat.even on a spinning rod this is so because most people i see have the neck coming out between their 2 center fingers.if you balance your rods to the center of the reel seat they balance with any reel on them.

It's six of one, a half-dozen of the other.

Balancing the rod without the reel can only be accomplished by increasing the weight of the rod.

So instead of a heavier reel, you're going to end up with a heavier rod,

but that would be counterproductive to buying an expensive 3.75 oz rod.

Roger

I just bought the symetre on RW advice and his advice has all ways been good.Ido like dodgeguy,s conviction on what he believes in! Maybe next year i will buy a supreme , jm rod and spooled with fireline braid! This year it will be the symetre, avid, spooled with yo-zuri 6#  

Shimano has a better drag than Pflueger. And big deal its made of magnesium. All that means is it will corrode easier. Shimano drags are some of the few drags that wil handle offshore fish (like tuna) for 3 hr fights, 100 days a year. Shimanos hold up to charters who have no experience (square cranking, messing with them, dropping them, reeling against the drag, ect). For toughness and reliability, shimano can't be beat. And as far as customer service, Shimano rebuilt 5 of my dad's tiagras that were 10 years old and developed frame cracks for free, no questions asked.

Symetre for tuna and 3 hour fights? C'mon gimme a break, comparing a symetre to a tiagra is like comparing a Kia to a Bently  The Shimano offshore line up isn't the same, the spinners like stella and sargossa are truly very fine reels, my 2 spheros have been falling out favor and I may replace my 8000 with a sargossa.

As far as conventional reels, tld's are and toriums are real workhorses and widely used on charters, the upper tier of offshore Shimano conventional is top notch.

I have a charter captain for tuna living a few doors down from me( from New Jersey but is a snow bird for the winter) he uses nothing but Penn, spinning and conventional, not pitting Penn against Shimano in that arena, but that's his choice.

I didn't say a Symetre drag would handle a tuna - the symetre would probably explode!  ;D

I meant that Shimano's drags are extremely high quality and handle tuna, marlin, shark, sailfish, ect.

Why don't you guys fish your favorites and quit bashing other peoples equipment ?

Why don't you guys fish your favorites and quit bashing other peoples equipment ?

Agreed.

I own three Symetre reels and am a fan, but in this situation I would go with the Pflueger.