i have this obsession with lever drags. theyre practically useless on the Skyway but the technology fascinates me. but for trolling... a whole other story.

during my last trip to the Bass Pro Shop in Orlando i checked out a couple of Penn's newest reels... the VSX and the Torque.  These reels are practically replacing the old international series... which is why just about every store has them on sale for super low prices now.  It's also the reason for the price drop on the Penn 113 Baja Special from $249 to $149. 

So here's what fascinates me with the NEWEST Penn Torque... the 300LD... a lever drag!  Penn developed a newer style drag for the star drag Torques.  With the new lever drag Torques, they went back to the old H-100 style drag discs.  WHY!??!

the answer is my number 1 reason for disliking lever drags... lateral load on the handle and bearings.  the new Penn Torque 300LD is able to relieve that load on the handle with the use of a drag stack.  i dont believe it!  i'll have to hunt down one of these new reels and see for myself. 

 for those not familiar with lever drags and lateral loads... when you tune a lever drag, you increase/decrease the entire ramp of the lever.  you can turn it way down so you get 4# of drag at strike and 6# at max for kingfishing or turn it way up to sayyyyyyy 26# at strike and 32# at max.  at the upper limits of the ramp, the drag pressure disc is pushing on the drag disc so much that it starts to push up against handle and spool bearings. you start to lose freespool and the handle requires more pressure to turn.  its pretty annoying.

you know when you have a fish on the line and the handle isnt so easy to crank... same idea.

one other side note... the TORQUE reels are high speed reels and the VSX series are lower speed (2speed) reels.  why didnt they switch the names around?