Most of us can truly understand the concept of the right tool for the job, but do we always follow it? I am sure many of you (me included) have used a butter knife as a screwdriver, or anything other than a hammer to bang in a nail. We know there are the right tool for those jobs, but we use what’s on hand or what’s convenient; the silverware drawer is closer than the tool box, right?  I know I have (and most of us have) wasted a ton of time trying to get the butter knife to “work” even though clearly it won’t, only to get the screwdriver fifteen minutes later. We do the same thing when we fish!

Today’s technology allows us to use better tools for the job of angling. Case in point the Valiant series from Accurate. Many of us use older oversized, heavy, clunky reels with low gear ratios to tackle fish. These reels not only tire anglers, but prolong fights with fish. In essence these reels that are like the butter knives. Using that same metaphor, that makes the Valiant series the best screwdriver in existence!

The Valiant 300, the first and smallest in the series, weighing in at a scant 9.9 ounces. Don’t think weight matters in a day of fishing? Try this, take a book and hold it in an out-stretched arm to your side, even with your shoulder and see how long you can hold it there, go ahead try it.  Five minutes? Ten? Either way most of us can’t hold even a book like that past 10 minutes. So why fish all day with more weight than needed? Comparable reels from other manufacturers weigh no less than 15.1 ounces up to a whopping 16.7 ounces! Think six ounces is not much? Try the book thing and you will change your view for sure!

Beginning to see the better tool for the job yet?   But it is not just weight, efficiency plays a huge role as well! If we think about bottom fishing in water that is 100 feet deep (let’s make the math easy) that’s 1200 inches deep, since most reel retrieval rate specs are in inches per turn we can compare apple to apples.

The Valiant 300, retrieves 38 inches per turn of the handle, that equates to 31.6 turns of the handle to bring the bait up from the 100 foot bottom to the reel tip, every time. Comparable reel sizes from other manufacturers retrieval rates are as little as 27 inches per turn to up to 30 inches per turn. Close right? Think again. At 27 inches per turn that is 44.4 turns of the reel handle from bottom to top and at 30 inches per turn it’s 40 turns per drop! On an average day of wreck fishing, anglers make at least 40 drops. That means compared to the Valiant, manufacturer P’s 27 inches per turn forces you to make 512 extra turns of the reel handle per day of fishing than the Valiant 300! That’s a significant amount more energy!  Even with manufacturer’s 30 inches per turn, anglers are making an extra 336 turns of the reel at that depth, compared to the Valiant 300. So not only are the Valiant 300’s lighter, but they require less turns to retrieve, making your fishing day more efficient as well as less exhausting! Can you see why the Valiant is a better tool?

This past season I have had no less than 40 clients comment (unsolicited I might add) on the powerful tool the Valiant 300 is, and it makes me, as a charter captain, proud to put the right tool for the job instead of a butter knife in the hands of my clients. But there is more, the Valiant series has expanded and the 400 size is now available and I just saw a picture of the first 500 frame machined. Soon we will have all the right tools and will never need those butter knife reels again!

Tight Lights,

Darren Dorris

Team Accurate