One of Van Staal's most famous features is its sealed, waterproof drag system. Even if you're not in the habit of submerging your reel while fishing, regular exposure to the elements alone is enough to compromise the integrity of the drag system and inner gears. Anyone who's hooked into a monster only to feel the drag slip or hear that unmistakeable coffee-grinder sound coming from their reel knows how painfully true this can be.

That's why when we set out to build the market's most durable and reliable fishing reel, we knew that drag and gear protection was critical for consistent, peak performance. To achieve this protection, our engineers designed water-tight seals throughout the spool, body and handle assembly of the VS and VSB spinning reels. For fly anglers, we completely sealed the spool of our C-VEX fly reels.

No other reels on the market offers this level of protection, and that's why no other reel on the market will do for serious anglers looking for the ultimate in hard-fishing performance. Not convinced? Keep reading. . .

THE ULTIMATE VAN STAAL® DURABILITY TEST:
In September, 2006, Larry Welcome was fishing on the south side of Long Island when a wave swept him off his feet, and his fishing tackle out to sea. Feeling lucky to be alive, Larry was now without his Van Staal and forced to use his back-up tackle for the rest of the fall striped bass run. But in December — three months later — his broken rod, still attached to his Van Staal reel washed up, miles down the shore.

After checking the reel's unique serial number, it was returned to Larry, where he found it scraped and with some of the anodizing worn off. But when he turned the handle, he found his reel still functioning. His reel was still sealed and had no corrosion or breakage. After a quick servicing, Larry is back in the surf fishing with his "battle worn" reel again — catching fish. No other reel could have done this.

"Well my back-up reels are once again back-up reels. As in just about everything in the marketplace, there is good, better and best — and I've got to say that Van Staal is best. I can't think of any other reel that would have taken those conditions for that amount of time and even been recognized, let alone useable. That's my testimonial. . .thanks to Van Staal for making a quality product that is such a pleasure to own."
—Larry Welcome, (very) satisfied Van Staal owner.

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