As a whole I always appreciated Hardy reels and to no exception the UCL, its light and compact, but of astecics I'd put the 5000 on an 11ft nymphing rod! Granted I don't expect even to run into backing on a nymphing rod, but the rivers I fish do hold 3-4lb trout along with sea trout and salmon, but in general I target fish around the 3/4 lb mark or smaller! I'm an design engineer and fully appreciate the engineering and design of Hardly products but with new manufacturing tooling and CNC multi axis machines these can be mass produced very cheap especially from Taiwan, but that's no different from Sage, Lamson or any other of the brands! And that's what disgruntles me, the poor warranty from Hardy, Hardy yet has quality but for many its a name, or collection that once had value! Now it doesn't, if you buy a sage rod for £700, you will always get close to asking because of the life time warranty which they honour and replace within weeks! Where as Hardy repair or replacement is a nightmare, and after 5 years nothing, and in many cases they won't have a spare section so they offer a discount on a newer model. Then to top that you item has lost value the minute you buy it! I've 14 Hardy rods, 14 spools each with 2 spare spools, I committed to Hardy almost 30 years ago, but as there warranty has changed to 5 years I really feel let down. Thousands of pounds worth of gear now worth little or nothing, my regret is purchasing a product with appalling warranty for a high end brand,…