[sleestak]

Why do you even care about startup inertia on a steelhead reel? It's totally insignificant. If you're fishing dries on 6X tippet to 20" trout, yes. But when swinging flies on 10-15 pound Maxima to steelhead, startup inertia is probably the least significant factor imaginable.

The Lamson conical drag is a good, simple system that works well. In my experience the only downside to the Lamson reels that aren't fully caged is running line slipping between the frame and spool on occasion. Other than that, my Lamson reels have accounted for many steelhead and require very little maintenance.