Hi Grampa Spey,if it's any consolation I know quite a few guys who fish for chinook salmon with NO drags on their reels,so the AS has more than enough for these fish.To be honest,all you need for any freshwater species is a spool that can be palmed.A nice drag is a bonus but is not a neccesity at all.Many people use old Hardy's and the Loop Tradition reels out here in BC for salmon and steelhead and these reels are more than up to the job.
One of my best freinds works in Terrace on the Skeena for the BC Fisheries and his job is largely catching steelhead and salmon for radio tagging.While most of the time he uses drift gear to pick up the biggest numbers of fish,he also uses fly gear whenever possible(I guess you can do what you want when you are in the middle of a remote system.LOL!).Believe it or not,the reels he still uses are Dragonfly 395's on his flyrods and Hardy Silex's on his drift rods.These reels have NO drags whatsoever(his Dragonfly use to but the chinooks burt it out) and he has caught thousands of salmon,including wild chinook over over 80lbs and 30lbs steelhead on both of these systems.Even though most people would never think about chasing monster chinook with such reels,he loves it and wouldn't use anything else!
As long as you can palm a reel,you can catch any salmon or steelhead that swims.If my freind can frequently land 60+lbs chinook on a Silex or burnt out Dragonfly,you will have NO problems landing them on the AS reels that's for sure.I wouldn't think twice about using them in the salt either.I guess if I was chasing 200lbs tarpon I would probably beef things up a bit and go with a big cork drag reel,but for most other conditions the AS will be fine.I have talked to several people who use these reels(and the AL models) for bones,permit and tarpon and they all seem to be fine with them(although a nice cork drag Tibor would certainly be considered a better option).
For the price,no other reel on the market can even come close to these.They are practicly giving them away these days so even if you don't really need one,they are well worth getting as a backup reel or spare for someone considering the low cost investment.