I'm sure this has been covered so many times as to be annoying, but I have the most basic drag grease question. The reel smith here locally in Winchester Bay who taught me about vintage Penns, taught me to ALWAYS replace the old brass/leather or asbestos washers with HT 100 and stainless, which I do. I asked him about greasing them and he said no, run them dry, they are designed that way, so I did. BUT... everyone here, and we are talking some very fine reel experts, greases them. Even Alan Tani himself, virtually EVERYONE! I believe the go-to grease is Cal's? What is the advantage of greasing vs dry? Smoother? Keeps water out? If my teacher was right and Penn installs them dry, why do we do it? I hate to sound so out of the know, but I really don't know. Thanks!
Makes them smoother, especially start up.
yeah, just grease then. you will never run into a situation where the drag will fade or decrease under any normal fishing situations.
For your location I recommend Cal's purple