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I have had 5 months to use the Lew's reels now. I have serviced reels for customers and other charter services for the last 30 years. So since I have jumped ship, and away from the Posse ( low profile reels in bass size only) and took up with "Lew's and the hole in the wall gang" I was asked by one of our members to expose the inside story on the Lew's reels, since I have experience with others and had the TP down to the frame in search of inexpensive way's to improve it, (and out of curiosity mainly). First thing I saw when I removed the gear cover was a lot of plastic, much as I have when dealing with newer and newer brands of other top manufacturers new offerings, so as reels have improved and gotten better, so has the use of plastic. I think the first time I did this with a quality reel it was a Calcutta CT250, I had serviced Ambassadors and Penn's for years, which used stamped metal linkages and works with hardly any plastic other than level wind gears and a couple small bushings, I was astounded by this huge plastic bridge in front of me as I pulled the drive gear cover off and thought I had thrown my money at a reel that would never be around as long as my beloved noisy rough and rugged 5500's. Well if you have ever had any experience with any Calcutta, you know how wrong I was. So before I start I would like to say, as quality manufacturers, such as Lew's Shimano, Abu, Diawa, etc, have gone to these parts, we have seen lighter smoother faster and better longer lasting reels from all. Yes there are those no name, metal alloy gears "known as pot metal", and boo koo bearing "cheep no spec non stainless steel", with lightweight aluminum spool's "unbalanced and smaller than the hole they fit in, " along with lots of heavy grease to make them smooth, from no name Companies that don't last, or work. This is always going to happen when Those jump min to make a quick buck and scam everyone. I assure you the top companies don't and know they can't afford to try those tactics and Lew's as with the others, you don't have to worry about that. I am stating that now to assure all that, Plastic is widely used more and more by all manufacturers in there new top of the line reels. I'll start with a picture of the clutch plate and the workings of the Lew's TP. As you see, there is plenty of plastic, but I believe from all my inspection and experience with other reels, this design is solid, they have put the plastic in strategic places that reduce weight enhances smoothness, but doesn't compromise durability or strength. These reels cast with the best but as with all reels come with heavier lube than necessary to assure those who don't perform regular maintenance on their reels, smooth operation at the cost of better performance for a couple seasons of abuse. For those of us that do keep our equipment up to date with maintenance you will be astounded at the difference if you take time to degrease the bearings, and use a quality lightweight bearing oil. These reels are amazing, smooth quiet, and light, with plenty of POWER TO SPARE! If you are going to tackle this yourself, you must consider the climate and elements you will be using it in when considering the proper grease and oil's to use, there is no perfect lube for all conditions. In this picture above you can see, they didn't cut corners on sub standard quality drag materials, they use the same washers I get from Smooth drag when I upgrade drags for my customers "Carbontex". The one thing I did notice was locked down or on the upper end, the drag did leave a little to be desired, and on start up was a little jerky,I didn't notice this down at lighter poundage, so what I did was grease the drag with a high quality drag grease, just as I do on all my drags, and it did help it. It came dry from Lew's, I don't know if this was so it would meet it's rated Max poundage, but will assure you if you take the initiative to grease it with proper lubricants, it will make you shake your head as I did, and ask yourself, HOW DO THEY DO IT?? These reels perform as well as reels from top manufacturers charging twice as much (Street Price). So although it is good from the factory, it is definitely much better when greased, maybe one corner I have noticed that they may use to keep cost down. There was one thing I didn't like, and that was the washer under the drive gear is not Carbontex, it is a blue synthetic material, that may be used to keep from running a wet drag, and make start up better on the higher drag settings. I have found on every reel I have ever run across, a wet drag with good drag grease will be smoother than any drag run dry! Anyway it got the grease treatment also and as I said it is great, and leaves nothing to be desired as it will satisfy me and other extremist's, but I will get with Dawn at Smooth drag and see if she can furnish me with a disc of the proper dimensions to replace it, I would like to know, difference no difference, better worse??? I have always said a drag can be no better than it's weakest washer! we'll see. I'm not good at giving reviews, I hope this answers some questions, i do have two others, and have not really touched them yet as far as tuning, a Tournament and a top of their line last year Team. I will say the Tournament pro is my favorite, but only because I mainly fish light with finesse rigs and seldom over 1/4 ounce with this reel, on a Croix LTB68MXF at 11.0 oz. total, is my favorite outfit, this rig is sick!. I have not touched the other two, same lube they left the factory with, and the team get's most of the use, so far I think every time I take it out it get's smoother??? Maybe I am just getting used to them. but I will say after fishing Calcuttas and Curados for years, I haven't looked back and am happy with myy choice, it was an upgrade. The team I paid $179.00 for and the Tournament Pro $148.00, the Tournament $108.00, I will say for the price of the Tournament, no real within $50.00 is any better, the Tournament Pro and Team, that only differ in side covers material as the Team is aluminum and weights .4 oz more, I really am convinced you have to spend twice that to find a better reel, and if it cost TWICE as much, it better be BETTER! Try the Lew's and tell me, is it! I want to add, that after the service and proper lubes used on the Tournament Pro I have turned all centrifugal brakes off and and only run about a 3 setting on the mag, if I have a 5 to 10 mph headwind, I can crank up to 8 or so on the magnetic and still throw 1/4 as well as my Stradics, I run this thing totally free now with confidence. Their great outa the box, but unbelievable with a proper service. I don't know if I gain anything with Boca's and a super tune, it would have to be marginal and not sure if it we be worth the money spent for the small benefit one would see?

Blah, blah, blah. They're the exact same reel as the Curado E series, minus a double anodized spool and handle. It's been discussed a thousand times, regardless of what you think you know. Kenichi Iida has confirmed it, Dan Thorburn has confirmed it, far too many people out there that DO know have confirmed it. I've seen no difference other than the gear ratio, either. They perform as well as, but no better than, my E series Curado reels. I've had them down to bare bones and there's zero difference.

I thought the title was a spoof off of Broke Back Mountain.

X2. Wife can talk to whomever she wants. I never understood why so many people try and control something they have no control over. If she wants some strange then she gonna get some strange and there isnt a dang thing you can do about it to prevent it.

They are rare. I caught this one a couple of years back in lac la marte NWT. The guides in camp thought it was a pretty big deal. Went 20 lbs.

I'm in trouble. Been closing splitshots with my teeth for 40 years.

I went to a local lake after work today with a friend and we started our normal routine headed to our normal shore line with piles of thick cover and started punching away we had 2 fish in about 2 hours : (. So as we were trolling back to the dock to call it a day I passed over a drop I had never seen went from 18 to 25 feet. I stopped the boat and grabbed my new found obsession the drop shot, first cast to this drop off hooked into a 3# LM And from there we caught 37 fish in an hour and a half. Marked the spot and headed in. Never had success like this in the summer usually it is a miserable grind to get 10 tops, we were fishing with the bps hand poured 3.5 " minnows wacky rigged with a 16-20 inch tag end and a 1/4 oz weight. Have you guys used any other minnow type baits and had succes and how did you rig them.

I used a 3/4 oz weight and a Berkley Pit Boss today; and did away with the leader. Caught 3; including what seemed to be a 1.5-2 pounder, and a bigger one- probably around 3 lbs. I know they both look smaller though lol. I had to get into the duckweeds and slime to land the bigger one; she got herself tangled pretty good. P.S. I was looking at the tungsten punching weights at DSG yesterday, and boy are they pricey! I'm sure they're better than lead though; just not ready to drop $8 for a pack of two weights yet.

Well finally got a call on my boat today. My third cylinder coil went bad and needs replaced and they said the spark plugs would need done soon so I had them replace those too. Parts, labor, and tax it's going to be $301.95 so not as bad as I was afraid it might be. On a side note, be careful browsing TW at 3am right after getting a big paycheck, you may find yourself spending over $100 on stuff you don't need

That battery will be fine, as long as it's a deep cycle battery, and NOT a starting battery. The circuit breaker gets wired into the positive cable of the trolling motor, within 1 foot from the battery. Are you sure the manual says to use a 60 amp breaker for your 40 lb. motor? That sounds wrong. It should be a 40 or 50 amp breaker.

Nice shot of Pappy Van Winkle 20 year old Bourbon! Takes the edge off! In fact, I didn't catch anything today and I'll pour one right now.

Thanks, Hootie! I was thinking the same thing! Which model of Dobyn do you have?

you won't hurt them if you run ceramics dry. Just most like J Francho said can't stand the noise. I think it makes the reel seem - not smooth - for lack of a better description. I would use them dry first, just so YOU KNOW the difference, and then add "ONE DROP" of the lube you choose, as .ghoti said and I earlier, opinions, and all work most at different times are better. I use Rocket Fuel T&Y mixed, and you will see for yourself. A word of advice if this is your first go with Hybrid Ceramics, take it easy the first couple cast and add a brake or two till you are sure your ready to unleash the beast!

Forgot this; Hot Sauce is ok. Go ahead and use what you have. But when cold weather arrives get yourself some better lube. There is no "best" oil for bearings, only opinions. Oust is good. Ardent bearing oil is good. Daiwa red oil is good, if you can find some. The needle oilers from Daiwa and Zebco are too thick for spool bearings. TSI 321 is great, but I haven't used it on ceramic bearings so I won't recommend it for you. Hot sauce is pretty far down on my list.

Vinny, lube them. Ceramic bearings can be run dry, but the noise will drive you crazy. Unless you're deaf of course. If you are very lucky you will get the seals off and back on. Getting them re-installed is a problem. they will normally make contact with the balls and truly degrade casting performance. Must people run them without seals for that very reason. My advice; only remove one seal on each bearing. You can still get them clean and lubed. When you install the bearings, have the seal facing the spool.

For enthusiasts, technique specific gear is fun to collect. However, three rigs cover all the basics: #1 6 1/2' or 7' MH baitcaster for jigs, some soft plastics and spinnerbaits #2 6 1/2' or 7' MM baitcaster for treble hook lures #3 7' MF spinning rod for lighter lures and a variety of techniques

Popped some small fish out of the water yesterday with my rod. I can attest that the Veritas can handle the 1lb large mouth bass.

I too just read something similar and that it helps if you minimize the time it takes to land the fish. But what fun is it to just rip a fish right in the boat?

It took me until halfway through but I am enjoying the Olympics. Especially the women's water polo. The women's soccer has been fun to follow too. The Olympics give me something positive and uplifting to read about too. I get sick of hearing about ALL the idiot politicians and the problems going on in the world; war, death, he said she said between various countries. It's nice to be able to escape from that. It seems like the athletes can get along just fine. Maybe people need to take a cue from them. Plus it makes me proud to cheer for my countries athletes as they compete against the rest of the world's top athletes. I mean the countries of the world can for the most part put aside their differences for a two week period to compete in sporting events. I don't know it just makes me feel like maybe there is hope for humanity. On a lighter note. I will definitely be live streaming the US women's water polo final on Thursday on my phone at work. I think I have found a new sport to follow. Also please don't make a political or world political discussion out of my comment. I was just trying to state my opinion on the Olympics and how they make me feel.

Just don't put them in your mouth, and wash your hands after handling them a bunch. They really aren't that dangerous and lead bans are baseless.

Full throttle pushes the water to the back of the boat where it can escape. You have to have the trailer ready to trailer the boat and run the boat onto the trailer. Then put in the plug and launch the boat. Easier said than done. Been there, done that!!!

If he gets in then I DEMAND to see Pete Rose in there as well. Who cares what he did as a manager, it's what he did as a player that makes him great.

I just started fishing the Anaconda just like I do any curly tail worm. Normally weightless on 4/0 or 5/0 hook T-Rig let it sink to bottom lift up, reel a couple times, rinse and repeat and I've found success. I have some of the Shad but have yet to put much effort into them. I plan to on my next outing.

The diameter of a superline on a baitcaster is proportional to your ability to untangle a semi-professional overrun.

New, this is not my idea. It is Ike's idea. I use it all the time and have caught 10 bass on one Senko. There are other products in the marketplace that may or may not be as productive as a Senko. When I go fishing I want to have confidence in my baits and a wacky rigged senko or trick worm if you get the smaller shrink tube size catches fish. So the extra cost of the Senkos is worth it to me. Give what Ike says a try and I think you will like the setup. Just remember that after a few days the tubing can get loose so you will have to reheat it.

in open water i start with spinnerbait. if they dont want the blades/vibration i switch to swimjig. if around weeds i start with a chatterbait b/c its easy to bounce them off the weeds w/o getting hung up or collecting weeds. then move to swimjig. i love boss swimjigs (@fishingskirts). they have a recessed eye which doesn't get hung up in weeds

X3. 2/0 for the 5" and 4/0 for the 6" P.S. There are no replacements for the Senko. And Kinami is the same bait.

when guys make fun of me for catch and release i ask them what species they are eating. then ask if they read the little book you get when you buy ur fishing license. it dangerous to eat most species more than twice a month. they stop laughing and turn a special shade of green

Sam your post had me laughing solo! So from the advice gathered here: 1. She needs to be in her mid to late 20s 2. Very good looking (36" 24" 37") 5'11" fill in what you like__ 3. Lots of money or at least more than groom 4. She likes to share the money 5. AND LIKES TO FISH I guess one for 5 isn't bad

With a rod and reel! Kidding... crank baits sound like a great way to start. love shallow rocky ponds ....

If you want a truly unique lure you can get a package of oven bake clay from Walmart for $5. Make your bait then bake it. Once that is done make a POP mold. Pour a couple baits in the POP mold and use those to make a resign mold. join Tackleunderground.com there is a video in the soft baits tutorial section that explains this process perfectly. Enjoy Capt.O