The Rooster

My big gripe is the BB-1 has no instant anti-reverse. What is the advantage to having a multi point stop anti-reverse? I would see this as a hinderance instead of a help.

And that is the exact same combo I'm currently thinking of setting up for light fishing on creeks from a Jon boat. Same rod, reel, and all. I think the Trion in a 25 or 30 size is about right. I'll have to see which one balances best on the rod and also what size the stripper guide on the rod is. I always try to match a reel's spool size to the relative size of the first guide on spinning rods. Too wide a spool on a rod with a small guide cuts down on ease of cast and distance too.

Someone here said the 5.4 cranking version is no longer available in the Tournament Pro model, so I went to their site to see if that was right, which it seems to be (same for the regular Tournament models too), and while there I also noticed that the $100 Speed Spool model now has a bent handle like the higher priced models do. They seem to have a huge lineup of different reels ranging from like $80 all the way up to $300. With a range like that there's bound to be something for everybody. But if they're doing away with the cranking models in their standard reel lines, are they trying to force a move to the BB-1 models? What is the idea there?

Just so you know, I don't think the BB-1 has an instant anti-reverse. Just a multi point stop anti-reverse. Some people might not like that, I know I don't. That's something to consider when buying.

I'm just afraid they'll revamp the whole frame while trying to make it lighter and end up messing up the way it feels comfort wise, or change their centrifugal brakes to those always on kind like the current Extreme has. As for weight, they could leave it the way it is and I'd be fine with it. I'm discovering, rather oddly, that I actually prefer the weight of a heavier reel in hand. My old Curado was 7.6 oz, and my older Extremes are 8.6 oz, a full ounce heavier, and I like the way the rod balances with them better than I did the Curado. Is that weird? All I know is it works.

I live in fear that BPS will change the current PQ for an updated version before I get to buy several of them. Is there a group I can join for this? LOL. Seriously, this reel is aging as far as reel designs go. An update is bound to be in the works. Wonder what the next one will be like? If the current Extreme is any indication, it won't be pretty. And remember the gold carbonlites? Those were newer than the PQ is, sold well, and are already gone.

Lew's and Pflueger baitcasters are so similar inside mechanically the only real differences are minor body shape changes and logos outside.

Oh, I've also checked out the combos of both these reels. The rod has always felt soft to me which would make it a good choice for treble hook type baits, topwaters, crankbaits, small inline spinners, and any other lure with treble hooks or light wire single hooks. That's not to say a worm hook with a plastic wouldn't work also, but in my opinion the rod for that type lure would be stiffer, and I wouldn't use a rod like this for spinnerbaits or jigs either. The guides on these combos are usually the stainless steel type, but I've also seen the Trion available with aluminum oxide (ceramic looking) guides too. Depends on where you buy it I guess. I didn't buy a combo but I didn't need it at the time, only the reels. If I needed a treble bait spinning rod, this would probably be my first choice for cost vs. quality.

The previous models of both the President and the Trion that had the wooden handles, there was very little difference in them. Both reels are identical mechanically. Differences were, the President has two bearings inside the handle grip for extra smoothness, and also one under the spool to assist with turning when the drag is pulled. The Trion lacks all 3 of these (7 bearings vs. 10). Also the President had an aluminum side plate with a graphite frame while the Trion is all graphite. Otherwise no other differences. The added bearings in the President handle do make it feel smoother, but performance wise it doesn't improve anything. I've enjoyed both of the reels as I bought one of each at the same time. The newer models of both reels look a little different in cosmetics but otherwise I think the specs are about the same, and the above named differences are the same also. On a side note, the President I bought had a rough gear feeling so I returned it and bought another in a completely different place and it had the same problem too. The Trion, while identical internally, did not have this problem and has been as smooth as butter since day one. But these two reels were the older models also. I've handled several new model Presidents and none of those had any roughness like my first two did. Also a friend of mine has the current President reel and his is smooth as well. Between the President and Trion, both are good choices. Choose which one you like best based on cost, the extras offered on the President, or even just based on looks alone. This is one time that won't hurt.

I have the older President 6735 with the wooden handle grip. Mine is on an even older Ugly Stik Lite Pro (blue reel on blue/black rod, both with gold accents). It's my loaner rod for when friends go and don't have a rod, but I'm also thinking of getting one of the newer President reels for an old Quantum Dance Class rod, also blue, for myself to use. No real need since I already have a Shimano Symetre on that rod, which is a super nice reel. But I'm moving away from Shimano now so I may sell it. Nothing at all against the Symetre, but I just think FOR ME that most Shimano reels made to the level of refinement I'd like are just too expensive to allow for owning as many as I'd like. Not that I'd need 5 spinning reels but I could get 5 Presidents for the cost of 3 Symetres, just to show you what I mean. Sorry to get off track, but you know how it is, one thing leads to another.......

One final tip that's easier said than done with greasy fingers is to take cell phone pics as you go. If you forget how a part goes on it helps to have a photograph to refresh your memory. I get more from pics than I do schematics since it shows it assembled instead of blown up.

Also, when removing springs under tension, use a white plastic bag and put the reel inside it. If the spring flies off unexpectedly, it will stay inside the bag hopefully. Saves a lot of stress this way. White bags make finding it easier too. Or use a gallon sized freezer bag so you can see through it. Might be harder to get two hands inside to work but it saves your neck and back trying to scrunch down to see inside a bag to work. The only other choice is to be really careful, or work in a solid white room with no furniture, lots of light, and have a big magnet to find that tiny spring after it goes airborne. LOL

I usually use an old white T shirt or a dish towel to lay parts on while cleaning a reel. The grease on them makes them stick to the cloth and not slide or roll around so nothing gets lost. I clean each piece thoroughly and reassemble the reel one part at a time so there is no residue of cloth fibers on the parts. Also those two cloth choices keep fuzz to a minimum on any parts anyway, plus they give me a place to wipe my greasy tools and fingers off on, and the white color makes parts show up easily against it so I don't miss a piece. I lay all parts out in order of the way they came off so reassembly is just the reverse order of how they're laid out. I couldn't use a muffin pan unless I knew COLD where every part went and in what order, which I don't. It would jumble the parts up too much for me and I'd have something reassembled wrong. But doing it this way I also don't need schematics, which also means I can do any reel of any brand or model, even if I've never seen it before, and also while watching TV. However, this method also takes me about an hour or more per reel. I don't mind this but I only try to do one per day due to the time. I clean 5 for myself, sometimes more, and usually one or two for a friend each year.

What John G said! Except for the Shimano part. Nothing against Shimano, but as for me, I recently sold my Shimano casting reels and went back to my old BPS Extremes, partly due to handle grips. In the future I won't base my reel purchases on grips alone, but I will not consider reels that don't have, or cannot have added, comfortably designed grips AND bearings inside the knobs. The older BPS Extreme has both of these features. I've already added a full set of bearings to all the knobs on 4 reels now, and the stock grips are very comfortable to me, smooth, plain textured, and somewhat flat but bulked up at the same time for ease of hanging onto them while cranking a more resistive bait. My old Curado E had nice grips, and one knob bearing for each but I wanted two instead. Seems slicker feeling that way. My Citica E had no knob bearings and the knobs themselves were smaller than I like. I got tired of my hand falling off the grip as I cranked it. Also, the way these reels were made, knob bearings could not be added without a complete change of the handle shank. I'm with you, knobs don't make a reel but they sure can break one.

Reasons to stay strong.... Money saved Better overall health Better breath Cleaner teeth No constant spitting No mouth cancer No rotted teeth or gums No inconvenience of running out and needing it, so therefore... No inconvenience of needing to stop and buy more No one else asking to bum a dip No stained shirts or other clothing from accidental drips Easier to prepare to eat meals, no getting rid of the dip first No bulging lip while speaking to others I'm sure I could continue but these are some things to focus on. I've never dipped or smoked so this is all I could brainstorm for now. I'm pulling for you! I know you'll be glad when you're past this stage of quitting. I wish my brother and sister would stop smoking. They both have smoked now for near 15 years, my sister for 20+. I'm the oldest but I never have smoked and never will. I can't understand what you're going through but good luck. Both my siblings have tried to quit and they just keep going back so it must be hard.

I'm using a BPS Extreme reel of a similar design to the Pro Qualifier, and actually very similar to the $100 Lew's reel also. But mine has no extended handle, just standard length but it is a 5.4:1 ratio with a 23 IPT rating (inches of line retrieved per turn of the crank). Also it does have some fairly meaty grips that make them easy to hang onto so I don't have to pinch down on them very much. I don't get hand fatigue from cranking all day, but I am only using crankbaits that dive about 12 feet. If I start to feel it I can upgrade to a longer handle. I've added bearings to the handles which helps them turn easier. I think this might actually be helping some too, however slight it may be. After several thousand handle turns in the run of a day, I could see this making a difference too.

Lew's makes a lot of good reels that will do well for cranking. Crank models have longer handles for more leverage, and deeper spools for more line capacity. I'm confused on your cranking speed. 25 to 35 seconds for a full turn? At that rate I doubt the bait even dove much. It had to float near the top instead. Did you mean 2.5 to 3.5?

Those different retrieve rates are in inches per turn, but each one of those reels is a different size also, smaller or larger. That's how they can all be the same ratio but have different retrieve rates. There are dramatic differences in size if you could see them all side by side. Look at the line capacity for a clue. Some are ultralight sizes, some are large enough for inshore salt water fishing. There are basically about two sizes out of all of those that are right for medium powered bass fishing. Seems like the 6930X is right based on line sizes and capacity. I normally look for 100 - 150 yards/8 pound line capacity for bass fishing.

The pawl cap is on the level wind on the front of the reel. It's a small cap that just unscrews off and has a pawl inside it, and possibly a shim or two that will look like very small washers (used for spacers when needed, not all reels have those). Since the binding is not every single turn of the handle, but every 4 or 5, I'd say it's in the level wind also. That's about how many cranks it takes for the level wind to cross from one side to the other and it could be binding up when trying to reverse directions again, then frees up once it gets forced through by you continuing to crank it. There is a small part called a level wind pawl that must rotate once it reaches the end of the worm shaft in order to go back the other way. If there is a bur on the pawl or worm shaft then this can be why it's binding. This could simply be from having these parts running dry on oil, or dirt stuck in them. I know this though, that binding and then forcing it to crank through can, and probably already has, caused damage to those parts. Replacement of them may be needed now. You won't know until some tests are done, as suggested above, or the reel is disassembled to inspect it. The worm shaft is the part on the front of the reel that looks like this. (XXXXX) The pawl rides in the grooves of it, and then swivels slightly to realign with the reverse set of grooves once it reaches the side. I'm pretty sure this is the cause. If it were in the gears I would think you'd feel it on every crank, not just every 4 or 5. If this is the old red colored, round Ambassadeur Hank Parker reel you may be able to remove the pawl cap fairly easily, but if it's another low profile version I'm not familiar with then removing it might be a chore. Most low profile reels need to have the nose piece of the body removed to reach the pawl cap. Many other parts will need to come off before the nose piece is even accessible on those reels. The round reels usually have the pawl cap exposed since they don't have nose pieces to cover them up.

I'm a workin' man first and fisherman second. I said that to say this, that when I got serious about fishing I tried to stick with one brand for similarity between rods but I found out I couldn't afford to buy all the rods I wanted from that brand before they changed their lineup on me, making the new ones different from what I had already bought. Also I found out my likings in a rod sometimes differs from what they offer so I can't just stick with one brand only. Now I just look for a rod that fits my current needs and has a similar handle design and reel seat so it feels the same as the others in hand regardless of brand. Right now I have five rods I take for different things. One MH/F for spinnerbaits, jigs, and plastics. One M/F for plastic jerkbaits and also T-rig plastics. One MH/MF for most treble baits (cranks, jerkbaits, topwaters). One M power Ugly Stik Lite for deeper crankbaits. One spinning rod for any light weight lures. I'm currently thinking of what changes I can make to this assortment to better it or even drop a rod so I don't carry so many.

Wow. For your fourth post, that sure was informative. That knowledge will change the way I fish in the summer.

With bass getting to be that smart I may as well quit fishing and take up golf.

From reading your first and last sentences, what kind of a person according to you would it take to deserve it? LOL.

Well I guess I was hoping for a general answer that works everywhere, not just for certain bass in certain places. Guess there is no such answer. My lakes are not power generation lakes. I have two that are formed from flooded valleys for flood control. One was formed from damming a small river, and the other from damming a small creek. Then I have one that has nothing but an earthen dam with no lock, just an overflow into a spillway below, and as far as I know it just catches runoff from surrounding hills as an inlet of water to stay full. Again, no power generation. All are an average of 30 - 35 feet deep on the main lake with some areas deeper, and some shallower all around. There are no wood docks on these lakes, saving for one that was put in by a lakeside park that's privately owned on one lake. There are two floating marina docks that you cannot fish around. So no fishable dock cover. This is the end of their similarities. The first lake, Yatesville, is a flooded valley lake on Blaine creek, with gently rolling hills that form the lake bottom. Lots of soft silty bottom areas, and grass and stumps. Flooded timber areas in lots of the coves. Some rocks occasionally. There are several islands in this lake. Water clarity ranges from very clear to extremely murky in different areas, and then coffee colored muddiness after a rain. Lots of long arms on this lake with feeder creeks, so there are channels in these arms also. I've seen them on the fish finder but I only recognize them when crossing over them. If I'm moving along straight overhead of them then they just appear to be deep water. I don't try to fish them since I can't really tell where they're at and they're fairly deep too. Since there are lots of arms there are lots of main lake points and secondary points inside the arms also. Average depth overall is 30 feet. This lake has a earthen dam with a lock. Water exits at the bottom of the dam at over 50 feet deep. The lake does have shad. The second lake, Grayson, is a flooded valley on the Little Sandy River, having some rolling hill areas with soft bottoms like the first one, but also areas with lots of high cliffs coming straight up out of the water with harder bottoms and many underwater ledges and shelves nearby. Some stumps in certain areas, but lots and lots of big rock structure. There are some long arms on this lake too, but not as many. Water average depth and clarity is like the first lake. This lake also has a earthen dam with a lock. Water exits at the bottom of the dam at over 50 feet deep. This lake also has shad. The third lake, Greenbo, is ultra, ultra clear water. If it ever gets murky, I've never seen it. A rain might stain it some but it seems to just make it greener. It's a small lake with rolling hills and soft bottoms, some grass along shorelines, and lay down trees and only three arms off the main body. That's about the only cover in the lake. No visible channels anywhere and the bottom is clearly visible even in 15 feet or more depth. Feels like I'm flying sometimes when floating on this lake, like the water isn't even there. There are trout here also, and HUGE bass in the double digits that frustratingly will not even acknowledge the presence of a bait, live or otherwise. There are no shad in this lake and none are allowed to be used. Water depth is somewhat deeper on average. The shorelines are steeper coming into the water, so not many shallow areas at all. This lakes dam is earthen with a natural overflow at the top to control depth. This lake has delivered the state record bass twice in the past, and just last year on back to back days, three bass were caught at 9, 10, and 11 pounds, all by different people. My brother in law witnessed the 10 pound fish caught, it hit a large swim bait. These are the three lakes I primarily fish. There are two more, one similar to the last in size and dam, but more like the first two in water conditions, and also has lily pads. Then there is another a lot like the first two but it's 90 - 100 feet deep through most of the main lake for miles. Finding shallower, fishable waters here are harder. So as you can see whatever lake I'm on, something is different on every one, whether it's water depth, clarity, bait choice, structure and cover, I've got to be able to fish a lot of different ways to find and catch fish and most times I don't find a lot.

It seems I've read before that bass move into the backs of creeks in the spring to follow baitfish, and to look for shallow waters to spawn in, and then move out into the main lake in the summer. Then in the fall and winter they do this again, following baitfish into the backs of creeks in the fall and then out into the main lake in the winter. So if I understand it right, they follow a predictable movement pattern twice a year in and out of the same places? I get why they go into the back of the creeks, it's to pursue the baitfish. And I believe I get why they move into the main lake during summer and winter, I gather that has to do with temperature comfort zones for them. Is this right? If so, how can the deeper waters provide both cool temperatures in summer, but then later warmer temperatures in the winter?