The Rooster

I'd be open minded about it, with the average thought of $100 for reel, $150 for rod, but would also entertain the idea of a reversal of the two as well if I found a reel I really, really wanted. You might even do a 50/50 deal as well. And I agree with RW, reels make fishing more fun. An awesome rod and a so so reel is not very fun for me. But also for me, $100 can buy a good reel that is fun a lot of times. But tell your friend to watch out!! Before they know it, they'll be getting into really fun reels like I have been as of lately. ;D

I didn't know they sold the swept ones. I'm looking at the straight ones for my Extremes, and they all have straight handles originally too. Mine are the 2008 and earlier models. I think 2009 is the first year for swept handles on those reels.

Has anyone ordered any of these?? I would like to know if they can have bearings installed into them (I know they won't come with them, just bushings probably), also maybe even if the knobs on a BPS reel will fit back onto them as opposed to the ones they come with instead. I think it would be a good way to make my BPS Extreme reels look "updated" with the ported handle shanks. It's not necessary, but just something to play around with. http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops-Casting-Reel-Standard-Replacement-Handles/product/96597/-1382214

Since this it tackle porn I kept with the theme of things and laid them all out on a bed. ;D Here is my current lineup. I'll be fishing with all of these this year unless I get anything else new, which I probably will. ;D Here's the Shimano baitcast set ups I have. The Curado E7 is on a 6'6" MH/F Compre rod, and the Citica is on a 6'6" M/F Compre rod. The Curado combo will handle spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits, jigs, and C-rigs primarily. The Citica combo covers jerkbaits, t-rigs, and some topwaters. Here are my "it'll do" crankbait setups. I shouldn't be so hard on them actually, I really like the Ugly Stik Lite Pro rods and the BPS Extremes aren't bad either. But someday I'll upgrade to Curado E5's on Compre cranking rods. Until then I have these. There's a 5.4:1 ratio reel on a 7' medium for deep cranks. This rod has a fairly long handle compared to the other one (it's the one with the green crankbait on it). Then there's a 6.4:1 ratio reel on a 6'6" medium for shallow and mid depth cranks (the one with the red crankbait on it). The reels have been modified to be 9 bearing versions. I added an extra bearing to each crank paddle to make them that much slicker feeling while cranking. The spinning rods are a Shimano Symetre 2500FJ on a 6'6" M/F Quantum Dance Class IM-6 rod for topwaters and jerkbaits, a Pflueger President 6735 on a 6' medium Shakespeare Ugly Stik Lite Pro that I use for throwing weightless plastics (I have it, may as well use it), and a Pflueger Trion 4730GX on a 6' M/F Quest LS-7 (IM-7 graphite) rod from Dick's that I use for shakyheads and other lightweight lures. So far, these are all the Shimano reels I've managed to get. I'll eventually have ALL Shimano reels, and quite likely rods as well, though there are a few non-Shimano rods that I do like. Oh, and I'll never get rid of my Ugly Stiks!!! They'll get a couple of Shimano Cardiffs and go catfishing if nothing else.

I have a MH/F rod that's 6'6". I use it for spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, chatterbaits, jigs, carolina rigs, and ripping lipless crankbaits through grass too.

I couldn't agree more there. That was my thought on it when I first saw it. I think it's just the next fad that makes the reels look "sexy, sharp, sleek and fast", whatever they want to say to get your money. My hat is off to Shimano for not conforming to this fad with their reels. Not that it hurts the reel's performance either, other than the occasional smacking of the knuckles on the nut cap that holds the handle on. It does look good, I just like the straight handles better. Better get used to it though, I think eventually it will be that way on most reels made.

It won't, I know that. There will still be twist, just maybe not as much. Thanks for that info. I've not yet tried superlines so maybe that's the answer. I believe you're wrong there. Take a long rope or extention cord and turn it on one end like a jump rope. Do it by yourself with no one on the other end. In just a few turns you have twist. With a good bit more turns you have twist bad enough it begins to show. With someone on the other end doing this in unison with you, there is no twist. The rope does turn. As it goes up it is rotating upside down from it's previous position. As it comes down again, it's right side up. Without two people, only one end does this and creates twist. Two people allows the rope to turn at both ends and negates any twisting. Also, if you do this with a short enough rope or cord, say 10' long or less, then you will see that the other end will turn with your turning as well, and the rope/cord will create a spiral in the air as the other end tries to keep up with your end, but it will always be about 1/2 a turn behind. Now imagine that the long rope is your line, and you have about 100 feet of it out. You'd have to actually stretch out a rope and try this, or ruin a good extention cord to do it. Using regular fishing line will work, but you see the twist effects only after it's happened and gotten bad enough it will wrap on itself. Using the larger rope or cord shows you why and how it's happening before it gets really kinky, it's easier to see what's going on with the line itself that way. Instead of the wide arcs you'd swing with your arm in jump rope, turn it in short fast circles like the bail of a spinning reel will do. Watch how fast it kinks up since the entire thing cannot turn at once, same as a fishing line with a bait that does not rotate, the other end stays stationary while the reel end rotates fast and furiously. Line twist abounds!! I tried it with a 10' extention cord held still on one end and it twisted it up good, the end in my hand actually tried to untwist itself after a few spins by spinning in my palm. So then I tried it with some of my wife's yarn using about 10'. After about 50 - 60 turns I let the line hang down in a loop and it began to try to twist and wrap around itself. It most definitely was twisting. It's a soft material too, unlike mono that is probably a bit more stiff. I'd try some mono but I don't have any here that's loose. Need to get some for that experiment I guess. I thought of this a while back. Tried it too but it didn't work. I positioned the spool in front of the reel so that it wound directly from the line spool to the reel's spool coming off and going on in the same direction. Made very little difference really. Seamingly on one spool of line it will work very well, and on another it will not work at all. I think that would have to do with the way it was spooled from the factory. I don't know how it was originally wound onto the spool for selling. So taking it off in possibly a different way than it went on would produce twist automatically. Based on that, I may not EVER be able to get twist out of the line by doing simple things during spooling or while fishing (other than dragging line as one person has suggested, so far that's all that's ever worked for me too). I'd like to build some of my own spinners, just so I can have custom colors, as well as possibly a built in swivel. Until now, I've just used a ball bearing snap swivel and changed spinners as I wanted a different color. Seams that the swivel, regardless of how freely it will spin when held in your hand, still lets the line twist up. Maybe it's these Pflueger reels I've been using for the last 3 years.....I never had this much trouble with the Abu Garcia Cardinals I had before them, and I never used to use a swivel with a spinner at all then :-? (Got a new Shimano Symetre now, maybe I won't have trouble anymore ). This is what I'm doing now, and it's the only thing that works. Guess I still will have a backup plan incase the spinner idea doesn't work very well. Hmmm.....winter might be over here before I even try it. Guess I could run down to the river to try out a few of them inbetween wind chills of 20o like it is here today. ;D

I mainly use spinning reels for baits that I either do not crank much such as free falling weightless worms or topwaters that I move with the rod, or for inline spinners that twist the heck out of the line. So it's either hardly any twist from the first two bait types, or a LOT from the last one. I have tried a lot of things to fight line twist such as bending the wire on the spinner so it doesn't turn as much or using ball bearing swivels, winding the line onto the spool in specific ways (label up, label down, rolling off bottom, rolling off top like a baitcaster) and mostly it's all failed. I still have twist and some reels are worse than others. I now have a bottle of KVD line conditioner to try, but have not done it yet. Then this little idea hit me awhile ago.....if you can't get the line NOT to twist when it's coming onto the reel then why not work with it instead?? Imagine if there would be a way that I could make an inline spinner turn in the same direction that the rotor on the reel is turning while winding back in the line. Like two kids twirling a jump rope. The reason it doesn't twist the rope with all that turning is that it's going in the same direction at both ends. So something along those lines, if I can make the spinner do this then while the reel is twisting the line retrieving it, the bait will be undoing it at the same time on the other end. My idea is to try to bend or warp the blade in some way so that it always causes the bait to rotate in the same direction, the way I want it to turn. The reel is always going to twist line as it's being retrieved. Inline spinners are almost always going to rotate anyway as they are being retrieved, and it's a 50-50 shot at which way they turn, left or right, I'm just going to try to guarantee they only twist left, or right, whichever way it happens to need to go. So if I can make them work together then at least it would be less twist. If it doesn't work, who knows, I might end up getting more thump from the blades and more bites as a result. It can't hurt to try. What would it do, twist line worse?? I can hardly imagine worse than I already have seen. What do you think?? **EDIT** I'm going to take inspiration from boat motor props with the cupping of the blades to catch water. If I can do this to make the blade rotate in the desired direction then I think this has a shot at working. Who knows, it might turn out to be a good way to make the bait rise up in the water or not rise as much too, if nothing else, just like a prop does to a boat for planing out by lifting the bow or stern. Hmm.....got some tinkering to do, then some testing.....be springtime before I can put it to the real test though. :-[

Yeah I'm developing a real thing for green Shimanos......Symetres and Curados. The silver ones aren't bad either......Citica, Saros, all the rest pretty much (except for that horrid Sonora that's orange! ).

Don't count out the Shimano Compre cranking rods. Sell for $100 in 6'6" lengths, and only $110 for 7'.

All 7 of mine are about like all the ones you have. I however, happen to like Ugly Stik rods, particularly the Ugly Stik Lite Pros that can only be found at Walmart (not to be confused with the regular Ugly Stik Lite). They have a few very cheap spinning reels that are fair for their price, the Abu Garcia C101 and C102 Cardinals. Decent for someone with less than $40 to spend. They recently added Pflueger Trions also, which I can't complain about since my Trion has been as good as I could have ask for from it (it was the President reel that wasn't). Otherwise, there's nothing great there, but if they ran out of the basic stuff like Berkley XL mono, or Powerbait 7" black worms, or Gamakatsu 3/0 EWG then I'd have to go a little further to get those things and that would be an inconvenience. I use a lot of Roostertails though (name should tell you that) and they have a few good ones. I rely on them for that since they're harder to find here otherwise. All in all, I won't complain about the fishing section there. I've seen it MUCH better in the past but it's also better now than it's been in the last 5 years too so I still enjoy being in it, and it gives me something to do while the wife is shopping the rest of the store. Basics for me from Walmart: Berkley or Stren mono Gamakatsu hooks various Zoom, Berkley, and other soft plastics Rapala lures Worden's Roostertails a few different other hard baits like Heddon, Rebel, and Bomber brands crappie jigs and grubs for them the occasional Strike King or Booyah spinnerbait/buzzbait UGLY STIKS and LITE PROS (these rods are great for just generally tough rods, GET SOME)!!!!

Get a Shimano

I've even done that. That's not all that bad, and to release a fish after a fight, you being the one who caught it, you'd have some idea of whether or not it needs resuscitated. If it doesn't and it's not a super heavy fish then you could take it off and just drop it straight down. What he said was throwing it over your shoulder. Even that probably didn't hurt a small fish but it sends the wrong message which is primarily what I'd have against it. And I'd never do it to a large fish. How could you hang onto it to sling it like that?? By the jaw, which would most surely break it and render it unable to eat very well and risking it die from that.

Absolutely. But those who don't fish and are against fishing in general will not know this or even if they do they won't care. They would just see this treatment as another reason to justify stopping the sport.

ME!! Throwing a fish over your shoulder like it doesn't matter is flat out wrong. The ones you saw gently placing the fish in the water and taking time to revive it after what must have been an exausting fight to the fish is the one that cares about preserving the species for the next generation, setting examples for the kids watching, and also setting examples for those who otherwise are AGAINST the sport of bass fishing and those who participate in it. Any negative propaganda that can be used as fuel to the fire of those trying to take the sport down through legislation and passing of laws should be avoided. Those who are throwing fish around like they don't matter should not be doing so and if I personally saw anyone doing it, regardless of their status in the sport or outside of it (i.e. PROS) I would remind them of this. It might possibly hurt the fish, but whether it does or not, it probably will hurt the sport of fishing in general when people are caught doing this, and since pros represent the sport at the forefront, and are as likely to be on camera as not then they above all people should never be doing it. Since you obviously saw this on T.V. then there must be some of them doing it. I'm not sure exactly how to get in touch with any of them, either through email or fan club sites or what, but if you are concerned then I'd try to let them know from a concerned fan's point of view that it bothers you, and that you'd appreciate a little more care shown for the sport at least, if not the fish itself. Just my 0.02.

I guess since carbon fiber handles are showing up more frequently now then they are NOT going away, and what's more, I'm afraid that sooner or later they will replace aluminum completely so that that's all you can find on a reel. So, to those of you who have had a reel with a carbon handle for at least a season, does it feel as strong to you as an aluminum handle does?? I keep thinking that a reel with this would be a lot easier to break it off of. You know how fishing gear is in a boat, getting stepped on, dropped, kicked, and generally banged around. I don't do those things, but accidents happen and if I had a reel with that on it, how durable would it be compared to aluminum?? Also, is there a difference between carbon and graphite or is it the same thing?? Baitcast reels have had graphite drag stars for years, why not handles too??

Are you serious?? $180 for a reel just to get the handle?? They CAN'T be that expensive, surely not. :-? If they are, that's ridiculous. Oh, on second thought, I think my wife might have said something along those lines for $180 fishing reels in general. ;D I didn't think so at the time. :-? :-X

*hint* he doesn't mean boogers either... ;D Snot??

I always get one piece rods whenever possible. If I get two piece rods it's generally because of a lack of a one piece rod being available in the particular one I want at the time. I put them together solid enough that they are extremely hard to get apart and then use them like one piece rods from then on. I don't glue them though, just jam them down tight, and they stay that way. I've never had one come apart by accident once I started doing this, and when I wanted to take one apart I had to have my wife hold tight on one end and we played tug o' war until it came apart. Fortunately that one was an Ugly Stik so it was not damaged in the "fight". ;D I've had graphite two piece rods stay together that way for years and never slip, twist, come apart, feel weak, or less sensitive as a result. So if you can't find a one piece rod in the power/action you want, you can get a two piece and "make" a one piece out of it.

Hmmm......well.......it was a pretty shade of silver. ;D But.....for some Shimano strange reason Shimano I seem to prefer green Shimano.

If you look at how these reels are made and shaped, they resemble very much a BPS Pro Qualifier or Abu Garcia Revo. There's no doubt they're made by the same people. The way the sideplate comes away with the bar going across and accessed on the crank side gives that away. Overall shape of the body does too. Even the lowest $90 model has an identical drag star to the BPS Extreme reels I have with straight cranks. Then the levelwind guide is the same also. And I see by the upside down pic of it that it has the same lube port access on the gearbox too that the Extremes have. I think it's mostly a PQ in disguise and upgraded a good bit too with more bearings. Sort of reminds me of what would happen if you crossed a PQ and a Curado. Oversized grips and all!! ;D I'm interested in them as well. Not sure if I'll get one right away though, as getting any of them would be a choice between that and a Citica, or on the upper end, that and a Curado, and right now I'm completely sold AND THEN SOME on Shimano reels. But there's no denying they look flat out awesome and if that cast control clicks as was shown in the above pics then that's a good sign no detail was overlooked in making them. I could see these replacing the BPS PQ as the reel to get for quality vs. price!! Especially if you don't live near a BPS store. I'm too particular to satisfy with mail order only to find out I don't like it and have to return it (like I'm doing now with another reel). I can get these Lew's reels at the local shop where I got the Symetre I just bought. They had them all instock right there. I meant to look at one close up while there but was too excited about the new Shimano reel I was buying and I forgot. :'( Oh well, it's only a 15 minute drive back.

There are also deployed soldiers that have the occasional opportunity to fish. You could send them to them. I don't know exactly how to tell you to do that but I know they do take donations of fishing tackle.

If you're considering a Sahara or a Symetre, in my opinion I'd just go straight to the Symetre. I looked at the Sahara too, and for $20 more on the Symetre I got a one piece bail wire and an extra bearing on the main drive gear. The Sahara has one bearing on the left side of the drive gear and a bushing on the right. The Symetre has bearings on both sides. The right side is where I put the crank since I reel right handed and cast left and I didn't want any added pressure on that side to wear out a bushing (if it would happen to be made of a non-metal material). Bearings on either side of the gear lets me not worry about which side the handle is on, just fish knowing it will be fine no matter what. Otherwise, the Sahara seems like a fine reel. For me though it was only a debate between the Symetre and the Saros. I kept the cost reasonable since I was actually spending more than I had at the moment just to get the Symetre. Wait till the wife finds out that Symetre will "only look truly good on a Crucial". I've got a birthday coming up in April......hmm.... 8-)

WOW, those Core/Cumara pics are SHARP!!! I'm definitely gonna post some new pics. Like Fat-G said, I've gotten new gear since then. My stuff was posted at the bottom of page 1 when this thread was new. Since then I've gotten a Citica E, a Curado E7, and a Symetre, so I'm gonna do some more pics. ;D Man, that Curado just above me is really LOADED with line!! ;D

I'll be glad to give you all a detailed review of the reel in a few months. Looking forward to it. I have a brand new Curado E7 I'll review too, and compare it to the Citica E I got last year. I'm pretty easy on my reels as far as usage goes though, I take care of them very well, so I'm pretty sure that unless I just have some sort of accident then they will never see any abuse.