The Rooster

Seems the general masses use Trilene 100%. I've only tried one kind, Vanish Transitions. I like it, never had the problems I've heard others talk about. Might start to notice some though after I try a few other kinds.

Another way to look at that is if you don't go often enough, you still want the few times out to be as enjoyable as they possibly can be and a nice reel helps make that happen for me.

Aaaaahhhhh...........gotcha.

No question, KVD is the man!!! But I read that Skeet came in 2nd with 277 points, not 6th.

That's a pretty good rod. The reel looks awesome too, though I think it's a bit large for bass fishing. I looked it up and it says it's got a 14 lb./250 yd. line capacity. That's a lot of heavy line holding. I use 12 lb. and 14 lb. but my line capacity on my reels is less than 1/2 of that at only 120 yards. It also says the 400 size has a line out alarm on it for trolling and baitfishing. Would make an extremely nice catfishing reel for sure. I love the way it looks, just think it's a bit large, that's all.

I saw on here over a year ago where someone did a St. Croix rod. Can't think if it was an Avid or Premier but it was a fairly expensive rod he did. Showed pictures of his progress along the way too. Might be able to find it under a search though I've never been able to make the search turn up much of any kind of results for me. Finds everything but what I want.

If you're very new to bass fishing and you want to start with a baitcaster then it's gonna take a little practice to get the hang of using it. If I were fishing that pond (sounds pretty weedy) then I'd want a rod that fits the description of what you wrote for the most part. I'd probably get a medium heavy rod for some backbone, but not overly stiff though. I also don't use rods that long either. Mine are 6'6", and I'm thinking about getting a 7' rod too but don't have it yet. With a 6'6" rod I am able to cast way over 100 feet, depending on the lure and its weight of course (3/4 oz. hits a 100+ feet for me on this rod). For weedy ponds I'd use spinnerbaits (fairly weedless, not completely though), texas rigged plastics (rigged weedless), jigs (again, weedless), and some jerkbaits fished up close to the weeds but not deep in them cause treble hooks would hang up. Maybe a soft plastic jerkbait rigged on a single weighted hook that's weedless, if trebles would be an issue. All those can be fished with a medium heavy rod with a fast tip (fast tip is what I use too). I use the Shimano Compre, costs $100 to $110 depending on whether you get 6'6" or 7' lengths, and I also use the Bass Pro Shops Extreme baitcast reel which is $80 retail priced but you can get it on sale a lot of times for $60. That would be well within the price range you listed. If you have to allow for line in that price then you could either wait till the reel is on sale so you have enough for it all, or you could cut back to the Shimano Clarus rod for $70 - $80 (again length makes the price difference). It's a good rod too, just not as light weight as the Compre and therefore won't be quite as sensitive I'm afraid. Still not bad though. Those are both lifetime warranty rods and Shimano is an excellent company and the rods they make are excellent as well. The Compre rod is very sensitive and light weight. Some don't like the Bass Pro reels but I have 5 of them and love them, but I'm only one person. You also don't necessarily have to use braid. It's a good idea, but some other lines would be alright as well. I've read on here a few people use Yozuri Hybrid line (fluorocarbon and mono mixed) for fishing frogs in somewhat heavy vegetation and have no trouble. Depends on how heavy the weeds really are I guess. You also don't necessarily have to use a baitcast reel for braid either. I believe it would be better but it's not totally required. And one last thing, you could go with a medium rod over a medium heavy and that would probably help increase cast distance somewhat on any lighter lures since it's more flexible than a medium heavy rod. It would load up better and launch lures easier with lighter weight baits. Just won't have as much backbone though.

Wow, with so many middle men and yet it's still cheaper to outsource a product overseas for it to be made, how does anyone make any money in the making of it without violating some child labor laws?? ;D Then again, I guess a few of them have been caught a time or two doing that.

To those of you who have taken the cork off down to the blank in certain places, did you find a finished blank underneath it that matched the rest of the rod or was it lacking in finish anywhere?? And how did you get the residue off of the blank?? I could see cutting away the bulk of the cork but for the fine finishing of the blank how do you get the excess glue off of it??

When I was at Dick's recently they had some so I took a look at them. As soon as I picked it up I was instantly disappointed. I did not have a reel to saddle onto it but I held the rod as if I had a reel on it and even a little in front of that (not too much though) to see if it would balance out. It felt tip heavy the whole time. Don't think that would be a rod I'd like.

I have to agree about the weights in rods. I don't like the idea at all. Even though it seems like a good idea, just knowing I'm purposely adding weight to correct a problem that I probably could have eliminated out of the equasion by choosing a rod that was better balanced to start with........that just kills it for me. There are so many rods on the market, and reels too, that it's always possible to match up a combo that fits your needs and is balanced as well, in my opinion that is. Plus I also tend to see it as something that would come unscrewed and fall in the lake and I'd be minus an essential part of my rod then.

To the last poster.......I'm assuming you're talking to me since I started this thread and was asking about a cheap reel (cheap meaning pricewise). If not I'm sorry, but I answered it anyway. ;D Anyway, I'm not really looking to buy one, I just wanted to know about it was all. Seems too much reel for the price it has on it. I'm always on the lookout for what would be a good buy, I'm just that way, can't hardly stand to NOT know about a deal that's going on somewhere, even if I don't need it at all. And also, if it looks like it would be a good product then I keep it in mind next time I see someone asking about anything like this (i.e. "What's a good reel for X amount of money??"). Then I'd be ready with an answer ("Hey, I saw these and they look great, check them out"). Now of course I would never recommend something that I had not tried personally and thought was good. I'd only just mention in passing that they're out there and let that person look at them and decide for themselves whether or not it would be good for them, or any good at all for that matter. As for my role in it, I would only just be passing along information that said product exists so they know it's another option for them and that's all. And of course I'd love to have first hand experience with them too, at least a close up look, but that won't happen for a while cause of my proximity to a BPS store and current work schedules and all. So that's why I asked about them instead of looking at them myself. Whew!!! That was a mouthful. Had to get all that out though to make sure there was no misunderstanding about my intentions with this thread and my intentions with any future suggestions/recommendations. And also, having said all that, taking the reel strictly for what it's described as being and it's price of being very affordable for what all you seem to get at this point..........without seeing it personally I feel safe in saying I believe I'd love to own one (if I actually needed another reel). Even the colors look so good it would be no problem at all matching it to a rod and having the combo look awesome together. Really, reading the description and looking at the photo it looks like it's built solid, aluminum frame, drag star, and spool. 10 bearings, dual braking, externally adjustable, and you could at least mentally compare it to known Browning reels that you've handled in the past for a quick gauge of quality without having to actually see it close up. No one could really say they felt cheap.......only just heavy compared to other reels which seems to be the only "real" negative. Look how many people fell in love with the D series of Curados and Citicas and they were grossly heavy compared to other reels out at the time they were being sold. And as one person mentioned, they see them as being BPS products in different colors basically.......if that's really true then I definitely would have no problem owning one.

I would venture to guess that's a NO. I think they just put their name on a lot of products that other people make. Doesn't mean they're not good though.

Sideplates only. Frame on the Curado is aluminum.

If you like that Abu Garcia they also make reels on the same design that compete with the Curado. The STX and several others are high end Abu's of the same design but have aluminum frames and other better features as well. You can even upgrade bearings to improve the performance of them, even though they come out of the box already pretty high up the performance ladder.

I sort of thought those would be the other two. I'm sold on Shimano quality, and love the new Quantums too, have yet to see a Daiwa I really like, and think Pflueger ought to be included in "the big 4". ;D

The Curado has better bearings on the spool shaft and that will really add distance to the cast for sure, or at the very least it will make hitting the same distance a heck of a lot easier to do. I was impressed with the Silver Max for that price as well, looking at it close up in the store that is. I didn't buy it though cause I have this thing about a baitcast reel needing an aluminum frame before I really get interested in it enough to buy it. Good reel for the money though. I'm all about good value, but every once in a while I'll see something I like and have to have, no matter the value or lack thereof. If I was going to spend that much money on a reel, the Curado would be one of those times.

Well, I don't really, but I also don't know that many who own Bass Pro Shops Extremes either and I bought 5 of those and found out they were awesome reels. I usually let a product impress me or unimpress me as opposed to it's preceeded reputation doing so. But since I don't have immediate access to information on this reel I'm gonna have to let others tell me what they think of it and go on their word alone until I make a trip to see one close up. By the way, what are the big three?? I'm sure Shimano is one of them.

I'd be glad to Rooster, looks like a nice reel with all the required bells and whistles for a good price Aw man, I sure will appreciate this. Thank you so much. And enjoy the trip to BPS.

Uh..........why not?? :-?

It does seem almost too good to be true but I sure would like to know more about it. I've always thought that the Extreme reels I bought were a better reel for the money than others at the same price. Seemed like I got more than I really paid for when I bought them. Maybe this will turn out to be one of those deals, but only time will tell. I'll have to wait on a few reviews to see what kind of reel this really is.

Bass Pro Shops is awesome!!! I love going there any time I can go. They have so much stuff it's overwhelming. Since you have a chance to go back, would you do me a favor while there?? Please look to see if they have the new Browning Maxus baitcasting reel there and then tell me what you think of it (as much as you'll be able to tell by just looking at it in the store that is). Here's a link to it if you'd like to look at it online. It looked like an awful lot of reel for $70, almost the same reel as the Browning Midas was previously, and that reel was $150. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_10208197_100001000_100000000_100001000_100-1-0 I'm just interested to learn about it since it's so new, seems to have all the right features, comes from a name brand that as far as I know does NOT have a bad name, and costs so little. If you wouldn't mind to do this, I'd sure appreciate it. The closes BPS to me is a 3 1/2 hour drive and I don't have a planned trip to it anytime soon. Been 4 years since the last trip there. Thank you in advance.

Anyone seen these yet?? Looks like a lot of reel for $70. 10 bearings, aluminum frame, dual centrifugal and magnetic brakes both externally adjustable. Only difference I could find between it and the Midas model that previously retailed for $150 was that the Midas has 12.8 pound drag pressure while the new Maxus only has 10 pounds, and there is a 5 yard line capacity difference between the spools, Midas holds 12 lb./150 yd. while Maxus holds 12 lb./145 yd. Minor differences for such a large price difference. Nearly the same reel at less than 1/2 the price. Even the colors are the same. I'm sort of interested in these since they have more bearings and the same drag as my Extreme does. And it also looks like it could be a Pflueger product in disguise, same as my Extremes are. I've always wondered if the Brownings were anyway, features are very similar to Pflueger reels. Plus if you go to Browning's website and click on their "official fishing site" you just get redirected to Bass Pro Shops under a search for only Browning products. So they aren't making their own reels, that's for sure. The only one bad thing I saw was that the reel weighs nearly 9 oz. Weight aside though, the features of it read like it would be a solid reel for that price. Just wondered if anyone knew for sure. Here's a link to check it out. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_10208197_100001000_100000000_100001000_100-1-0

Well......nah, I won't go there. ;D

Clorox bleach kills mold. Mix some up in water, you don't need much bleach at all, I'd say 10/1 water/bleach mixture, maybe even less, and use a wash cloth dipped in the water and then rang out to where it's only damp, and you can clean the mold off of your rod handles and walls and all. If you have a spray bottle, so much the better. Otherwise use rubber gloves. Use a paper face mask as well, no matter what. For cork handles it will make them clean like new again. For EVA though, I don't know if it will take the color out or not.