21farms

okay, here's the deal. BPS rods tend to be on the heavy side. they use an added inner core to enhance strength (BPS calls it 'powerwall construction') which adds weight but can hamper sensitivity. why do they do this? because they don't want people returning broken rods. in my own experience, BPS is really strict on returns and warranty claims. besides, i would dare say that most of the people who buy BPS rods don't even notice the weight and probably value the rods' toughness more.

yes, i have a ton of them. work great. you can also use them to hang your rods by...eliminates the need for a rod rack.

i run a couple of bungee cords across the ceiling grab handles and garment hooks. they hold the rods up against the ceiling, out of the way and safe from harm.

IIRC, daiwa was first to the market with mag reels back in the early 80s, followed by shimano (i had several of each when they first came out). garcia was actually a relatively latecomer to the mag braking arena by several years (i bought one of their first and it was big and clunky and didn't cast particularly well). their current "linear" magnetic braking system is actually very basic design that hasn't changed much.

my guess is that those LTAs at TW are the 2008 models. the 2009s have a rounder rear grip and less black thread in front of the winding checks.

the earlier ones had an aluminum frame and stainless steel bearings...the later ones have an xcraftic aluminum alloy frame and HPCR bearings. slightly heavier, taller and narrower than a citica E but much stronger drag.

tucson is my hometown. go 'cats! anyway, shimano names all their casting reels with made-up names starting with the letter C. all their spinning reels start with the letter S. they must have a bunch of people sitting around in a room thinking up C and S names by taking bits and parts of two or three existing words and mashing them together.

leon, before you try any of that, first try turning off some of the centrifugal brakes. they're factory set at 3 on/3 off. try using it with just 2 on (opposite of each other). personally, i liked my revo S best with just 1 brake on. regardless, it will never cast better than an MG.

number 1 when buying a used rod: look at the tip! measure the rod to see if it measures up to its listed length. if not, that most likely means that the tip was broken off at some point and a replacement tip top was simply glued onto the end. if this did happen, make sure the seller disclosed it and you know what you are getting. missing even a couple of inches from the tip can change the action and feel of a rod dramatically. the g.loomis 783c is a great rod but i agree with RW and others that the minimum level is the IMX.

for the powell 733C, mount a curado E7. besides being my favorite overall reel in terms of castability, handling, smoothness, etc., the green color of the reel matches perfectly with the green accents on your rod. i have the powell 703C and paired with an E7, it is sweet. a reel for your powell 684CB is tougher. i like a 5:1 ratio reel for all of my crankin' but i think 7:1 is much better for jerkbaits and topwater. perhaps a 6:1 reel would be the best choice here: either a daiwa fuego or a shimano citica E200. for me, my fiberglass powell CBs are much more comfortable with a really low profile reel because the reel seat is kinda thick which is why i recommended the fuego and citica and not a chronarch 50MG.

in case you haven't seen it, here's tackletour's review of the patriarch: http://www.tackletour.com/reviewpfluegerpatriarch.html

i've gone through two pairs of gerber braid scissors...they're sharp at first but get dull very, very quickly...i don't recommend them. the cutters on the browning fishing pliers cut braid very cleanly but are not very convenient to use. i'm currently using a pair of bass pro shops braid scissors and, so far, they've been fine. if you go with scissors, definitely get the ones that are serrated. i plan to pick up the berkley TEC hotwire line cutter that i'll also be able to use to mend my plastic baits.

anyone know if the 7-1/8" bass pro shops stik-o's are as fat and heavy as the 7" senkos (yamamoto 9X)? i had bought some of the 6" BPS stik-o's and was disappointed to find that they were as skinny as the smaller stik-o's, only longer.

http://www.calbassin.com/Smf/index.php?topic=1160.0 i eat my words

that's interesting...i've never heard you should oil the raceway and, if anything, i always check it to make sure there isn't any oil on it at all. i checked all my owner's manual and none of them say to oil it. if your concern is casting distance, you should experiment with turning more brakes off.

yes, it is both. one-piece aluminum frames stay rigid and hold the gears in perfect alignment, especially under load, and will always feel solid. i have a promax (actually, a very nice reel!) but after a few hours of fishing, it gets a little noisy and isn't as smooth. you'll still catch fish regardless.

bmadd, they're very nice. i have the 7' medium and it is very confidence-inspiring when you have a fish on. bobbyK, it was actually the opposite for me. i had a crucial dropshot casting rod first and i liked it so much, i bought more crucials. i have both the 6'6" and the 7'0" dropshot casting rods (only 6 inches but the difference in action and feel between these two is miles). i cannot think of another adjective for my crucial rods other than "smooth". they absolutely feel great.

excellent choices anyway, i have never seen powell rods on sale except when a particular model is discontinued and being cleared out (e.g., 763ML). powell had an across-the-board $30 price drop last year but i doubt that will ever happen again :'(

expensive casting: dobyns spinning: dobyns inexpensive casting: shimano clarus, BPS crankin' sticks and prolite finesse spinning: BPS prolite finesse in the middle: anything powell and shimano crucial

bugman hit it right on the nose for me too. if you hold the rod by the handle with your index finger on the trigger, it makes sense to retrieve with the same hand you cast with. however, if you palm your reel, switching hands puts the reel right into your palm without having to reposition.

definitely, the extreme. the new 2009 models are on sale in the stores thru sunday for $59.94. i bought two as backup reels and i've been very impressed with them. i'm not a fan of the megaforce...i had two of them and, at first, i thought the twitchin' bar would be a helpful feature. as it turned out, i almost never used it because twitchin' via the rod gives better sensitivity. plus, the bar got in the way and made palming the reel very comfortable. if the accurist you're thinking about is not the PT version, i'd recommend against it. i had accurist IIs and they displayed a very disconcerting behavior wherein, right after the cast, it took 5-6 full turns of the handle before it felt like the spool shaft was fully engaged. i had two of them and they both did it.

i'll have to agree. i have/had lots of nice, higher-end reels (curado Es, fuegos, revos, etc.) but i also have a black max and a pro max and those things can flat out cast! i'm at a total loss to explain why they can cast farther than anything else i have, including the revos. i even think the magtrax magnetic brakes work better than the linear magnetic brakes on the revo SX...not at all fussy and very efffective. that being said, given the choice, always go for the reel with the solid, one-piece aluminum frame; it'll be smoother, more solid and will last you longer. the extremes have that, the garcia maxes don't. besides, the extremes are good reels.

for plastics, jigs, jerkbaits and topwater, 7:1 is really nice but you can get by fine with 6:1. for spinnerbaits, 6:1. for cranks and swimbaits, 5:1. for stop-and-go lures, it is easy to slow down with a higher speed reel. however, with constantly moving lures (e.g., crankbaits), many people (myself included) find it much easier to speed up a slower reel when needed than to slow down a high-speed reel.

Are you referring to Fireline Tracer ? berkley came out with a new fireline with radial construction versus thermally fused for the "old" fireline. unfortunately, berkley liked the 'fireline' name so much, they kept it for the new stuff too...talk about confusing : at least the new packaging for the "old" fireline now calls it "fireline classic" or "fireline original" or something along those lines.

nope, they're not. they were just on sale, however, for $39.99 for most of january and the end of february.