21farms

definitely medium-heavy. i have the powell max 703CEF and it is perfect for texas rigging (weightless or not) and jigs. you can get away with going up in power to heavy but then that rod becomes a lot less versatile. don't go less than medium-heavy unless you're fishing open water and your worms and jigs have exposed hooks. when it comes to largemouth, medium-heavy is the right choice most of the time for most people.

hey ghost, i have a $25 off a $200 coupon code for cabelas and i'd be happy to email/PM it you if you want it. it is good until 3/31/09 but i've put myself on a buying moratorium and won't be using it.

actually, the prolite finesse that is on sale for $69 is the "B" version and has brass gears. it is the new "C" version that has the aluminum gears. anyway, my guess would be that, since the prolite B has a heavier forged handle and metal star drag but is still 0.2 ounces lighter than the 05 extreme, that the main difference must be in the spool, with the prolite's spool being much lighter and therefore faster to start up with lightweight baits. i have two prolites, an A and a B, and they're fantastic with finesse baits...nearly as good as my chronarch 50MG. by the way, the prolite C's are currently on sale for $99. i, for one, am not a fan. they decontented the reels (thin, stamped handle vs. forged, EVA foam grips vs. rubberized plastic, aluminum gears vs brass, a thinner drag stack, a shallower spool, and replacing the nice inertial transfer braking with "dual braking") and called it weight savings. in fairness, all these measures did shave 1.3 ounces off an already light reel but i'm sure at the expense of long-term durability.

i really had high hopes for the okuma C3 rods but i drove down to fisherman's warehouse the previous week to check them out and my very first impression upon holding it was that they were too heavy. way too heavy, especially after picking up one of the new G2 dobyns. too bad though because the grips feel great and the rods just look gorgeous. the weight really put me off though.

hmmm, i wonder if this is a regional thing because, here on the west coast, powells are very popular and well-regarded. i have four (703CEF, 754CB, 704CB and 702MLEF) and would like to pick up a 765CB and a 733CEF. obviously, i like them very much.

i have a pro max that i keep as an emergency backup reel and also as a reel for my kids to use. in terms of distance, it is flat out amazing. i fished it side-by-side with my revo Ss, revo SXs, and curados and the pro max can outdistance all of them. in fact, last year i was fishing a pro-am and my revo SX went down with the nastiest birdsnest that i could not pick out...so i quickly put on the pro max i carry around in my bag and resumed fishing...the pro i was paired with was watching me cast and was like, "I don't understand??" because even he was surprised by how far i could throw with it. the pro max was actually the first low-profile garcia reel i bought. because of how well it casted, i also bought a revo S and two SXs. now, in comparison to the revos, it is nowhere as solid or smooth. in fact, after the first half-hour or so of casting, it starts to get rather noisy. under load, the retrieve isn't that smooth and it definitely doesn't feel like a one-piece frame reel in terms of non-flexing. but, for whatever reason, i find it much less prone to backlashing than the SXs and, like i said, the casting distance is amazing. it is not quite as compact as the revos...i guess it's about 10% larger.

the one major disadvantage i've noticed with oval rings is that they tend to get sprung rather easily. imho, the best rings are the tear drop-shaped ones made by x-calibur...best of all worlds.

my opinion is that the daiwa magforce-Z system is easier for a shimano user to pick up than garcia's "linear" magnetic brake. like centrifrugal brakes, the daiwa's magnetic brakes apply more braking the faster the spool spins and less the slower the spool spins. garcias apply the same amount of magnetic brake force regardless of spool speed, resulting in what i call a "sweet spot"...keep your casts within that sweet spot and you'll get phenomenal distance and control but, cast too hard and you won't get enough braking force resulting in a birdsnest; cast too soft and you won't get enough spool speed to overcome the magnetic force resulting in short distances unless you keep adjusting the dial. oftentimes, if i pick up a revo right after a curado, i get messed up unless i consciously tell myself to be very deliberate in my casting with the revo. i think if all you bring on a trip are revos, then you won't have a problem. but, if you plan to mix together different reels with your shimanos, get the zillion. YMMV

i find the tail section of the bass magics to be too thick...this gives them a really exaggerated wagging action which i guess the fish will sometimes want but i catch a lot more fish on the original basstrix. the berkley hollow bellies look very much like the basstrix so i'd expect a similar, more subtle action.

last year, i went reel crazy and bought 2 quantums, 5 abu garcias, 4 daiwas, 7 shimanos, 3 pfluegers, 2 bass pro shops and 1 cabelas. i'm the type that has to see for myself what works for me and what doesn't. however, what i've found is that it's not as easy as i thought to switch between them all so i've been selling off many of my different reels and sticking with the one brand i found i liked the most.

i checked 'em out at the last sports show. man, oh, man...the high end daiwas just exude quality and the crazy cranker is gorgeous. if my wife wouldn't kill me first, i'd definitely get one. my shimanos and revos may work just as well (i love my curado Es) but the zillion looks and feels like something i'd get just to spoil myself. i think i'd probably end up babying it too much though

in the mail today, i received a fancy hardbound limited spring edition 2009 catalog. it says on the front: "thank you - to a very special customer". it is very nice and heavy. admittedly, i did spend a lot there in 2008 but this kind of tells me that maybe i spent TOO much there ;D

it's hard to go wrong with a 2500-size reel for most freshwater applications. i've had daiwa spinning reels from the 1500-size to the 4000-size and the 2500s are my favorites. the 1500 and 2000s seem to suffer from line twist and the 4000s are just too big and heavy...not sure about the 3000 but i'd opt for the 2500 because *** has the tierra 2500s on sale right now.

i'm with most people here that find it easier to speed up a slow reel than to slow down with a high-speed reel. this is interesting because most of what i read on other boards is just the opposite. still, i've been around long enough to see fads come and go...not saying that burner reels are a fad (yet) but we'll see.

i have five crankin' rods and my most versatile one is the lamiglas XCF705R (same as the skeet reese SR705R except for the color of the blank). sometimes crankin' rods don't have enough tip for rippin' lipless cranks but this is perfect for that. but, it also throws billed cranks from speedtraps to DD22s great. i even work topwater and spoons on mine. if you want one that can throw bigger cranks and blades as well, i'd recommend the powell 754CB. if you want a really versatile graphite composite crankin' stick, then i'd recommend the powell 765CB. i do have BPS crankin' stick in 7'10" and it's a great rod for the money but it is not "the best".

first of all, congrats on the free reel. the revo Ss are excellent reels. however, casting without brakes is a bad idea...a very bad idea! i'm not sure why yours has a clicking sound but have you tried turning on a pair of another set of brakes to see if that helped? i have a very experienced thumb and even i cannot cast a BC reel without at least one brake on.

they're not really even comparable. the EXT is much closer to the calcutta than the cardiff. i've had cardiffs and liked them very much but if you can get the EXT at a cardiff price, that's a deal. the only downer is the limited line capacity of the EXT that's on sale at TW but, if that's all you need, it's a no brainer.

just wanted to follow-up on this. i received my fuego a few weeks back but it wasn't until last weekend that i got to use it out on the water. in short, i love it. in fact, i actually found the whole experience of fishing it alongside my curado Es and revos enlightening, seeing firsthand how each company implements spool management using different approaches. now i'm in the market for a zillion crazy cranker ;D

i fondled one at the international sportsmans expo today. i didn't like them from the photos but, in person, i liked it very much. it's kind of a pearlescent white color. they felt great. the shimano rep said they'll start shipping next week.

here's an introductory writeup on the new chronarchs by the guys over at tackletour: http://www.tackletour.com/reviewshimanochronarchdpreview.html

i don't have the 704C either but i do have the 703C as well as their excellent 754CB. the first thing you'll notice about the powells is that, like the dobyns rods, they feel faster than other rods from other brands with the same rating. when i first received my 703, i thought it was a 704 ;D anyway, i love my powells...very light and smooth. i don't know about durability though as i haven't had mine that long. i fished my 703 back-to-back with a dobyns 703 and the dobyns seemed more sensitive to me.

beamer2, there is no magic bullet. i use hybrid and hybrid ultra soft and i like the line a lot but i have found that i still need fluoro too. the yo-zuri lines have replaced all my mono because it is tough and slightly less stretchy. when i need a line that sinks, i still turn to fluoro. yo-zuri makes no claims about it being invisible underwater. despite having fluorocarbon content and a double-finish coating of fluorocarbon, yo-zuri only states: Clear HYBRID's light refractivity and visibility is lower than nylon, yet somewhat higher than 100% fluorocarbon. (note: they only say this about the clear color)

ultra soft has more nylon and less fluorocarbon than regular hybrid. theoretically, then, ultra soft behaves closer to mono (stretches more, floats more, and less refractive but softer and more body) than regular. as for breaking strength, here's the yo-zuri page with the link: http://www.yo-zuri.com/Products/ProdLine/Hybrid.htm. keep in mind, however, that most lines have a breaking strength higher than what they are labeled.

the single most important thing to look for in a reel in this price range is a one-piece aluminum frame. a solid, rigid frame is the foundation for the entire reel and keeps all the internal aligned for smooth, bind-free operation. it is something you can't easily see (as opposed to the bling they put on reels now) but companies that spend the money there tell me that they're serious about making a durable, dependable and smooth reel. now, at the $70 price point, most reels have graphite or composite frames, but there are some with one-piece aluminum frames. graphite/composite framed reels can feel good initially but, under load or after an hour or so of fishing, they can flex and still start making noises or grinding and, over the long haul, won't hold up. the most inexpensive daiwa with a one-piece aluminum frame is the exceler. the BPS extremes and prolite finesse reels have them too. i have not used the extremes but i have two of the prolite finesse reels and they're surprising good.

i got a shimano chronarch 50MG a couple of months back and i finally took it out to the local lake to try out last week. i could toss 1/4 oz. trout lures further with it than my spinning outfit. the other bank fishermen around me were amazed and several came up to ask me about what i was using. when i let them hold it (mounted on a shimano crucial CRC-D70M) to see how light it was, it was ooohs and ahhhs all around. the left version is the 51MG and tackle warehouse has 'em on sale. highly recommended. if you're on a budget, i have two of the bass pro shops prolite finesse reels and they're surprisingly good. IMHO, the B version (which BPS is currently clearancing at $70) is better than the new C version.