Okieracer

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1245180314/1#1 That's the thread I started over 3 weeks ago about them. They have a great swimming action and preform well. Sinks about a foot a sec best I can guess. I like that when you stop reeling them in they have a weighted head so they swim down and towards you.

Bathtub test confirms a good swimming motion at mid-fast speed. Slow speed was iffy but it was in a bathtub. Not sure about sink rate. I tested the 4 1/2 version.

Ok so I just left Academy and they have H2O brand hard swimbaits. $8 for the 3 1/2in and $9 for the 4 1/2in. The guy there said they got them 2 weeks ago. Anyone try them yet? I bought 2 of them and they are fixing to get the bathtub test.

I had a buddy who bought the stuff and never really got into fishing. So I reaped the benefits.

I got 2 BPS Graphite series rods, 2 BPS Tournament Pro reels, 1 BPS Tourney special reel, and one BPS Extreme rod all in brand new never used shape for $100.

I own 2 Pro qualifiers, 1 tourney special, and have used my friends Extreme's. These have been abused and used extensivly and I have never been let down. I will agree with the earlier post tho that PQ's and up are the way to go. I wouldn't trade mine for anything. Catch the PQ's on sale for $80 and they can't be beat.

I recently bought a 7'6"mh and a 7mh Mojo. I put a 7-1 Pro Qualifier on each of them. I am pretty impressed with the sensitivity on both of them for the pricepoint. As mentioned earlier they are a tad top heavy and could greatly benefit with a balancing system. That being said, I am still extremly pleased with my purchase. I'm now looking at the 6'8"m spinning and will probably buy it soon.

My only opinion on the subject is this... It may suck but only take 3 or 4 rods with baits you have little or no confidence in (spinnerbait, traps, cranks, jigs) and use only those baits in their appropriate places/situations for a few trips. You may zero, you may only catch a few, but you'll build confidence in those baits. Its hard but I did just that and I caught my first trap fish and jig fish in the same 3hr trip. Look at it as adding pieces of the puzzle. The more weapons you have at your disposal the more you learn and the quicker you'll be able to adapt and figure out your lake.

I don't necessarily mean a bargain bin reel. For $4-$6 each you can buy double sheilded ss bearings. On a reel that costs $50-$100 this may go a long way to improving smoothness. For example a BPS Extreme is a good reel and its $40 for an older one or $60 for a new one. For $30 you can upgrade all the bearings. You come out spending less than $100 and may have something surprising. Anyone ever try this out?

The biggest difference between low and high price reels is bearings. Besides, of course, graphite and aluminum frames. Has anyone ever swapped for higher quality bearings? How did it work out? Was there a noticable difference? Was it worth it? It just seems like this would be a cheap way to improve quality.

Well as usual got to BPS and the plans changed. I was going in to get the Carrot Stick and a 7-1 Extreme. BPS had them online for $59.94 so I convinced the manager to give me the deal in store. Got over to the counter and what do you know they don't have a 7-1 Extreme in stock. The manager said she could cut me a deal on another so we looked for other 7-1 reels. HELLO PRO QUALIFIER!!! She said she would give it to me for $79.99 ($20 off) and take another 10% off for a total price of $71.94. SOLD!! So I tell my favorite fishing employee that its going on a Carrot Stick and he says that 3 of them have been returned in the past week from breakage. BUMMER!!! So I look around for a while and finally decide on the 7'6" mh St. Croix Mojobass. I know its not a heavy but I don't fish a lot of super bad vegetation or crazy structure. So as I'm fixing to leave to pay the bait monkey jumps on my back and says the 7' mh Mojo would be nice to have also. Grrrrrr. I take it off the shelf and walk back over to the reel counter and tell the attendant that if they can give me the same $79.99 (no 10% on this one) price on another Pro Qualifier I'll take another to put on this rod. They agree and I left with twice the rods and reels I originally came to purchase and a spool of 40lb Powerpro braid. I paid a little under double what I originally planned but I got 2 setups with better reels.

I'm either getting a 7'6" heavy Carrot Stick or a 7' heavy St. Croix Mojobass for the stuff listed above. Its getting a 7.1-1 Extreme reel and will probably be spooled with 40lb Power Pro. The Mojo is $50 cheaper than the Stick but only has a 5yr warrenty.

Got mine as a $50 combo from Academy. 6'6" mh. Great buy for the money. Not the smoothest or longest casting but I got it to learn on and I love it. A year and a half of 3-4 times a week and no issues to report thus far. Just be sure to clean and oil it every few months as it is a cheap setup.

I don't mind technique specific setups because I'm going to be buying about 8 or 9 by the end of the year.

I think I figured it out 2 of them. I'm gonna get a 7'6" h carrot stick with a 7.1-1 extreme reel for heavy carolinas, jigs, and frogs. I had an extreme spinning but I had returned it so I'm going to get one again in a 7' m for dropshotting, small jigs, and cranks. The third I'm torn between a 7' mh with a 7.1-1 for regular texas and carolina rigs or a 6'6" m for spinnerbaits and jerkbaits. I used my 7' m I already have for cranking and my 6'6" mh for a do it all rod.