Fishwhittler

Lots of pics on the Bassmaster website: Chronarch Ci4 Abu Garcia Orra Winch Quantum Iron Quantum Tour MG Quantum Energy spinning I'm getting really, really impatient.

Do you know why they introduced the Curado G in the first place? Because they could no longer afford to sell the Curado E for less than $200, and they needed a new reel at the $150 price point. The Chronarch/Curado E is going to stay at $200.

Veracity. Brandon Palaniuk used one paired with a Revo MGXtreme in his 2nd-place finish in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic.

Point taken, but that would leave a gaping hole in Shimano's baitcast reel lineup at the $200 price point. Unless they already have a replacement on the way, but they just did that last year. According to every Shimano insider I've heard on the subject, the Chronarch D never sold well until it was discontinued. Same with the Curado D, I believe. Then after the announcements were made, people started complaining about how great the reels were and what a bad move it was to discontinue them.

Found these on Pinnacle's Faceblah page: That reel has Revo MGXtreme written all over it.

Daiwa Exceler Daiwa Tatula & Tatula Type R I would have thought Abu would do something about the Orra baitcasters, but so far it looks like the Revo Rocket and the revamped round reels are pretty much it as far as baitcasters go.

I highly doubt the Chronarch E will be discontinued. The controversy generated by the Curado G/Chronarch E introduction would be nothing compared with the firestorm Shimano would get by cutting the Chronarch E at this point. Though what they should do is go back to calling it a Curado and give the Curado G a different name. Word on the street is the Chronarch Ci4 will come in around $250. If that's the case, there's no reason at all to get rid of the $200 Chronarch/Curado E.

I think the 100MG has aluminum gears VS brass on the 100MG7.

Two things: That rod should be rated up to 3/4 ounce baits, and spinnerbaits are rated by the head weight alone. If it's a 1/2 ounce head the blades are going to add considerably to the weight, so yours is probably closer to 3/4 ounce. Big spinnerbaits also pull hard, so a spinnerbait with a total weight that matches the maximum weight rating of your rod is going to put a serious bend in it and make the rod feel overpowered. Go up a power to the 7' H or the 7'6" XH and you should have plenty of rod for big spinnerbaits.

The Black Max has a graphite frame. I would steer clear of any baitcast reel that has a graphite frame, as graphite simply is not as rigid as aluminum. It will flex under load, causing premature wear on the internal parts, and graphite reels have much higher fatality rates than metal-frame reels. The H2O Xpress Mettle is the only $50 reel I would recommend. It has an aluminum frame and is built by Daiwa with the same clutch as the Lexa 100. It's a good reel. Heard lots of good things about the Speed Spool, though I haven't used them. They can be had for less than $100 if you look around—Tackle Trap has them for $90. I personally would go with the Mettle of those two reels for starting out in bait casting. The centrifugal brakes are probably going to be easier to learn on than the SS's magnetic-only brakes, and the Mettle will leave more money for the rod. Shane_, you might want to check out the Daiwa Ballistic rods. Tackle Warehouse is blowing them out for $65, down from $100/$120. I just ordered one of the 7'11" cranking rods, and while I can't speak from prior experience on the Ballistic, both the $70 Team Daiwa T and $50 Daiwa Aird series are nice rods. I can only assume the Ballistic is even nicer.

I can't believe anyone would be that careless or rough with someone else's gear. Maybe I shouldn't say that because he obviously was, but good grief. I just hope he offered to pay for a new one immediately afterward.

The upgrades above will be very noticeable. The crankshaft bearing, maybe not so much at first but it will help as J Francho said. The stock Citica E handle can't be upgraded other than Curado knobs (which I like—they're bulkier and grippier), but the Curado E handle can only accept a maximum of two bearings. You'll have to get a Citica G, Caenan, or Core handle if you want to add four handle bearings, and you'll need to purchase at least two additional bearings for the any of those options. The carbontex drag is probably the most cost-effective upgrade and is what I'd start with, as well as a polish of the spool shaft ends. If you upgrade the spool bearings, you might look at the Big Green Fish ABEC-7 stainless-steel bearings—they're the same price as ABEC-5 ceramic hybrids and are quieter. Hawgtech also has some new ABEC-7 ceramic hybrid bearings that fit the Citica E. I haven't used them, but they might be worth looking into. Piscicidal should be hanging around somewhere…

The Tournament MG also has greater line capacity: 12#/120 for the Speed Spool VS 12#/150 Tournament MG. Also, (and I'm not sure about this, so don't quote me), I think the newest Speed Spools have swept handles and drag stars.

This. WD40 is an excellent cleaner, more effective than acetone at cutting thick oil and grease. It's also designed to leave a water-deterrent residue behind to help prevent corrosion. This residue can easily be removed by a no-residue solvent such as pure acetone. I've found WD40 to be much more effective than acetone at cleaning oil and grease out of bearings, provided the bearings are immediately rinsed in pure acetone to remove the WD40 residue. No one in this thread has been recommending that WD40 be used to lubricate fishing reels, nor has anyone advocated using the "spray-and-pray" method for cleaning reels with WD40.

Wright hit 30 in '07 and 33 in '08, as well as hitting 29 two years later. But, his power isn't quite the same as what it was before he was injured in 2011. I'd put him a step below Gonzalez and Trout.

Pretty much spot-on with Carter. He's a Ryan Howard-type with more strikeouts and huge home runs. I'm also kind of "meh" on Davis. Here's some Cespedes for ya: It's just insane how hard he hits the ball. Wright's a legitimate power hitter who's had some 30-HR seasons and quite a few 20-HR seasons. His selection isn't like Prince Fielder choosing Rickie Weeks.

Trout really isn't a power hitter like these others are, though he wouldn't be out of place in the HR derby. He's a five-tool player and power isn't his top tool. Hamilton is not interesting to watch, which is one reason I didn't pick him. Mitch Moreland...I'd take Chris Carter over him in the HR derby. Speaking of Carter, that's another guy with ridiculous power. With the exception of Davis and Cabrera (and Fielder, though I've changed my pick to Harper if he's healthy), the guys on my list are young players on the rise who have massive amounts of power. To me they'd be much more interesting to watch in a HR contest than Carlos Gonzalez or Bautista, or even Beltre.

Stanton has been injured this year (hamstring) and so has not had a chance to put up big numbers, but he might have the most raw power of any player in baseball. Domonic Brown is 26 and has been in baseball since 2006, spending most of that time in the minor leagues. Prior to this year he played in a total of 147 MLB games in three partial MLB seasons. He's having a breakout year, but I would rate very few if any players ahead of Stanton on the power board even though he doesn't have the contact skills of Miguel Cabrera and strikes out a lot. Stanton is two years younger and has a higher ceiling than Brown, and if he's able to play 150+ games a year and learn some plate discipline he'll be a monster. Puig is certainly a bit of a stretch considering his recent debut, but there's no denying he has loads of power. Don't need anything else for the HR Derby. One player I probably should have put on the list is Bryce Harper, maybe instead of Fielder. Probably not going to happen, but a derby lineup of Wright, Cano, Stanton, Cabrera, Davis, Cespedes, Harper, and Puig would be awesome to watch if only because of the size of the homers. I'd much rather see Harper than Fielder.

I'm going to go a little different than most and suggest a 7' medium-power, fast-action rod. It loads better than a MH for lighter baits and has enough backbone for bigger baits. The 7' length isn't the best for short-range casting accuracy, but it gives you more distance than a 6'6" rod and more accuracy than a longer rod. Whatever rod you go with, practice will drastically increase your ability to handle a wide range of lures. I can't claim to be an expert, but I can cast weightless 4" flukes 30' - 40'on a 7' MH/X-Fast rod, which is definitely too much rod for such a small bait. If I'd tried to do that a year ago, my reel would have made an eagle's nest look simple in comparison. Get your setup put together and then go out in the yard and practice casting with a normal lure weight—don't try to go too light or too heavy. Making 30 or 40 practice casts a couple days a week will help a lot, and more practice will only be better.

David Wright and Robinson Cano will be the two captains and get to choose their teams. So, who do you think will be on the teams/who would you like to see in the derby? Post your picks. My picks (in no particular order except putting Stanton first): Giancarlo Stanton Miguel Cabrera Yoenis Cespedes Yasial Puig Prince Fielder Chris Davis If Stanton is available, they'd be insane to not pick him. Same with Cabrera. Cespedes and Puig would be something to watch for sure, and Fielder has already been there and put on a show. Chris Davis…leading MLB in home runs with 20…'nuff said…

Those spools are for use with light line and light rods for casting light lures on baitcast gear, lures normally used on light/ultralight spinning gear.

Yes, they do.

I have one. It's smaller and lighter than the Mettle, and considerably smoother even though they have the same bearing count. I've only had it since earlier this ear, but so far I've been very pleased with it. The drag is a weak spot. It makes something like 8#, which is fine, but over time it gets really sticky on the startup. Same with the Mettle. The problem lies in the smaller of the two drag washers, which appears to be some sort of plastic washer. A carbontex washer will fix the problem and also gives a little more drag power. The size needed is a #6 carbontex washer from Smoothdrag.com. For anyone who's interested, right now the H2O baitcasters are all on sale from $10 to $40 off.

Same here. I don't think they're quite worthless, though; enough of them together do serve as some indicator. As I said, the data I collected from the reviews closely matches the info I've picked up here on BR and on other forums.