Chris at Tech

FYI, the Clarus is NOT Shimano's high-end rod. The Compre and the Crucial are both 'higher'. But if it's down to one of those two, go with the Premier.

I have 2 STX and I love them... Just hoping AG comes out with a 7:1 lefty version

No doubt the $100 is worth it for Randall's boat and guiding services. It's just nice to now be able to wake up on a weekend and go whenever I want without having to make a reservation. And yeah, no doubt I'll book more trips with you, Randall. But now you set some lofty goals for Saturday. You better deliver

Second pic

So I went out yesterday and I got skunked. Why am I so happy then? Because I got to break in my brand new jon boat rig that I picked up on Sat. G3 1548 Humminbird 535 Minn Kota 65 lb thrust bow mounted TM Minn Kota 82 lb thrust transom mount on order Now I don't have to give Randall $100 every time I want to fish from a boat. Sorry Randall

Backpack. Plenty of room for baits, tools, drinks, cameras, rain gear, etc.

Anyone have any input on the most versatile polarized sunglass lens for fishing? I'm likely gonna get a pair of Costa Del Mar's, and the BPS catalog description makes it look like vermillion is the most versatile. The lady I spoke to at BPS disagreed, recommending amber (she said not many folks like the coloring of the vermillion lens). Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

I noticed that rod as well last weekend. Definitely not the Extreme most are familiar with.

Um, duh? The newest one

What to get? A BPS Rewards card. Immediately. I waited nearly a year to get mine and missed out on a TON of points

Hey RW, looks like my posse's company is nicer than your posse's company

For anyone who has been the the BPS Spring Classic already... Any really good unadvertised specials? The circular didn't really blow me away, and I'm debating making the trip to the N ATL store this weekend.

Several of the 2500 size Shimanos have 33 IPT, like the Stradic and the Sahara.

Yeah, I'm going this route as well. I'm <THIS> close to pulling the trigger on a G3 1548 with some work done by B&B Marine in Conyers. d**n boat monkey...

Agree with RW. Look at the Shimano Sahara/BPS Bionic Blade combos at Bass Pro Shops.

Are there any knots that work especially well or especially poorly with copoly line? I'm trying it for the first time this year and it would be nice to know that I won't be flinging lures across the lake by tying a correct knot. Generally I just use a palomar. Will this guy hold with copoly?

Nice... Now if Abu would just make an STX-L-HS

You think the Revo's are ugly? I think they're d**n sexy

OK, the Shimano posse is running rampant around here ... and with good reason as Shimano makes some REALLY good stuff. I definitely do love my Curado 101D. But as anyone here knows, just 1 good baitcaster is simply not enough. With that in mind, the monkey 'persuaded' me to pick up a Revo STX-L and St Croix AC66MF this weekend. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. Um, wow... I thought my 101D balanced well with the Kistler MG APC, but the Revo/Avid feels just as good, if not better. Yeah, that's not indicative of the actual reel performance but it sure doesn't hurt. Went to the lake yesterday with the intention of throwing traps just to see how it felt on the cast and retrieve (and pretty much acknowledging that I had little chance to catch a thing with a bait moving that fast). Casting 1/2 oz traps...a country mile. 1/4 oz traps...a country mile. Strong, silent and smooth on the retrieve. Not a birdsnest on the day. No fish to show for it, but I had such a grin on my face that I'm not sure I would have stopped cranking long enough to set a hook So with that said, Abu Garcia now has a posse of its own. Yeah, that's right. I said it P.S. And the best part was the wife saw the charge on the Amex website this morning, asked if it was a new rod/reel and concluded with 'OK, I was just checking to make sure the charge was legit'. NICE.

And that's why you use P-Line, right RW? ;D

Did you get the 'weird' looking split-ring pliers, or the ones that look identical to a pair of needle-nosed pliers with the small tooth on the end? I started with the weird ones...then I bought the needle nosed looking ones and no problems since, even on Traps.

OK, I'm back from BPS The display models were the Extreme 2000 and the Tierra 3000. The body of the Extreme was slimmer (not surprising given it was a 'smaller' sized reel), but the spool widths on these two were very close, despite being different sizes. Does that help at all?

I own one in the 2000 series. Not sure what you're referring to, but the BPS description of the Extreme makes it sound like it would be wider because of the spool width. If I remember, I'll try to get a side by side view when I got to BPS today.

HPBB, for whatever reason, I just never considered that. But in my limited searching, it looks like an 80lb + bow mount motor is pushing $1k. Whereas it would likely be a 'better' solution than 2 separate motors, it looks like the 2 motor option is more economical at this point.

You're likely not going to find a ton of people who will endorse 'house brand' reels from BPS, Cabelas, etc simply because getting maintenance done on them is very difficult. They may be good reels for a while, but if/when problems arise you're likely looking at needing to buy a replacement. You're best off just spending the money on whatever Daiwa or Shimano is available in that price range.