Reel Suggestion For New Rod

[mnvp31]

Just picked up a *** *** 7'3 Medium/Fast casting rod.  Impressive rod!  Using this rod for my lighter trigs/jigs/swim jigs and maybe even squarebills/lipless crank/jerkbaits.
Planning on picking up a reel this weekend to pair it up with.  The 2 reels i'm looking into is the Abu Garcia Revo STX gen3 and Lews Tournament Pro.   The price on both reels are in my budget.

However, i am open to suggestions as well, and just wanted to see what reel and gear ratio ya would pair up with this rod?  

[*Hootie]

I have both, but if I had to choose it would be the Lews, hands down.

Hootie

[BrettD]

I have both, but if I had to choose it would be the Lews, hands down.

Hootie

+1 I also have both and would choose the lews. I like to use 6.4 for a reel that needs to be versatile it will work for both jigs and square bills. Gear ratio is something that is kind of subjective.

[Teal]

Lews

[38 Super Fan]

I have both and like both extremely well, you can't go wrong with either. I'd give the Lews an edge, but it's not a huge edge.

[bmlum415]

Lews by far, I have the lews tp and love it and I've fished the stx as well and I'd pick the lews any day

[skeletor6]

Just picked up a *** *** 7'3 Medium/Fast casting rod.  Impressive rod!  Using this rod for my lighter trigs/jigs/swim jigs and maybe even squarebills/lipless crank/jerkbaits.

Planning on picking up a reel this weekend to pair it up with.  The 2 reels i'm looking into is the Abu Garcia Revo STX gen3 and Lews Tournament Pro.   The price on both reels are in my budget.

However, i am open to suggestions as well, and just wanted to see what reel and gear ratio ya would pair up with this rod?  

 

Biggest thing I would do is to mount some reels you already own to get an idea of what weight reel balances the 7'3'' *** the best. Longer reels are sometimes tougher to balance and the Lew's TP is fairly light so that may be of some concern. Then again, I have not used this rod so I do not know. I have 7'5'' rods that balance well with a 7 ounce reel so you may be fine. Knowing the weight that best balances your rod is helpful anyways, that is why many say you should mount the possible reels on your rod to see which feels the best.

 

Also, if you need a heavier reel and have decided on the Lew's. Don't be afraid to get the Lews Tournament (TS). The TP is very similar to the TS with the biggest and most noticeable difference being its weight. They both cast very similar. 

 

If you are using a medium powered rod, it sounds like you might be tossing lighter baits. From my experience a spool with lower line capacity fishes lighter baits much better than a larger spool. and you said you are open to suggestions.

 

The Shimano Scorpion 1000 XT is a better reel than the STX and TP imho. It retails for $269 and can be had new for $199 for a limited time with this sale. http://www.japantackle.com/Shimano/Shimano_Scorpion_XT_1000.htm

 

Quite frankly the Scorpion 1000 XT will be a much better caster of these lighter baits. Casting 3/16oz to 5/16oz will be largely more effective with the scorpion and result in higher efficiency and more accurate casts.

 

Some other options would be to get a Daiwa Sol or a Daiwa Alphas. Good luck, do some comparing and weigh out the pros/cons of each reel and find out which qualities mean the most to you and go with the one that has the most pros in that area. Also note that it is not the number of bearings that matters it is the quality of these bearings that makes the biggest difference.