Getting what you pay for.......

[502largemouth]

Ok, when I started out bass fishing, I bought a few wally world specials, 2 of them I still use and they perform great, 2 of them broke quickly and one is on the way to joining them.

Pinnacle, I had heard that name for years in fishing, guess they make a cheapo line for walmart or something...lol.

Any rate, before those reels broke, I bought my first "good" reel, a JMP10H when BPS had their special run on them a while back.( I shoulda bought about 6 of them, in hindsight)

Best running reel I have ever used......

Until Sunday.

A friend of mine and his brother had the brothers boat out on a small lake I live next to and they called me to see if I wanted to putter around a bit.

Of course, I said yea and off we went.

At the end of it, I remarked how I was wondering what those Carrot Sticks were like, as he had one.

A 7 1/2 foot medium action carrot stick with a Daiwa Zillion reel on it.

I flipped it once, when he offered to let me, as we stood on the parking area to the side of the ramp.

Climbed up on his boat and flipped it out into the adjacent grass and WHOA!!!, it was like butter.

I swear to ya, I decided to try something, so I turned towards the trash can about 15 to 20 yards away and let loose with a very aggressive flip. It fell just about a half a foot shy of the trash can, pitching a 3/8 ounce jig.

I am decent at flipping now, but I was flabbergasted. None of my reels, no matter how well taken care of and oiled will do that....NONE.

I guess it holds true unfotunately that to get that quality you better be buying like a tourney pro.

How can anyone but a pro justify a 400 dollar rig?

Just one?!?!

Just thought I'd whine a bit....lol.

I am jealous now and I want one of those reels.

Cyas,

D

[roadwarrior]

Fish are caught on cane poles and kite string, with no reel at all!

Quality equipment just makes fishing more fun and good fisherman

better.

All of the bigger retailers target $150 - $200 for their upgraded

combinations, on sale. This is an example:

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_102965_100003000_100000000_100003000_100-3-0

8-)

[zaraspook_dylan2]

A lot of the time you can purchase used fishing equipment for a very cheap price compared to off the shelf. Quality is something that you wont always find, but when you do get the chance to use a professional grade reel, you never want to go back to your old one. My dad's buddy is a huge tournament angler, and he gives me a lot of his old equipment, which to him is no good, when to me, its like gold. But like Roadwarrior said you don't always need the best equipment.

[Pitchinkid]

Awesome setup your friend has there 502. I own 5 Carrots and i love very one. Daiwa reels are simply the best in my opinion. Shimano makes really good reels but there not near as pretty as Daiwa's are. ;D But yeh your right, you get what you pay for.

[Catt]

One can go to Wal/Mart, Harbor Freight, or some other outlet store to buy mechanic, carpenter, electrician, machinist tools ECT and these tools will work but they are not designed for industrial use. Yes these tools will last the weekend guy a lifetime of light to medium use and serve him quite well.

Now look at it through my eyes I am a journeyman carpenter/mechanic my tools are what I make my livelihood with so I must depend on my tools to perform every single time I use them under conceivable conditions with limited failure.

Now relate this to bass fishing; when I hit the lake it will be from sunup to sunset, under extremely adverse conditions, and with full expectations of bass in excess of 6 pounds so any failure on the part of my tools is not accepted.

[Raul]

I 'm not a Pro, my rigs cost more than $400 a piece, no, I didn 't purchase all of them at once.

[502largemouth]

Yea, Raul, I guess it just doesnt fall in my budget to spend that much on a rig.

I have about 8 rods and reels that I can use when fishing, some good, some not so good. My most recent was putting a 5:4:1 Clunn BPS signature reel on a 7 1/2 foot BPS crankin stick.

I am thrilled with how it performs and do love using it.

Just......wow to the Daiwa Zillions. I dont know how their other reels perform but good lord, this reel was like the chosen one.....lol. I even backlashed it once trying for that garbage can and the backlash came out easy.....lol.

There was nothing tough at all about using it.

I have been fishing a little less here of late but used to go almost every day so thats why the walmart specials broke down on me, I know that(I will say this, the two that lasted me were the 2 shakespeares that I bought as my first two reels and they still work now and show no signs of giving in. I am surprised at their quality).

I get the tool example, worked a lot of carpentry jobs and drywall and now doing welding, so the tool thing I can totally relate to.

Thanks guys for letting me whine....haha.

Cyas,

D

[done]

LOL 502, don't feel so bad, I was excited cause I got a Mitchell reel recently and that was a trade up from what I had. I can cast farther with my Mitchell setup than I thought I ever could cast. Slowly but surely I will continually upgrade.

If it comes to feeding the kids or getting a real good reel, the kids come first. As long as you are still having fun man...it is all good though.