Paul Roberts

I thought the Carbonlite didn't look so great in the catalog. But I like them in hand -and I tend to like the high tech split-grip look.

Love it!

I think I'm coming to a similar conclusion. Not sure yet. I do catch fish with the X-Rap in cold water but with LONG pauses. I find those painful though. I'd rather be busy. The subtle roll of a Rogue I like in cold water. I think it's the forward speed that's the issue. Still playing with it.

I don't clean mine. All that algae, dried slime, and fish scales is character! I had a particular day fishing once years ago when I caught a BUNCH of rainbows. When they are bright silver their scales come off fairly easily and one silver scale ended up stuck to my spinning rod fore-grip. It stayed there for several years. I was disappointed when it finally fell off ;D .

Man! Almost makes me want to go buy an Ugly Stick and a pushbutton!

There were two! But if I'd taken both my wife would have looked at me funny. That's the beginnings of "wanting to kill me" look LOL. Actually, I don't own a boat and cannot carry more than a handfull of rigs anyways. I keep good care of my reels and am still using a 1980s Shimano Magnumlite and an ABU Ultra-mag regularly. I expect this Fuego will see me out!

Thanks, Brian. After I dig myself out of some work I'll do it. Maybe others will join in.

At their full price, I think the CLs are better than the Mojo, Vedettta (sharp-looking though) and some others I've looked at. For another comparison, I have a new Series One I bought on clearance a couple months ago. It's a 6-6MH casting but is pushing into the H range IMO -rated to 1-1/2oz. It weighs 5.4oz -this with those stainless guides. It's heavily built up so it appears to be made for durability. It's a perfectly fish-able rod, but I can't help but see it as a 'glorified LightningRod'.

Just following up on the Carbonlite's. I was at BPS today looking to exchange the 6-6M trigger I have with a 7MH, but found the MHs to be a tad cumbersome. Good rod -maybe best in its price point. A guy looking at them too mentioned the guides. I said, "The tip-top would be the issue, and fixing that is just a flick of a Bic." At RoLo's suggestion I looked at the Johnny Morris rods and found them lighter than the CL. My response to the CL was, "Well, I'd fish with it." The JM, I said, "Whoa. Now that's more like it." I ended up finding a Browning Midas (85mil PSI) marked down from $170 to 95. Never would have thought to look at them but a nice young salesman showed it to me -he too was coveting it. Have to say, a very nice rod! Akin or maybe nicer than the JM. Concept spaced SIC's too. I really liked the CL in M action. The fact that they appear to have had to build them up a bit to get to MH at 7ft, tells me they are not quite comparable to the JM, or apparently, the Browning Midas. Disclaimer: This is my "in the store" assessment. Would have loved to put 'em all on a scale. In the CLs favor it did feel a tad stronger in action than the JM and Midas. Tough to judge really though. On my postal scale at home the 6-10 MH Midas weighed in at 4.9oz.

:) :) I was at BPS today to buy a casting reel. I was limiting myself to around 120 bucks. Nice kid behind the counter saw me looking at reels and said, "Did you see the clearance reels? There's a Fuego over there for 79bucks. I'd buy it myself but my wife would kill me." My wife wouldn't, so I bought it. It was even a lefty -just what I was after. :) :)

Agreed. That was not one of their more stellar efforts. But, it's all I've seen. When I mentioned what gets a plug deep (long cast, line, tuning) I failed to mention plug design. The DTs shine there.

I don't reload, and the postal scale is really only good for comparisons on that scale. I actually don't have accurate calibration weights either, so until I come up with something I guess the weights offered are as good as I'm going to have for now.

That's pretty light. For comparison, my GLoomis GLX MBR842C (a 7' mf rod) weighs 125 grams = 4.4 oz. A 6-6 GLX might go under 4 oz, but probably not by much. Sensitivity is another issue of course, but when it comes to weight alone - the BPS rod is.... light ! OK, I re-weighed the rods -with glasses on lol, and being careful to weigh it exactly at the balance point. I have two BPS Carbonlites: 6-6 M, fast, spinning = 3.9oz. 6-6M, fast casting = 4.1oz. I weighed my other rods too, and will start another thread (on rod senstivity), and see if others will add their rod weights too. I'm really curious what other rods weigh. Oh yes, this was done on a postal scale, which I'm going to have to check calibration on. Will follow up tomorrow -again : .

I received my Carbonlite today, and put it on a scale. It's a 6-6 M casting. And the weight is: : : : : : : : 4.0 ozs. Not bad! It is not butt heavy, balancing several inches above the fore-grip. No measurements taken there, but I'm busy right now. Later, if anyone's interested, (or not LOL) I'll get a balance pt measure and tip diameter (a good indicator of MOE). It's not a thick tip, I can say that. It appears appropriately rated at M power, fast (maybe XF), 1/4-5/8.

Really good point. It takes the right set-up to reach max depths with any crank. Looooong cast, thin line, and perfectly tuned plug being the top three. What was interesting in the TT review was that several of the plugs rated for such depths never came close -including some pricey Japanese plugs.

X2. Fat Free came in #3 in the TT review. They did not test that many plugs though. Raps and so many others weren't in it.

Read. Discuss. FISH!

Cart before the horse. Let the waters you fish dictate what you need. Read, fish with people, and get out on the water with what you have. The deficits will make themselves known.

Ditto. Let your waters dictate what you need. If you can keep the bait and rod monkey's at bay :, buy when you see an opportunity on the water you can't adequately cover with what you have. Sounds like that's already happened. If you move to a new locale, or start exploring new waters, you MIGHT find yourself looking for something more -like a dedicated flippin' setup, or an UL spinning rig, or ... Where I fish, my mainstays are a 6-6 MH spinning rod (10-14lb lines) and a 6-6 M casting rod (10-14lb lines). I've added a M spinning rod (6-8lb lines) for finesse and early spring before the veggies grow up, and a MH casting rig (17-20lb lines) for mid-summer when the veggies are dense. When the rod monkey calls I respond by upgrading these basic rigs.

The DD22 is the standard. Tackle Tour did a comparison too, of maybe 10 baits, and the LC and DD22 came out on top. Says a lot about the Norman DD22.

I use 10XT Trilene for cranking. Stickin' with mono here, and I've used XT for years. Lotsa good choices out there now I hear. Have gone to FC for most deeper jigging. So far I like BPS the best -8lb for most jigworming.

Fool! I'd a jumped on em! ;D

Thanks, Roger. Sorry to hear about your Loomis.

Me too -or should have. But I've been made a sucker before. Seems there are A LOT of rods to choose from. Would like to have them all lined up next to a pool ready for testing. Roger, what Okuma rod is it you like so much?

Thanks for the preliminary review. As to the guide quality, a tip-top -the main issue- is a nearly instantaneous replacement. Love to see rod technology progress and prices drop (not that this is the case here -who knows, yet). I bit, and bought one at the sale price. First thing I'll do is put it on a scale. Is it really lighter, or just butt weighted? Curious: For those of you who have one, where is the balance point (sans reel)?