Georgia Jeff

The curado 100d was/is an awesome reel. I have two and I also have a new curado 200e7. I fish the 100d everytime on the water and only use the 200e7 for buzzbaits. If I had to sell one it would be the 200e7. They both are good reels but I have several Chronarch 50MG's and the 100d is the same size so the feel stays the same when switching back and forth. Plus the 100d has aluminum sideplates instead of graphite like the new ones do.

they don't offer the rod and reel in a package deal for a cheaper price anywhere do they? Do you think that the micro guides will help keep braid from wrapping around the guides when fishing? Does the reels cast control have enough settings to throw a variety of lures? Sorry for all the questions but I haven't been able to make the trip to Savannah and get to do any hands on testing yet.

He is the best ever but he is also a little cooky at times.

they look interesting and not too terribly expensive. I have some BPS gift cards burning a hole in my wallet.

yes, they do that.. best warranty ever. Most of the time they would not charge you for anything. When you say "over the counter" do you mean if I buy the rod from BPS and then it breaks 3 years later I just return it to BPS and get a new one that day, w/o having to ship it back to shimano. If so, maybe I need to add a Shimano rod the my arsenal of Shimano reels! If there rods are as good as their reels then they will be hard to beat. Yes, the shop I get some of my rods does that. I just bring my rod that I bought from them and they will replace it if they have them available otherwise they will order replacement for it. You should ask your local dealer about shimano warranty/ replacement. For reels, my experience with shimano: I recently sent my discontinued CH50MG shimano which I have for more than a year, the CH50 body was corroding. It's practically disintegrating from the inside. I called shimano and describe the issue, they said that I may have the old version of CH50Mg body and they ask to sent it in. After couple of weeks, I got back my CH50mg w/ new body. No corrosion, no scratches and best of all no replacement fee. Only cost me the shipping going to them. Should I continue with other free fixes on my other shimano gears from shimano? 8-) No, you should sell me that 50MG dirt cheap! Did you get salt water inside it? Magnesium doesn't like salt water. I beleive the outside of these reels are treated to resist the salt water but I bet the inside isn't.

I used to own BPS extreme rods that you could add the screw in butt weights to. This helped to lighten up the tips and make the rod balance perfectly. It almost seemed lighter in hand at first. After fishing with it all day though you knew it was heavier however. I have since switched to lighter reels (I love my Shimano Chronarch 50MG's) and better balanced and lighter rods and love them. This is going to be a tougher problem with the split grip rods being all the rage. Most of them feel tip heavy to me. Keep in mind I have not held most of the higher end split grips like Dobyn's or G Loomis.

Hello all, this is Rick Clunn. The reason I am using W&M equipment is because the yellow colors help to channel the energy of the sun. The sun gives us light and that light gives us vision. We must create an inner vision so that we can become one with the bass. The black colors channel the energy of the earth. Much like the earth gives the water its nutrients, the fish feed our stomach and soul. This is why I am now representing W&M.

atleast they don't charge you $40 or so like some companies do.

I checked Shimano's site and this is what I found... To request warranty repairs on a United States warranty claim, send your rod, postage prepaid, to Shimano or return it to the retailer that it was purchased from. Retailer and wholesaler outlets are not required to perform warranty repairs or exchanges on behalf of Shimano or Shimano Canada Ltd. / LTÉE, nor are they authorized to modify this warranty in any way. http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/customer_service0/Warrenty_Services.html Judging from this it looks like you can return it to the store but that the store doesn't have to give you a new rod. I guess they could send it to Shimano for them to check out and then Shimano could send you a new one. However, it does leave the door open for the store to just replace your rod for you. Is that what you guys get from these statements?

yes, they do that.. best warranty ever. Most of the time they would not charge you for anything. When you say "over the counter" do you mean if I buy the rod from BPS and then it breaks 3 years later I just return it to BPS and get a new one that day, w/o having to ship it back to shimano. If so, maybe I need to add a Shimano rod the my arsenal of Shimano reels! If there rods are as good as their reels then they will be hard to beat.

Boggles the mind that someone would have the gall to make a profit, LOL. When I ran retail, items up to about $100 retail were triple the cost. I don't care if they make a profit. I just wonder if they could sell their rods for a lot less if they didn't offer a warranty they have to honor knowing 1/2 the stuff they get in isn't their fault.

With all of this being said, I have only had issues on two rods. One I broke being a moron and I had another where I broke a recoil guide off the rod trying to free a lure from a stump. I didn't make a warranty claim on either one because they were both my fault. I re-tipped one rod and still use it and sent the other of to BPS to be fixed. I think it cost about $8 to fix but it did cost me about $30 in shipping.

Good point.

Here is the rest of the warranty info off of that site: $50-Excel, Competitor, G-200, Classic Glass, G-1000 freshwater, Sardina, BFC $70-XMG Bass, XMG Salmon/Steelhead, G-1000 Salmon/Steelhead, Certified Pro Bass, Certified Pro Salmon/Steelhead, G-1000, LGM, Tropic Pro, Tri-Flex Saltwater, Tri-Flex Surf, Kayak, Indian River, Inshore Classics, G-1000 Fly, Spring Creek, and Surf & Jetty $90- XMG Fly, Titanium, Super Surf, Ron Arra and Travel rods Doesn't it make you wonder if this is the REAL cost of the rod and the actual price you pay is two or three times the amount so that they can offer these kinds of warranties. I would rather them offer a one year free replacement warranty and sell the rod for less. Like people have said above: If there is something wrong with it, it will break in the first year.

NICE

What does it cost to get an Avid or a G-loomis fixed? I guess it would be more "worth it" since these are $200 plus rods. Buying a $99 Carrot Stix and then spending $40 to get it repaired on top of $20 to $30 shipping just doesn't make much sense to me. Roadwarrior, Have you fished the 2007-2010 BPS Johnny Morris Extreme rods with recoil guides? They are a very nice rod.

No one owns a smoke rod yet?

The bait monkey is on my back and I want to purchase a new rod. I currently only own BPS rods which I think are fantastic rods. However, they only carry a 1 year warranty. I was thinking of going with a rod with a lifetiem warranty. However, after reading several websites about their warranty details I noticed that you must send in the rod and pay $40 or so. Then if they determine that your breakage was a their fault they will ship you a new rod or repair yours. After sending them $40 and shipping in your rod for $20 or $30 more you are half way to a NICE new rod. Odds are I am going to be tired of the old rod two years later and not want it fixed. Therefore I am leaning towards still buying BPS rods with their limited one year warranty. Atleast if it tears up I can take it straight back to them for an instant replacement within the year and after that they will fix them for a resonable charge or I can just buy their newer model. Add to the fact that you get a rod darn near as good for half the price to start with. What are your thoughts on these lifetime warranties that are now offered yet cost money to make a claim on.

All of these listed below are slight adjustments that I would make to the equipment that I have and love. The Shimano Chronarch 50MG is as close to perfect as a reel can get in my opinion. The only thing that I would change would be to add a slightly longer handle. I wish PowerPro was quieter when going through the recoil guides on my BPS JM Extreme rods. I wish my older BPS rods had the cool new hook keepers that the new rods do. I wish BPS would bring back the BPS Pro Finesse rods and make one in a MH. The Carbonite rods are not half the rod the old BPS Pro Finesse rods were. I wish BPS made a solid black stick-o. I wish they made a Curado with a 28 in retrieve per handle turn. I wish Minn Kota made a 4 1/2 gear between gears 4 and 5 on there Minn Kota 40lb thrust 5 speed motor. 4 is too slow in the river I fish and 5 is freaking wide open. They never did fix this so I bought a Motorguide Tour edition 55lb thrust motor with variable speed. This was the best decision I have ever made. The batteries last longer and you can always dial in just the speed you want.

I purchased a Revo Inshore reel from them a good while ago. I applied for and they sent me a $10 rebate check in the mail that expired 6 months later. I placed it in such a secure place I found it about 3 weeks after it expired. I contacted them and they are sending me a new $10 rebate check. That in my mind is above and beyond the call of duty. I will keep this in mind when puchasing stuff in the future.

Can we get the specifics with brands and details?

I have a pair of Costas with glass lenses but not the 580 lenses. I like them alot but they are not worth the money in my opinion. I have a $50 pair of polarized Bolle glasses that allow me to see just as well into the water. They do stand behind their warranty, however, I have had to send them back to Costa twice and am about to send them in a third time. The first time the Tortise finish bubbled up on the frame. The second time I had a lense start to flake around the edge. This time one of the nose pads has fallen off and one of the gold colored "C's" on the side has turned silver. When you pay almost $200 for a pair of sunglasses you don't expect them to tear up and you sure don't want to have to turn around and pay a $11.95 processing fee plus my shipping and insurance each time they tear up. After I send them in this time I will have spent and extra $60 total for them over a three year period of time. Don't get me wrong, they repair them and stand behind their warranty but they shouldn't be tearing up to begin with at that price. And I am not hard on my glasses.

great question. I hope some of the mechanics will tell us specifically what they own and why.

Does anyone own one yet that can give us a review? Can you point me to a website with some reviews? I know that they are supposed to be really light and they feature Fuji Micro guides. I saw a commercial for the new Smoke rod and reel and it claimed that the reel combined with their heaviest rod still weighed less than 11 ounces. The same commercial stated that their heaviest rod weighed just over 4 ounces. They sound nice. Anybody own one?