Boogey Man

I have a Pinnacle Perfecta I won here a few years ago. It's the 7ft heavy model. It's an absolute beast of a rod. Extremely well made, perfect fit and finish. Very light for a 7ft heavy road. You can usually find them at a pretty good discount on Amazon.com.

I have a 6'6" Medium Verdict I've been using since last fall. The main reason I bought it is that the action is much more moderate the the other V rods. It's closer to a true medium. As far as the weight, to me it feels lighter that the Veritas. The adjustable handle is not that important to me, I just set it and left it. The guides are a little flexible, so if you buy one I'd be careful with it. Overall, I'd buy another.

I've read the OP twice, I keep missing the part where he says he's dropping it...oh, you're assuming he's dropping it

Didn't remove the spool pin so no chance I damaged it. Didn't over tighten the tension knob. Did not remove drag star until it quit clicking and that was to see what the problem was. Maybe we should just agree to disagree that while these are good reels they may be the be-all-end-all of reels.

I guess I'm with Aavery2. When I first bought the TP it was unreal as far as casting and retrieving. The clicking mechanisms on the tension knob and drag broke within the first few trips. I took it apart and found broken plastic pieces in both. No biggie, I've used baitcasters before all the clickies and don't find it a necessity but still. About half way through the first season casting distance just died off. Cleaned it, relubed, flushed the bearings and all that. I'm not a pro but I service all my own reels. I have a mixture of reels and can almost always get the "back to normal" lol. Casting distance is better but still no where near where it was and casting light lures is now a no go. This year the reel is noticeably rougher on retrieve that no amount of cleaning/lubing will fix. When I first bought it I was ready to sell off all my other reels and get all TP's. I'm glad I didn't. Not saying they're not good reels. Very few reels get the good reviews that the Lew's reels get. Maybe I got a bad one.

https://www.okumafishing.com/assets/catalogs/2014-Okuma-Catalog.pdf Some new Okuma stuff. New Helios Air, 5.7 oz.

BPS Carbonlite is pretty good for the price.

Another link from Shimano that may be helpful. http://fish.shimano.com/publish/content/global_fish/en/us/index/customer_service0/reel_maintenance_instructions.download.-mainParsys-0001-downloadFile.html/Maintenance%20Tips-%20Baitcasting%20Reels%20(2%20pages).pdf

Have you tried cleaning the brake race? Then put a small drop of oil on a q tip and apply to the brake race.

Have you tried cleaning the brake race? If not wipe it off with alchohol then put a drop or oil on a q tip and apply it to the brake race.

If memory serves correctly, Fritts said the lack of instant anti reverse allowed his bait to pause and/or rise a split second longer when he made contact with an object instead of just plowing ahead as it would with a reel with instant anti reverse.

Another vote for the Carbonlite. Just picked up my third today, the 6'6" med lite casting rod at BPS today. Put a Lews Tourney Pro on it. Lite as a feather. Plan on using it for jerkbaits, topwaters and small cranks. The Veritas is a nice rod just a little to stiff for my liking.

I have an Optimus X and XT. The X casts fine but is not smooth on the retrieve. Also had a big chunk of paint come off the side. I've had reels get scratcthed but never a whole chunk come off. Also seems like it takes about a half turn of the handle to re engage the reel after a cast. The XT is smoothe as glass on the cast and retrieve. Both reels are to me a little harder to dial in but handle light baits well. Here's a kicker though. I emailed pinnacle to check pricing on a main gear and pinion gear to convert the XT from 6:1 to 7:1. They wanted $90 for parts and shipping.

Honestly, I hope some kid catches in a farm pond in the middle of nowhere. A lot will disagree with me and I know it takes a lot of skill to catch a bass that big, but catching it in a trout stocked lake with limited access is a little too "Barry Bonds" to me.

Mine will cast equal distances with my Lews TP and Okuma Serrano, my two farthest casting reels. Have you tried taking a cotton ball with a little alcohol and cleaning the metal brake race, then put a small drop of oil on a cotton swab and wiping the brake race? PS: turn all the cent brakes off and and make few cast. If it casts fine (and you get the backlash from hell LOL) it's the brake race.

I kind of had to, I used to fish with a guy who was a horrible boat operator, LOL. Now it actually feels more natural to cast left handed (I reel with right). Don't have to switch hands, just cast and start reeling. It's also handy to make more casts at different angles. Say you're targeting a stump, if you cast right handed, you can't hit the opposite side until you're pretty well past it. I can hit quicker by switching to left hand. Don't recall how long it took, but has been worth it.

That was my experience with the Fuego as well. It doesn't have the larger/HEG-type gears a lot of other reels have. Add that to it's 28IPT and mine felt labored as well.

I bought a 6'8" medium a few weeks ago and will be returning it. On St Croixs web site the weight is listed as 4.3 oz which is not bad but the balance is not good even after trying several reels of different weights. I also didn't care for the neoprene handle, it felt like it was starting to make the skin on my hand sore after a few hours.

Sure was

. I was talking about the 6'6" medium and med heavy casting models, which I think would have been more comparable to the rod Rooster bought. According to Falcons website both have 8 guides.

If you like the rod (weight, balance, action, power, price) I wouldn't worry about the number of guides. Take the Falcon Bucoo, it only has 7 guides plus tip, I haven't heard a lot about breakage from them. Most "older" rods did have as many guides and we still caught fish.

Of the rods you've mentioned the only one I've used is the Rage. I just bought a 6'8 med fast and will be returning it. For a $150 rod it's too tip heavy in my opinion and the neoprene handle felt like it was rubbing the hide off my hands after a couple hours of casting.

I recall reading an article by Fritts a few years back, he said he favored the lack of instant anti reverse because he could feel when his crankbaits hit a stump or object better with a little play in the handle. Also, he said that when he did hit an object, the "play" in the anti reverse allowed his crankbait to pause a little more. With instant anti reverse, he said he felt his bait just kept coming ahead with much of a pause. I'm admittedly a poor deep cranker so I'll take his word for it.

I have Tournament Pro I have a love/hate relationship with. When I first got it, it was a casting freak. After using it for a few months, casting distance just died. I've cleaned it, soaked the bearings, relubed, etc. It's close to where it was when I got it, not quite. It also has an occasional annoying "rattling" sound on the cast and sometimes on a fast retrieve. Also, Lews needs to improve the clicking drag and cast control. Both have plastic clicking mechanisms and have both broken and quit working on mine. No biggie, it doesn't affect the function of either and I've used reels since before all the clickies, but still. But considering you can get them for around $150, I'd give another one a chance.

Tackle Tour gave the Citica G a pretty good review. http://www.tackletour.com/reviewshimanociticag200.html I have a Curado G and two Citica E's. I know it's apples to oranges, but I would pick the Curado. It does cast slightly farther but mostly due to the fact it casts lighter baits better. Especially since you can pick up the Curado G on "the auction site" for about what you'd pay retail for the Citica.