MarauderYak

I talked to a friend at BPS to ask him about your specific complaints. First, he was pretty sure what you were talking about with the Extreme. In 2007 they ran the Extreme spinning reel with a free rod & listed the rod as a $60 value, but the rod is not one they sell. The problem was... in the ad it showed a picture of one of the regular Extreme rods. He said it was the biggest mistake he remembers happening for rods or reels in an ad. He said they ended up giving away a bunch of Extreme rods to make customers happy, and they ended up losing money & running out of rods. So you are correct that this was misleading, but it was all because of a mistake with a picture. He said he's 99% sure that they've never done any LTD, or special make-up Rick Clunn reel or combo. He said he looked through coppies of the Father's day ad from the last 3 years, and the only Rick Clunn in there was the regular reel on sale. He said they have done a Johnny Morris LTD reel, and that must be what your thinking of. The reels are listed as a special purchase, and they're made at the exact same factory as the regular reels, and in that case just changed the finish & model #. He said neither the factory nor BPS makes as much money on those special runs, but it creates more sales & generates customer excitement. I don't understand how you (Muddy) consider that a rip-off. They're offering the same reel in a different color for a cheaper price. If these special make-ups were some cheaper knock-off I could see your point, but they aren't. In fact in this case (PQ) it's an upgraded version. To address both you AND CFFF on a point... The combo in question here was brought in for this Father's Day ad. They wanted to sell it at $99.94 in the ad, but want it to jump up to $119.99 after the ad if there are any left. The $200 value is based on what it would cost to go buy a rod & reel with very similar features (at full retail). He said if that exact reel was being sold every day by another company it would easily be $150+, and even at BPS would likely be $130 every day. They do some times run sales a month after getting an item, but then they go back to the regular price. The only company out there that plays the high/low game is D!cks sporting goods. They always try to list an original, a regular, and a sale price.

Well Muddy your wrong when you say BPS is trying to deceive anyone. I personally know the people that pick the items they promote. They would certainly not try to trick anyone into thinking they were getting something they weren't. You are obviously entitled to have & express your opinion, but to say BPS is trying to "pull one over" on people is nonsense. I'm not trying to talk down to you; I was trying to explain to you how/why BPS promotes items. I'm not guessing what their intentions are because I talk to the guys all the time. And I didn't call your (or any of your friend's) complaints worthless. I simply said that having a complaint on this board does not make an item/company bad. There have been several complaints on Carrot Stix, yet many people here still love theirs. Why don't you look at the item in question here, and tell me what they could've done differently to make it any more clear that this was a special make-up item.

Well Muddy, I guess we'll just disagree on this one. It wouldn't make any sense for ANY retailer to try and confuse their customers. BPS tends to promote a lot of one-time buys. It's just like how all the electronics companies bring in special purchase TV's around Christmas time. They're all trying to give customers a reason to come to them. And using complaints on this forum as a source of proof just doesn't hold water. There have been a ton of complaints about every fishing brand out there. Do they all suck?

The '09 Pro Qualifiers have brass gears. That's why this version is 1.8 oz lighter. The reason they put a "regular" price of $120 is so they can sell what ever they have left after the ad for that price. But they're saying if they were to produce that reel & that rod for every day sale they would be $200 seperately. Some times I think they get a little carried away with the "value" they assign, but I personally don't feel mislead. Would I pay $200? No. Do I love the rod? No. But it's not bad, and I bought this thing for the reel. The reel is awesome for $100.

I'm not trying to convince anyone to buy that combo. If you don't like something, you don't like it. But I personally still don't see how it's misleading. What's the retail price of other similar reels? You can't find a reel with Duraluminum gears in that price range. The closest is the Pflueger Summit which is $170. Comparing the rod is a little more difficult, but I can tell you I've seen much worse rods for $80. In other words, I don't think you could find a similar rod & reel for less than $200 (normal retail). If you can't tell, I have one of these combos. I pulled the reel to put with a different rod, and I'm putting an old citica on this combo rod for a backup/loaner. I haven't been able to take it out yet, but the reel feels awesome and weighs just 7 oz.

Muddy, I think your confussion must be coming from the fact they use similar names on some of their special make-ups they do. But if you look at the ad... http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CFPageC?storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&appID=163&option=3&template=circular.cfm&catalog=jun1_09_tab&rfx_versioningid=001&storeID=15 It says "Special Purchase!" in big red letters, the reel is a different color, and the description says it's an upgraded version of the reel. I don't know how it could be any more clear unless they used a completely different name. But in the fishing industry in can be tough to come up with a name that hasn't been used by someone else. That's why you see companies stick with names they already own the rights for.

The ad looked pretty clear to me. It is a special edition of the Pro Qualifier reel that has Duraluminum gears. The upgraded/lighter reel is the same price as the regular reel and it comes with a free rod. I guess I don't understand what's so upsetting about that.?. :-?

I had a reel fail me (drag locked up) on day 2 of a tournament one time. It was a 5+ lb smallie making it's second run. It was hooked really well, so chances are I land that fish if my gear didn't fail me. That fish would've been worth roughly $10,000 (counting retail value on a boat). That was years ago, and I still get sick when I think about it. No warranty is going to cover losing the fish of a lifetime. I'm certainly not saying "don't buy a Carrot Stick"; I'm just answering your question, "Why worry??"

I'd be more concerned about the rod breakage than guide problems. A guy I was fishing with broke 2 Gold Carrot Stix over the weekend. They'll be covered by warranty, but that doesn't help for that day. This guy may have been high sticking a little, but these rods have more than their share of breakage issues.

There's more to it than just the reel. If you're using a lure lighter than the rod is designed for, it will not cast well. The reel you have won't perform as well as one of the $200+ mentioned reels, but it will cast a rooster tail if placed on a rod designed to cast down to that weight. In addition, with any of the reels listed you'll likely have to feather the spool with your thumb to prevent backlash on such a light lure. Especially if there's any headwind. Personally I'd recommend taking a light spinning outfit with you to throw the lighter lures like this. By taking 2 set-ups you can have 2 types of lures tied on, make further casts with 1/8 oz & less lures, and enjoy fighting smaller fish.

That's the result of too many corporate buyouts. All Star was bought by Shakespeare & it wasn't as important to them. Shakespeare is bought out by Pure Fishing & All Star gets even less attention. Pure Fishing is bought by Jardin who now owns just about every hard goods company you see in Wal Mart. Now All Star is the tick on the belly of the lost dog belonging to the 2nd cousin of Jardin's step child.

No one is going to be able to give you an exact answer because there are a ton of variables such as... how deep the lure is, how bright the sun is shining, how stained the water is, how good is the eyesight on the particular fish, etc. In general, the less visible your line is, the more bites you're going to get. In clear water, there's no way I could use braid without a fluoro leader. If I can see the line 10 feet or more down into the water I have zero confidence. In fact, I chose not to use braid at all in clear water (but that's just me).

You'll have to put a new tip on. You can do this yourself with a tip replacement kit or take it to a rod & reel repair center.

The simple answer is Bass Pro does. The actual factory they are made at is the same factory that makes rods for a lot of companies (including Shimano). Shimano, BPS, All Star, or which ever company works with the engineers at that factory to develop each series. The individual companies determine how the rod is to be made, and of what components.

After seeing that you'd like to use this reel for steelhead as well I'd advise against the Pro Qualifier. I think they're a great reel with a very good drag, but the largest holds 115 yds of 12lb test. I personally would want a little more line capacity if fishing for steelhead. Those little missles can strip 40 or 50 yards in a single run with no problem. Maybe you should consider getting this new spinning reel for just lighter fishing & use the Penn for steelhead in addition to saltwater.

The spinning reels I've used the most over the last year are Pro Qualifier. I have two that I've used quite a bit & been a little rough on. I haven't had a single issue, I've grown to really like the larger spool, and I've been very happy with their drag. I don't have any experience with any of the other reels you're looking at.

Thanks for the responses I got. When someone is asking for opinions like this I really like to know what those opionions are based on. The JM sig Gold is $270, but on sale quite often for $230 or so? So what else is right at it's price? Ardent XS1000; US Reel Supercaster Pro; Daiwa Fuego, Sol, Zillion; Revo Premier. Of course you could move up or down further in price, but those are all right there with it. I haven't actually fished any of these exact reels, but I've cast all of them. I have fished a regular JM signature reel, a Daiwa Advantage, and a Revo S quite a bit. Based on my all that, I would NOT go with the Ardent or the US Reel. Of the Daiwa reels I'd chose the Fuego, but I think it would come in third. I think I'd end up with the JM Gold as my second choice & the Premier as my pick. All that said... I tend to prefer spending $100 to $150 on a baitcaster because I've found reels in that range that make me perfectly happy with their performance.

For everyone saying there are so many better choices... Have any of you actually fished with the JM sig gold or is this just an assumption? Seems like most everybody has a brand ranking in their own head (so do I to an extent), but if you actually had the opportunity to fish with every reel in a given category I'm sure you'd find quite a few reels that either under perform or out perform you expectations.

Not the same reel. That $99 reel is a limited run of the older version of the "regular" JM signature series reel done in a special color. As to the original question... I've played around with one of the JM Sig Gold reels, but never fished with one. I know they cast very well. They're made at the same factory as the Revo & the Patriarch.

Two piece rods have improved alot over the last decade. Depending on the exact rod, most factories are capable of making a 2-piece blank with nearly the same sensitivity as a 1-piece. The slower & lighter a rod is, the more it will be changed in a 2-piece version due to the additional weight & the flat spot in the action. Is there a difference? Yes. But if you take most any current $100 rod series, rigged up a 6'6" MH spinning rod in both 2-pc & 1-pc with the same reel/line/lure and handed them one at a time to a blindfolded fisherman... they likely won't be able to detect any difference at all.

Nate, a few thoughts... I think you've figured this one out, but when first learning to cast a bc reel, jerky motion is bad. Smooooth is the way to go. You can cast with some force, but don't start the cast with a jerky motion. You want the rod to be under load to propel the lure when you let the spool release. A jerky motion will cause the rod to release quickly & then you're just relying on the forward motion of the lure for the cast. When this happens, the lure flies till it reaches the end of the loose line, then it jerks the spool, the lure immediately slows down & is pulled back, and poof you've got a big backlash. So start smooth, and make sure you're still moving the rod forward as you release the spool. Also, as you take some of the tension off the spool it may be necessary to feather the spool when you cast. You'll want to learn how to very lightly touch the spool/line during the cast. Finally, It makes casting much easier if you're holding the rod/reel sideways. In other words, when you point the rod directly out in front of you, the axis of the spool should be pointing striaght up at the sky & down at the ground/water. Keep working on it.

I've used the BPS combo caddy for years. I can see where it would feel odd with a single combo, but after you get several in there it ballances nicely. It doesn't have any solid backbone so you wouldn't want to put it where a cooler could slide into it, or something heavy could fall on it. It works great for me, but if you're going to be in a situation where you need more protection; removing the reels & using a Bazooka tube (or similar) would be the next step.

All Mojo rods have been made in the US so far. The cosmetics & split grips are the only real differences between them & the Premier graphite rods.

I'm not sure, but I know it's going to be under the Trilene family. It's going to be called Trans-Vis or something close to that.

I believe Berkley has a new color in the Trilene family that should be on the market in a few weeks. It is going to be high-vis above the water, and clear when below water. Sorry for anyone who read this in another post, but it seems to apply to both threads.