WdyCrankbait

http://www.***.com/lews-tournament-lite-speed-spool-casting-reel-review/

<----- This guy.

^Bingo!

Yes, thank you guys!!! I caught mine on sale through TW and got it for $158. But, the casting distance is great! I don't try and launch it into the next universe, just flick the wrist and 30 yards everytime. Mine did take about 2 hours using, setting, and resetting to fine tune and get the reel broken in. After that, GOLDEN! I have caught a 5 lber. on it and no problem getting him in. It is my go to reel, extremely wide casting control spectrum, I think the drag is great, and very precise casting controls. My first Lew's, I have always used Shimanos, now the Shimanos don't get used.

I have the Lew's Lite Speed Spool. It is a great reel, i did put up a review on it on TW, and here in the forums. Please search the Rods, Reels forum here for it. I would go further into detail, but this was my wedding weekend and barely have enough energy to type this now. PS, I have not used either reel you wanted comparisons to.

yeah, I am not sure if, or how much a difference it makes. I'm mainly sun baking the backs of the cranks, I will post pictures of baked and not baked after I get back from errands.

yes, from my understand it is the basis for Ike's custom Ink cranks, but i dont think it is of the DT's in general.

yeah, it fades them. I mainly do it to knock down the gloss on some of the cranks. Not sure if it matters, I guess just a preference thing.

Has anyone sunbaked any of their crankbaits and caught more fish on the lures after baking them? I baked a,,I think, Rapala Helsinki shad CCR-5, and caught a couple of small bass. Not saying this is the route, or end all be all, but I did like the look of the lure coming through the water. Curious, who does this and how much success you have with it?

The actual truth is I think every older guy would do the same thing. I know I will when I get old.

That reel felt good to you, that is and what should have been the biggest deciding factor. Both are fine reels, dont look back just go out and hang a pig on the new reel!

I did catch a couple yesterday on a squarebill. I am not saying the fall pattern is there yet, watch the water temps. But, with this cooler weather and shorter days, I am say it is getting very close.

yeah, see what feels the best in your had. But, I suggest you take a look at the new Lew's Tournament Lite Speed Speel. Great reel for $180 and all 5.8oz. of her.

Try Zoom Ultravibe speed craw, go with your areas best colors. I use green pumpkin here in VA. 2/0 hook, probably a 3/16oz. bullet weight, I did switch to an 1/8 later because of supply reasons and the paddles did not flap too well. I have had great success with yo-yoing the lure and swimming it. Also, 3" Little Otters in Hurricane Craw, same rigging as the Zoom. I am not familiar with the river you are fishing, but throw anywhere. Smallies defy logic sometime, but that is what makes fishing for them so great! The picture attached is the result of my latest smallmouth trip to the James River using Gambler's Little Otters. Good luck and enjoy!

Here are my reels including the latest, Lew's Tournament Lite Speed Spool. I modded the 50e. It looks like I have some catching up to do with you guys! Great stuff everyone!

Isn't it funny how a little green fish will make your day better! Well, I'm facing a wedding (the official wedding, I am already married, I'm calling it wedding 2.0) 10/11, then a pretty big surgery 11/11 up at Johns Hopkins. (So, I am out of work now, and probably the next six months. Had to quit one job and move to find better medical care.) So, there are some stressers and things I am worried about so, I went fishing this afternoon and caught this little fellow. Biggest fish I have caught in a long time. Maaaaaaaannnnnnnnn, was it good! I am so calm right now, hahah! Caught him on a private pond, on a senko. I was reeling the senko in and right as I jumped the worm out of the water he jumped for it! Wow, it was like a hand grenade went off in the water! So, I checked my drawers to make sure I did not poop myself and casualty through the senko right back and hooked him!!! Aaaahhhhh...............Lord knows I have been at the other end of spectrum lately, but this bass made everything alright. I love fishing. Wdy

Snook, I was more curious about the speeds then anything with the casting reels getting faster from say 3 years ago. Plus, I missed another 15 smallies that I feel if I had a faster reel I would have caught, or had a better chance against. So, my post was more based on curiosity and more importantly greed wanting to catch all the smallies I hooked up with, hahah! I embrace it, that was the best day of fishing I have ever had! I hooked one smallie about 10 feet from the kayak I was sitting in and he jumped higher then I was sitting. Meaning, I was looking up at him sitting in the kayak. I'm 6'-4", and sitting down, he must have jumped 2 to 3 feet out of the water. Impressive smallie!!

JDJ, I had to look up LFS so, forgive me if I get this wrong. But, my understanding is LFS is the new Lew's philosophy, Lighter, faster stronger. With that assumption correct. No I have not, this is my first Lew's reel, and first time using a Lew's reel. Sam, on the board here has a Laser Lew's that I would like to use and compare to. Plus, I have a couple more friends that have non- LFS Lew's that I should fish with soon. I will tell you this, I doubt the Tournament Lite will disappoint. I have about 3 hours on the reel now and she is fully broken in. I missed a MONSTER yesterday on the reel and for the 5 seconds I had her hooked up the reel held its' own fine. The casting distance has started to increase and I finally caught a 2-1/2 lb. bass on her today. Sorry I could not answer the question you wanted answered. Wdy

Evan, yeah Papa got it. I was lifting the rod tip say a foot or two feet-ish, then letting it fall and usually by the time I reeled in the slack a smallie would already be on it. (T-rigged Zoom Ultravibe Speed craw, or Gambler Little Otter, picture included which I used for only 2 hours.) I fished a part of the Upper James River that does not see a lot of pressure. (My two friends and I must have caught/hooked up with about 75 in a 9 hour float trip.) As well, samething when I threw a weightless senko behind a riffle, that big letter "S," the current makes out of your line once it hits the water. Mike, as always, you are the man. Those Stradic IPT numbers are what I would like to see, something I could get the slack out of the line faster to make contact with the bait faster. I would like a lighter reel then that one, but it is good to see I can get higher retrieve rates. Thanks everyone, Wdy

Hey Everyone, I had a quick thought that I wanted to ask and see if anyone knows of a 7 to 1 spinning reel now/on horizon? With casting reels pushing 8 and 9-to-1 I was wondering if manufactures were thinking about now pushing spinning reels. I was fishing for smallmouth this past Saturday "yo-yoing," a creature bait and sometimes those smallies were faster then my 6.2 to 1 Supreme XT reel to retrieve line. I know the gear ratio is not the important number, but the IPT are. But, more speed in a spinning reel could help me out in certain situations. Thanks, Wdy

This thread does not make sense, nor does it do anything to help out anyone. No question was asked, or anything like "Hey, I am looking at either this, or that reel."

I am glad I used the search function in the forums here because my Pfluger Supreme XT got dunked this weekend on a smallmouth trip. I did not tear the whole reel down, but took off the spool, handle, and handle retaining "plate," and set it outside for the whole day to dry. But, I probably will tear her apart soon now just to be sure. Thanks for the helpful advice and thread everyone! Wdy PS, it was worth it, I caught about 30 smallmouth.

I hear you, Shimano has served me very well! I do love my Curado's that is for sure! But, I at the same price of a Curado I and almost 2 oz. lighter, Mmm. I have not fished with an I, but definitely held and played with one. Nice feeling reel! I was able to use this reel again for another hour and it is a VERY quiet reel, on casting, retrieve. Impressive! So far, I am sold 100%! Tight lines everyone! Wdy

Hey everyone, I received my Lew's Tournament Lite Speed Spool reel today from TW and I wanted to give an initial review in case anyone is interested in these. First, it is super lite! The box says 5.7 oz., but TW says 5.8 oz. Second, it will cast a mile, very far! The spool does free spool very well! I got the 6.4 to 1 reel. Put #15 Fluro on it and away she went. I used a 5" weightless senko on it. I fished the same place I had a bite on the same senko Wed.so, I felt good about my chances to catch something. But, I ended up not catching anything. I did not get too much fishing in with it today, just enough time to get some opinions of the reel initially. I had it paired to a Powell Endurance 723C, for reference. The reel feels really well built! I have a family of Curado E's, (Shimano guy) Revo Rocket, and Castic 200SF and this feels very solid compared to all listed. Especially for $179.99, plus I priced matched it on TW's Labor Day sale for 15% off and got it for $153. She is closet to a 50E in size, I have a picture with the Rocket, 50E, and 200E7 for size reference below. The reel is black, but has gold flake in it like that of the Curado E's. It works for me. The handle is a little smaller then I thought it would be, I am a tall person so, I was hoping for a little longer handle. I will be upgrading to the Lew's carbon fiber handle. This is my first Lew's reel and I doubt it will be my last. I a lot of bang for the $$$. See pictures below. Thanks, Wdy