Evans

I have mine somewhat color coded with stick jackets. I've got 13 rods total in my rod locker, 10 casting and 3 spinning. I have 3 casting rods that I use for bottom bouncing baits(jigs,c-rigs,t-rigs, etc.) and 7 rods that I use for reaction/moving baits(swimbaits,jerkbait,crankbait, etc.). I color the bottom bouncers black and the reaction bait rods yellow. I also have the spinning rods with yellow stick jackets as well. Another nice accessory that I found that helps withs quickly identifying which one is which is the reel grips. I ordered 2 pairs of them to try them out and after one day fishing with them, I ordered 8 more pairs to finish my baitcasters out. After reeling with them on, the other reels without the reel grips just didn't feel right. I can't say enough good things about the stick jackets. I broke a brand new allstar one day trying to get the tangle undone in my rod locker, so I decided to find something that would help me out. I only have one small rod locker on my 18ft boat and with the stick jackets on, the 13 rods, plus my co-angler's 6 rods(without stick jackets) fit comfortably in it. I can see having to replace a few of them in the next 5 years or so because of the hooks getting stuck in them and having to kinda rip them apart to get them out. You can remedy this by getting the lure jackets as well, but I don't see a need for them personally. If you have over 8 or 9 rods, I would think that you would have a need for the stick jackets. The more organization you have in the boat, the more time you can keep a bait in the water and less time you have to spend looking for or fixing a mess. I have no problems with my rods & reels, but the tackle side of things is a different story.

For the price, it's hard to beat. I like it a lot better than the Vicious fluorocarbon. I haven't tried the Vicious, but the old stuff was horrible!

I went to the local store to pick up one of the basic $89 speed spools and ended up picking it and one of the tournament pros up. Once I felt of the tournament pro, I just couldn't put it down. I have the tournament pro paired up with a W&M finessee/fluke micro rod and the speed spool is paired with a w&m jig/worm rod. I couldn't be happier with either one. The tournament pro is the lightest reel I own and it is just amazing to me. I fished a 3/8oz jig this past weekend and landed a 4.11 spot with it no problem. I had my drag set a little low with 12lb test fluoro and it handled that mean spot perfectly. I actually thought it was more like a 2lb spot when I set the hook until he started taking drag. Before I got the tournament pro, I didn't really understand how sensitive a light weight rod and reel is. I know everyone has a different opinion of the W&M skeet rods, but I love them and since I have switched all of my rods over, I am a lot more comfortable picking up a different rod, but back to the reels! The $89 speed spool is also a good reel, but the tournament pro is on a totally different level. I have compared my speed spool to my BPS rick clunn and extreme reels and I think they are pretty close to the same as everyone has mentioned on here. The speed spool does seem to be a little bit smoother, but other than that the differences are not too noticeable. I have caught a few on it with a carolina rig and jig and it has handled great, but haven't really been using it that much because of the tournament pro just feels too good! I've also talked to the local shop owner here and he can't seem to keep them in stock! He has sold out a few times and has been having a lot of problems getting them in. He said that everyone he has talked to has been very pleased with them, from the $89 to the $249 models.

I have caught my biggest fish on black buzzbaits with a silver blade. The stan sloan zorro head knockers is the buzzbaits I use. However, I don't have the blade knock against the head, it's just way too noisey for my liking. I just bend the wire to get the blade really close to the head. I use a june bug lizard(about half of it anyway) for the trailer and it seems to work really well. During the day I will use a white or chartruse skirt depending on how clear or muddy the water is. I am probably missing out but I don't start throwing buzzbaits until the end of May here in western NC. I throw a 1/2 oz but the 3/8 seems to be pretty popular with most guys, especially the cavitron. I used to throw a lunker lures until I went with 2 guys who absolutely waxed me with the stan sloan. My only advice to you is to reel it as slow as you can and still keep it on the water at first. Then speed it up if you don't get any bites. I have caught my best fish either parrallelling it with the bank, near laydowns, or on really dark new moon nights. They always seem to hit right at the boat on those dark nights and scare me to death!!!

I have used it a lot on my cranking stick lately and I like it a lot. I would never try to use it on a spinning reel, but for cranking, it does just fine. I have it on my normal cranking set up in 10lb test and on my deep cranking set up in 12lb test. My only problems is that it seems really poor when it comes to abrasion resistance. After throwing a crank around rocks and brush all day, seems like I have to retie pretty often. However, it has worked well for me for the most part and it's really hard to beat it for the price IMO.

It's possible these reels are being made in same factory. The Lew's reels are made in Korea, same as the Revos(besides the S, which is made in China). Anyone know where the BPS are made? All I have are old BPS boxes that say made in China.

I was also really suprised by the review on tackletour. I own 11 of the skeet rods and absolutely love them. However, I will never own one of the reels. I agree with the people that posted before, it just feels junky to me. The local shop here has dropped the price of them to like $60. I wouldn't even give that for one when I can buy an extreme for about the same price at the shop. I've never used one, but just the feel of it is enough for me not to buy it.

I bought a couple of them at the local shop and have thrown them a few times. Not the greatest crank I have ever used, but definately a good smaller crankbait to throw when the forage is small. I've caught 1 smallie and 2 spots on them in the few outings I have been and thrown them. I throw them only on a spinning outfit because of how small they are. Seemed like the best retrieve for me was fishing it like a jerkbait or a real slow constant reel.

I have a winch that I use for crankbaits, picking up another one at the end of this week for swimbaits. The reel is the best reel I have ever used IMO. It casts a lot further than any other reel I have and is smoother than my others. I think the reason they are selling just the lefty is because they are discontinuing the lefty in the toro series. This is not 100% certain and just based on abu garcia's website. They no longer have the lefty version listed. I think the biggest difference between the two is spool capacity. Other than that, doesn't seem to be a real big difference between the two unless I am missing something. Like I said, I have the winch, and if the toro is just as good or better than the winch, than it is definately a good reel to own.

Oh wow, I feel like an idiot now! Thank you very much!

Well I lost one of my prized Roland Martin spinnerbaits yesterday and I only have one left, so I'm trying to make some just like the ones I had. The heads they have with the closed eye look exactly like the Roland Martin spinnerbait, but it's all of the other components that I have questions about.I'm not real familiar with the sizes of everything. I see that they offer the clevises in 4 different sizes, I'm thinking size 3 or 4 but I really am not sure? Also the hollow metal beads that are used for spacers are in a bunch of different sizes as well. I'm thinking 3/32" and 1/8"? Also, the ball bearing swivels. The only sampo they have in silver is size 1, 10lbs. Would that be sufficient on a spinnerbait throwing a size 6 hilderbrandt blade? I see that they have the black sampos but they are size 1, 30lbs?? I am so lost! :-/

Yeah it really was hard to pass up. They had 3 left last time I checked. A 7'6" Heavy and 2 6'6" spinning rods. I think the spinning rods were only $85. I've used my xtra heavy since the last post and I still can't find anything bad to say about it. It just feels really good in my hands and handles the swimbaits I have been using on it very well. Just like one of the other guys said on here, you really can't tell much of a load on it until you use a 2-4 oz bait, but the rod is just as light as my other shorter rods. It really balances well with the winch I have on it.

Little late getting to this post, but definately a winch. I had this same problem about a year ago, lefty looking for a good cranking reel. The shimanos 200e5's are probably nice, but only for right handed. PQ's are nice, but I wanted something other than a BPS reel(had 4 at the time, extremes and clunns). Also had nothing but problems from Quantums(may just be my expierience? Always get lemons from them!). So I went with a Winch and a free pair of Wiley X sunglasses. A year later, I still absolutely love it. It is by far the best reel I have and it will cast a lot better than my other reels. It did start squeaking a little bit on me the last outing. Got it home and put some oil on it and it feels like new! Haven't experienced the paint chipping off of it like the others have said about it, yet anyway!

I've got the 7'6" extra heavy paired with a revo winch. It's probably one of the lightest setups I have because the rod is so light. However, it seems to have a really good backbone. I have only used it on about 3 outings just playing with it to see how it handles on of the High Power Herrings and I am really impressed with it. I can't wait to hook up with a fish to see how it handles. I got mine at a local tackle store that had a 30% off everything sale for $101......I fish mostly yellow rods but I just couldn't turn it down ;D

My first cranking setup was a 7'ML BPS Cranking stick paired with a BPS rick clunn reel(6.4:1). I threw mainly the strike kign series 5 and bandit 300's with shad raps mixed in. It handled them all very well. Then I stepped it up with a W&M Skeet 7' cranking rod paired with an Abu Garcia Winch.....the difference is amazing. I really like the skeet cranking rods and the winch! I have the 7' and the 7'10" now and love them both. The BPS cranking stick is now a loaner rod to my buddy that fishes with me. The BPS rod can definatley handle it's own, but I think the W&M is better. The 7'10" is really heavy compared to most rods, but I like it a lot for the dd22's and other deep divers. IMO though, you can't go wrong with a BPS cranking stick for the price, just don't get the 7'ML like I did, because it can't handle the deep divers at all! I was limited on reels because I can only use lefties, but anything in a low gear ratio should work pretty well. I actually prefer the 6.4:1 ratio, but the 5.4:1 works really good too.

I had same problem, wanted a shimano 201e5 that doesn't exist! Got a Winch(with a free pair of wiley x's) and never looked back! The winch is one heck of a reel. I've been using it on my cranking rod, but getting ready to move it to swimbait duty. The reel has performed wonderfully on cranks, I just prefer the 6.?:1 ratio for cranks. Plus that drag will work perfect I think on a swimbait, my current swimbait reel just doesn't have enough drag.

I have 2 quantum accurists, 1 is pt and the other is the 2. I like them pretty well but I just don't use the flipping switch. As a matter of fact, my quantum accurist isn't performing all that well after using it for 2-3 years, but I think it just needs a good cleaning. My favorite type of flipping switch is the one on the cabelas tournament zx reels. It's a button that just locks the spool back so you don't have to use the other hand. I love the concept, but I hate the reel itself. I don't think the newer ones have the flipping switch/button on them though. Anyone know of another reel that has this type of flipping switch?

I own a lot of the skeet rods, getting ready to own a lot more, but the reels.....seem like complete garbage. I've heard nothing but bad reviews on them and only handled one at a store and that was enough for me. Wish they could make them as good as the rods because I absolutely love the rods. As far as Mr. Clunn coming to the pro staff.... well.....he is still laughing all the way to the bank! I'm guessing he will change to a "prototype" at some point in the season and have his own signature rods out by the end of the year. I have never bought a rod just because somebody's name is on it, I think we all stopped doing that somewhere in middle school! However, I did buy 2 of the skeet rods to try out when my okuma rod broke because they matched my boat and all the hype about them. I am just as satisfied with them now as I was the first time I casted one. I'm sure there are better rods out there, but those rods are a really good fit for me. My only complaint is that annoying hook keeper(getting ready to file some of those off!!).

WAY TOO MANY! I usually carry 15+, but my boat is a Blazer 180 so only 1 rod locker. However, the stick jackets have really worked for me to keep them from tangling. I broke a rod 2 years ago trying to get it out of the rod locker, haven't had a problem since I got stick jackets for all of them.

Toss up between these two: Smallmouth-Middle of January, air temp about 30, water temp 43-45, with a slight south breeze of about 3-5mph with lots of clouds and a little snow,throwing a homemade fly on a bobber with a 10ft rod. Largemouth/Spots-March-April water temp, anything above 55, in the middle of a front with lots of wind and clouds, throwing a 6" swimbait, preferably a high power herring or huddleston. Either throwing it on a 7'6" W&M SR swimbait rod or a 7'6" Duckett Extra Heavy(haven't tried this one yet). Close 2nd-June, water temp 70's, from late evening to early morning, throwing a black Stan Sloan Buzzbait around rip-rap and docks. Throwing it on a 7'6" W&M SR Swimbait rod.

I prefer the Jackall products as well. I've only tried the Buckeye jighead, but I hate the weedguard on it! I've caught fish on it but it seems that the weedguard is just absolutely horrible after catching 1 fish. The Jackall worms do get expensive but with all the fish I have caught on them, I really don't mind paying that much for them. I can't seem to get other worms to work on a flick shake!

Plenty of rods under $100 that are good dropshot rods. I used a berkley lightening for a long time and did pretty decent on it. It definately lacks in sensitivity obviously. I use an All-star ASR right now and it works great, it's retail is $100 but you should be able to find one cheaper. Any of the abu garcia's you mentioned should work well but I would buy the veritas over the others. The veritas just feels like a high dollar rod in my hands! Not that the Vengeance and Vendettas wouldn't be a good rod, but buy what you can afford. Also you couldn't go wrong with a St Croix mojo rod in either 6'9" ml or 7'm, also around $100. PLENTY of good drop shot rods out there. I would definately try to feel of a lot of them and see which one you liked before making your choice.

Thanks for the info ghoti. I had a tournament today and at the end I tested it with a High Power Herring, it handled it pretty good. I have a Skeet Swimbait rod that I will use to throw the herring, I am looking to buy some of the 6" and 7" rago baits and maybe a few 8" Hudds later on. After throwing the HPH today, I think it will handle those just fine. Still can't get over how light it is!

Just found a deal today(hope it was anyway) on a 7'6" Xtra Heavy Boyd Duckett Mirco Magic rod, ended up getting it for $100. Since there are no lure ratings or anything like that on the rod, any guess on what the ratings might be? I'm hoping to use it for some bigger swimbait use(maybe the 2-5ounce range). Anyone else have this rod or any of the other Ducketts and throw some big swimbaits on it? I seen that Byron Velvick threw the 7" Rago's(2.5oz?) on a Duckett 7'6" Medium and had no problem on clear lake. Thanks guys in advance!

My favorite way is to throw it on a little bit heavier drop shot around tree laydowns or docks. I use a little bit of heavier line than on a normal drop shot, usually 12 or 14lb main to 10lb fluoro. If it's really thick I will step up to a heavier setup. It just seems to me that after everyone has flipped that sweet spot with a bottom dragging bait, moving the bait about 6-12" off the bottom seems to really get the bites and the finesse worm works perfectly for me in this situation. Not too bulky to keep the fish away and still big enough to keep the bass interested.