Goose52

I bought two of the 6.4:1 models. One is still NIB. The other has been in use off-and-on since March but I don't have enough time on it to give any opinions regarding long-term durability. The reel that I have in use has the rough spot once-per-turn as reported by a number of folks - but I don't notice it in actual use. The centrifugal brake system makes a somewhat noisy whirring sound as first reported by Hooligan. It does cast well and has a good drag. I have the reel mounted on a 7'mf Carbonlite rod and the whole rig only weighs 9.9oz including the line - pretty dang light...

The main thing is - you're on the water and off the bank... I have outriggers on my canoe and take flak from the canoe purists, the kayakers, the bass boaters, and just about everyone else. My canoe doesn't look very elegant...BUT, I'm on the water and can stand and fish all day long. I might fall out of the canoe...but it will never roll...

My canoe is a Radisson - 11'6", 38" beam, 34 pounds, with a (very thin) aluminum hull. Good for lakes and quiet water...but not a boat for rocky water. They make this boat as a 2-seater and as a solo. However, due to the short length and wide beam, it doesn't paddle real well (I motor mine). The 14' version probably paddles better but then you're up to 41 pounds. There are quite a few light-weight boats out there, especially if you can afford something in kevlar...

I live in a small town with WalMart as the primary choice for tackle. I have a Gander Mountain about 60 miles away and a BPS store about 90 miles away. Shipping costs for on-line orders are usually cheaper than gas to make the round-trip to the stores. So, I do research on-line first, then order on-line. I've bought some rods and reels from eBay as well. Out of the 31 rods and 36 reels that I've bought on-line in the past few years, I've been disappointed with 4 or 5 of the rods, and have lukewarm feelings about 2 of the reels. Everything else has been fine and I got good prices on everything. But then, I'm not that picky...

VERY COOL! That's a lifetime memory there!! Congrats to you both...

Here's a photo of the rigged canoe that shows the dashboard installed (taken last year with the older HB 570 unit). Mods to the canoe include: TM, forward (actually aft since I motor the canoe backwards) mounted battery, extended TM cables in a conduit run; outriggers; anchor system; dashboard w/sonar; 5 rod positions, converted to solo by removing the original rear seat (that's where the battery is now), etc. The idea is to have as much capability as possible and still be car-toppable with no special roof rack (and no trailer, no truck, no consuming a garage space). Just modular, lightweight, and plenty capable for my little lakes. Little to no maintenance, no gasoline or tune-ups required......just fish...... If you have any questions about the mods, we should probably start a new thread and not take over the OP's original thread...

Thanks! I have about the most "pimped-out" Radisson on the planet - the dashboard is only part of it. It's sorta a bass boat that I can car-top...

For us folks in Tennessee, a 15 pounder would be the new state record and we'd have our picture in the paper....

Get one of the small, sealed 7 or 8 amp-hour batteries - Cabelas and others have them. It will power your sonar all day long - maybe several days for that matter. Humminbird supplies the same type of battery with it's 570 portable. On the transducer, I made a "dashboard" for my canoe that has the sonar, a rod holder, and a Slidetrax transducer deployment arm (see photos). Wanna run the sonar - use the dashboard and plug the unit into your battery. Don't want to use the sonar, leave the dashboard and battery at home...

My lakes here in Tennessee run from a bit green to crystal clear. I don't think line color makes a practical difference. I do use clear and green line - but only for color coding. If the line is green, I know that it's Yo-Zuri Hybrid - it it's clear, I know it's nylon mono or flouro...

Marty already gave the best answer...that there is no answer to this question. Too many variables. You might have people reply that they expect a reel to last a "season", or many seasons, or so many years, or so many lifetimes. None of those answers mean anything unless the actual usage of the reel is quantified over that time. How many times was it used, or how many hours or use, or how many casts and retrieves, or how many fish caught, or how much stress on the reel from weight of the bait or stress from retrieves. Did the reel have stretchy mono to take some of the shock during hooksets or was the reel used only for flipping and pitching with 50lb braid and with the drag locked down. Having said the above, I occasionally still use my Dad's Ambassadeur 5000 - it is about 50 years old. I still have my first spinning reel from about 1960 or so - it's over 50 years old. I also still occasionally use my mid-60s vintage Mitchell 408 that I bought new - it is now about 46 years old. I expect all three to be working after I'm gone. But unless I quantified the usage of the reels up until now, their age means nothing. Another answer - I expect a reel to last long enough to deliver the value that I expect for the price I paid...

If the water is open and you don't need to horse the fish, then you just set your drag light and let the fish take line. I've caught fish up to a 33" channel cat (~18-20lbs) on 6lb test line. A properly adjusted drag is your friend...

I spent the early to mid-60s with only one rod and managed to catch fish. It was a 6 1/2ft solid glass spinning rod... Like RW said above, if I could only have ONE combo, it would be a 6'8" to 7' medium fast (perhaps extra fast) spinning rod, with a Pflueger Supreme 30-size reel with two spools - one with 6lb YZ, the other with 20lb or 30lb braid.

I've been using the same fiberglass 5-piece spinning rod since the mid-60s for travel or hiking. It breaks down to just under 14" and fits into a pack or suitcase. I also leave it in the trunk of the car so I always have a rod with me. It has been invaluable for those purposes. Not an everyday rod...just another tool for a specialized purpose. A modern 4-piece graphite rod I'm sure would be much better but I'm not sure they would fit in a day pack - perhaps a frame pack or larger suitcase. Another option I have is a 3' spinning rod. I sometimes carry this when on a short hike (<2hrs) and I know I will be passing by some "fishable" water. Even if I don't use it for fishing, it's great to carry to cut through spider webs on the trail...

Another recommendation for DVT...

Ain't it the truth... My first goal is to catch ANY bass!

Regarding the "PowerHump" - I personally think it's gimmicky and unnecessary; BPS should ditch it and just have a clone of a Fuji ECS reel seat with a simple single diameter rear grip. Would look better, weigh a fraction of an ounce less, and perhaps cost them a few cents less. Having said the above, I have 10 BPS rods with the PowerHump and usually don't notice it's there. At most, I might think that the grip is a bit "fat" when I first pick it up, especially if I've just put down a rod with a conventional grip. I grip a BC rod with just the little finger behind the trigger, so only a portion of the heel of my hand is resting on the PowerHump - that's really the only contact point and after a few casts I don't notice it. I have medium-sized hands. YMMV

I only fish my small neighborhood lakes - which are not real fertile and fish tend to run small and lean. Here's what I've developed as my LMB size categories: <10" - dinks 10"-13" - OK fish 14" - 17" - nice fish 18" & > - big fish My current running average of an 18" LMB in my water is 2.77lbs so I guess you'd say that 2 3/4lbs is my threshhold for a big fish and I'm always happy to get over that level. I catch 4lb and 5lb fish from time to time but I guess I'd have to say that my big-time "excitement level" starts at 6lbs... As an aside, the local bass club allows 10" fish as keepers for tournament purposes - an indication of the relative size (or lack thereof) of the bass in my water!

I use the 7'6" MH Crankin' Stick as my deep cranking rod. The power rating is accurate and I would recommend the MH for the heavier deep divers.

Another option is a lipless crankbait. Cast out - count down to whatever depth you need, then when getting close to the weedline near the bank, speed up the retrieve and raise up your rod tip to clear the weeds.

The only conversation that I've seen in this forum about a Japanese watercraft was for the nifty, and likely VERY expensive, Megabass small-water boat. The conversation was here: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/25172-the-ultimate-small-waters-boat/ The Megabass web page on the boat is here: http://www.megabass.co.jp/products/gear/boat/carbon-graphite-boat-destroyer-edition.html

As much as I like some of the BPS stuff, this is one of those times when I go "huh". I have no idea why they describe the action of these rods as fast to extra-fast. I have 4 of these rods - 6'ml, 7'ml, 7'6"m, and 7'6"mh. I find the power ratings to be mostly accurate for these 4 rods. But they all fish as "moderate" action - none feel like what you would normally call a fast or x-fast action on a regular graphite rod. My only complaints with the Crankin' Sticks is that I wish they would ditch the "Power-Hump" grip and go with a Fuji ECS clone, and they should change the hook-keeper over to the open-ended design like they use on some of their other rods. The loop-style keeper that they now use is too small, and too close to the blank, and you can barely get the #2 trebles from some of the larger cranks in the keeper without hitting the blank.

I use spinning tackle based more on the weight of the bait, and terrain and environmental conditions, rather than based on a certain technique or a purists view of what the optimum tackle might be. Really light baits - usually spinning. I have several BC combos that will throw pretty light baits (like a PX Type R/light-power rod) but I reserve those "niche" BC combos for ideal conditions and don't consider them all-round tools in the box. Really windy - often spinning, sometimes baitcasting if it's something like a lipless crank the cuts the wind. Heavy wind and something like a spinnerbait - spinning. Really cold (around freezing or below) - I'll use BC gear as long as I can but will switch to spinning (or start with spinning) when my fingers get too numb to feather the BC spool. Lots of overhanging and surrounding trees and bushes - spinning - all the way down to a little 3 foot rod that I use for really close quarters. I just got a backlash with a BC combo this morning trying to use it in too much shore cover; luckily I saved that expensive flouro line by removing the spool and carefully pulling all those loose coils out the side of the reel! Anyway - as folks have already said, use spinning whenever you want to - assuming you have the right power rod and line strength for the job at hand.

SCORE !!!!!!

Wow - a 10-year challenge! One of you Lew's guys will have to take this one since I don't have any Lew's and I'm already in the middle of the BPS PQ 5-year challenge... :lol: I like long-lasting stuff (my two cars are 24 and 40 years old)...but I think sometimes the longevity thing, especially for lower-cost items like fishing reels, can be given more weight than it deserves. If the only important criterion for a BC reel was longevity, then we would all be using Ambassadeur 5000 round reels for the rest of our lives. As long as a reel gives you adequate value for money spent, I don't see why a reel can't have a "lifespan" - after which you consider it used up and move on to later and greater reels. And even before the reel is used up, technology advances might make you want to move on to something else. I used my 1980s vintage Shakespeare spinning reels until just recently and retired them not because they were used-up, but because newer reels have features (like silent, instant anti-reverse) that I considered more important than continuing to try to extract more economic value out of the reels. I think most of the folks on this board will most likely be fishing some newer reels ten years from now......