deep

Okay, point noted. It's a good thing I started the thread before buying the Winch. So let me ask you this JF, how well will a Curado 301 or a Toro 51 throw a Mattlures Hardgill (1.65 oz) or a 6" weedless Hudd (1.75 oz)? Won't they be sort of an overkill for baits that small? (Newbie question) EDIT: Bear with me and let me put my question this way. A revo winch doesn't cast a 0.5 oz lure very well (from what I read). You would use a Curado E5 or a Zillion Crazy Cranker or even a low-geared BPS PQ. Would a Toro Winch cast a 1.5 oz lure well enough/ far enough?

I don't have the money to buy a Curado 301, or a Toro 51, or a Toro Winch right now. I found a good deal (I think) on a Winch. If it's okay for the job, I'll pick it up, else I'll wait till I save enough. P.S. I love Shimano reels. If only that Curado had a slightly lower ratio. Found a couple NIB for $180 on Ebay..

The rod I have is a Mattlures signature series medium-heavy swimbait rod, rated for 10-20 lb line, 1-4 oz lures.

I have a Browning Citori spinning reel in the 2500 size. A very decent and smooth reel with nice drag. It retailed for about $80 when I got it.

I'm looking to throw baits in the weight range 1.5 to 2.5 oz. I don't like the 6.4:1 gear ratio of the Curado 300. It's IPT is 28 compared to the 20.5 for the Revo Winch. And it'd cost me at least $50 more to get the Curado (or the Revo Toro 50). Would the casting distance suffer due to the smaller spool of the Winch? P.S. I am not looking for a round reel.

Thanks to everyone who posted. Picked up a 7'7"/7'11" MH Mattlures signature series swimbait rod for $100 shipped off ebay. Rated for 10-20 lb line, 1-4 oz lures. A special thanks to webertime who mentioned ebay. (This was my first purchase off ebay.)

the 2009 and the 2010 model Revo winch?

I have been eyeing the Abu Revo Toro reel for a while for my first swimbait reel. But I already got burned once by a Revo STX with mag only brakes. The Toro seems to have a six-pin centrifugal brake. If anyone used this, or a comparable reel, is this braking system as good, or rather as easy to manipulate, as that on the Shimano reels?

Re: braid Two words, Daiwa Samurai. I use 6 lb diameter (30 lb test) on a medium power rod, and 4 lb diameter on my ultralight set-up. Re: leader I use a leader, but some folks don't. There were a couple of recent threads about the pros and cons. **Ive never used braid before so I am looking for advise and any tips on what # test I should use?** I have only 2 reels rigged with braid. 2 lb dia braid is probably better for my ultralight set-up, but the 2lb dia Samurai gave me too many windknots. **knots? leader?** I use a FC leader. I used to use 6 lb test FC for the leader, but a recent fish (which I did land btw) cured me. I now use 10 lb test leader. Alberto or uni-to-uni for the braid to leader connection. **is mono a better leader to give a bit of shock absorption for example?** I use fluoro. I don't think it really matters as far as the shock absorption topic is considered. You only got 6 or 7 ft of leader anyway. **color of braid? brand?** Green Daiwa Samurai. Hi-viz colors also have a fan following. **casting with braid with either baitcaster or spinning reel, dos and donts?** On a backlash, the lure might fly off; thanks to the very low stretch of braid. **with such low stretch I suppose I will need to pay much more attention to proper drag setting to avoid breaking off on a hookset - any advice there?** I tighten my drag down as far as it'd go. But I do a sweep set, instead of a snap set. Always. No exceptions. (One more reason to have a leader. Without a leader, and on a hard hookset, the rod will probably break before the braid breaks.)

RW, I have had no luck at all on them. I tried slow steady retrieves, killing it so that it spirals down, slow rolling; zip, nothing, nada. I bought no less than three of them, and eventually snagged and lost each of them. No luck with Mattshads (4.5") either. And both seem to be very partial to snags. Beside the various 3-4" paddletails, the only swimbait I ever caught bass on is the Spro BBZ 4" Shad. Randall, thanks for the tips. Carrington, I know that. For a long time, my PB was a 6.5 lb bass caught on a tiny F7 Rapala floater. I wanted to increase my chances of attracting a large one from far away. Would a 6 lb bass eat small bait? Sure it would, if it's presented right in front of it. But that small bait won't probably catch the attention of the same 6lb bass if it's 25 ft away.

Powell Max Spinning rod, 7'3", medium power, extra-fast action. That's what I use, and it'd be an understatement to say that I am in love with it. ... and whatever reel he's got.

In pursuit of giant bass? No, not yet. It's on my Christmas wish-list though.

Pretty much what the title asks. I did read Bill Siemantel's book; just wondering what you guys in north and north-east mostly use.

7'6"? I was browsing SBnation's forums the other day, and found Matt Servant recommending the 7'11" Okuma over the 7'6" Okuma. (I know he's sponsored by Okuma and all, just wondering if longer isn't better when not bed-fishing.)

Hi guys, I'm really short of free cash right now, and my plans got sort of derailed. I'm not looking to buy the rod before March, and in any case, I won't be able to do any fishing before ice-out. Thanks for all the suggestions. Let's see how it all works out.

Yes. Apart from the stealth factor (I figured I get twice as many bites with a leader than without although that might be a confidence issue), I'd rather lose the leader and/or a fish than break the rod. The stretch in the leader cushions hooksets. Also, when I do get snagged, which happens quite frequently, I'd rather lose the leader than be forced to cut off yards of expensive braid.

I have had half a spool (about 75 yds) of 30/6 Samurai on my T-rig/ jig rod since summer. No sign of fraying or weakening of the line yet. And I use it in moderate to heavy soft cover, and/or rocks. I do almost always have a FC leader though. Rocks will destroy any braid in short time.

Thanks guys. This fish has effectively cured my habit of using a 6 lb FC leader. I'm going up to 10 lb whenever I have the money to buy a spool. When I landed her, about 3 feet of the leader was all frayed and tattered. I don't know how she did that. The water was pretty much obstacle-free, and she didn't snag me anywhere after the hookset. If she fought a bit harder, say it was spring or summer, there's no way I would have landed her. Also, there's one pretty interesting thing I noted. All but one of the big fish I caught this year (and this is my first year of bass fishing), hit the lure, whether topwater or a soft plastic, when it lay absolutely still for a few seconds.

Agreed. I've got a bunch of PQ's and love them. They aint no Core though. Probably stirring up a hornet's nest; but the regular PQ is no Citica E either (I've got both), even with dual brakes. The (regular) PQ is a very good $100 reel, and an excellent $69 reel when they are on sale; no more, no less.

11/25/2010, cloudy, 50+ F air temperature, slight wind 7'3" M/XF Powell Max rod, 6.3:1 (32 IPT) Shimano Sonora spinning reel, 6/30 lb Daiwa Samurai mainline with 6 lb Stren Fluorocast 100% FC leader, 4/0 Gamakatsu wide gap worm hook, 5" Gary Yamamoto Senko (watermelon with red flakes) Went fishing for about an hour today to my local lake (Ragged Mountain Reservoir, Charlottesville). I caught just one fish, but at 25 inches long, it was a good one, and my personal best. The free fish weight calculator says it's a 8 pounder. I didn't believe that there could be a fish that big in my local lake! Caught her near a laydown in a cove, in about 10-12 ft of water. When I set the hook, and started reeling her in, I swore I snagged a turtle. She didn't pull any drag; and I had 6 lb line; and didn't jump; only a lot of head-shaking. The fight, if I could call it that, lasted maybe 30 seconds. In fact, it felt like the bass was sort of rotating when I was reeling her in. If I may say so, I was fighting her weight, rather than her strength. After I landed her, I found out why. I never seen a bass like this. It had a weird sort of shoulder, almost like a distinct hump. When I released at a shallow point, and she swam away slowly, her shoulder blades bulged 2 to 3 inches out of the water for a long time. She also had the bugged out eyes that the old fish have. Although the left eye was certainly more bugged out than the right. That's strange. Well, my car, and the fish scale in it was more than a mile away. When I first saw her, I thought I landed a 10 pounder. I have caught a few 5's and one 6. But I never even saw one this big. I could put both my hands in her mouth at the same time, I do have small hands though. Then I measured her, and knew it would fall short of a DD. So I spared her, and myself, all the trouble. Happy thanksgiving everyone. P.S. I never carry a camera while fishing. I have been thoroughly skunked everytime I had a camera with me, and I tried dozens of time. Call me superstitious if you want to; but I do believe in this one.

Shimano Citica, my first BC reel. Solid little performer, comes in both right and left hand retrieves. My take is that don't buy a cheapo reel. For one, you probably will not enjoy learning on it. And if you do buy a decent reel, and don't like it, you will almost certainly be able to sell it. P.S. I'm right-handed. But I retrieve both BC and spinning reels with my left hand.

Ha ha. That's funny. I catch fish with GY senkos; T-rigged, wacky-rigged, weightless, unweighted; everything produce for me. The other senko-type baits (Yum, BPS, Strike King) never even caught a cold for me.

Rapala lipless cranks (both the rattling rap and the clacking rap), which is funny because I am a big time Rapala fan, and I caught the hell out of the bass on red eye shads, excalibur lipless cranks and the original Bill Lewis rattletraps. Other than that, buzzbaits and jigs. I don't fish them often and well enough.

I love my 7'3" M/XF Powell Max spinning. I have a Shimano Sonora on it spooled with 6 lb diameter Samurai braid. My soft plastics and jig rod, and by far my favorite set up as well Do check out the Powell Max series along with the Avids.

I got a 7'8" Pinnacle Perfecta, MH/medium. I got it for $169.99, but you'll probably get it for less than $150 if you buy it during the thanksgiving sale. Just boasting, but I'm yet to lose a fish on it; no kidding. It's crazy sensitive, but doesn't tear the hook out of the fish's mouth. Oh, and IMHO, get the longest rod you are comfortable with.