deep

Another vote for the PQ. Solid little reel. As good as my Citica (which of course doesn't come in a lower gear ratio). I can't speak on the mag brakes though. I don't use them. I set 1 of the 6 centrifugal brakes, and do the rest with my thumb; even while casting into the wind. I did fiddle with the mag brakes, and figured I still needed to thumb about as much; so I turned them off. BTW, I throw 0.5+ oz lures only with my baitcasters. Anything lighter, I have my spinning rigs.

Speedbead, it's a four door 97' Nissan Altima. I didn't know that keeping the rod tip bent for 40-50 minutes at a stretch wouldn't hurt it. If it doesn't, that solves the problem I think. My 7'8" rods only just fit in, without the tip bending while leaving 1 to 1.5 inches of air to spare.

Let's say I have two 7' rods, both from the same line from the same manufacturer (just to normalize things). Both are rated for 1/4 to 1 oz lures. One has an extra-fast action, the other has a medium action. Which rod will cast a 1/2 oz lure farther? Which one will cast a 1/4 oz lure farther? (the line, reel remaining the same)

Thanks for all the suggestions. What's the taper like on the Clarus? In any case, the description says it's perfect for swimbaits upto 4 ozs. I won't be throwing anything that heavy, and I wonder how well it would load up on a 2 oz lure. Is the action on that Quantum an XF? The G Loomis swimbait line looks good, but it's more than what I can spend.

I did. They are all 7'11". A couple of inches too long.

I plan on throwing some swimbaits next spring, and started looking for a rod. Now, I'll mostly be throwing the Mattlures soft bluegill, a 6" Hudd, and a 7" Slammer. At least, these are the baits I'm looking to buy. The ROF 12 Hudd is 2.4 oz, everything else is less than/ equal to 2.0 oz. I found two rods I liked: #1. iROD Genesis Series Cast Rod 7'8" Jr. Swimbait, moderate action, 1-4 oz. #2. Okuma Big Bait Rod 7'11" Med Hvy, moderate-fast action, 3/4 to 3 oz. The okuma is probably out of question, since it wouldn't fit in my car I wish it was telescopic. Anyone ever used the iRod rod? I was wondering how well it would cast sub 2.0 oz lures. Any other suggestions? I'm not really looking for any rod less than 7'8", and don't want to spend more than $150; anything longer than 7'9" or so, it needs to be telescopic. Also, I'd like to take a look at the Mattlures rods, though they are about $100 over my budget. Anyone's got a link for those?

Okay guys, thanks for all the replies and tips. I can now cast with the Revo STX pretty well (at least to my satisfaction). Unfortunately, I needed to spend a lot of cash on my car, and as such, don't have the money to buy a dedicated rod for the Revo. I decided I still like my Citica, and a PQ I recently bought, over the Revo, and decided to sell the Revo. Sorry about that, Revo fans.

Yes, I did lube it. I took the sideplate off, removed the spool, and put a drop of oil in.

Wow! I scoured a couple of forums and youtube, and figured out I should set the magnetic brakes to 2 or 3 notches above minimum. I'll try your advice tomorrow. Set the reel initially just like you said. They say that in the manual too. I put on some 10# sufix elite which was the only mono I had. Thanks for the tips, both of you. I know it's a decent reel. That's why I'm trying to learn it. It's not like I'm getting too many backlashes, but I have to thumb a lot while casting. Let me ask you guys something. How much should the thumb come into play with the spool tension set up properly (it is set up properly I believe) and the mag brakes at 60 to 70%? Let's say I'm throwing a 7/8 oz Spro BBZ-1 swimbait.

Russbert, I learnt enough to not really chuck out lures. So, no, I'm not chucking out my lure. The Revo is on a Pinnacle 7'8" MH/medium rod. I tried everything from 0.5 oz to 1 oz; cranks, topwater plugs, buzzbaits. I put the Citica on the Pinnacle as well. The regular rod for the Citica is a 7' MH/F Shimano Compre. The Citica is very forgiving, and I hardly need to thumb with very very loose spool tension, and one or zero brakes on. No overruns, let alone backlashes. It's not that the Citica is a better caster in my hands, when I'm careful with the Revo. They are about the same. With proper thumbing, I do get smooth long casts with the Revo. But I need to really concentrate while casting. I guess I expected a lot more from the Revo wrt casting distance. EDIT: BASSclary, evidently the engineers over at Abu Garcia didn't feel like centrifugals are better than mags when they designed this particular reel. Anyway, I wanted to learn to cast a mag-only reel, else I would have bought a PQ or a Curado. So far, I more or less suck at it. I'll keep at it though.

Yeah, I don't give up very easily. I'm sure it's a great reel. Just that I am not very happy with my skills (or lack thereof). I needed to vent out

I don't get the logic behind putting mag brakes only. The brakes come in handy only at the end of a cast. Is that right?

sell or trade it. life's too short to mess around with gear you don't like The reel is fine, you just don't have the skillz to use it properly I can put it up for sale any time I want to. But I think I'll stick around with it for a while more. I like to learn new things..

I bought one last week from the TW clearance. Had nothing but trouble so far. I hate the magnetic brakes. As far as I understand, magnetic brakes slow down the spool at the *end* of the cast. Well, I can thumb the spool just fine near the end of the cast! What slows down the spool in the first part of the cast? Only my thumb? I set the spool tension pretty tight, like they say in the manual, played with the brakes; does no good whatsoever. I can cast with no backlashes/ overruns using my thumb, but I get hardly any distance! So I have got a 11BB super-smooth reel, with great drag (I'll never need 24 lbs of drag anyway) that I can't cast to my satisfaction. Give me my Citica any day. No wonder the Revos are on clearance. \\end of rant Well, any help will be appreciated.

If you are planning to buy the 2009 Revo STX from TW, remember that it has only magnetic brakes.

I'll not make any recommendation on power, action, brands, etc; but allow me to chime in on the rod length. I'm 5'8" (as well), and I have absolutely no problems wielding a 7'8" rod, my cranking stick. However, I do have 5'6" and 6' rods too, which are for close quarters shallow water hard cover situations, where even a slightly inaccurate cast will probably mean a lost lure. These rods haven't seen much action though once summer kicked in, and may not be fished with again before next spring. EDIT: There's something seriously wrong if you can't throw a 3/8 oz lure, even if it's a buzzbait, more than 10 yards. Also, figure out what you want to fish, i.e. which lures, with your new rod, and choose the power, action, length accordingly. Choose a well-known brand and store-fish with your new rod/reel if you can. It might be more helpful if you let us know what lures you plan to fish with your new set-up.

I do, but under certain circumstances. In fact, a fast action rod is ideal for traps in weeds, and worms in wood. Too fast with worms, and you lose the sling shot effect, too slow with traps, and you bring coontail back to the boat with the lure. My LTBC70MF or LTBCMHF both are up to the task. Point noted. I'll try to keep that in mind next time I'm working a rattle-trap over weeds. Thanks for correcting me.

I won't throw worms (XF, braid) and lipless cranks (M or MF or F, mono or fluoro or copoly) on the same rod, but maybe that's just me. Also, I won't skimp on a soft plastics rod. I would save 70 odd bucks more, and get a Powell Max (which I do have) or a Shimano Crucial for the bottom contact baits. Good luck with whichever rod you choose.

The Citica was my first baitcasting reel, the Revo STX my second (both LH). The Citica is much less temperamental. It's an easy reel to learn on, at least that's what I feel. The centrifugal brakes work great. Within a couple of days of buying it, I was casting with one brake on, and next to none thumb pressure. The Revo, I got it yesterday, and took out for a spin today, is kinda less forgiving. I don't like the magnetic only brakes a lot. That said, after a couple of hours of playing with the tension knob and the brakes, I was consistently getting 50+ yards casts with a 7/8 oz buzzbait (I modified a 3/8 oz bb). Casts superbly, probably better than the Citica; but requires a lot of thumb if you want good casting distances. I don't know how well it casts lighter baits. I tried a 9/16 oz X-Rap walk and had lots of trouble. But it may be my rod; it's rated for 3/8 oz to 1 oz lures, I feel it's grossly under-rated. In any case, as it seems you already decided, I would say buy the Revo STX. If you don't like it, just sell it. EDIT: The Citica is spooled with 12/10 lb Sufix Siege/Elite. The Revo STX with 40 lb Daiwa Samurai. The rod I used today is a 7'8" MH/moderate Pinnacle Perfecta cranking stick.

Shimano Compre 7', MH/F with Citica 201 E. My first baitcasting combo, and a very decent all purpose set-up. EDIT: just noted that you want to keep it less than $160, in which case, the above won't work (retail price-wise). If I were you, I'd keep an eye on the used market.

If the knots and stuff other folks mentioned are okay, try to make sure you have *all* the slack out of the line before setting the hook. A lot of people swing for the fence while setting the hook with T-rigged senkos and worms etc. All it needs (after reeling in the slack) is a steady strong pull; try a sweep-type hookset, rather than a snap-set. There's less chance of slack/line break.

I don't fish big waters anyway (nothing over 100 acres). I have an idea which of the lakes have some DD bass, thanks to a bunch of fellow Virginians. I still need to work on my techniques. I caught some 3-4 pounders on frogs. Never really tried swimbaits though. My real problem is I never seem to get enough time to chase my double figure dream; I don't get much break to fish.

Powell Max spinning 7'3" M/XF. I use it for all sorts of soft plastics and some jigs in upto moderate/heavy soft cover. Never had a problem with pulling out decent bass, and I've absolutely manhandled 3 pounders on it. It certainly doesn't feel underpowered. Superlight, super-sensitive and very very well balanced rod. I feel it's worth way more than the $169.99 I paid for it.

You probably don't want to use anything less than 10 lb dia on your BC rig. A 150 yd spool of 55 lb test Samurai (10 lb mono dia) is $24.95 at TW. I'd spool half of it on the reel, ie 75 yards, and use a leader. That 75 yards of Samurai will probably last you one whole season, or at least a very good part thereof. I don't think it's that expensive in the long run, and the performance improvement is so so noticeable. EDIT: Also, I believe that Samurai is smoother, rounder, quieter, better casting and better handling than a lot of braids/superlines out there, certainly Power Pro, Fireline, Spiderwire braids. I don't know about Sufix performance braid; I never used that.

I want to catch a double digit bass, here in Virginia. Wait, that's not really a goal, it's a wish Realistically speaking, I want to learn jigs and dropshot before the end of 2011. This was my first bass fishing season. I have learnt a lot, theoretically at least. I know I still can't/don't apply everything I learnt over here and elsewhere. I want to work on that. Information is no good until it becomes knowledge. I caught three 5+ bass this year, but I kinda feel I didn't earn them, they just happened to be where I casted; I need to get to the phase where I'll expect a big bite. A short term goal for what's left of this season is to catch at least one more bass that's big enough to pull out some drag.