Flukeman

I was wondering I'd anyone new what additional customs costs were when ordering a reel from japan?

It is in the Spring Fishing Classic ad on the 5th page. I'm thinking squarebills and shallow type cranks?

They are marked down from $79 to $59, then $10 more with Rod Trade in to $49.

Was wondering what people thought about this version of Crankin-Stick? Thanks

Thanks guys, Usually a St. Croix guy, but $100 for a panfish rod seems silly to me. A guy told me about the micro lite, so Im going to check it out.

Any of you guys use BPS Micro Lite rods for your pan fishing adventures. Wondered what your thoughts were? Thanks in advance

I looked at my local BPS website under flyers, store hours etc. flyer was there for you to browse.

Nothing stellar, but I do need some Suffix 832 and had great luck with the VMC hooks last year, so I will be stocking up on those items.

I'm not going to knock anyone for getting any sponsorship in this economy. Especially when I don't know if the Sponsor moved on or the Pro or Show moved on. I make my gear decisions on my own research, I'm just glad there are sponsors out there so we can have shows to watch. As far as hypocrite or liar: I do not fish Diawa, but one of my favorite Pros does. I watched Ehrler pound some fish on MLF events and the guy has racked up 2.5 million over the last 12 years. Pretty easy for me to say Diawa is the best. The Angling Edge Show is my favorite show. Makes me laugh that people want to bash someone for their opinions changing, sponsors, or their religion. The rest of us do not care about your opinion on someones religion, we were all smart enough to remember our remote has buttons to change the channel at that point if we did not want to watch it. That's the great thing about America, choice!

I think the Pro Qualifier's are the best bang for the buck out there, especially when they go on sale. I have 3 of them in my tournament line up over the last 6 or 7 years and they have been flawless.

It sure does, I was amazed it was the same rod.

Wow, very impressive collection! Looks like he enjoyed his passion, good for him.

This is how I know my rod is balanced for me. When I pick the rod up to make my normal cast or pitch/flip and it feels effortless like holding nothing but air. I have some lightweight 7' MH rods with 5oz reels that are a joy to fish with, effortless all day long in tournaments. I then had a guy show me how to balance a god awful Gander mountain cranking stick that I hated throwing because of how heavy it was. When he was done adding my DD22 at the tip and a counterbalance on the back end with a little trial and error and the set up cast and felt like a feather in your hand. I really don't care about a formula, I want to be able to endure an 8 to 9 hour tournament day or 14 hour practice day, and not feel like I was dragged behind a horse for an hour by my hands.

Thanks for the info, I guess that's where all the similarities come from.

I have always thought the Lews Super Duty looked like a BPS Pro Qualifier, so maybe they share some platforms.

I still enjoy getting the catalog and browsing, no matter how I order my items. I get gift cards every Christmas, browse the catalog, and use them when the Spring Sale starts. This thread is always funny every year and reminds me of when they built a couple Bass Pro stores near me. I'm lucky, I have one 45 minutes east and another 1 hour west. When they built the first people said it was nice, but small compared to the one at city "X" that they visited while on vacation. Then 10 years later or so, they built the second and made it an Outpost Store (smaller). Now people said that one sucked because they did not have enough stuff compared to the other one. I've got news for you, I've lived here most of my life, the small store is better than anything we have ever had for outdoor gear! Not to mention, you can order whatever you want- however you want, and have it sent to the store for pick up at no charge. I have traveled to a lot of nice outdoor stores, they all had something I wish I could have found. People just like to complain. Some of you guys would find a $10 bill on the sidewalk, and them complain it was not a $20 bill.

You may want to check out Rapsody Rods Hot Rod model. It starts just under $100. I fish St. Croix rods and tried some of these because they were based off some of the St. Croix models. They were even made in St. Croix facilities for a while, not sure where now a days. The Hot Rod series feels like my premiere models and much better construction than the Triumph series. I tried out an *** Black and did not like the feel in my hand. The Ghost I have never tried. If I was only going to have 2 rods mine would both be 7', one MHF and one M. I could get by fishing a bunch of different techniques and enjoying my day on the water. We re-tie often up here anyway because of Zebra Mussels so two rods would go a long ways. As far as length, you need to pick one that is comfortable for you to throw all day. I have some friends who are either short or have ailments and the 7' rod just wears them out after a day of fishing, so they switched to 6'6". There are some techniques that a longer rod is just plain more ideal for. We fish a lot of 9 hour tournies so I always tell people to fish what is comfortable to their body. After making 1000 casts in a day you will figure it out real fast. The search is half the fun, good luck!

Line trumps all. You take some bad line that is stiff and has severe memory problems and it will ruin any rod/reels ability to provide an enjoyable day. Or if you have good line in poor condition, makes it really hard to land a fish no matter how nice your $300 rod or reel is. If I am tournament fishing and there is money on the line I'd like all three to be quality. Of course I have won a lot of money with a technique I use with an ugly stick. If I am just fun fishing the line is the most important to me. I've caught a good number of 4lb bass on old graphite and fiberglass rods with a zebco 33 stuck on them. When I visit the normal people who live on the water (people who don't follow fishing websites ) it is amazing to me what they consider fishing equipment. Funny thing is, we always have a blast with their equipment as long as the line is manageable.

Can any of you guys tell me what sets the Morrums of the various sizes apart from their basic counterparts? I am tweaking several 3600 Black Maxs and wonder if I am just better off saving for the Morrums instead. Ebay generally produces $40 3600 Black Maxes and the same in a Morrum Goes from $100 to $150 if you search real well. I like tinkering, but it is not hard to drop another $30-$50 on upgrading a basic 3600. Thanks

Thank you for the websites!

Hi guys, I have some 3600's and a 4600 I want to tweak. I was hoping you guys could suggest some reading on upgrades to the Abu reels to get me up to speed. I love tinkering! Thanks in advance,

I have several of the 3600's I am going to put back into service. Where are you guys getting your upgrade parts? Thanks

I have had several of these over the years and all have served their purpose quite well. That said, I did not use them for when sensitivity was key and they are heavy feeling. Also all of mine were old style, never tried the new ones. 6' medium pistol grip casting- great for whipping lite cranks around docks and trees. I changed how I fished most of the time and ended up getting rid of it, wish I would have kept it. 6'6" medium spinning soft handle - I used this when I first started tournament fishing because it was what I had. Turned out to be a specialist rod for a certain top water technique that was unparallelled. Many tried to duplicate its action with graphite and straight glass rods and no one could come close, and that thing would catch the heck out of them. And they still made fun of my rod choice. Once again after 3 or 4 years I became a pitcher and flipper and quit using it. I also discovered the one thing that will destroy these rods. My rod was a 2 piece, and I had it seperated in the back of my tahoe. Girlfriend came out opened tailgate, rod section fell in, and she closed it. 17 years later I still swear she did it on purpose, can't believe I kept her. 7' medium heavy spinning - used this to catch many big salmon fishing the Salmon River in upstate New York. Once again this was when I was young and had not discovered 10 - 12 foot graphite rods for those beasts. A few years back I brought it out for memories sake and realized quickly that rod will wear you out when you are older. Once you get to 7' length the rod is heavy and the action just wears you out. Sold it to unsuspecting young guy. 5'6" lite spinning, use this trout fishing in real brushy creeks when the 6' is too long to cast around the brush. It will zing real lite spinners a mile too. Also use it tossing beetle spin type baits for panfish out in the boat or when someone visits with small kids that want to fish off the dock. 6' Ugly Lite medium spinning cork handle - use it for fishing trout streams in early spring drifting worms and throwing spinners in our high water streams. I also use it for our annual bullhead fest - I'll explain this last. 6'6" Ugly Lite medium spinning cork handle - this is used just for the bullhead tournament. This tournament is 60 guys made up of guys we grew up with and their 21 year old kids (now). We have been doing it for 26 or 27 years now - card playing, eating, and "drinking" take precedence over fishing for the bullheads. It was quickly learned that you needed a indestructable rod I only have the last 3 of these rods left (and do still use them every year). They all have served me well in certain conditions. Other than the couple techniques outlined I would not use them to fish my tournaments. Just too much casting and they would wear my arms out compared to a graphite rod. If you need an undestructable rod with a forgiving tip, its great. These new ones may be even better, supposedly containing more graphite. Good Luck

I have 3 of the ABU round reels, 5000, 4600, 3600 and all work flawlessly. The 5000 is 50 years old. Are they heavier than my Revo Premieres, sure, but they are bullet proof. The new ones this year are even lighter than the ones I own. That said, I dont think you can go wrong either way. Try to find a store or friend with the ones you are thinking about and get a feel for them. Choose the one that feels right and fits the budget.

I have an old red Abu 5000 passed down from my dad. It was my first baitcaster and I still use it today.