jmorisaki

My first BC was a citica 201e and it was great to learn on. I ended up picking up two more about this time 2 years ago for about 60. I never really used them much though. I ended falling in love with the Lews tourney pro and now have several of those. As a previous poster mentioned though, I got 55 each trading them into an online site a few months ago.

Hey Nathan if you like tourney fishing you should check out the central pro-am. Numbers took a dip after the recession but it is being revitalized. They've gone back to a 2 day format and top 30 boaters and top 30 co anglers fish in the championship. Lots of really good folks. Last year rick clunn and Brian snowden fished in one of our events. The tournaments will be at table rock, bull shoals, stockton and LOZ. Owner is a great guy. Pro guide on table rock and I was fortunate enough to fish with him in a couple tournaments before he bought the tournament. http://webboutdoors.com/central-pro/

Lake chesterfield. It was producing some nice bass, too.

Awesome! Thanks for the info!

I've only been using bait casters a few years so definitely not a pro. Do you notice it being any more difficult to control the spool or get more back lashes with the spool being so much faster?

Lakes are all frozen up here and I'm going a little stir and feel the need to tinker. Wanted to see if anyone has upgraded their bearings using the hawgtech or bocas and what your thoughts were. Was it worth the cost of upgrade for distance? I'm thinking of upgrading 2 Lews TPs,a bb1 and a curado.

I have a 7'1" *** *** m/f but feels a little more like xf. I love skipping senkos and can them to skipping pretty far with a little flick of the wrist. I am about 6'2".

Lots of great advice already. But as someone that just got into the sport about 5 years ago, my advice would be if you are type that generally likes nicer gear to start with the higher end. When I first started I bought a bunch of lower end stuff but quickly wanted progressively nicer gear. If I could do it all over again I would start with nicer stuff. That of course is all relative as nicer for me is Lews Tournament Pro reels and a mix of rods demo *** omens/envys. To some that may be lower end. Also, I know the BPS PQ gets a lot of love, I never really cared for mine all that much, I bought one for cranking and used a couple of years but never reached for it all the often. I started grabbing anything but that and have finally replaced with a Lews bb1.

I really like the sound of the phenix rods and thinking the x10 since I mostly fish rocks and timber and won't need to rip through the grass. But not sure if my lack of crank skills justifies 200 for the rod. I've got gift cards to spend and for some reason I put more thought into how to spend those than my own cash for some reason. I do appreciate everyone's help bad ideas and hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas.

i have an *** and the handle there is fine. i just picked up a 6'10" M *** for finesse jigs and jerkbaits but haven't tried it yet. if the small lakes in my area aren't all frozen after christmas, I'm going to give that a whirl. I do like the idea of the wild card, i am a bit clumsy with my equipment sometimes and that is part of the reason i use to buy a lot of shimano products. but now, it seems like only bass pro will do the over the counter for shimano and then you have to have your receipt. which i do a poor job of keeping track of. maybe it is my sub-conscious way of hiding the 'evidence' from the Misses.

i haven't tried the Avids but my first crank rod was a St. Croix premier. I maybe used it 3-4 times and just didn't like all that much. I bought a MH and probably should've gotten a M, so maybe it was my fault and lack of knowledge and experience.

I like the look of the GL2s but the specs on their handle length are a little short, which is why I bailed on the Shimano. I'm a 2-handed caster and like a 14.5+ length handle for that. Have you noticed it feeling short at all?

Thanks for the heads up on this one! Have you tried throwing baits smaller than 3/8 oz? If so how does it handle the lighter cranks? Wiggle warts are pretty popular in sw mo where I fish a fair amount and they are the bottom of the suggested weight limit.

thanks for the suggestion, although I'm only needing a rod right now. I just picked up a Lews BB1 5.1 for cranking. I've really liked my Tourney Pros but I'm still getting adjusted to the different feel of the BB1L. It is definitely a little less forgiving. But I will take a look at the rods. I've never really looked at them too closely.

thanks for the thoughts. I'm really intrigued by the Phenix based on the review on tackletour and its ability to easily throw a wide variety of cranks. Since it isn't my forte, i really don't want 3-4 different rods for it (although knowing myself...). But I haven't seen anyone around st. louis carry. I've thought about buying my top 3 choices from tw and then pre-paying return postage and sending back the two I don't want. I did that last year around this time and they only charged me $6 for return shipping.