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Well, he's not doing it to be nice.

The question was for people that primarily use baitcasters and only use spinning gear when they have to. This generally means only using spinning gear for lures that are too light for baitcasting. In that case, a MH spinning rod is usually heavier power than needed. I can think of a couple situations where such a rod might be useful, but not useful enough for me to own one.Obviously this doesn't apply to every one, especially those that use spinning for more/all of their presentations. The nice thing is that the availability of those rods gives us a choice.

I would guess because MH spinning rods are well into the lure weight ratings that can be handled by baitcasters.

The only things I only used spinning for were drop shotting and dock skipping. Wacky rigs I would throw on either or. The rare times I throw a shakey head, I'll throw lighter ones on spinning. Even with that, I'm eyeing picking up a finesse baitcaster setup for heavier drop shots. Need the spinning for dock skipping though, every time I get a little confidence in skipping a baitcaster I blow up a spool of line.

I'd put the T3 on the treble hook rod since you are generally more concerned about distance on those than you are with jigs and frogs. The T3 has a bigger line capacity.

Seems like the plastic would make it hard to keep a good grip on the rod. Your friend might be interested in the U-40 cork sealer. I haven't used it yet, but I see a lot of guys say they really like it, keeps their cork clean.

I used to use the improved clinch, but I moved to the Trilene know and have stuck with that. I only use two knots really. Braid and Fluoro get Palomar, mono and any lure that the Palomar can't be tied I go with the Trilene knot.

I enjoy baitcasters much more, and I feel I can cast further and more accurately with them. Baitcasting when I can, spinning when I must. If I could efficiently use a baitcaster for everything, I wouldn't own a spinning reel. But I can't, so spinning is pretty much relegated to light lures, dock skipping, and some deep vertical presentations. I feel it comes down to using what you enjoy, and using the right tool for the job.

How I imagine the guy with the $100k rig feels when people make fun of him...

I'd probably get some Black *** and Elite Tech Smallmouth rods and some Daiwa Tatulas, Shimano Curado I, and Lew's Tournament Pros for casting reels, Daiwa Lexa and Shimano Symetre for spinning reels.

Are they getting more of the same reel, or a new reel that is named Pro Qualifier? The lower than normal sale price and taking it off the website smells like discontinued model.

I'd rather have more combos than super expensive stuff. Before this winter, all of my rods were BPS brand and less than $80, still caught fish and won tournaments. I'm probably in an ignorant bubble of bliss never fishing the expensive stuff, so I don't know what I'm missing.

I bought a Ci4 for jigs, had the same concern and asked here. A few guys said they were using it for jigs and it was great. I haven't fished it yet, but it I don't like it for that I'll move it to another role.That said, I don't think an aluminum side plate is necessary for those techniques. I'd guess the vast majority of anglers don't have that for those techniques.

Looks like you were right. At least at the moment, the only right handed models available on their website are the 5.2:1 and the 4.7:1. The 6.4:1 and the 7.1:1 aren't even listed anymore. Perhaps this is the end of the line for the mighty PQ...

Its better to have 65 lbs braid and not need it than hook an orca and wish you had it. I wonder if Bill actually answers those, or a "media team"?

It really just depends on how big you go, but any additional leverage is coming at the cost of speed. I think preference in handle radius should really be the deciding factor. If that doesn't matter to a person, they are better off keeping the smaller handle and picking a slower ratio than buying a higher ratio and then spending extra money on a bigger handle.

PQ nob is recessed and has a clicker. I'd be impressed if you could accidentally turn it.

Perhaps I worded my response confusingly. What I meant by "essentially lowing your gear ratio" is that you are slowing your reel down, which seems to defeat the purpose of a higher gear ratio. Given the same handle length, a 7:1 reel brings line in faster than a 6:1 reel because one revolution of the handle spins the spool an additional revolution. That means even though your hand travels the same distance with both reels, the 7.1 pulls in additional line with one additional spool revolution. If we add a longer handle, our hand has to travel additional distance to bring in the same amount of line as the shorter handle. The rocket has 37" per turn, roughly 940mm per handle turn. If my math is correct, with an 80mm handle you will pull in 3.75mm of line per 1mm your handle travels, while with a 90mm handle you will pull in 3.32mm of line per 1mm your handle moves. The reason why the longer handle requires less torque is because your are doing less work per unit of distance the handle moves. I understand what you are saying about a longer or shorter handle feeling better, as a bigger or smaller reeling radius might feel more comfortable to some. But putting a longer handle on the reel seems to defeat the purpose of getting a crazy high gear ratio.

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the super high gear ratio? Longer handle means your hand has to travel further per rotation of the handle. You are essentially lowering the gear ratio with a longer handle aren't you?

Thanks for the replies everyone. DVT, this is exactly what I did to one reel. I'll do the same to the rest. Thanks!

I see a lot of guys talk about how they flush and re-lube their baitcasters every year, but I see very little talk about spinning reel maintenance. What are your guys routine for cleaning spinning reels? Do you clean them every time you clean your baitcasters, or less often? Do you do a complete breakdown, clean, and re-lube? Or just lube certain spots? What is your routine? Thanks!

I just weighed my Lexa 2500 with no line on it and it weighed in at 279 grams or 9.84 oz. I weighed my Symetre FJ (Last Generation Aluminum) with about 100 yds of 6lb Invizx on it and it weight 289 grams or 10.19 oz. The specs I can find for the Symetre FJ say it should be roughly 9.9 oz without line, compared to 9.0 oz for the new Symetre FL. Hope that helps. Personally, I chose the 2500 over the 2000 because the 2500 has a faster retrieve speed than the 2000. I like my Symetre FL 2500 a lot and it is a similar weight.

I just checked my 2013 master catalog, and you are correct, they list all 4 speeds in right and left retrieve. I wouldn't get all doom and gloom yet though, its possible they just didn't sell enough left handers in that speed to justify the costs.On the other hand, I did see some combos with a "Pro Qualifier Silver" on them, seemed to be a cheaper PQ. Who knows...

I don't think the 4.7 was ever available in left hand.

I would add a 7' MH for Texas rigged plastics. Otherwise it looks pretty good.