chelboed

Could also be spool bearings. I've had this howl noise from reels before and I add a drop of Ardent bearing oil to the bearing and it's stops.

Seems like green pumpkin is pretty popular. I use it most of the time on stick worms. For myself...clear water gets natural colors like a gizzard shad live target lipless. Stained gets more generics like blue chrome red eye shad. Murky water gets less reflective stronger colors like white, fire tiger, etc. With worms, I go natural to green pumpkin...black in murky water. Tube jigs with jig spinners / beetle spins...Brown with brown flake, black with yellow stripes, orange and brown...Murky water will get white / neon green / yellow Mepps: sunny-silver / overcast-gold / murky-fire tiger / dark it late evening-black If I'm doing it wrong, lemme know. The bite is slow right now...so I'm using smaller baits.

So I've read now that in murky/muddy water, you should use black. Someone else said bright/chartreuse. Conflicting info.

Any. I caught them all day long at a farm pond on a sunny day with a black/yellow stripe 3". The only fish I caught the other day when it was windy, murky, 44deg, rainy...was a 19"bass on a 2.5"white with a red dot beetle spin. Nothing else would produce. My brown tube spinner was my second most producing bait all last year...just under a green pumpkin Yum F2.

These are my big ones. The ones on the left are my old ones, the two in the right are my new ones. These are the smaller ones...same thing...right side are new. I actually found these the other day.

This thread got me beetle stoked, so I decided to add 4 new ones to my arsenal. I'll get pics up soon. I must also add that Bass Pro here only carries the large size (3") in Betts brand. The actual Johnson Beetle Spin only goes up to 2-2.5"at my Bass Pro. Johnson brand is heavier than Betts. The large Betts is 1/4 oz...large Johnson (same physical size) is 1/2 oz. The difference being Betts pancaked jig head.

What bbodkin said. Big deep cranks, big double spinners, etc...benefit from the low ratio. Cranks benefit from the multi stop anti reverse. But if it's more lipless cranks and the like...go with 6.4

Bass pro had a really good deal on their version for like $11 for a huge bag of 50 or more during their sale early this year. I don't think I'll be needing any more for a good long time, hahaha.

I have used them since I was 15. Still loving them today. The Black with 2x yellow stripes was a killer at my In-laws farm pond. Beetle Spin, Tube Spin, grub spin, and Mepps Aglia 3 & 4 are beauty...because they can be fished so slowly yet still stay up off the vegetation and snags. When the fish are hitting slow or the water is cold, slow is gold. For a while, I had a hard time finding the 1/4 & 1/2 oz versions for bass...only the smaller crappie version...so I started making tube spins. I use a brown 3.5" Berkeley Powerbait tube with either an 1/8 or 1/4 oz jig head and a gold Betts jig spinner #4. (FYI...don't use the BPS jig spinners. They are trash. The plating chips off instantaneously, and they rust extremely fast!! Use Bett's when building your own.) This has become a deadly bait for my local bank fishing. Now that I've found the 1/4 & 1/2 oz beetle spins again...I still go to my tube spinners often. Heck...I've even made a 2.25" mini version of my tube spinner for my light tackle setup for when the bass aren't biting. I can use them to catch smaller bass and Panfish. To add to this...the other day, it was 44 degrees, raining, murky water, and crappy out. I used a smaller 1/8 oz beetle spin (white with red dot) and got a 19.5" fatty. Small baits can produce nice fish in adverse conditions. This was my replacement until I could find full size ones back in stock. I made gold and silver, but gold seemed to produce more. The weedless wire jig head was a good idea, tricky to rig through a tube, but fairly ineffective in avoiding under water limb snags. Don't waste your time with them.

My first bass this year was on a Live Target Gizzard Shad lipless crankbait. Lee's Summit Missouri...18" bass.

Booty...good to hear. That was a big concern. Mista Bass...all of my setups are multi purpose as I am a bank fisherman. Though certain times of year will be spent fishing certain types of baits more than others...they must all be versatile. Poolshark...good to hear...the Lite will Chuck a quarter a country mile too...but the BB-1 Pro has to be even better given the design. I think I may have to pull the trigger on one. I like that they can be found for under $150...whereas the Lite seems to be hovering in the $180-190 range.

Bump...anyone with experience? (I only bump once, hehehe)

Ha! Shoes here. But she's cool with my crap.

Let me interject that you can find Fuji KR Concept guide Team Lew's Speed Sticks for $99 on popular auction sites. Really nice rod and the KR Concept system is actually really smooth, quiet, casts further with less line slap. The first few guides are larger and graduate smaller in intervals...choking the chaotic floppy line during a cast. Testing along side the Falcon Bucoo Micro and Lew's Tournament SL rods...there's no comparison.

Y'all crack me up. I needed a laugh today. OP...I know what you're saying, but what I'm saying is Daiwa is proud of their stuff. They make good stuff, no doubt...but the asking prices are inflated for what you're getting. Now getting that reel for $150 is much more like it IMO. The Kohls comment was referring to any girl who just had to buy something because she thinks it's a good deal because it's on sale not taking into account that the MSRP is most likely bloated and she's not really getting a good deal...more or less probably finally paying what a product is worth when it's marked down 80%. Take the Steez for instance. Theirs no way on God's green earth that a bass reel is really worth $600. Marketing has just buffalo'd the wealthy American enthusiast who has money to burn into thinking that there's a reel built to catch bass that's worth $600. Long time mountain biker here: you can't tell me that there's more technology and R&D in a $10k road bike than a $3k dual suspension mountain bike. It's not possible. But there are people willing to pay $5,000 just for a set of bicycle wheels. Sure, they're the best...but nowhere near worth the money. This is Daiwa, Megabass, etc...to me. Great stuff for sure. No denying it. But they are capitalizing on the hype, the ego, the name brand snobbery that belongs in golf. I was able to buy a Team Lew's Pro for $150. Was that a good deal? Maybe, but when you put it next to the Team Lite that TW was blowing out for less than $160 early on...I'd say no. One might say "well you got a $300 reel (Pro) for $150...but the other was a $240 reel (Lite) for $160." Well when you put the two side by side...I'd pay $170 for a Lite all day long over $150 for a Pro because it's a better reel IMO. It casts farther, it's smoother, I feel it performs equally well into the wind, it's lighter, it only lacks aluminum side covers. One isn't worth more because the factory says so...it's worth more because I as the consumer say so. If people would stop going deep into debt for a Steez, Daiwa would probably produce something of equal performance with a price tag that isn't offensive. Not bagging on the product at all because it's good stuff, mind you. It's just gotten way out of hand because Joe Schmoe is willing to dip into his kids college fund to keep up with the Jones's. I always rant about this crap though. You can't tell me that a new pickup is really worth 40k? 50-60k? I mean...a starter home in NYC is like $380,000...and that would be like one of the worst cities in the world to have to live in, hahaha. $380k?! Gimme a break. T3 being "worth" $400? Gimme a break.

Just because someone is asking $350-$400 for it...doesn't make it a $400 reel. That said...it sounds like a fair price for a decent Daiwa. Buying a "$400 reel" for $150 because it's on sale is what the ladies do at Kohls.

Red Eye Shad casts way better than RatL Trap. Mepps #4 casts way better than a traditional spinner bait.

Bass fishing physics. Way to bring nerdville to a good old down home manly hobby. I guess that's what you get when you discuss fishing on the interwebz.

Got a Team Lite...love it. The more I use it, the more I like it. I'm thinking about getting one more reel. (I have a Team Lew's and Team Pro) Most likely going to get one more reel with the ACB setup instead of MSB so I have two of each. Does anyone have time on both? The Team Lite has one more ball bearing (assuming it's levelwind)...is the BB-1 just as smooth as the Team Lite? I know the BB-1 is supposed to be smooth and nice...so I'm not interested in hearing..."Well I don't have any time on the Team, but my BB-1 Pro is smooth as silk"...comments. Anyone with some time on both reels?

If you can't thread a guide...how the Heck do you thread a hook? Hahaha

The shallow spool of the PXr is a huge benefit. The weight of the spool will keep it going when the wind slows your lure down. A light (shallow) spool will be less affected by momentum. A good magnetic brake will probably work better than centrifugal. -Lighter lures will slow down faster. -Good magnetic brakes will slow the spool down quicker so the slowing lure won't cause over run. -The lighter shallow spool will require less magnet to manage it. -Light line is very helpful too.

Been fishing for Trout all winter on a BPS micro lite casting rod with a crappie max might lite reel and 4# line. Got the reel at the catalog return for $30. This combo costs half as much as a used old Liberto. Sure, it's not as boutique as what y'all are used to, but it will toss down to 1/10oz further than I've needed from the bank. I've been casting 1/8oz Kastmaster spoons farther than people next to me on their ultra light spinning setups.

I had 3 standard Speed Spools last year. This year, I'm using (like I said) Team and Team Lite...and I was blown away by how much further the Team Lite and Team could toss. Worth the extra bucks to buy the Tournament Pro ($150 all day long) over the standard Speed Spool.

Free spool time from reel to reel is not technically an indicator of quality bearings. A heavier spool will free spool longer. Bearings with no lube will free spool longer. I don't doubt that they are top notch bearings though. You just can't base that off free spool time.

The Team Pro and Team Lew's have the same mechanics as the Tournament Pro. I got my Pro for $150 and Team Red for $165. (New) My opinion of these reels is that they are pretty perfect out of the box. If you can't find the deals I found, the Tournament Pro should feel about the same. Same frame, brakes, gears, bearings, etc... I have a Team Lite as well, but so far still prefer the versatility of the MSB setup. I've heard some say that they would never use a dual braking system because it's a half hearted attempt at both...but after using all 3 systems, I totally love the MSB system. On a windy day, it's incredibly versatile. For lighter lures, it's better than the Team Lite. The magnetic brakes on the MSB system feel the same as the MG (mag only) brakes. Works just as good, if not better. The additional centrifugal control is wonderful. I turned my centrifugal off today just to see what mag only felt like in these reels...I could cast further with less effort when using both brakes in moderation. More control. The Team Lite (MCS brakes) will cast heavier lures further for sure...until the wind enters the equation. The ability to control early overrun and end of cast overrun is excellent. So if you can afford it and find a decent deal, the Team Pro is my recommendation. Otherwise, the Tournament Pro.