chelboed

I'm trying to wrap my mind around this for a second. If we're coming up with more effective brakes...what's the point of putting faster bearings in a reel? Won't you just need to turn up you're centrifugal or magnetic brakes even more? Example: My reel generally sits at around 5 on the mag brake. Why would I want an even potentially faster free'er spool? So those of you who shelled out $45 for ceramic Boca ABEC 7's...why didn't you just turn your cast control / spool tension down? What kind if distance increase are you experiencing? Is it consistent? Thanks

Leawood

Oh yeah...there's also a Mojo Bass half price. It's a heavy rod, so I wasn't interested.

You gotta love Dick's. I was looking at a different Dick's the other day. Like the biggest Dick's I've ever seen! Two stories with some quality hardware. That town has the biggest Dick's in the world! Lews Tournament SL rods....MSRP $120...$29.98. Fo shizzle, B! My local Dick's are small...but this big Dick's had some great rods.

Thanks for the insight so far. Not an engineer but should have been. I love to prototype things on my own time. Hyper tinkerer for sure. OCD? Pretty much. I think I'm to the point where I will keep the Team Pro and Tournament Lite. I had a 6.4 Speed Spool that I just sold prior to starting this thread. I'm working on selling the 5.4 and hopefully get a BB-1 Pro in 5.1 Multi Stop for my medium rod. That's the plan. To any newer anglers reading this thread...don't let this deter you from getting a standard Speed Spool LFS. My standard Speed Spools are excellent. Extremely smooth, strong, and capable. I will mention that I love Lews as a company, love their values, American Hero program, and devotion to bringing killer products at a blue collar price that I can enjoy. I still have my first BB-1 LMG that I got 22 years ago. Thanks again friends.

Hi guys! Midwest bank fisherman here. Small lakes, ponds. I spend most of the time fishing weedlines with Senko's, Wobbleheads, Mepp's, and Beetlespin's. Occasionally, I'll bankfish a larger body of water with crankbaits. I have a new Lew's Tournament Lite. I got it in 6.4. I know the frame and plates are C45 Carbon, not graphite...but I'm skeptical. I love the reel, but will the carbon last? I also got a TLP1H 6.4:1 Team Pro on eBay brand new for $150. It's not the newer "Z" model, but the only differences are 10# drag versus 14# (I live in Missouri...we don't have Texas / Florida sized bass here, so the drag is probably moot) and a screw release versus pin for the side plate. I called Lew's and they said all else is the same. The Tournament Lite will freespool longer than the Team Pro which makes me wonder if it has better bearings. I also have a new 5.4:1 standard 9+1 Speed Spool that I got from Dick's for $45 on clearance that I could use for crankbaits but it wouldn't cast with the BB-1 for sure. I like to have at least 2 reels...one as a backup in case one goes down. I generally only take one with me bank fishing. -I had considered selling the Tournament LITE putting another $60-70 with it and getting the Team LITE because it has a metal frame...but will I even notice a difference in the long run? Other than that, I will gain nothing because they are configured indentically. Basically the same weight, bearings, brakes and drag. I don't tournament fish and I'm usually only out 3hrs at a time. -Since the *** of Speedcast 6-pin 27 position centrifugal brakes...is the dual cast control of my Team Pro obsolete? I know the new model is the same, but many have said that the 6-pin variable is working better than the 4pin on/off with magnetic variable? I could sell the Team Pro, keep the Tourney LITE, and buy a BB-1 pro for later in the year when longer crankbait casts are needed. I don't want to use either one until I decide b/c I can sell them New in Box. Really, right now I'm sitting kinda pretty because I only paid: 5.4:1 Speed Spool-$45 6.4:1 Team Pro-$150 6.4:1 Team LITE-$00.00 Falcon Bucoo Micro 6'10" Heavy-$99 Lew's Tournament SL Micro 7' Medium - $45 Lew's Tournament SL Micro 7" MH - $59 So I'm considering: 1. Selling the Tourney LITE, and buying a Team LITE (keep the Team Pro as a backup) 2. Selling the Team Pro and buying a BB-1 Pro (Fish the Tourney LITE early in the season and BB-1 in crankbait season) 3. Sell the 5.4:1 Speed Spool and buy a BB-1 Pro 4. Keep them like they are and fish them till they fall apart. I would probably put the Team Pro on the Falcon, the Tourney LITE on the MH Tournament SL, and the 5.4 Speed Spool or a BB-1 Pro on the Medium Tournament SL. I guess I'll never be able to afford $600 reels and $15,000 boats...but I'm to the point in my life right now where I can afford the best reel in the Lew's lineup which I will be staying with because I've been fishing Lew's since I was 15 years old. Thanks in advance.

i forgot to mention...i've been throwing zara spook, spook jr., spook puppy, KVD Sexy frog, Spro mini frog, Chartreuse & white buzzbaits, & Jitterbugs as well. My Mini frogs got around 7 hits in 1.5hrs toward late evening. Only one keeper over 15".

KC bank fishermen on here. I'm in Lee's Summit and regularly hit up J.A. Reed...I don't have a boat which sucks. Been doing fairly well all year long on Senko type worms, Lipless, Beetle Spin, Mepps. Last few times out have been pretty dry. Any help besides buy a boat?

This little 18.5" Catfish bit on a 1/16oz Black Beetlespin and was an absolute TRIP to lan with this little setup!

Results... The review I read on this reel was from tackletour at an old iCast: http://www.tackletour.com/reviewicast11lewspg2.html As you can see...they blatantly say that the reel is smaller than a standard low pro baitcaster. (a blip on the reel seat) Well I'm here to tell ya folks...it's a full size frame. It' the same physical size as my Lews SS1S and SS1HS. Lie #1 to tick me off. Lie #2 is that they said it had a 100yd/10# capacity. It says right on the box and paperwork that its 120yd/12#. The higher capacity = more dead weight to get moving and more rotational weight to slow down. bad for light lures. The reel stock is not much better for light baits than a standard Speed Spool. Solution: I "super-tuned" the spool with my drill press (LOL) and then spooled it with 12# backing line with an Albright knot to some 6# monofilament. It will easily outcast the V-Mag 3 now. It's 200% smoother too. It's will cast micro rattle-traps like Cra-Z. 1/16oz Beetlespin's are a breeze. 3/16oz Crickhopper is effortless, 3/32oz Crickhopper is do'able too. All my little micro bass baits and bigger panfish baits are rockin'.

Skeptical: I'm already a little dissapointed in this little reel. It's got a capacity of 120yd/12#...not 100yd/10#. Advertising snafu, I surmise? Well, i'm gonna try it still. Edit: I spooled it with 100yd/6# Stren. It didn't fill the spool enough to give it the right diameter. It in-turn caused the spool to spin faster than it's supposed to. It also made the IPT too low. (this is why finesse reels have really shallow spools) The advertising eluded to me that the spool was shallower than it really is. I wasn't expecting pixy shallow obviously. So I loaded it up at least 1/2 way with 12# backing line and tied my 6# to it with an Albright knot. I filled it the rest of the way with the 6#. Preleminary casting in the yard is successful. I casted the small Arkie Crickhopper-type grasshopper just fine. F5 Rebel Minnows, Mepps #1 was like shooting a bullet from a gun. Heading out to a little lake later to try it out for real.

Side track for a second...is it hard to fish from a Kayak? Are they difficult to balance? I have no way to buy a boat at this point in my life, but there are so many spots I could hit with a yak...I'm just afraid I may dump myself over with a goot hit.

Update: I picked up a 6' Micro Lite rod with the longer cork handle last night. The reel will be here this afternoon. Pic's and report to follow.

You guys slay me. "require"? Give me a break, hehehehe. Tell that to Clunn. How the heck did we ever manage to even catch a bass prior to the marketing machine? If you're fishing from a canoe...I'd use one rod, one reel. 6'10"-7'2" M/H fast with a 6'ish:1 ratio. Forgive my simple-minded humor...but seriously...catchin bass can be done on a single heavy rod like Rick Clunn, or a single ultralight rig like so many good anglers do daily. To say that you "desire" (not require) several rods for several different baits is more in line with Fat Wallet America. And I'm not bashing that aspect of it...if you got the coin, buy 2 dozen rigs. But dont tell a guy that he "needs" multiple rods and reels to land fish.

I've got a few of those tiny little Traps. (chrome, chrome bleeding shad, firetiger, craw) My friend uses the chrome ones to knock a hole in the white bass population at Ozarks every August. He's an ultralight fisherman.

And the results

A few full size and mini baits I also have Beetle spins from 1/2 down to 1/50 oz, Mepps#5,4,3,2,1...and I'm getting 0 and 00 for my Ultralite box. I've got plastic worms from full size senko's to little 3" senko's. I also have some Creme worms that I've shortened to some really active / wiggly 3.5" mini worms. (Creme's are excellent for this) I've also got a few different sizes of Crickhoppers, other cranks, and Spooks.

Here's the V-Mag 3 behind my old Lew's

Hahaha, yeah...the V-Mag 3 is kind of a piece...but it casts light lures well. It's funny...it looks just like a little V-Mag 40. Cute little bugger. That's what I'm hoping for with the new mini Lew's.

I guess the question now is do I want a 6'6" trigger rod (long cork butt) or a 5'6" casting rod (short handle). The shorter one will give me more accuracy and ability to shoot under tree's from the bank better...but sacrifice a little distance (not much b/c part of the extended length is behind the grip). Longer one will feel more balanced b/c there's weight behind and in front of the reel. Shorter one will feel lighter. Hmmm...

I'm 38 and got my first baitcaster when I was about 16. I still have it. (Lews BB-1 LMG mag spool) I tried spooling one of my newer Speed Spools with 4# line to see if that would work. The ball bearings made the spool move easier than the bushing setup...but the massive amount of line was just too much added weight to work. (there had to be upwards of 300+yd on there.) The smaller, lighter spool on the mini will solve the problem...as my Mini V mag works well. I'll spool it with about 100 yd of 8 or 10# Fireline which should feel like 2-4# mono. Light enough to get the spool moving fairly effortlessly and still be really responsive to the mag. As far as my bigger setups...I can still cast the little tiny 1/8oz traps just fine with my Speed Spools. I've got 2x Speed spools (7.1 and 6.4 ratios) on M/H Shakespeare and Heavy Bucoo rods...and my old Lew's is still in service. I use it when I'm feeling a bit of retro nostalgia and when I use heavier baits b/c it's 5.1:1. I'll often take it out when I'm bored with modern technology and modern methods. Throw alot of old school Traps, Spoons, Mepps, and Beetle Spins with it. I dare not put a chatterbait on my retro rig, hahaha! As far as frugal goes...I spent less than $100 on my Bucoo rod, my Shakespeare rod was free, my 7.1 Speed Spool ended up costing me $37, and my 6.4 was only $55. I got really good deals on it all NIB. Just bided my time. I'm not frugal by choice, but by necessity.

I have an open face ultralite setup, but I'm a baitcaster nut. I admit it. I love horizontal spools and levewinds. I love the control I have of not only being able to gently slow the bait down with my thumb, but also stop it, flip it, pitch it, etc... I don't live in Florida where the Hawgs live...the largest Largemouth I've caught was 6# so far. My beef with open face reels is mainly only line-twist, but I also don't have quite as good of accuracy nor control of the line-out. -------------------------------------------- Preliminary Testing----------------------------------------------------------------------- What I've been doing: I'm not one to drop a few hundred bucks on a Presso / Pixy...especially if I don't know if this will work well. There has got to be a cheaper way. I set up an old Ambassadeur 6000 IM6 rod with an old Ryobi V-Mag 3 reel. The rod is very light and sensative and was the beezneez 20 years ago. The reel has a graphite V-spool, so capacity is limited and it is very light. I spool it with 4# Crappie Maxx line at the moment. I set up a "Small Bass Box" with Mepps #1 #2, 1/16oz Beetle Spin, 1/8oz Rattle Traps, 3" Senko's, Mini Frog, Spook Puppy, Mini Rapala Orig. Minnow, 3/32 Rebel Creekhopper, etc... Blue Gill and Small Bass are tearing it up!! Why I've been doing it: Some days, I don't feel like only catching a few fish in an hour. I'm a bank fisherman. I have access to several large ponds / small lakes nearby where I can spend a couple hours at a time when I have time and have good results. Some days, I just wanna catch fish quick and often. I have a few area's that are overflowing with large blue gill and smaller bass. They're fun on an ultralight. The results: I couldn't be happier so far. I can cast down to 1/16oz well. I can cast 3" weightless Senko's as far as I want, Creekhopper landed 35-40 Blue Gill. Small Bass feel like big bass...it's a real hoot! Now that I know it works well for only $20 for my rod / reel setup...I'm going to address my 3 issues. 1. The reel has oil-less bushings...no bearings 2. The gears on the crank are a little rough 3. I would like to get a dedicated M/L rod The solution: Lew's Wally Marshall signature series baitcaster has 2-ball bearings, 1 roller bearing, and modern-cut gearing. It's also 6.4:1 versus the 4.1:1 on my old V-Mag 3 This will allow me to effectively cast these tiny baits in most conditions and have a smoother retrieve. Capacity is low, spool is light, so starting / maintaing spool momentum should be easier than my V-Mag. Bass Pro Micro Lite 6'6" M/L rod with a carbon tip will be a little more sensative and better suited to the job. The reel will be here tomorrow and I'll let you know how it all works out. I will also post pic's of my current cheap test rig and my new setup, my standard vs. small bass baits, and side-by-side pic's of my mini Lew's versus my current full size Lew's Speed Spools. Total cost should be in the $100 or less range. Uptades to follow...I'm excited.