Sonik

I am going to start deep cranking this year. I moved my Lew's BB1 Pro in 5.1:1 over to that rod and bought a standard BB1 in 5.1:1 for my regular cranking rod. I like the multi-stop anyway. I think I move fast too fast as it is. At the end of last summer I started slowing down retrieves and I believe I did much better. Maybe it makes me more thorough, accurate, and allows me to work baits better.

I fish a smaller, electric motor only lake in southern Illinois. When it gets late summer, about the only way to fish it is with a 3/4oz or bigger weight to get under all the submergent vegetation and thinner pads, flip the thick pad fields with a 1-1.5oz weight, dance a split shot rig over the weeds, or topwater/frogs outside of pads . Cranks of any type, standard Texas rigs, drop shots, Carolina rigs, etc will get hung up or simply fall and rest on top of vegetation. The crappie are huge for such a small lake. They'll go 14" or bigger. They cruise around under the vegetation on stumps but it's hard to get to them with standard jigheads.

Cabelas still had their ZX rods on sale for $69. I believe they have a 7'11".

Cabelas has Lew's Tournament Speed Spools on sale for $120 and a Tournament ZX rod (crankbait) for $70. Gets you out for $190. Use the remaining $10 for some line. The ZX crankbait rod is rated for up to 5/8oz but I throw 3/4oz flat side Pork Chop squarebills and 10ft depth Grave Diggers on it just fine. Seems like a 3/5oz dt10 would work ok.

Tournament ZX. Bought a whole stack of them. They have a new line this year called the ZX Crankshaft that's composite.

I bought 4 *** Blacks like that and didn't like them. I know they're excellent rods for the money but the short handle and reel seat style doesn't work for me.

I think with your run of the mill club tournaments and lower end trails, the majority of tackle falls into the $100 price point. The competition amongst manufacturers at that price point is so high that it has some extremely nice quality equipment for the weekend warrior. I think you hit the peak of a bell curve in terms of quality per dollar at the $100 price point. Before that and you can get more for your money. Beyond it and you enter a state of diminishing returns.

I used a 7'3" H *** Black last summer to do all of my pitching, punching, and most of my frogging. Worked fine. If you want to get really specific, I'm sure you could split that into 3 different rods with a 4th for flipping (which I rarely if ever do). It's all a cost benefit analysis. How much are you willing to spend for what quality and specificity? Is it ok to have 1 rod for all your heavy work? Yup. Can you split that up? Yup. But only you can look at your finances, requirements, and wants and figure out what you should do.

WIGuide nailed it. The vast, vast, vast majority of people buy the cheapest thing they can that works, even if they give up a lot of features and quality. It's why people buy the Remington 870 Express shotgun, Hi-Point handguns, $300 KMart computers, and $20 Shakespear combos from Walmart. The people that buy Megabass rods, Kimber custom shop handguns, and Benelli SBE2 shotguns are few and far between in the grand scheme of who shoots, hunts, and fishes. That shelf space is worth money. If the product doesn't move, BPS loses money. And I would tell you that a $500 GLoomis moves a lot slower than a $30 BPS combo. It's also been shown that BPS doesn't like a lot of competition to their house brand. I've seen them carry the Micro Magic Duckett but not the $100 Ghost that's in the same price point as Carbonlite and Johnny Morris rods. Though, that has little to do with why they don't carry high end rods, I don't think.

As a heads up, I received my Crankshaft rod this afternoon. And it's not what I thought. The description had it as a 7'1" H and it is actually a 7'10" H. That won't fit in my boat by a long ways. Have to return it. But it's definitely a neat rod. Light weight for sure. I though about returning it but I think I'll even exchange it for the 7' Crankshaft. Just a heads up about the description.

No more wire hangers!!!!

ZX rods are back on sale and some other stuff.

They run free shipping from time to time. There shouldn't be any addition charge for the tackle bag even if it was the extra super large magnum size. Genrally, the additional shipping is for rods, deer stands, batteries, and stuff like that. Awkward, heavy, and huge items. I got 10 brand new .50 caliber ammo boxes from them last year on a free shipping code and it got here free. Just tax.

Thaat's my thing. I use 12,15, and 20 pound Floroclear for about everything.

I caught my ZX on sale with a $5 shipping code. It did cost an extra $40 to ship for the rods but that's still cheaper than driving round trip to my nearest Cabela's 4 hours away. What bugged me and that I need to call about is that they shipped all 5 rods in the same tube they ship 1 in. So I don't know why they billed that out differently. They did that before and I called and they refunded me all but $8 which is fine.

I did that with the ZX rods. They sat there laughing at me for months at their regular price before I grabbed them on sale. I do wish they had some sort of email alert system that would let you know when items in your wish list go on sale.

Got them in tonight! -7'1" MH/F Spinnerbait/Swim Jig; 6.4:1 Lew's Tournament Pro -7'2" MH/XF Jig/Worm; 7.1:1 Lew's Tournament -6'9" M/XF Jerkbait/Topwater; 6.4:1 Lew's Tournament -7'3" H/F Frog rod; 7.1:1 Lew's Tournament Pro -7'1" M/MF Crankbait; 5.1:1 multi-stop Lew's BB1 Pro -6'10" M/XF Shakey Head; 3000 series Team Lew's Gold Speed Spin I generally fish P-Line Floroclear in 12#, 15#, and/or 20# with the exception being 65# Power Pro on the frog rod. I'll probably use it for pitching as well. I have a 7'1" H/M Tournament ZX Crankshaft series rod ordered and it should be in shortly. I will probably move the BB1 Pro over to it and buy a standard BB1 in the multi-stop 5.1:1 model for the crankbait rod I have now. Weather is supposed to warm up a bit this weekend. Hopefully I can get out and try them. Can't wait.

The standard Speed Spool is not the standard being referred to versus the Tournament Pro. There are 2 versions: Tournament Speed Spool and the Tournament Pro Speed Spool. The Lew's Speed Spool is yet a third model much lower down the list in features and performance when compared to both Tournament models.

I'm a 6'1" individual and have short rod lockers. If I got a 7'6" or better, it would have to be one with a telescopic handle. I just bought a 7'3" ZX and I've had the equivalent in an ***. It works ok for me because I don't flip. I pitch and do some punching but I have only truly flipped once and that was simply to get to a particular spot. I think my wingspan and longer arms helped with the distance. Not sure I would gain anything for an extra 3 inches.

I love Cabela's. I practically live in the Bargain Cave. I wear their dress shirts and pants to work Monday through Friday. I wear their casual stuff and fishing gear. I hunt in their gear. I will be fishing their rods once my order arrives. I like their hard baits. I find them to be a bargain because their stuff holds up in my experience. I refuse to do business with BPS. Every time I buy something, there's a problem and it's a hassle and the product doesn't hold up. And, politically, I don't like that they use Bank of America for their credit.

I have both the Pro and the regular Tournament. I notice no negative difference in performance, handling, casting, retrieve, or weight.

I have 2 Tournament Pros and I wish I had saved the money and bought the regular Tournament reels. There's actually a screw on the bottom right of the reel under the tension knob that digs into my hand on casts. The regular Tournament doesn't have that.

Yup. Heck of a deal. I think I'll order a couple just to have. I have a 7'3" H but I will need one for a bigger rod for pitching, punching, and, in rare cases, flipping. I can't believe they would be discontinuing it!

Cabelas has them for $99. Not the MG. The regular Tournament with dual braking. Never seen them NIB for that price outside of an auction or one-off deal. I'm kind of surprised it hasn't been brought up yet. Are they discontinuing the model in favor of the Lite or something? I don't see it on the Lew's site, just the Pro. I went ahead and bought a 7.1 for the rods coming in but I may grab 2 more if they're discontinued. I figured the Tournament was an extremely popular and favored reel at the $120-150 price point. At least by people who didn't name their first and second born children "Curado" and "Chronarch"

This is my present to myself for getting my truck paid off last month. I've had a little piggy bank ready to be sacrificed for the greater bass fishing good. And for the ZX's to go on sale. And that review is legit! I was terrible at any and all cranking plugs until I bought that ZX and put a low geared BB1 Pro on it. It changed my entire bass fishing game up. Now I throw lipless, squarebill, and medium depth cranks with confidence instead of trepidation. I actually just called Cabela's and added the 7'1" H Crankshaft ZX to my earlier order. That was to resolve the question in my other thread about heavier plugs. It's been said before but Cabelas shipping is ridiculous. Even with their code, it's still like $53 because of the $8 per rod oversize junk. But, that's still cheaper than driving my truck 4 hours, both ways to get to a store to get the rods in person. But still, I am so excited. And I just can't hide it. (Yeah, I went there).