HoosierHawgs

We've owned a few Lew's for 3 years. Service them ourselves, use them every trip, still as smooth as day one.

Not a fan of white blanks myself.

I'm not so sure on the spinning, but they have really great models at a great price if you want one. For braid, a Superduty is more expensive (179) but is great for heavy duty and will last you for years to come. For everything else the base model speed spool (99) should handle it fine.

Jacksonville is a decent area for a guy to fish. Find somebody who can take you out on Rodman, or the St. Johns. I'm sure you'll find someone.

If you want to do this, do what I did: Go Lew's and never look back. Workhorse reels that will last forever. They have all the goodies and are @ a great price point.

Promotional value is what counts. While winning helps, you can win and not be a good marketer. Seeing 50 to 100 anglers at tourneys is not a lot, especially when FLW guys see millions of people in a single tourney series, and boat wraps those guys have are just giant traveling billboards. Also, your not gonna get money up front. That's just the fact of life. They're are a few levels of sponsorship, ones that involve discounts, others involve free product, and others involve money and free product. That's the name of the game. Also, almost anybody can promote product on social media for FREE. I do it myself when I publish a good review, post a pic of a new combo, ir post a pic of me w/a big fish while I'm wearing a Lew's hoodie. Best of luck my friend. Jakob

People give lots of props to Ardent for being built like tanks, but they are definitely not the smoothest right out of the box.

I don't know anything about tungsten. Is it or is it not environment friendly?

6'6" Medium Heavy Lightning Rod.. Lew's Tournament MB 7.5:1 lined w/12# Fluorocarbon

It is quite interesting. It opens your eyes to the difficulties of something like tournament fishing. No other sport has that 'pay to play' thing for pros as hard as fishing does. Sponsors help with that, and as you can see, it can put you in a tough spot. Thanks for posting it.

It's not like you wont here it on the dock at tournament. Tournament fishing has evolved, a lot less humble then it used to be. When people don't get w/the program they get left behind.

The less stretch the more vibration will be transmitted through the line to your rod/reel and finger.

At that price go CL. If you want a heavier duty reel go for the JM Signature.

This is true. But a puzzle image is clearer w/all the pieces. How much is this last piece worth?

Tell that thing about SK to KVD.

Actually, stretch should be less (ie. More controlled) @ higher # test

Ditto. I find that most combos put together are either a bad reel on a good rod or a decent enough reel on a bad rod.

Lew's American Hero

http://www.bassmaster.com/blog/out-pocket-baits

This makes good sense. I don't see why you could not be successful w/a single brand. Strike king seems to have everything covered from top to bottom, and they have plenty of other stuff too. I like to Sta w/certain brands on things as well.

I'm not a fan of the Kermy. I do like their other house brand stuff.

Simple answer: Bigger Than Yours! I'm kidding, I'm guessing its not... But all serious I would say our average is 3-4#. Big fish are greater than 5#, biggest fish this year was 7#, that was my Dad's fish. My biggest fish was 6#.

Diving Depth. The number tells you how many feet they dive at max. Question. Why did you pick SK?

Cool setup! I should've thought of this!

You already got the new catalog?