CaughtMeABiggun

Lew's has some rods in the 30 to 75 dollar range that are real sleepers. I have two of the laser hs rods that are 6'10" and they are two of my favorite rods. Shockingly good for 30ish bucks.

Here is a list of reels that have been previously mentioned or may not have been mentioned that can be easily found for 100 bucks or less. BPS Extreme BPS Pro Qualifier Abu Revo X Ark Gravity 1 13 Fishing Origin C 13 Fishing Inception 13 Fishing Inception G2 Daiwa Fuego CT Daiwa CA 80 Lew's LFS Quantum Accurist Shimano SLX Shimano Caius Piscifun Alloy M Kast King Skeet Reese Icon

Yes! That is the reel. I remembered it being expensive for the time. Such a rare reel. I have never actually seen one in person.

I'm pretty sure this was the first reel that BPS went upscale with. It's such an odd reel because the price was really high. It was 50 bucks more than a Curado at the time. It was available for such a short time before the extreme reel was slotted below the pro qualifier. Maybe one day I'll buy some old BPS catalogs from that time to pinpoint the exact year it was offered. Based off my memory and process of elimination the reel would have been manufactured between 1996 and 1998.

I appreciate all of the feedback, but none of the suggested reels are the one I am referring to. I think they made this particular reel before all of these. It may have been the very first XPS reel that they sold. Its been over 25 years. I do remember that for years after they quit selling this reel their picture of the round rod rack that they sold had one of these reels on it. The gold on the ends of the knobs covered the whole end of the knob. It was like a cap on the end of each knob. The reel was really exotic looking for its time. I believe the reel was around 180-200 bucks. I'm almost positive it was the first XPS reel and first Extreme reel.

Just wanting to share an observation that I made a couple of years ago. I was out on the lake with my son and my dad during late fall or really early spring. I can't remember for sure but either way the water was in the 50s. We were working crankbaits by the ends of docks and discovered something. My dad and I were using 6:1 ratio reels, but my son was using a 2:1 zebco omega spincast. Though we were using the same lure, the bass would only hit my son's lure. Turned out that we could not get our lure to move as slow as his and that was the key to getting the bite. The bass were under the docks and wanted that slow presentation with a crankbait. I immediately went home and purchased to old mint Quantum 3.8:1 crankin reels and two Pflueger Trion 4:1 reels. I ended up catching a couple of bass on the spincaster once my son got tired of fishing. Something to think about for anyone that says they can just slow their retrieve down with higher speed reels... Sometimes you can't slow down enough.

This is exactly what I’m talking about. If you want to use it and never put a fishing line in the water or throw a hookless bait to see how the bass react then yes it could be justified as a learning tool. But the minute you start using it to catch bass it is no longer a learning tool. Has anyone heard anyone say that they purchased FFS to learn the behaviors of fish, but do not and will not use it to catch a fish? The general public are not buying FFS to observe the behaviors of fish. The observation is a by product of catching fish using FFS.

I’m sure you have already purchased a setup but the correct answer is none. If at any point FFS starts seeing bans, the stores are not going to give your money back.. The movement to ban FFS is growing momentum as more pro anglers are starting to speak out. I may be wrong but it would be unwise to drop the cash for a FFS with the possibility of it becoming an expensive garage shelf ornament.. I would wait on building a new electronics setup once there is a clear direction on the future of FFS in tournament fishing.

We need to be really honest about something. FFS is not a learning tool. Learning tools are something that you use to improve a skillset while not being a skillset. I don't see anyone that has FFS saying “Well I’ve learned how to be a better fisherman… Don’t need the FFS anymore… “ It’s laughable..

None of the reels pictured so far is this particular reel. It could have been around 1997 or 1998. I just can’t remember. I just remember it being really flashy. Green with chrome gold plates that completely covered the end of the handle knobs. I remember it being really high priced for a BPS reel. If I’m not mistaken it would have been the highest price BPS reel in the catalog that year.

Thanks Eric, I believe that was one of the later Extreme reels after this reel came out. This is such an odd ball reel. Never found one on eBay. I doubt there aren’t any left around.

I have been trying to find any information or pictures of a certain Bass Pro reel. I believe it was the 1st model Extreme baitcasting reel that they made. It could also have been their first high end XPS reel. I remember it coming out in the late 90s or early 00s. I think it was close to 200 bucks and was green with a a lot of gold on it. I think the ends of the knobs on the handle had gold plastic ends. The front of the reel opened like a Corvette hood. I think they only made it for a year and then introduced a much cheaper extreme reel. For years after their round rod rack in the catalog had a rod with one on it. Does anyone else remember this reel? It was really cool looking but I think being a store brand and carrying that price tag at the time led to it not hanging around very long.

I would also look at the 13 fishing Origin C. Aluminum frame 99 dollar reel. Can find it on sale a lot of the times for 69.99 on Amazon. I have two and I have a SLX. I find them comparable.

Yes it’s one of those rods. I thought about that reel too. I’m definitely all about matching colors.

I also have to shout out the biggest surprise that I have had in rods around 100-135 price range is the KastKing Speed Demon rods. I have one of the finese spinning rods and the square bill rod and I would put tbose two rods against any of the Dobyn’s, St.Croix, and TFO rods that I have. Freaking unbelievable for their price. Without a doubt the best reel seat I have ever used on a finesse spinning rod. Top notch guides and reel seat on a great blank and they weigh next to nothing. All the rods are technique specific too. Those rods don’t get enough praise.

I would not sleep on the Dobyn’s Maverick.

I have a couple of the 1st gen Hank Parker Lew’s rods that were Walmart exclusives from about 3 or 4 years ago. I decided to get a new reel for the 6’ 10” cranking rod and I ordered one of the Abu Max STX casting reels. I try to keep my rod and reels matched up by price point and the STX has the same exact color scheme as that rod. To my surprise when the reel arrived it was extremely uncomfortable on that rod. The reel is really compact and I love that, but on that reel seat it moves the trigger about a half inch forward not allowing me me to put 3 fingers in front of the trigger when reeling. I had two new lightning rods that had no reels on them. I tried that reel and rod combination and it’s magic. I have another STX on the way for the other lightning rod. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m curious to see if one of my Revos would be the same on that Lew’s rod. I figured I would share this to warn about the possibility of Abu reel/Lew’s rod compatibility issues.

Too many rods or reels is like having a car too fast. Not possible. I am a weekend warrior. Don’t fish tournaments and am not in a bass club. I have around 30 baitcasting setups and bout 7 spinning reels that I actively rotate through. I have another 6 to 10 rods stored in rod tubes and a reserve fleet of reels ready for action. I have found the longer I fish I have moved from more do all rods to more specialized setups. Naturally that means more rods and reels. Whether you have one outfit or one hundred it’s all about getting that line wet one more time.

I have a couple of those yellow Lew’s Laser HS rods that I have used over the last year or two for moving baits. So far I have been really impressed by them. Has anyone else tried them?

Woody B you just hit the nail on the head. At some point all salaries have to start going up to. The entry level pay going up has now de-valued higher skilled jobs. Meanwhile consumer goods are rising at break neck speed. I do agree with you that this is by design. It’s a design that can only lead to one thing.

I saw today where a bass boat that had a msrp of 68 grand 3 years ago now has an msrp of 92 grand. I know that we have record inflation, but that just seems insane. I could be wrong but it seems like people have less disposable income now and that kind of price hike is just pouring salt into the wound. I’m planning on making my first bass boat purchase in the next year and at the rate of these increases I’m not sure it’s going to be worth it. I’m also not crazy about the idea of paying 30 grand plus for a 20 year old boat that cost not much more than that new. I’m not sure what would be being the bigger fool. The more I look at it the more I realize that for what I want fiberglass is not an option. More than anything this bothers me because I love this pastime. I hate seeing the fishing industry doing things to destroy itself from within. Kayaks have replaced bass boats for the average fisherman. For whatever reason the bass boat industry doesn’t seem to view this as a threat to their business. Sorry to be a downer on this but it’s tough to see.

I think the Colt gets overlooked because it’s the cheapest Dobyns rod and because of the 15 percent glass that gives it a much more moderate action. I have heard Gary Dobyns say what a great chatterbait rod the Colt 734c is. I would figure the same goes for the 704c. I really have been impressed with the Dobyns rods. I have a couple Fury’s and a Maverick that I purchased before these Colts and so far I have not been disappointed.

Dobyns Colt 704c is on clearance at Academy Sports for less than 50 bucks.

I don’t want to label the Eagles as junk as much as I want to say how far Kastking seems to be coming with their quality of build on lower end models. For the 25 bucks that I paid for each of the Eagle’s they hit above their weight. I think 35 to 40 bucks is what they should have been all along. Funny enough I have the Valiant Eagle BFS reel and I feel the same way comparing it to the Zephyr BFS reel. The 50 dollar price tag on the Zephyr I think is right and if you take that 50 dollar reel and compare it to one’s that cost 15 to 20 dollars more I think it’s really impressive. I guess to sum it all up. Kastking made a 50 dollar reel that’s worth 50 bucks. I don’t plan on tearing them apart. I’m only wanting 6 months of service out to the Eagles and we’ll see how long the Zephyr lasts.

I just picked up a couple of Dobyns Colt 704c rods on clearance. When I compared them to my Fury 703c rod the action feels the same. My Fury 734c feels like a heavier powered rod than the Colt 704c. I know Gary has said that he puts 15 percent glass in the Colts. Would it be safe to assume that the action and use case of a Colt rod is the same as its graphite counterpart one power down? I noticed that the Colt rod does not show any lures that can be thrown with it like the more expensive models do. From what I can tell this will be a great rod to throw a lot of different type of moving baits. It seems very moderate from the 15 percent glass, and it seems to have a softer tip. It still has plenty of backbone. I know it's not a higher end rod, but it seems like I can put it to use for a lot of different things.