I picked up one the bass pro exclusive Lews Tournament XP reels a few days ago with the trade-in program/sale. Has anyone else tried one of these reels? If so, what are your thoughts about it? I took it for a test spin yesterday, and it seems like it wants to backlash a lot. I increased the spool tension, turned all 4 brakes on, and was thumbing it pretty good, but it still wanted backlash. Has anyone else had this issue and/or know how to fix it? This is my first Lews reel, so maybe I’m missing something….

Did you click the brakes on or off?  If they are free to slide up then that is the on position.  4 brakes on should be more than sufficient.  Are you using a slinky for line?  Big stiff line will have difficulty moving through a non t wing level wind and will fluff up on the spool. 

@Tatulatard I turned all 4 brakes on, and I spooled it up with 10lb seagar red label. I tried throwing a DT6 and a spinner bait, but it was backlashing on both of them. I have some carbonlite and revo sx reels that barely have to be thumbed at all, so maybe my thumb just needs get calibrated to the Lews, but I wouldn’t expect that from a $180 reel…

Are the mag brakes all the way down? I was confused at first by the markings for max vs free.

And how is your spool tension set ? How is your magnetic brake set.

I have one of these and I had the same experience. I found that the spool tension is the primary culprit - I'm not sure if they're using a particularly slick material on the spool spindle ends or a really slow thread pattern or something, but I had to tighten the spool tension noticeably more than my other lews reels to get the other brakes to work like normal. Usually I only tighten the tension enough to barely keep the spool from moving side to side - with this reel, it took that plus 5-7 clicks. A lot of other reels seem to lean more on the mag brake+centrifugal brakes than the spool tension comparatively, this one is much more a balance of all three braking features. It does still require more thumb than most people are used to. Had to cut my way out of 3 or 4 day-ending backlashes to get the hang of it, but it's a favorite reel now that it's locked in to good settings...if I pair it with the right rod, I can cast the full spool of 12# mono with a 1/2oz red eye shad. I still backlash on gusty days or when I'm in the vortex but a click or two of spool tension or mag brake takes care of that right away. Other thing with newer Lew's spool tension knobs - if it doesn't click, it's not threaded properly

@thediscochef thanks for the input! After experimenting with it some, I started coming to the same conclusion…I had to tighten the spool tension down a good bit more than normal, and it started throwing a lot better. I still need a little calibration on the thumb, but it’s definitely a smooth reel. Speaking of the spool tension knob, do you know what the “coin slot” looking indention on the side is? 

4 minutes ago, DP94 said:

@thediscochef thanks for the input! After experimenting with it some, I started coming to the same conclusion…I had to tighten the spool tension down a good bit more than normal, and it started throwing a lot better. I still need a little calibration on the thumb, but it’s definitely a smooth reel. Speaking of the spool tension knob, do you know what the “coin slot” looking indention on the side is? 

It's a way to keep track of what line is on the spool...for those of us who have enough money to forget what's where  that coin slot does nothing in terms of the reel performance. took me a hot minute to figure that out lol

It's a great reel, the mag brake on mine is a little noisey but the drag is silky smooth and it pulled in a PB of 7-10 quite handily. Also it weighs basically nothing, that reel on its current rod combined weighs less than 11oz and I can fish it all day long

I love it myself and have gotten a few of them. I had to do a tweak here and a tweak there to get it to where it’s casting fine. And of course I am a lews man but all in all I believe they are a great reel. I think you will like it.