Was loading the boat at the ramp yesterday and this young fella was fighting with backlash.

He also complained about not being able to rent a boat at this lake I was fishing.

 

Ended up giving the guy my Bass raider, trolling motor and some tackle for the rest of the day.

When I went back to the ramp 4 hrs later to pickup the boat he handed me a brand new Abu Garcia ultra Max marred in backlash.

Said that he was done with casting gear. Lol

I know it's a cheaper reel but I'll mount a quality rod under it and put it to use.

I grabbed one of those on a combo on sale a while back - its solid little performer. Shoulda gave the poor guy a casting lesson, I gave up after my first few encounters with a BC reel too. Gave it a shot a year later or something and have been slowly upgrading my collection ever since, I'm still not great with them but I can appreciate what they bring to the party.

 

I've thrown 30-40# braid on that max ultra and it did well, I thought the performance felt pretty smooth for the price.