Last summer my boat was stolen and sunk on Greers Ferry. To top it off, all of my fishing gear was stolen out of the boat. 7 months later, the Van Buren Sheriff's Dep. called to tell me that they think they found my rod and reels on the bank buried in some leaves. I was very impressed that they remembered my report and took the time to look it up and locate me....my name wasn't on any of my gear. So a special thanks to the VB Sheriff's dep.

Anyway, I had 11 rod and reels to pick up. I was just hoping that some of the rods would be usable but figured the reels were wrecked. When I picked up my gear, I was shocked to see that the Bass Pro Extreme series rod AND reels looked nearly brand new!! ALL the other brands were worthless. I had some high grade shimanos, low grade shimanos, and pfluegers. The other rods were ALL Star, Falcon, and browning. All of this gear is good stuff but the reels were rusty and the rods broken. However, the BP Extreme gear had some cork chewed off of the handle but the rest of it looked nearly brand new!!!! I took them apart and there was no rust to be found. I oiled them up and 7 months later I was in Venice, La catching redfish. I used the exact rod/reel combos that were burried in the leaves for 7 months!!!!! BP has just won my business and that says a lot bc I am a shimano guy. Its the best value in fishing IMO.

I am glad you got your stuff back I guess this post goes a ways to answering the Sheriff's query about those of us who use non shimano products ' Let's see how they hold up over time"

SWEET!  nice red too.

Nice story.  I've been impressed with my BPS branded stuff, too.