Hey to all, my first post but I've been reading the boards and articles for awhile now. Have to say there is a lot of good material here.

Anyway, so I've fished since I was a little kid (31 now) but the past couple years Ive been taking it a little more serious than in the past. I picked up my first baitcaster yesterday at Dick's, they had the Pinnacle Matrix XT on sale for $50. Did a little research and had the money for the silver max or this reel and didn't hear too much negative regarding Pinnacle. THis reel is basically the Matrix X with the color changed for a Dick's exclusive reel. At least as far as I can tell. My question is has anybody used one these reels and what do they think of them?

Also the rod I think I'm going to pair it with is the Berkley Amp rod. I have this rod on one of my spinning combo's and love the sensativity. The only problem is the baitcasting rods at Dicks are 6'6" and I like the 7' like my spinning one. So I'm wondering what you guys think of this combo for mostly jigs and plastics but also to be an all around combo for throwing cranks and spinnerbaits?

One more thing to note. GO GIANTS!!!

Depending on the action and power of the rod 6'6" will be fine to get you started. Probably a 7' mh would beideal for a startup rod. I don't really have experience with the amp series of rods from Berkeley but the Berkeley rods I do have I've been pleased with. As far as the reel I have been turned off to "dicks exclusive" reels ever since I bought a quantum escalade and it broke after 6 months. Having said that a pinnacle can last a while (mines lasted 4 years). Not a bad combo to start but when you start looking for another setup I would first look at the BPS pro qualifier (79.99 on sale quite frequently) Academy's H2O mette reel (49.99 regular price) or something along those lines.

Ya, I heard good things about the pro qualifer but I had a $30 gift card for Dicks. THat and the Pro qualifier use to be made from Pinnacle from what I heard. The rod is med but what I like about it is when using a jig you can feel every little thing on the bottom. I don't know how well it will work pulling out of the thick stuff though.

I am going to spool it with braid. I saw on here that I should put a mono backing first. I was wondering, would it matter if I just used the extra mono that is on my daughters broken Dora fishing pole? LOL, seriously though does it matter what size backing of mono I use? I plan on putting 30 lb Power Pro on it.

There use to be Pinnacle forum on here I'm surpised more people didn't have info or experince w/ this reel. Or am I just that annoying new guy nobody responds too? Hahaha.

Any mono is ok. It just keeps the braid from slipping on the spool. Piece of tape would work also.

If you've done much reading on here, then you know that most posters are fanatics using the best they can afford. Some like me spend more than they really should, but you only go around once.