swiftability

Wow! The pikes are awesome! Nice photo-shoot, a lot of pleasure to see!

Simply

Thank you, fisherboy and thank you, Garry.

I've just got my new Revo SX and I gonna supertune it during winter time. I do think I'll put a new Suffix 20Lb braid line on it and try to toss some jigs/cranks/plastic lighter than 1/8 Oz to feel how this setup will work.

I can't find my BPS receipt though And I am not 100% sure they would take back their discontinued product. What would they do with it if there even no such a product code in their system anymore....

There is a question of using the right tool for the job here, and spinning gear will always handle light line and light baits better than casting gear. However, putting that argument aside, there are three basic problems to overcome...

 

First, picking a tangle out of fine line will be a nightmare. So, mono and Fluoro might not be a great choice.

 

Second, small diameter line might find it's way between the spool and the frame, so a high quality reel might be needed.

 

Third, the outfit needs to balance, so finding a medium light casting rod will be important.

 

I own a 50 size Calcutta and have a Loomis-Frontier ML rod. I have spooled it with 20# Powerpro and 14 # Fireline fused, which are both the same diameter as 6-8 pound mono.

 

My intention was to use it to throw very small crankbaits like 03, 05 or 07 Original Rapala's etc. The truth is, even with this light tackle, it's hard to generate the tip speed to throw these 1/16th and 1/8oz. baits very far. The fact that light casting rods tend to be 6ft. and under doesn't help with distance either.

 

In the end I went back to spinning gear for the tiny lures and threw 3/16th and 1/4oz baits with this outfit.

Thank you for your informative and kind reply, Garry!

A most reason of my question was that sometimes I run into posts at another forums where people state they're using even 6 Lb mono what simply amazed me. A fishing expert at WFN mentioned she uses 20Lb braid for baitcasting but when I PM her to specify this, she didn't respond for some reason.

So, from your response I realized this is quite possible but doesn't give any advantages to a spinning setup and requires quality reel. I think I'll try to supertune my Revo SX-HS what is on its way to me or BPS Carbonlite reel and try to find a decent 6+ feet ML rod to make myself busy during winter months

P.S. When you mentioned the outfit should be balanced, did you mean a light blank + light reel or that a balance point should be right under your reel or very close to it? I've found rods longer than 6'6" have their tips too heavy to achieve a balance with an average 8.5 Oz baitcaster and by that reason even got a balancing kit from BPS to tune my BPS Extreme and old Bionic rods.

I've recently put Kumho Solus KR21 M+S tires on my light truck. I was reffered to this brand by my mechanic who is a friend of mine same time. He mentioned the Korean tires got 1 place for price/value last year and they're decent ones. I did mt own research and bought them. Pretty nice, didn't even heard my ABS working yet (but it works, I checked)

When we are talking about finesse fishing with a baitcaster, does it mean we should use a lighter line? I always used 50Lb on my baitcasters and 12Lb mono, not less because line deeps into a spool. Would you use 10Lb or even 8Lb mono or braid with equivalent thickness on a baitcaster?

Of course I add 6-10 Lb fluo leader, but what about a main line?

Thank you, Garry, I do appreciate your input.

I will definitely try it for Steelhading this spring, you're right it may be a good rod for that. Not for drift fishing but for throwing light lures at least. I've never seen BPS Steelhading rods yet or anything made by BassPro for this fish. I live 10 minutes away from the store and unfortunately spend my time there more often than I go fishing That's a kind of "dry fishing" when my wife is doing her shopping in Vaugham Mills.

So I am still suspect it was designed for some bass fishing, but the length makes me suspicious

Please don't consider me rude, Garry, I really grateful to everyone helping me with my question. Still hope someone on the forum has the same rod or with similar test/length characteristics and would share his experience.

Also, BPS offers a 1 year exchange on their own brands which includes XPS if you can provide your receipt

Oh, do they? I thought it is a warranty, not exchange/refund or a gift card. I'll check this, thank you!

I think what you own is a Steelhead rod.

The softness of the rod is to protect light line.

You might also use it for live bait or casting crankbaits of the appropriate weigh.

Hmmm.... I doubt it's too short for steelheading. And the tip is Xtra Fast. I have Frontier 13' and couple other rods for trout, the ProLite Finesse is absolutely different. And it wasn't in trout section of the store either. I read some people use shorter versions in ML for shaky warms, weightless plastic, roboworms etc., but it is much more convenient to use spinning setup for this purpose, not 7'6" M what I have.

Lend it to me for the next year & I'll let you know what it worked best for

Richard

Wait until I pair it with Carbonlite reel I gonna buy when it comes on sale down from today's $119 and it will be a nice setup for something

But if seriously, - would you consider frog fishing a finesse technique? For some reason I use 6'6" MH rod with braided line for it and some of my frogs are 1/2 Oz. I am not telling it is how it suppose to be (I don't really know and heard a lot of people prefer mono over braid for topwaters), but it gives me control and feeling I can always get the frog out of weeds or fallen trees.

2 Solopadler

Thank you for reply. It has a nice PowerHump cork grip and it would be too brutal to put it in a rod-holder... It feels light and really finesse, trolling may overkill it, I suspect.

2 Aplumma

Certainly not for jerking, it is too long for it. I would touch water if I try walking-a-dog. Light Texas or Carolina, - may be... Just can't realize what technique it was initially designed for My BPS Extreme I use for pitching was designed for Carolina rigs and there is this word on the blank. But it way heavier, - up to 1 1/2 Oz and has a decent backbone.

Hello everyone,

I have the rod in my garage for almost a year, still in plastic I tried it one time for walleye jigging on BOQ and got several nice fish one of them being my PB. But I felt the 1/2 Oz jigs I used were a bit heavy for this rod and put it aside for consideration and forgot about it . When I looked at it next time, a BPS 30-days return term had been already passed. So I am still guessing what I would use the rod for .

It is finesse rod so it would be logically to assume I could use it for wacky worms and light jigs but when I'm trying to cast such a bait using overhead or side cast, it flies anywhere but not to the target I am not new to baitcasting and have about 10 setups with mostly shorter 6'3"-7' rods in MH class and only one 7'6" being BPS Extreme 3'8-1 1/2 for pitching. For everything weightless like wacky warms I prefer spinning setup with 14Lb Power Pro and it is just perfect for me giving a distance and confidence when I'm casting against a wind.

For some unknown reason I am not throwing crankbaits preferring to use 3/8-1/2 spinnerbaits instead and do it about 60% of my casting time...

So, I would be very grateful if you guys could turn me into the right direction by expressing your opinion what would you use this rod for? The outing I used it I put Daiwa TD-Pro with 12 Lb Seaguar AbrazX Fluo on it and it was a first time I used fluo as a main line on a baitcaster. I had overruns due to stiffness of fluro and finally switched back to Power Pro being much softer. So probably it was a reason of my poor short casting when I tried to throw jigs.

Thank you!

I wouldn't recommend 3 pcs rod either. I have my 13' G.Loomis Frontier in 3 pieces and man, every time I'm fishing I'm asking myself why I didn't get 2 pieces rod... When my buddies are ready to fish in seconds it takes up to a minute to me to get all the line where it suppose to be and connect the three pieces together Same when I'm packing the rod. And all of the benefits are that my rod is just a foot shorter when I put it into my car. The rod always travels in the car's saloon, not in the trunk anyways so there are usually 2-3 rods in the car when we are going fishing. And all my friends have 13' 2-pieces rods.

I would recommend Shimano Convergence close to that money, you'll get limited lifetime warranty with their good service centre in Mississauga, not somewhere in the States.

Thank you very much for the report, FishFarmer!

You saved me a day and gas for sure! Ok, BOQ is over this year for me, good luck everyone!

I have couple, one is yellow perch and another one a little smaller colored as a shiner. They were doing pretty well on pike but it is true they are far not a first weapon I use Jigging Rapalas are #1 for sure

I'll give the perch Salmo another try tomorrow while jigging for walleye at BOQ.