Low Profile Baitcasters, My Learning Curve

In 2006 at the age of 17 I received my first low profile baitcaster. Up to that point I had spent much of my time perfecting the art of using spinning and spincast reels. One day (which may or may have not been the last day of my Junior year in High School) a bunch of friends and I hit a local creek for a few hours. One of my friends was using a low profile baitcaster, which at the time mesmerized me. I watched as he threw a 1/2oz spinnerbait across current, and then proceeded to hook and land a decent bass with little effort. My curiosity soon got the better of me.  I slowly worked my way over to him and started asking him questions about his reel. Why do you use that kind of reel, how does it cast, whats that knob for, etc.? Conversation died and the fish stopped biting. Soon the sun set and we all headed back to our vehicles. On the way up the hill I told my friend that I was going to have to buy one of those reels. He set his stuff down, reached into his tackle box, and pulled out an old brown baitcaster. He said it still worked, but he had no need for it anymore. After a few rounds of, "let me give you something for it"---- "No, no its fine. I don't use it anyway", "Here's $20",------"I don't want your money.", I was a proud owner of my first low profile baitcaster. The reel was a Bass Pro Shops Mega Cast, a reel that Bass Pro offered for around $30.

I spent the whole summer learning how to use that reel, and to be honest there were several occasions in which it was one birdnest away from getting thrown into the water. Looking back at the situation, it was probably some of my fault. I was throwing lures that were too light for that baitcaster, probably casting way harder than I needed to, and I didn't know how to work the magnetic brakes or the tension knobs correctly.

In the winter of 2007/2008 I bought my second low profile baitcaster, a Quantum DS300CX. Bass Pro Shops had a winter sale and placed the Quantum Bill Dance rod and reel combo on sale for $69, I thought it was a good price so I bought it. Spring came around and I started throwing my favorite bait at the time, a 3/8oz texas rigged worms. I spent more time picking out birdnests than I did fishing. Both baitcast reels were then retired to catfishing and carp fishing. They did very well in those applications, as casting a .5oz-1oz egg sinker was more than enough weight to cast the reel effectively. The retrieve speed of the low profile baitcasters was much higher than that of my spinning reels at the time, making fighting fish much easier. The line capacity was much larger which allowed me to use heavier line (12lb test), which also aided in landing channel catfish and carp. However, as far as bass fishing was concerned I was stuck with my spinning reels.

In 2010 I purchased my next baitcaster, an Abu Garcia Silver Max for around $50. In the last three years (2007-2010) I had upgraded my catfish reels to Abu Garcia's Ambassadeur 6500's, mainly because we had started to get into some larger fish that were stressing our small baitcasters to their limits. In fear of losing a fish of a lifetime I did my research and found that the Ambassadeurs were the go-to reels for catfishing. These reels were said to be "lifetime" reels, meaning that they would last you a lifetime. (And after 4 years of heavy use, I agree.) My point is that by 2010 I was becoming a big fan of Abu Garcia. So when the time came to replace one of my low profile bait casters I went to Abu Garcias line up of reels. In 2010 I was still in college and very broke so I had a pretty tight budget. I found the Abu Garcia silver max for $50 and bought it. Spring rolled around and I took it out to a pond and tried it out. I tied on a 3/8oz Texas rigged worm and started throwing it around the pond. I couldn't cast very far with the light weight, but I quickly noticed that the reel was very forgiving. I didn't birdnest much and when I did it wasn't very bad. For the next two years I found myself alternating between spinning and baitcasting reels for bass fishing.  The baitcaster was reserved for when I used larger/heavier baits and the spinning reel for baits 3/8oz and under.

Late into the 2011 season I decided to try the next model up from Abu Garcia's Silver Max. I wanted to see if spending a little more money really made a difference in performance. I went to Bass Pro Shops one evening and decided to buy the Abu Garcia Pro Max2 for $80. I took it out to a local lake and instantly fell in love. I remembered telling myself that,  "This is what a baitcaster is supposed to feel like." The reel had a gear ratio of 7:1:1 which took up 31" of line per handle turn, making it the fastest retrieve of any reel that I owned at the time. It casted at least 10 yards further than its little brother the Silver Max. Birdnests still occurred, but they weren't nearly as bad as the ones I got from my first two baitcasters. This reel drove the final nail in the coffin of bass fishing spinning reels.

In 2012 I decided to pick up another Abu Garcia Pro Max so that I could have two combos for bass fishing. I was getting tired of having to retie lures every time I wanted to make a change. I could  use braid on one reel and mono on the other if I wished, or just simply have one bait ready as a back up. I knew that the Pro Max2 was a good reel, so I didn't want to experiment much with reel selection. However, I discovered that Abu Garcia made a Pro Max with a flipping lever, which allowed the angler to flip baits without having to thumb the spool. It was a good option, or so I thought. I went ahead and purchased it with the thought of using it as a Texas-rigged plastics and jig combo. I planned on reserving my other Pro Max for everything else. For some reason, I just didn't like the second Pro Max. It was still leaps and bounds better than the Silver Max, but it didn't live up the the first Pro Max. It didn't feel as smooth, didn't cast as far, etc. I'm not sure if there was a design change, or if it was just a bad reel.  In the end I decided to use the black Pro Max solely and retie when I needed to make a lure change.  

In 2012 I also purchased a Diawa MF100THS for around $90. The Diawa Mega Force 100THS was a model that offered a new feature called the"Twitching Bar." To be honest, I bought the reel purely on the fact that it had this cool new feature. I had read about it in a magazine and wanted to try it. The twitching bar was a feature that allowed the angler to twitch his/her bait without moving the rod, a technique that shines in finesse fishing. With a simple press of a button, the reel would quickly retrieve a small amount of line....thus twitching your bait along. Diawa also claimed that the twitching bar could pick up slack line before a hook set. These were all things that sounded cool to me on paper, but once I got the reel in my hand and used it a time or two I realized that it was all useless. I liked to feel my bait when I twitch it in order to see if I hit something or if a fish decided to eat my bait. With this new twitching bar, feeling my bait was next to impossible. The twitch bar was so abrupt that many times I actually twitched the bait right out of a fishes mouth. One evening I was twitching a fluke when all of a sudden I hit the twitch bar and I discovered that a fish had eaten my bait. The line was tight and the sudden twitch spooked the fish and it took off before I could set a solid hook. I fought the fish for a few seconds, but the fish eventually freed itself. In a fit of rage I bit my line in two at my reel, took the reel off of my rod, and threw the reel into the river. (Thus the reason for no picture) 

During the winter of 2012/2013 I decided to splurge a little and buy a reel over $100. Since I had seen such a tremendous difference between the $30 and $80 reels, I figured that there would be an even more noticeable difference in the $80- $150 reels. I did my research and narrowed my options down to three reel companies; Abu Garcia, Shimano, and Lews. These companies were leading the pack in innovation and performance. I went to Bass Pro Shops once again and began looking at my options. They only offered Abu Garcia and Shimano, so Lews was out of the question. I grabbed each reel within my budget, held them in the palm of my hand, and turned the handle a few times. Before holding the reels I was pretty sure that I was going to buy Abu Garcia's Revo line of reels, but once I held Shimano's Curado I started to second guess myself. The Curado was super smooth, the power R grip 2 handles fit nicely between my thumb and forefinger, and it was very light weight. Both reels sported a tremendous list of features, nothing one had was more spectacular than a feature or part that the other had. I asked the lady behind the counter if she had a preference between Abus Revo's and Shimano's Curado, in which she replied "I own a curado and I love it". My response was, "I'll take it."

On the way home I was in a bit of shock, after paying nearly $500 at the cash register for the reel, a rod, and tackle. I kept telling myself that I could have bought 2 of Abu Garcia's Pro Max reels for the price of the Shimano Curado. A couple months later I had the opportunity to take the Curado out and use it. To make a long story short, it was nothing short of amazing. I started with a 3/8oz bait and worked my way all the way down to 1/4oz jig head and grub. It threw all of the baits well and birdnests were nearly non existent. The reel was super smooth, there wasn't any play in the handle, the drag was smooth, it casted well, and just felt comfortable to hold. It sounds corny, but it was a pleasure to fish with. I didn't have to think about avoiding a birdnest or trying too hard to cast a lure. Everything became second nature.

After using the Curado I couldn't make myself go back to Abu Garcia's Pro Max.....I had spoiled myself. I spent a month or so using the Curado as my only bass rod. I had gotten a new job and money was starting to build up in my bank account so I decided to get yet another reel. This time around I wanted to break into the $200 class reels. Both Shimano and Abu Garcia offered reels just at $200. This time around I didn't have to do research, I knew what I wanted. While shopping for the Curado I had seen a very sharp looking reel in the shamano line up of reels. It was white and black and had a recessed reel seat making it a lower profile reel. The Shimano Chronarch which came in at $199. I didn't even pick up an Abu Garcia Revo this time around. I walked up to the counter and asked for the Shimano Chronarch in the highest gear ratio offered (7:1:1). I bought it, put it on a rod, and took it to the lake. Other than its lower profile, which makes it feel smaller in your palm, and its clean white appearance it handled nearly identical to the Curado. In this case the extra $50 did not make that much of a difference. Needless to say, it is still a phenomenal reel. Ive spent 8 months of solid fishing with both Shimano reels and have yet to have a single problem with them. I can't say if they are better than the Abu Garcia Revo line of reels, but what I can say is that I have no reason to try them and find out. 


SUMMARY

In the last 7 years I have discovered that when it comes to low profile baitcasting reels, you get what you pay for. With that said, I have found some general prices that separate bad reels from good reels and good reels from great reels. Reels under $50 are "Junk", don't buy them and don't give them to other people. They are good for casting weight over 1/2oz and will backlash at the drop of a hat. If your just learning how to use these reels, please do yourself a favor and don't buy them. The chance of you leaving the rod and reel in the corner of your garage to collect dust are pretty high, and if your like me the chances of it ending up at the bottom of the lake or river is even higher. Reels that are between $60-$100 are what I consider "usable" reels. You can go out with most lures over 3/8oz and expect to handle them with ease, stay fairly stress free, and birdnest free. The reels that I bought in the $150 to $200 range I would consider "Performance" reels. These reels are going to let you throw the lightest baits in your box, birdnest the least, and work day in and day out. Another important thing to note, is not to buy a reel just because it has a new cool feature. More often than not, its just a way to get your money.  If its been on the market for a while, take a look at the reviews and see what people have to say about it. If the reviews are consistently good, then buy the reel.

Hopefully this has helped anyone who is just getting into low profile baitcasters or anyone who is just ready for an upgrade.