Lets leave tackle reviews aside for a few moments. It’s time for another Troutin’ Story, this time in the far north, the far end of Sweden, beyond the polar circle.

I never thought I’d go on such an adventure, at least not in the near future, but unstable as I and Stefan are, we somehow took the Bear Grills approach to a fishing trip. As extreme as we could find in a month and a half’s time.

After writing about 8-10 e-mails, and about 8-10 phone calls further in the future, we finally came across someone who would take us out fishing into the wilderness of Sweden after the 30th of August. That’s about when the fishing season ends for about everyone that far north, but that’s when we were both available for this trip, and we needed to find someone available to take us. Mikko answered our preyers, and booked us for a helicopter flight into the wilderness….

Do I even have to mention the next few weeks passed like they were days?!

28th of August, late in the night
Panic attack was setting in. I couldn’t collect my thoughts regarding all the items I’d pack. No matter how I’d pack them it seemed I would never be able to make them fit in my backpack. We needed to go as light as posible. But you know us anglers… you can never go to light when it comes to tackle. You’d rather sacrifice a few clothing items instead of that handfull of lures. That’s exactly what we did… We went as light as we could with our clothing, and squeezed more lures than normal in all our boxes, we both preferred jerkbaits, especially the sallow ones, and tons of spoons. Other than a backpack we had to drag with ourselves a big bazuca, packed with rods, and Stefan’s wet suit… he insisted we had to take that as well, even if I wasn’t totally in on it.

30th of August – departure day

Departure - Timisoara International Airport - in Romania

5 hours and 3 planes later, Mikko was already instructing us on how to set up the Tentipi we rented, and was ready with our fishing passes and all the instructions we needed. We were leaving in about half an hour. It almost seemed unbelievable it was all happening. Did I forget to mention I never set foot in a heli before?… I guess not… how bad could it be?

15:10
We are loading everything in the helicopter. The bazuca with all our rods doesn’t fit… until Mikko finds the only way to make it fit… huh… that was a close call. As soon as the helicopter lifted we both knew there was no turning back. It was all or nothing. After a few miles flying just above the tree line,  the pilot pulls the stick, and we start gaining some altitude, and perspective on the land in front of us: water everywhere you looked, large rivers, small streams, ponds, swamps… that’s how Lapland looks from above.

Water, moss, brush, rocks, swamps, water, moss, brush, rocks.....

Mikko said this is a very good spot for enormous pike

Notice the white spot!... That's near our camping site!

It didn’t seem much, but we got to our final destination, our camping site, a small patch of leveled earth, moss and stones, right on the river bank. This is it! All forms of contact are useless from now on. We only have a pick up date. If something goes wrong we’ll have to make due. It’s just us, nature, on our own “private” patch of land, “rented” for 8 days. Is it overwhelming? It sorta is, considering all the unknowns… we only know what’s around us from the map Mikko left us.

17:30
We set up camp, the tent is unlike anything we were used to so far, similar to an amerindian tipi. It had a ventilation hole that was controllable from a set of strings that were stretched down the mast of the tent. The vent would come in handy when we had to warm up or dry our clothes at night, with the kerosene warmer Miko gave us. After setting up the tent we wasted no time in organizing our luggage and the rest of the stuff, in and outside the tent. Next step, believe it or not was to set up our gear. We were going to fish today, until sundown. We were placed right above a 200meter long water fall, and from what we knew, upstream from the waterfall we would catch only trout, and arctic char, while downstream we will find lots and lots of grayling as well.

The large opening in the river, right above the waterfall forms a huge lake.

Our "cabin", the Tentipi starts to take shape...

The Tentipi is up, and functional.

Notice the vent...

Lets prepare our rods now, and start fishing. After-all that's what we came here to do!

The salmonids season closes today, so if we caught any trout, we had to release them… grayling and whitefish were the only 2 species that we were allowed to retain for our dinner grill. That shouldn’t have been a problem… would it? Especially if fish was going to be our everyday dinner.

Jerkbaits were the preferred lures in the stretch of river we chose for this afternoon, but no grayling… it’s 21:00 and we’ve only caught trout so far. It’s frustrating considering we planned to eat fish every night. That’s how our food was portioned. But right on my last cast I miraculously manage to catch a grayling. If we would’ve planned it, this was almost impossible, but …. we have dinner … As Bear Grills always sais: “Food and fire are always good for moral!” ) If you haven’t tried baked onions and grilled fish… you have to… it’s impossible to describe how good that is.

Dinner!!!!!

31st of August 2011
5:00 Beat and tired, I truly can’t remember how we fell asleep last night. Stefan woke up first… his internal clock is like magic… and after waking me up as well, we established a game plan for today, and the days to come. Today we’ll explore the large lake formed on the river, right upstream the waterfall, trying to figure out a way to get across.

5:30 We got out of the tent, made our morning tea. Coffee was “banned” in our camp, and by the way… the tea we bought tastes like detergent. But that’s the tea we had, that’s the one we’ll drink, that’s the one we’ll learn to love.

Green tea... detergent aroma

6:30 The rain doesn’t seem to fold. It keeps on going, and we finally start fishing. Up to 50-150 meters from the shore, this large pool formed on the river, had water knee deep. We had to get where the fish were, and that meant at least waist deep water.  We went thru jerkbaits like crazy, to find the best one to catch them no matter where we were throwing them. I finally find the ONE, Rapala X-Rap 08. 5-6 casts with this lure caught me the same amount of trout… WOW! WOW my ass… I realized I only had 2 of them , and the first one was lost after the first 6 casts. I cast the second one, and after 4-5 more casts, and the same amount of trout caught on it, another hefty one brakes my line… As soon as they felt they were cornered, they started hitting their head against the rocky bottom in order to escape the lure. These were no ordinary trout by any mean.

Rain, fog, clouds... that's our weather for the next 8 days

Salmo Minnow 5cm was good, but not good enough...

I had no more X-Raps… And this was only the first day of fishing. Stefan quickly realized on what I was catching them… X-Rap it was for him as well. He caught them one after another. He had 3 of them. Lost 2 in a matter of 40 minutes, but he still had one left. You can trust me he would guard this one, even if his life depended on it.

Stefan noticed the X-Raps I was throwing, and started catching them one after another...

I was searching thru jerkbaits like crazy again, in order to find another one that was close to that efficient. I had to change my main line to braided, because I was loosing to many lures fishing with monofilament. I couldn’t control them very efficiently because of the elasticity of the line.

Did I say... one after another?

10:45 The excitement was cut short by Stefan. He sliped on a rock in knee deep water, and was already wet to the bone. In solidarity, you know what that means… get back to the camp site, make a fire, and change clothes, even if I would’ve preferred to fish some more.

That's the spot, where Stefan landed on his back in knee deep water

Later We went further up, towards the end of this large basin, where the river was flowing in it again. As I expected, Stefan, in each spot we fished caught them one after another with the X-Rap, while I was still searching for the right jerk bait. I got the beating of my life… but in the end I had an idea. After struggling to catch a few ones with a Vision Q-Go from Megabass, I had the idea of getting the feathered treble from a popper and adapt it to a Lucky Craft Pointer 65 SP. As soon as I did this, I started catching again, not only that, but it caught me the largest trout of the day, after a nearly humiliating experience, while I was constantly looking at Stefan as he was catching them one after another… This was the last trout of the day. We had to get back to camp, and build a fire.

First, and the only char we'd see this trip... and to think they lured us into this area...

Cute little fella.

Megabass Vision Q-GO... landed a few fat ones!

Pointer 65 SP, caught the largest trout of the day

1st of Septeber
7:00 After the exhausting hiking, fishing experience of yesterday… we knew we wouldn’t get up at 5 again. Stefan woke up first… The rain was still pouring. We took our breakfast inside the tent today. Scrambled eggs, cheese and a hefty portion of hungarian sausages .

The plan for today is to hike up to where this large pool in the river ends, and try to cross the river. Yesterday it looked as we could do it, an if we did, we had a new areas of virgin open water just for ourselves…

Hiking in any direction was challenging. The 50cm moss covering everything, felt like walking on a giant sponge. The moss was only interrupted by shrub, rocky terrain and swamps, no formed paths, other than those created by reindeer. The trip would take the entire day, so we packed all we needed in our backpacks.

20:30 After an entire day of fishing, with out initial plan, a partial failure: we didn’t find any way to get across, but had the best fishing game, upstream of the pool, we explored yesterday. We’ve only caught large trout today. Unlike yesterday, this area wasn’t as ideal for the X-Rap, which dove a bit deeper than needed. We’ve found that Yo-Zuri Pin’s Magnet and Lucky Craft Flash Minnow 95MR were doing a much better job.

Yo-Zuri Pin's Minnow Magnet, the star of the day!

Trout are genetically born to swim all their lives… so you can imagine it’s hard to make them understand it’s time to stop, even for a few moments, but in the end they had no choice, their muscles had to fail sometime, but so did our arms, which were in need of a brake, after 2-3 of these giant river trout.

This was a day of extremes, exhaustion, and tons of big ass trout. Stefan felt the need to slip for the second time, and we had to withdraw to our “comfy” cabin again… I would’ve preferred more fishing, but we had a pact… and had to keep to it. It was to risky to be anywhere far away from camp alone… anything could happen… far away from, well…. everything.

Panorama of the water-fall near our camping site

Keep tuned for more wild adventures!

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

In the past years tuning and customizing reels got a voice of it’s own, and starts to change the face of fishing. Faster bearings, lighter and lighter spools, more performant braking systems, out of this world handles, full bearing supported knobs, and lots more can make a reel more than you bargained for.
But the question is: ” Is it all worth it? Are there tangible results? Or is it just playing tricks on us?”

Boca Bearings Orange Seal, ABEC #7

We are trying to find some of the answers in the next test. We have chosen 2 reels for the test to see if Boca Bearings really make a difference: an old and famous reel, Abu Morrum 3601 Mag, and a new Shimano model, Scorpion 1501XT.

Morrum 3601C Mag

Shimano Scorpion 1500/1501 XT

We tested their performance with their factory bearings, and afterwards, did the same tests with Boca Bearings ABEC 7 Orange seals, throwing 5.5g (3/16 oz), 10g (3/8 oz) and 15g (about 1/2 oz) weights. How noticeable is the difference in casting distance? Is there any difference, or it only makes the reel feel smoother? I guess we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?

Considering we’ll do the testing only for a few hours, we decided to leave the bearings dry… We’ve tested them afterwards, oiled, and actually didn’t feel the difference (using Friction Zero ZPI oil or High Speed Oil from Boca).

The cold was keeping us company

The rod used for the test is a custom St.Croix SC5 5S68MXF,  6’8”, 6-14 lbs, 3/16 – 5/8 oz, ex-fast action, medium power. Not the best casting rod, but it was the one that loaded the best with all the weights used in the test. In order to draw a conclusion, we did a few accommodation casts with each of the weights, and afterwards did 5 more that were accounted for. In the end, we calculated the arithmetic average of the 5 distances measured.

Exact measurements, no cheating here

1. Abu Garcia Morrum SX3601C Mag casting distance:

Orange Seal Boca Bearings(OSBB), compared to original, manufacturer bearings:
- 5.5 gr. – 9 m extra with OSBB, meaning +26,6 % gain in “performance”;
- 10 gr. – 6 m extra with OSBB, meaning +13,6 % gain in “performance”;
- 15 gr. – 11,6m extra with OSBB, meaning +24 % gain in “performance” ;

Avarage gain in performance (distance): 21,4 % with OSBB.

Observations:
With the manufacturer, original, bearings (almost 12 years old, since this Morrum was mada – according to its serial number) Razvan used to cast with the tension know completely untightened, and the magnetic brake set to 5, out of 10.
After replacing the bearings with OSBB, he couldn’t make one cast with those settings. He had to tighten the magnetic brake to the maximum, and make a few small adjustments with the tension knob to be able to cast them. The hybrid Boca’s seem to spin darn fast.

If it matters, with all the braking systems set to zero, the spool spinned 18seconds with the manufacturer, original bearings, and 50 seconds with the Boca Orange Seal’s.

2.Shimano Scorpion 1501 XT casting distance:

Orange Seal Boca Bearings(OSBB), compared to original, manufacturer bearings:
- 5,5 gr. – 5,2 m extra with OSBB, meaning +14,9 % gain in “performance”;
- 10 gr. – 5,2 m extra with OSBB, meaning +11,1 % gain in “performance”;
- 15 gr. – 9,8 m extra with OSBB, meaning +20 % gain in “performance”;

Avarage gain in performance (distance): 15,3 % with OSBB

Observations:
Settings with the Scorpion 1501 XT, as well as with the Curado 51E are a breeze. In this case, in need of thumb control, for maximum distance, I only pulled out one of the centrifugal brake blocks. A few adjustments from the tension knob here and there, and off we go.

Amongst the 2 reels, it’s the most controllable, as easy as it is with the Curado 51E.

With all the brake blocks deactivated, the spool spun 29 seconds with the manufacturer original bearings, and, in this case (the spool wasn’t filled with line), with the Orange Seal Boca’s it spun 1min and 15 sec.

As you’ve seen the decade old ABU had poor performance with the original bearings, and excelled with the Boca bearings, the difference being the most noticeable. The gain in performance with the Scorpion is less evident, but if you come to think about it, with a 1/2 oz weight, there’s a very visible difference in casting distance, even with this new generation reel, this distance will definitely improve your catching chances, especially on a clear water reservoir, where every foot counts, in this case instead of casting 160 ft (49m) you’ll cast that necessary 33 ft.  (9-10m) further, increasing your chances to catch that spooky fish.

It’s obvious Orange Seal Boca’s are a gain in performance. Is it worth it? That’s for everyone to decide.I’ve changed all my spool bearings to Boca’s, if that’s any consolation:) , and will continue to do so in the future with all my new reels. They are by far the cheapest quality upgrade, excepting the carbontex drag.

Boca's and pike are made for each other

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

I was really keen on buying a Curado 201E. Just my luck that my transaction was denied on a black November Sale. No matter! I’ll get a better one. A pal, Razvan, keeps insisting that I take a look at the Abu MGX, because he has read only good things about it.

I search the Internet for the next 2 days, and I finally get the feeling this is what I want on my lighter than air custom Kistler LTX 2 rod. It’s the lightest reel ever, weighing in a hammering 154g, and winner of ICAST Best Freshwater Reel.

I didn’t think too much about it, and placed the order. I am a lefty and luckily I’ve found a lefty for myself. I was desperate to have it. Lighter than a Steez, cheaper than the Steez, I was beyond inpatient. I opted for the 7.1:1 gear ratio. I know it had a smaller diameter spool, but 7.9:1 just sounded too fast, even if it was comparable to the regular reels that had 7.1-7.3 gear ratio’s. Mine would recup about 72cm/handle turn. I’ll be using it especially for fishing plastics, and spinnerbaits.

Two weeks passed and I finally got it. The “magic” black box that has “Abu Garcia For Life” written all over it. I hope not to fall into Abu’s trap, with the “For Life” thing. I kinda love diversity.

First impression (Design/Feel): As light as a feather. Matte black – I love it! Man this reel is light…crazy light! I’m just checking the weight of the reel, to see if I’ve got what I was promised. And what do you know? That’s exactly what I got, but half a gram lighter (not that it would make a difference). A 153.5 g reel.

Abu MGX - 153.5g

The detailing is impeccable. It is very smooth, considering it had oil “leaking” of all it’s pores. It was over greased, but that was an easily solvable problem. It was very smooth, especially due to the 9+1 bearings.

Abu Garcia's Logo - on the tension knob

I’m tightening the brake up… it works. More than that, it’s a clicking drag star. As on any other respectable reel. The tension knob, the same: clicking tension knob. With all these features you might wonder where did they shave all of that weight from, considering the extras.

The reel, as small as it is, is very comfortable, easily palmable. I’m already ecstatic. And I’m just 10 minutes into observing the reel, maybe even less.

Now lets take a look at the adjustable centrifugal brake – Infinitely Variable Centrifugal Brake System (IVCB-IV). It’s the first exterior adjustable variable braking system I’ve seen and used so far. The interesting thing about it is that the brake blocks act vertically instead of horizontally , as in the rest of the centrifugal braking system that other competitors use.

Abu MGX - Externally adjustable centrifugal brake

The carbon handle is equipped with EVA knobs, which seem more comfortable than the Shimano or Daiwa knobs so far. The handle is a swept design, which is a plus in what looks matter, at least from my point of view. Some still prefer the straight handle over the swept one.

Inside the Abu MGX (Gears and Durability): If anyone thought I might be sitting and observing this reel any longer, they might rethink it. I’ve had to open it up, degrease it, and regrease it. The worm gear seems to be DurAl, with a hard protective coating. The main gear seems to be made out of some sort of brass alloy. Seems to be the same material used in the legendary Abu Morrum’s.

MGX's Gears

The plastic support for the worm gear has a metal reinforcement, unlike what I've seen in other reels.

The brake disks seem to be some sort of carbon material, which Abu calls Carbon Matrix Drag System. It’s utilized in all of Abu’s Revo reels.

Only one washer in this reel

The spool weighs in at an impressive 11g, bearing included. Impressive, considering the Daiwa Sol’s spool weighs in at 16g. I’m already starting to wonder how it does, casting wise. I doubt it’ll cast better than the Curado 51E, but I like imagining me casting it a country mile:). I bet it’ll be much more controllable than the Sol, and probably about the same as the Curado.

Really light spool!

With all its guts out, I forgot to mention that only the frame is made out of actual metal. It’s made out of the X-MAG Alloy, proprietary to Abu, while both side plates are C6 Infused Carbon, which I guess is about the same material as the Zaion from Daiwa or the Ci4 from Shimano. This is where it probably shove most of the weight off. The reel seems sturdy, and doesn’t have the airy feel, you’d expect from this reel. Let me tell you an advantage you haven’t thought about for the C6 carbon side plates. Let’s just say that during winter months this reel is the most comfortable of them all. It won’t absorb the heat out of your palm as a metal reel would.
E.g.: I was fishing the reel without gloves, while Razvan was fishing both Abu Morrum and Daiwa Zillion with gloves . I bet you haven’t thought about it this way.

To much grease - and the trigger mechanism has more plastic than you'd probably want in a reel. This is what happens when you need to shave weight and $$ of...

The trigger mechanism is mostly plastic, and a few key parts made out of metal. It seems to do the job for now, but we’ll have to see how it does in the long run.

If you’d expect a Japan made reel, than you’re definitely mistaking. The reel is actually made in Korea. I’ve seen a lot of very well made reels in Korea, and with the right supervision, some might even surpass Made in Japan quality.

Made in Korea sticker

Almost forgot to mention that it has an oiling trap door, that permits lubrication to the gears, if you don’t like to open the reel up to often.

Under the 7.1:1 gear ratio inscription, notice the trap door for lubrication

Retrieve: Considering the whooping 153g it has, I’m testing the lightest reel on the planet. You’d expect it to feel a bit on the geary, or airy side… You should feel it’s something different, than a entirely metal reel, but it doesn’t feel that different, except the weight.

It’s very smooth. You don’t get the geary feeling, while it feels a bit aerated at times. The smoothness comes from all the bearings, and from the 4 bearings supported knobs (2 per knob). I’ve fished it with almost everything, except deep cranks. It handles the heat without any problems, and still feels as smooth as when I’ve bought it.

2 bearings / handle knob = silky smooth reel

The funny thing about it being so light: for e.g. I was fishing spinnerbaits for pike the first time, and because of it being so light, and the C6 Carbon side plates, I get the feeling it acts as resonance chamber that amplifies the vibrations transmitted thru the line and rod. I mean that the entire reel acts as a resonance chamber. Until I actually got the feel of it I thought something was crooked, thinking it couldn’t handle the pressure, but what I was actually feeling was the vibration of the spinnerbait in the reel, which is an entirely new feeling, at least for me it is. I have no other reel that amplifies the vibrations from the lure. To feel what’s happening at the end of the line both in the rod and the reel needs some getting used to. It takes sensitivity  (at least when fishing spinnerbaits) to a whole new level. You need to get used to it, in a good way…

The 7.1:1 gear ratio feels as powerful as the Curado 51E, but much smoother than the Curado, and very little back-play in the spool/overall, compared to the Curado (when you lock everything down).

7.1:1 Gear ratio - is just about perfect.

After fishing it for a few months, it still feels silky smooth, and even smoother then when I bought it, after changing the spool bearings to Boca. Who would’ve thought that changing the spool bearings would make the entire reel feel smoother.

Line lay: The reel lays the line well, and evenly, so there’s no issue in this department.

Casting: As I’ve said earlier, I’d pair the MGX with my Custom Kistler LTX2 rod. The entire combo weighs in at 260g (9.17oz.), with the line aded to the reel, less than a Shimano Calais DC reel . The entire combo is lighter than you’d expect. Everyone who had it in their hands couldn’t just stop praising it.

Casting it with the 4 brake blocks was a breeze. Such a breeze, that after the first fishing game, I had to remove 2 of them to see how much further I could cast. Of course you can cast it further, but you won’t be able to set the brake to the minimum setting after this operation. I’ve casted everything with it, from 4″ fluke’s (Fin’s Shad – from Lunker City), rattle traps, and swim baits without a hitch. It casts just perfect, everything you throw at it.

I removed 2 brake blocks - notice the line lay as well....

Small bass are very hard to come by these days

I’ve went the extra mile and changed the spool bearings with ABEC 7, Orange Seal Boca’s. If the reel already was smooth to start with, now it’s in the ultra silky smooth league. It casts better, and further. Pitching is a also a breeze with this reel, while, skipping, with 2 braking blocks removed seems to be a bit harder to do, not to say… very difficult . It was doing well with all the 4 braking blocks, if it matters. If you want to do skipping with the reel, I’d advise not to remove any of the braking blocks.

First day out with the Revo MGX

Compared to the Curado 51E, it doesn’t cast as well, but close enough. The Curado is in a class of it’s own when it comes to casting.

Brake: The Carbon Matrix seems to do a very good job. It’s much more powerful than a Curado, Sol, Zillion or a Fuego. It can handle really good pressure. I haven’t fished it with 60lb test braid to see how much it can take, but it’s definitely much powerful than the above. You have to clean the brake washers, and regrease them for your liking to get it consistent. When I bought it… I had to jerk the line to get it rolling out at a constant pressure. Now it can handle 5.7kg of pressure, if you really tighten it up, that’s the equivalent to 12.5lb, a tad more than advertised.

Conclusion: This is a reel I’ll definitely keep for a long time. It’s not casting as well as the Curado, but not one reel I’ve had so far is. It’s light as a feather. It has lots of backbone, and is silky smooth. What more do you want from a reel?

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

Rapala is one of the worlds most long-lasting companies in the industry, since the first lure carved by Lauri Rapala in the 1930′s till this day when it continues to grow, holding over 300 world record catches it manufactures lures for more than 80 years now. Lures that brought smiles on many fisherman’s faces. Even I remember that amongst my first lures in my small tackle box, almost 20 years ago, Rapala were the most acclaimed for. But that’s another story, as this review we’ll discuss some other type of Rapala product: Rapala Pro Wear X-ProTect Chest Waders to be exact.

I’ve had them for 2 years now, and wore them occasionally, at least until the last trip I had in the Kiruna area, Sweden. It’s probably the harshest terrain they will ever encounter.

Since I’m not a fly-fisherman I decided not to spent a whole lot of money on a pair of waders. Which is somehow understandable as I don’t wade a lot. I probably use waders 2-3 times a year, even though I really like this type of fishing, especially in cold water trout infested rivers and streams. There’s no better way of catching this wary fish than to walk upstream and take them by surprise.

Presentation:  Their description convinced me this would be the best choice for the. I didn’t want to go spent over 100-140$ for a pair of waders at that time. They feature a 3 layer breathable construction, all over, with no reinforced knees or any additional features. 3mm neoprene socks, articulated knees, and internal zipped pocket for electronic devices filled up the spec list. Looks, and feels perfect to me. Checked them, and double checked them when I finally got my hands around them, and they seemed perfect, even though I didn’t really fell for the color… seemed too out of place, no matter what the surrounding environment was.  They were armed with a repair kit in case anything should happen. Never bothered to read the instructions… really.

Out into the wild test: First time out with them, and was overwhelmed with the good decision I had made. Everything seemed to fit in perfectly at first glance. After getting to use them for a while I started detecting all sort of things. The suspenders were loosening every time I went fishing with them. Sometimes this was uncomfortable, especially during summer days when I had nothing than a t-shirt on. The suspenders kept loosening every hour. It’s probably from the way I walk ). If I was well dressed, meaning some type of clothing over the suspenders, or a backpack, then the loosening was happening a tad slower, and wasn’t that noticeable or uncomfortable.

Nice to be dry for a few relaxing moments

The belt was well designed, and I’d say better designed than other brand waders of the more expensive sort. I liked the fact it had straps for the belt from back to front. It keeps the belt in place.

Now lets get wet and sweaty, and see how their waterproofness and breathability goes. On my first fishing trip I’d have to say I didn’t notice a thing, but that’s probably because I was fishing in not more than 1.3m deep water, and wasn’t fishing for more than 1-2 hours. Honestly I’ve fished them on rare occasions, probably 3-4 times/year, and didn’t quite got the feel of them until this year, when we were fishing in Northern Sweden, Kiruna area. Where all we did for 7 days was trout fishing in our waders.

On the first day of expedition I’ve found out they weren’t that waterproof after all and this only in about 1-2 hours of fishing. They seemed to be letting in water in the  knee area, and in the pelvic area, bot front and back. The areas that were most prone to stress and tear. This is probably why higher quality, and more expensive waders had reinforced these parts of the wading suit. It wasn’t water pouring in, but you could see my “insulating” trousers were damp in these areas, and didn’t really make me feel good, considering I’d be doing this for the next 7 days at least 8 hours a day.

First day dinner - grayling

Which the passing of each day I was getting to know my waders better and better, but not in a good way. The 3mm neoprene socks weren’t that waterproof either, as everyday my socks were humid inside, and not from perspiration. I doubt that I could get that humid from sweating, considering the temperatures outside. Their breathable qualities probably were there, but I couldn’t feel them working for me. All the sweat was trapped inside, when having to hike from a fishing spot to another. Stefan didn’t seem to be that bothered with his waders, at least not in this matter (he was using a more expensive pair of waders). This was a problem, because sweat that was trapped inside my waders made the cold water feel even “better”. This and the “waterproof” abilities of my waders.

Waders had to withstand a lot of battering amongst the rocky underwater terrain

You remember I told you that my waders were equipped with a repair kit? Well they do come with a repair kit, and couldn’t be bothered that I tarred my waders, when my left knee hit a boulder after slipping on it… I probably happens very often, especially in this area. In the same day a treble punctures Stefan’s waders as well, and told him: “Don’t worry… I have a repair kit”. What I didn’t know was that the repair kit was meant to be used at home, with an IRON. I couldn’t believe what my eyes were reading. You can only tare, or puncture your waders when fishing. Consider you are (as we were) in a remote area, where you can only be picked up by helicopter, with no electricity or phone signal. How the f…. can you use the repair kit. We finally came up with a solution. We’ll use the kerosene tent warmer. The top is hot enough. Again SURPRISE… the unopened , sealed glue was as hard as a rock (dried out). No chance of using it. Luckily there was just enough vulcanization strip to use on my knee. You could iron this on without the additional glue. Just my luck I’d say, because after the repair the water leak was stopped, and could at least fish the rest of the trip.

Moving from one spot to the other we encountered swampy areas

Moving from one spot to the other we encountered rocky and shruby areas

If the kit wasn’t meant to be used easily without electrical appliance I’d rather not get it with the waders, at least like that I’d know I needed something in that matter, just in case something happened, and needed repair on the spot.

Water pressure on my waders

I didn’t check other waders repair kits. Stefan’s waders only had vulcanization inseams and a few material patches for repair. No glue, no instructions. Maybe it’s just me, but it just doesn’t feel right to not be able to do anything about your broken waders on the water. I can repair an Inflatable boat on the spot if ever faced with the challenge, but you have to iron a lousy patch to repair a pair of waders. This seems close to BS to me.

Waist deep water all day long

Waist deep water all day long - if you wanted to get where the fish were

Other than that …. the waders did their job. Not terrific but did their job, for the last time I believe. I’ll definitely get  better ones before planning another wading trip far away from home.

Save up for more expensive/durable waders - it'll be worth it....

Conclusion: What you pay is what you get is a wise saying. You will never be able to buy quality stuff cheap. This has been proven time and time again. In case anyone wonders. The waders have never been washed, only lightly cleaned, so they should’ve been as new. The waterproof-breathable material isn’t so waterproof or breathable after all, but it gets the job done, if that’s the only thing you want. The material isn’t the most durable, but I didn’t expect that from a 100$ pare of “breathable” waders. The 3mm neoprene socks aren’t waterproof either. Everyday on the trip when back to base camp they were damp inside. If asked if I would ever buy these waders again… I probably would if I had the same budget, but I’d recommend saving more money for a better quality waders than these. I like the fact that they come with a bag, for easy transportation, in which they can dry out pretty well if you leave them in a well vented area.

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

I used to be a Daiwa extremist… saying: “Ahh! Shimano is a bike manufacturer !” But with all the hipe going on around the Shimano Curado, launched at ICAST last year, I just couldn’t resist. The movies, the pictures, all the great feedback, at a lower than 200$ price range, was more than enough to convince me. I was actually thinking about the JDM version of Curado, the improved, Scorpion 1001XT, but after analyzing in detail both models, I actually had to have the small sleek Curado E51 (you got me… I’m a lefty). I had to know what it punched at 199.99$, even though I got it cheaper . Of course I wanted a faster “finesse” reel than my actual Sol, which in many cases seemed to be slugish, especially when pooling fish out of dense structures.

I even had parts ordered from Mudhole and Matagi for a rod, with the special purpose to match it with the reels color.

Design: The shape of the Curado is actually the exact same as the Core 51, and the Scorpion 1001XT, with the gearing sitting as low as possible, to get the reel profile height from the reel seat as low as it can actually go. I’m not that excited with the greenish color, but can overlook that in the end. It’s a color that really doesn’t match with almost anything out there in the rod industry, and I’d rather not have a rod specially designed (colorwise) for a certain reel, even though it’s a lot of fun.

I personally think a black handle would’ve made the reel look more appealing, but does that matter in the end?

The clutch takes about 1 minute to get used to, if you're a Daiwa fan

The reel is also equipped with a clicking star-drag, that in this case is graphite. I really don’t worry about it’s durability, but would, as well as many, prefer something that felt more solid.

Feel: First impression sometimes count. The Curado as it turned out didn’t feel that sleek right out of the box. It didn’t feel as smoth-going as I thought it would feel, but this is a problem that got easily solved as soon as I’ve opened the reel up. The handle had a little bit of backplay, but after a good tightening (don’t be afraid to tighten it up a knotch) of the handle screw it got from some backplay to none.

Notice how low it is on the reel seat... really confortable

As far as ergonomics go I’ve heard some people complain about the extrusion, that lets the spool side plate spin whenever you open it. It seems to incomodate some fishermen when fishing this reel. I couldn’t understand how, as my hand doesn’t touch that part at all, but than again, this might be because I’m a lefty, and don’t swipe the rod from a hand to another when casting. It seemed very confy for me. The Sol feels more comfortable though, but the Curado certainly is more robust.

Inside gears & durability: We’ve opened the reel up so you can see for yourself what you get from a under 200$ Japan made reel. Check out the video below:

I especially feel confident about the brass gearing, and would take any day of the year brass over any other light alloy in much lighter reels. What I must mention is it only has 1 SA-RB and 1 A-RB, and the rest are stainless steel, one of the reasons it’s so cost effective. That won’t be a big problem as long as you don’t do a lot of saltwater or brackish water fishing. I clean my reels thoroughly once a year, and other than that I just clean and lube my spool bearings for the rest of the year. It seems to do the trick, as I’ve seen no problems with my gear bearings after more than 9 months. If I ever see some rust going on inside there, I’ll go ahead and order a full set of corrosion resistant ball bearings, but I guess that will never happen.

All bearings are sealed in such a manner that you won’t be able to remove the shields in order to clean them thoroughly, unlike Daiwa’s bearings for e.g.

The frame, like the spool are aluminum, while the sideplates are graphite. That doesn’t seem to cause any problems, and it feels as sturdy today as it did when I first fished it.

The frame is extreamly light... and until now very durable.

I’ve burned, slow jigged, and even used the reel for crankbait and spinnerbait fishing during the last 9 months, and it still feels like new. No back-play, no nothing, and the anti-reverse ball bearing seems to keep up with my fishing. It makes me wonder what the…. with the anti-reverse pawl in this tiny baitcaster. It only worsens the reels action.

As you can see from the pictures, unlike the Core 51, the tension knob seats on a spring mechanism, and has no rubber band to protect water from sipping in that spot, in case your reel gets in contact with water somehow. That might ruin a good day fishing if it interacts with the oil or grease  you are using. The spring has a double role: to keep some tension on the tension knob, so it doesn’t unscrew by itself, and to keep the spool ballbearing in place. I would’ve preferred the rubber-band myself, and never thought about looking at this detail before buying the reel. I’ve had nothing to worry about for now with or without the rubber collar, even though I’ve fished the reel in awful downpour. Lets just hope it’ll stay that way.

I preferred they used the alternative - rubber band

If the handle has zero backplay now, after tightening it up, the spool has some minor backplay to it. It makes it a bit nosier than the average guy, but as long as you have your line going through your guides, the tension in the line will keep it quiet.

Brass gears = durability

As far as the drag goes, after tightening it up as much as I could, without the fear of breaking the stardrag, and it tested out at 3kg, a little under the 4.5kg expected.

Retrieve: As I’ve mentioned above. Right out of the box, the reel didn’t have that freespin, aerofeel, or whatever you want to call it feeling. It felt like the tension knob was a tad to tightened, even though it wasn’t. This is the best way I can describe it.

But as soon as I’ve opened the reel up, problem was solved. Even though Curado’s have instant antireverse gear blabbering, Shimano, for some reason, mounted the old antireverse pawl, found on older models. It beats me why they did this, but I instantly removed it from the reel, and the reel is now much smoother, and easygoing. No matter how enthusiastic I feel about this reel I won’t lie to you: there is a slight, but when i say slight, I mean extreamly slight feeling of the gearing being there, but it’s nothing that keeps me from fishing without noticing it.

The 7:1 gear ratio works just fine, especially when power fishing smaller baits, and really helps pooling those fish out of the brush.

Line lay: This is something you don’t really hear anyone mention about any reel. I consider this to be really important, especially when concerning spinning reels. I’ve seen so many expensive spinning reels that don’t spool the line as well as they should. I’t not a concern for the Curado though. It does the job extremely well.

Casting the Curado E51 is a lot of fun, and probably the easiest casting reel so far. It really doesn’t take that much fine-tuning as with Daiwas magnetic backlash control systems, even though it’s not externally controllable if you offset only 2 pins from the 6 Curado has you won’t be needing any other tuning, no matter the bait size.  What I loved about this reel’s casting abilities is it takes almost zero time to get used with it, and it casts perfectly, cast after cast.

Spinnerbaited Pike

Flipping it into bush is a child’s play, even with weightless plastics. I’ve even managed to get it skipping under brush with the Lake Fork Magic Shad, without backlashing on a few occasions, pike fishing.

It casts everything from 3-4 g up to you name it. I’ve managed to get a good distance with both Rapala Original Floater 7, and 9cm and Rapala Team Esko, Balsa lures without any long casting balancing systems. I have a really hard time controlling backlashes for example on the Daiwa Sol with this baits, even with the ZPI SiC Ball Bearings.

I know this is not what you'd expect when texas rigging - but it happens

Conclusion: As far as I’m concerned Shimano has won me over with the new Curado, E Series, and can’t wait to see what they come up with next at ICAST in 2011. If you want to teach anyone baitcasting, Shimano Curado is definitely the easiest reel to teach some casting with, as I’ve learned teaching casting a few of my friends.

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

As you can see JDM tackle has really taken it’s toll on us. Today we’re going to review/reveal another Japan hardbait. Most of us have tried, or at least heard about Yo-Zuri brand. Their variety of lures can actually blow you mind, and the price is not as premium as you’d expect from a JDM. Duel is the mothership brand, and sustains both brands, Duel and Yo-Zuri. Duel has been making lures in Japan for more than 40 years now, and still have some of the most demanded and accessible (pricewise) lures on the JDM market.

Yo-Zuri is a worldwide brand that sells, it probably sounded better than Duel, when introduced to the US market. Duel is the actual developer, that’s always improving, and coming up with new technologies, like they came up with the Magnetic Long Cast System, making some of the top rated lures in the world.

Hardcore is one of the brands most sought after lures, with a large variety of lure types, starting with minnows, both regular and deep diving, up to crankbaits and vibe baits such as the Hardcore Drum.

The F736 SH-50 is a suspending deep diving finesse minnow most suited for reservoirs and deeper river areas.

Packing:
The lure’s packing is Yo-Zuri standard, simple and effective to keep your lure safe until you manage to fish it.

Finish: Hardcore series are made out of durable plastic, with detailed gills and scales with both MAT and clear gloss finish. They’re really attractive to both fish and fisherman. They all are provided with the most realistic 3D eyes, but tend to “escape” the sockets after a few toothy predators. I tend to fix this problem with a drop of super glue upfront so I don’t loose the eyes.

This lure was clearly ment for something other than bass fishing, considering it’s size and “low profile”.

Terminals: I still don’t now what trebles are used on Duels and Yo-Zuris, but they are as sharp as they can get, even though they aren’t the toughest ones out there. They’ll hold  as long as you don’t get really excited about using them on a heavier than 6-8lb line.  If you intend on using them on larger fish I strongly recommend replacing them with tougher ones. I don’t replace them only if they get used, but other than that I am pretty confident about them for what I use them for. And I like they chose a dark, black, color for them.

Harder fighting fish need tougher trebles

Split rings are standard quality, and I believe they will never let anyone down.

As most of plastic lures it doesn’t have thru-wire construction, and, unfortunately I’ve had trouble in the past with the lip pulling of a lure while fighting a fish. I don’t have the pics to prove that, but have had friends with the same problem with some of the heavier lures in the Hardcore series, like the SH-60 and the 75-SP, which should be able to hold up to some strong fighting fish. Hope Duel will acknowledge this problem, and take some attitude about it in the future.

Casting: Little lure, lots of features. Tungsten weight and the proprietary Advanced Magnet Weight Transfer System, patented by Duel have a lot to do with the good casting abilities of this lure, considering it’s light 1/8 oz. weight. The Advanced Magnetic Weight Transfer System will work on most of the casts, but it takes a little power into the cast, to make the magnet “click”. You get the hang of it in a blink of an eye.

It casts like a charm for a 1/8 oz. lure. The further you cast it, the deeper it will get. The tungsten bb’s act as a rattle as well, so be prepared to call fish from a distance.

Action:The looks of the bait will win you in a millisecond. The patterns are as deadly as they get, being able to get both MAT, translucent and flashy patterns.

What about the action? How will the Yo-Zuri Hardcore SH-50 run? Is it worth the trouble? It definitely is. It has a deadly tight bobble that will start vibrating at the slowest retrieve speeds. I actually prefer tighter wobble over wider, but as you must all know: every lure will catch you fish eventually you just need the right conditions for that lure. I’m not talking about this lure though… you can catch fish almost every day of the week with it. You can use it as a suspending jerkbait in colder weather as well. It really suspends, as you can see in the video. We kept it motionless for a few moments so you can get the general idea of how suspending this lure really is. I’m putting accent on this detail, because most of the lures that are sold as “suspending” really aren’t. Most of them are a very slow floating lure. I won’t give names for now, but I’ll keep you posted on the suspending ability of lures in the future as well.

Video:

Application: This is definitely a finesse bait, most likely to be used for species like trout, perch, chub, asp and barbel. Bass is on the menu, but it’s not really considered to be a bass finesse bait. I especially like to use it on clear water reservoirs and in deeper river areas. I even went the extra length of painting a few of them in trout patterns for really clear waters. The action on these is amazing, and you have to consider they can be used with high efficiency in very powerful currents as well, as they are utterly stable.

Due to the Advanced Magnetic Weight Transfer System you will be able to use it on a baitcaster if ever needed. Don’t expect long casts though.

I caught almost everything from chub to perch with this lure, and like to use it on trout lakes and rivers. They seem to especially like it when hanging to depths of 4 to 10 ft.

I usually fish it with up to 6lb rated line ( 0.18mm diameter-tops)

Hardcore 50-SH – Ratings (?/10)
Design	Really dynamic shape. It won’t keep you wondering weather to buy it or not. Hardcore lures are known worldwide for their incredible fish catching abilities. I like the sharp, black trebles, but if you want to hang on larger or harder fighting fish you need to change them for tougher ones. The trebles are well spaced, in such a manned they won’t ever tangle. The finish is tough.	8.5
Features	This lure is packed with features: great patterns, tungsten weighting, Advanced Magnetic Weight Transfer System, all in a 2 inch bait that suspends whenever needed.  Could you ask for more? I could… Please keep on manufacturing them . I won’t give it the highest grade though, because the lip seems to come off (I had it happen once) in some cases, and it’s not an isolated case, unfortunately.	6.5
Application / Performance	They run true right out of the box. Due to their tight wobble they are really versatile, and can cover a lot of fishing situations. It’s a finesse bait that will catch you fish, and catch your eye. It will start vibrating on the slowest retrieve speeds, and will keep on running true even in the fearsome currents.	9.5
Price	It’s on the premium side, but for a JDM I consider them to be lightly priced. I can swallow a 10-12$ bill, but for a lure of this size, most of JDM have a price tag that hangs well over 12$. It a good deal if you ask me.	7.5
Overall	Final Grade	8

Trouty lure:D

Conclusion: If you like finesse fishing, this lure has to make it’s way in your tackle box. You won’t be able to buy them for a long time from now on, because Duel/Yo-Zuri has stopped producing this model.. to think I just came to like it:). It’s a really small bait packed with tons of features.

The lip it’s not it’s strongest point, and is prone to come of on some of the Hardcore baits. Don’t ask why, but it happened to other people besides myself. The price is excellent for a JDM, but would love to be able to take it out full of confidence. The broken lip gets my heart pumping, and not in a good way, every-time I have a fish dangling at the end of this lure. I’d expect more from a lure in this price range, but unfortunately I can’t just throw them in the garbage, due to their unique action. I have no other lure with a similar action as the Hardcore 50-SH, not even close.

Other than that it has impeccable action, and will catch you tons of fish. I wish they had more match the hatch patterns though, and with all finesse deep diving baits… a sinking version would blow me off.

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →

Poland is no stranger to lurebuilding manufacturers. It probably has as many lure production companies as Japan does. They all seem to be fitting in the same category: foam crankbaits. There are of course some rare sightings of hard plastic hardbaits. As I said…. Rare!

Dorado Triada company has a very vast array of hardbaits, ranging from the very small, as the Dorado Magic 1.8cm, which is probably the smallest production crankbait I own, to big cahona pike jerkbaits, that are very popular in Europe.

For this review we chose Dorado Invader I4, which is a very versatile lure, and can be found in either floating and sinking version, which is a plus in my book.

I say it’s a very versatile bait, because it can be easily fished really efficient in both flowing water and still waters. This lure is stable in very fast flowing currents, and it can be fished at a very slow pase in lakes for e.g.

Packing is as simple as it gets… Nothing fancy, just what it takes to keep the lure safe.

Finish: As you’d expect from a Polish foam lure there’s nothing spectacular about it at first sight, but it has some really interesting detailed patterns, probably the best minnow patterns I’ve seen on a lure. No 3d eyes, and no detailed carved scales, but that’s just for the fisherman to notice. The fish will never notice these details. I’d have to say I’d love a few highly reflective metallic patterns amongst their actual colors. Other than that, the coating is as tough as it gets. Much tougher in time compared to much higher priced JDM lures I own. I have some Dorado lures for more than 2-3 years now, and even after lots and lot of fish caught they still looks like new, which is a real bonus.

Dorado invader 4cm - a very nice array of patterns

This is a shad type of crankbait, which has a typical shad design, nothing fancy, just the essentials for catching fish. The lip seems to be polycarbonate, and is as tough as it gets.

Terminals: At this price I didn’t expect high quality trebles, but Mustad has trebles much better than these, at the same price-point, like the 3551 , I would certainly prefer the other, as they are heavyer wire construction, sharper, and I wouldn’t probably go to the trouble of changing them. They have the same trebles as the Krakusek, and they bend quite easily. I’ve lost a good sized trout because I was lazy changing them. Other than the trebles, the split rings look to be tough, and … you guessed it: it has thru’ wire construction, which make them ideal for saltwater fishing as well. Saltwater is probably the ultimate battering test a lure can get. I’ve had some plastic lures fail on me even in freshwater… So you understand where all of this is coming from.

Mustad produces much better trebles at the same price point.

Casting and diving depth: Even though they don’t feature long casting system, 8 out of 10 casts they fly like they had the system, without tumbling through the air. It’s most likely because the line tie is in front of the lure, considering it’s a deep diver. The 4 cm invader is really castable on a light to medium-light outfit. You’ll be able to fish the sinking version on finesse baitcasters if ever faced with the challenge, but you’ll be limited in casting distance. You’ll most certainly be able to cast the 5cm one, and very well for that matter.

Notice the polycarbonate lip is stamped with the Dorado name

Dorado makes the invader in lengths up to 14cm, with which they brag of catching lots of double digit pike and catfish. The 4 cm version dives up to 1.6-1.8m on a very long cast.

Action: They got me on the first cast. I instantly knew they would be killers. They have a medium-tight wobble: not to tight, but not to wide either. I’d say just perfect. I would love if they all ran true straight out of their packaging, but I would be lying if I told you so. Some of them need a little twitching, but in the end you’ll get them running.

Video:

I mainly use them for lake trout, chub, and have to mention zander (walleye) and asp as well. It’s a good lure, that I don’t leave home without, especially when fishing those finicky wild lake trout. It certainly does the trick for me. Try them out, they might work for you as well.

They also have really good match the hatch patterns for what trout and other fish are foraging upon.

Trout seem to like them

Conclusion: Invader is a cheap lure, for every pocket. I prefer action over the lure’s actual outer-looks in any given day of the week. They’re a must have in my tackle box. The more patterns the merrier. As Dorado mentions on their website: “These lures are designed to catch fish not anglers!”. I would have to agree with that saying.

About Andrei

Professional angler, rodbuilder, lurebuilder, if it's about fishing you name it, he does it. He hates "relaxing", and takes each day as a challange. Whenever he's got a spare moment he's either fishing, cycling, hiking or training his ass at the gym. He's fishing for more than 20 years now. Strictly on artifficial baits from the age of 7, he's always on the look out for the newest stuff and techniques out there.

View all posts by Andrei →