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Pete signs 3
Year Deal with Ardent Reels |
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Article
Courtesy of North East Mississippi Journal 2/3/08 |
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Please click on above picture for link
to Ardent Reels |
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2008-Febuary Ponds gains Ardent as sponsor: Ardent has
signed an exclusive three-year sponsorship of B.A.S.S.
Elite Pro angler Pete Ponds of Madison to the company's
staff of professional tournament anglers.
As part of the sponsorship Ponds will be operating a
wrapped, Ardent-branded vehicle, boat and trailer.
He also will wear Ardent tournament shirts when
participating in Bass Elite 100, FLW and PAA
tournaments, as well as whenever he appears at industry
trade shows, retail stores, and as the co-host of the
Bass Edge television show.
Ardent Outdoors manufactures high-performance fishing
reels and accessories that are made in the United
States. For information, visit Ardent's Web site at
www.ardentreels.com
Daily Journal, special reports
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Reel Simple |
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Reel simple: Baitcaster
should fit, feel smooth
By Bobby Cleveland
bcleveland@clarionledger.com |
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Bass pro Pete Ponds didn?t need near as long to discuss
reel selection as he did explaining rods.While he
might have 15 different rods based on strength and
length in hisboat, all of them will have the same kind
of baitcasting reel. ?One reel will do everything you
need,? said Ponds, a BASS Elite Series pro from Madison.
For that reason, Ponds suggests fishermen find the one
model that best fits his or her hand, best suits their
ability to cast and best falls within their budget. You
hear a lot about other features, like high-speed gear
ratios, but to me that doesn?t even come into play, not
even for pros,? he said. Gear ratio determines the rate
at which line is retrieved. The higher the ratio, the
more revolutions the spool will make for each turn of
the handle. You can accomplish the same thing by
adjusting the amount of line you put on a spool,? Ponds
said. ?You can give any baitcast reel a slower or faster
retrieve by either reducing the amount of line (slower)
or increasing it(faster).
There are two common baitcast reel shapes, the big open
spools like the classic Ambassadeur and the lighter and
smaller low profile reels. Shop at a place where you can
put your hands on reels that are on rods, or ask a
salesman to allow you to do so, he said. Feel the reel,
and I mean really feel it. See how the handle fits. See
how the opposite side fits your off hand. I reel
right-handed, and keep my left hand on the opposite
side, so I like a low profile reel that has a left side
that doesn?t stick out far from the rod. The lighter
body decreases fatigue, which increases sensitivity.
Turn the handle and test the drag. Both should be very
smooth. A free-turning handle, with no feeling of
grinding gears, increases sensitivity. A smooth drag
should yield line in a steady release. The biggest
mistake I see people make in a store is to pick up a
reel, disengage the brake and then spin the spool,?
Ponds said. ?They seem to relish in how long they can
make it spin. That doesn?t mean a thing to me. What
means most to me is how smooth it is retrieving line,
not how smoothly it gives it out.
PHOTO CAPTION
Bass pro Pete Ponds of Madison feels it is crucial for a
reel to fit an angler?s hands, so he suggests holding a
reel (above) to see if it fits both reeling and opposite
hands. Not so critical is picking a reel for its
retrieval speed or gear ratio. High speed reels (right)
are OK for fast retrieval on crankbaits but smaller
gears make for less power in controlling a hooked fish.
Bobby Cleveland/The Clarion-Ledger |
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Tagline or Paragraph
Heading |
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By
Bobby Cleveland
bcleveland@clarionledger.com
Like most tournament bass fishermen, Pete Ponds will
have as many as 10 or 12 different rods in his boat,
rigged and ready to throw.
Seriously, is that really necessary?
“Yes, and I’ll tell you why,” said Ponds, of Madison. “I
would compare it to a golf pro. You wouldn’t send him or
her to a tournament with one or two clubs. No, they’re
taking a bag full and each one has its own purpose. They
won’t be blasting out of a trap with a driver.
“Fishermen face the same thing in rod selection. I don’t
want to flip in heavy cover with the same light-action
rod I want for a jerkbait.”
So it was with great protest that Ponds approached the
class plan for today’s lesson in bass basics.
“I can’t recommend what one rod a starting fisherman
ought to go buy,” Ponds said. “Seems the logical thing
to do is teach people what rods best suit different
fishing conditions.
“That I can work with, and from that we can maybe come
up with four or five starter rods for somebody.”
OK, so go ahead professor.
“The first point, and most important point I want to
stress is sensitivity,” Ponds said. “You want to be able
to feel every vibration of a spinnerbait blade, every
wobble of a crankbait and identify every piece of
structure your lure hits.
“Linear graphite composites do that the best. They
translate the feel of lures, cover and strikes better
than any other rod material. Don’t go cheap on a rod, if
you can help it. Rods are where it all starts.”
The one time when sensitivity is not a factor for Ponds
is when he’s throwing a topwater bait, like a frog, when
strike recognition is more visual than feel.
When matching rods with lures (see chart) there are some
subtle differences in rod variations that are critical.
“Used to be that everyone thought that you had to have a
stiff rod to make long accurate casts,” he said. “Not
so. A more limber tip allows more accuracy. A limber tip
doesn’t necessarily mean a light action rod, either.
There are medium heavy action rods with limber tips.”
When you look at the lure/rod chart, you will notice
that Ponds tends to recommend lighter action rods
(medium light to medium) with any lure that has multiple
treble hooks (crankbaits, jerkbaits and most topwaters)
and medium heavy to heavy for single-hook baits (worms,
spinnerbaits).
“The heavier action rods allow you to drive the hook
with power on a hookset,” he said. “With a treble hook,
that isn’t as critical and the lighter action also gives
you a delay in the hookset, which is important on
something like a PopR or a hard jerkbait. And lighter
action rods are lighter in weight and that’s important
when you’re working a hard jerkbait with a downward
twitch all day long.”
Lighter action rods also don’t have the memory of the
heavier actions, which is beneficial in a treble hook
situation.
“Lighter actions don’t spring back as fast, and that’s
important,” Ponds said.
Pushed to help beginners, Ponds finally listed these
four purchases in order.
“Buy a medium-heavy 6›-foot graphite rod first to learn
worm and spinnerbaits,” he said. “Then a 6-foot or
6-foot-2 medium or medium light for a small crankbait or
a topwater lure. Third, I’d get a heavy 7-footer for
short distance flipping, frogs and for fishing heavy
cover. Then, as you start to experiment with other worms
and soft plastics, get a 6-foot-6 medium. It’s a good
all-around rod.”
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PHOTO CAPTION
For bass pro Pete Ponds, rod variety is as
critical as a whole set of clubs are to a golf
pro. Ponds’ boat deck is covered with assorted
rods by American Rod Smiths.
Bobby Cleveland/The Clarion-Ledger |
MATCHING RODS TO LURES
Lure Rod length (ft.-in.) Rod strength
Texas-rig worm 6-6 Medium heavy
Carolina-rig worm 7-0 Medium heavy
Senko, swimming lizard 6-6 Medium
Spinner bait (1/4 ounce) 6-0, or 6-2 Medium
Spinnerbait (1/2 ounce) 6-6 Medium heavy
Spinnerbait (3/4-1 oz.) 7-0 Heavy
Small crankbait 6-0, 6-2 Light
Medium or lipless crankbait 6-6 Medium light
Big or deep crankbait 7-0 Medium heavy
Topwater, small (i.e. Pop-R) 6-0 Medium light
Topwater, big (i.e. Spook) 6-6 Medium
Topwater, buzzbait 6-6 Medium heavy
Topwater, frog 7-0 Heavy
Jerk bait (soft plastic) 6-6 Medium heavy
Jerkbait (hard) 6-2 Light
Jig (flipping) 7-6 Extra heavy
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