Shimano Tranx: WOW!

[Scott McKee]

I’ve owned a lot of fishing reels over the years.  Trolling, baitcasting, spinning, fly, expensive, cheap, new, used, etc..  I’ve had a few reels I’ve relied on for years and years and a lot more that haven’t even lasted a season.  When I picked up the Club’s new Shimano Tranx from Frank Stachowiak this afternoon my jaw hit the ground.   Wait until you see this bad boy.  It is a monster.  It would scare Godzilla.  The picture of the Tranx in September’s newsletter does it no justice at all.  I pictured the Tranx as one of the new en vogue bass looking musky reels.  Nope.   My new Daiwa Lexa looks like a toy next to the Tranx.  It almost seems too powerful for muskies.

I am going to put the reel through a rigorous program of chucking, jigging and trolling over the next few weeks.  I’m going to burn double 10 Shmos and huge Beavers, cast magnum Bull Dawgs, rip Jakes, crank Toothy’s and Perchbaits and maybe even a Plow.  I am going to bounce tubes, jerk twisted tubes, drag shads, and jig Bondy’s.  I’ll speed, cross, down and upstream troll with it.  I am going to beat the thing up.  With a $500 sticker price it had better be able to handle this abuse.   I’ll let you know what I think on the Web site.  I think I love it and I haven’t even put line on it yet.

Frank, nice job acquiring the Tranx.  Please post the list of lucky winners in the Tranx test drive drawing. I’ll keep it for two weeks and then pass it along.  I can’t wait to go fishing, even more so than usual.