Every spring, a flood of new bass tackle hits the market, and most of it is forgettable. In his latest gear review, Tactical Bassin's Matt Allen sorted the genuine advances from the noise, and two categories stood out: reels that brake themselves, and soft plastics built to fool a bass's sense of smell.
Allen does not hide his obsession. "We are looking for the best of the best," he said. "The rods and reels that will tangibly help you catch more fish, that will help your wallet, that will stand up over time." The flip side, he warned, is a budget market full of traps. Praising Daiwa's sub-100-dollar Pro Rex X LT, he noted that at that price point "there are some excellent reels, but there's a lot of junk in that category. Things that look good and then they take your money and they fall apart."
The headline act, though, was a step into new technology: Abu Garcia's Revo X Voltic and SX Voltic, electronically controlled baitcasters that adjust themselves in real time. The reels generate their own current as the spool spins and constantly fine-tune the braking pressure, no batteries required.
"It's applying pressure in ways that we can't possibly do with our thumb," Allen said, describing thousands of micro-adjustments in the time an angler could make a single one. For newcomers, that is transformative. "For an angler that's learning baitcasters, crank that thing up to 10 and the baitcaster just became user-friendly," he said. "Like true user-friendly."
A dial running from one to 10 sets how aggressively the reel intervenes, with 10 applying maximum control and the shortest, safest cast. The real intrigue sits at the bottom of the range. The lowest three settings, marked as pro settings, hold off entirely at the start of the cast.
"They are applying no pressure as you are accelerating at the beginning of the cast," Allen explained, "which is allowing you to maximise how fast that spool is going, before it starts engaging and controlling that spool." The result, he said, is a reel that can launch a bait at distance for an experienced caster, then be dialled back up to forgiving, near-backlash-proof control when the wind comes up or a beginner takes the rod. The Revo X Voltic retails around 199 dollars and the SX Voltic around 249.
The other standout was Berkley's Lab Series of soft plastics, which build the company's MaxScent formula into properly dialled-in colours. Allen, a long-time scent sceptic, said the science changed his mind. "Bass definitely accept that as real food, as opposed to plastic that needs to be spit back out," he said.
The baits carry a powder that turns to a dispersing gel the instant it hits the water. "When you're shaking a jig and minnow, there's actually a scent cloud and trail tailing that bait," Allen said. "The fish hit that, they connect that's real food, and they're on it. It's that one last step in convincing a fish that it's the real thing."
The review ranged across other gems, including Daiwa's revamped Tatula Elite 100 baitcaster for longer casts, Shimano's new Zodias rods, and Owner's heavy-duty Jungle hooks. But the through-line was clear: this spring's most interesting bass gear is not just stronger or prettier, it is smarter, doing some of the angler's thinking for them at the reel and at the end of the line.