Accurate Boss XTreme BX-400N + Crony Prodigy: BC Rod and Reel on Steroids

This year, I decided to get myself a "light" rod and reel for blue water. I wanted to take the opportunity this April -- Holy Week in Marinduque - a small sleepy island south of Manila - to fish off shore and hopefully try to catch some heavy weights.

First consideration is that the reel should be able to hold at least 300yds of 50lb braid. The drag should be around 8-10kgs. It should be really sturdy and can withstand hard punishment. It shouldn't be too expensive and last, but not the least, it should be lefty. There are too little options to choose from really. The brands and models that offer left hand retrieve are Daiwa Saltiga Z, Jigging Master, and Shimano Ocea Jigger, but they are too expensive for me. There are mid level reels like Trinidad, Torsa, Saltist which is good and affordable but aside from not having left hand retrieve, Asian-made reels have bad reviews from different sites. There is Avet SX and MXJ but they also have bad reviews - the drag design design destroys bearings when on high drags. I considered spinning reels like Saltist 4500 or 5000, Saragosa, Soron STX, Stradic, and Sustain but after much thought, big spinning reels just doesn't appeal to me.

Then I saw this ad from a local forum. I did a week's worth of research and decided that this is it. An Accurate Boss XTreme BX-400N Lefty. 40lbs/400yds of braid, an estimated 15kgs of drag and higher  (according to write ups). The drag is so smooth, it felt unreal. According to the Accurate website, their drag design is patented and cannot be seen from other reels. It has twin platinum drag plates and twin oversized carbontex-like drag washers. The reel was machined from solid aluminum --- not cast aluminum, and it's made in the USA. It's actually cheaper than the top of the line brands and it comes with 400yds of 40lb braid free.

It's as small as an Abu Garcia 5501C3 reel but the Accurate Boss XTreme BX-400N is almost thrice as tough and powerful. It's like a Daiwa Saltist 20 on steroids. The slow crank at 4:1 is made for bottom fishing and jigging. According to reviews, Accurate Boss XTreme BX-400N outclasses the Daiwa Saltiga 20. Another good thing about BX-400N is that I can buy a 6:1 gear set from Accurate.com for less than $50. If I needed a faster retrieve, I can just install the gear set and I am good to go. It's like having a 2-speed reel when needed.

The rod I got for it is Crony Prodigy 601MH, 20-50lbs and 60-180gms of lure. All Fuji components. 6 ft, butt jointed and boy, it was sooo light. It's as light as my Shimano Clarus 6ft 8-17 baitcasting rod. According to the Chinese manufacturer, the blank is made by Toray. I heard that it's the same blank manufacturer for high-end JDM rods. At first glance, it looks like ordinary blank but if you look at the blank on an angle with sunlight, it looks like it's marbled -- like there is an additional layer of carbon material. I tested it on a 4lb dumb bell and it picked it up like it was nothing. I know it can lift even heavier loads. It's true that I absolutely know very little about jigging rods and I hope this is a good buy. Anyway, I got it with a 20% discount from Fishing Buddy and with it's price, it's really hard to resist it.

The combo is absolutely perfect. It's like they were made for each other.

Next stop, testing it on a real fishing situation in April. I got some heavy madai jigs and knife/butterfly jigs. I just hope that I get lucky.