A little info on the upcoming Lew's BB1

[spookybaits]

Looks like it'll be 2013 before we see it. And at this time, no instant anti-reverse is planned, which I'm pretty excited about, as my 1st gen David fritts 1000cb's and daiwa pr's are on their last leg. I was hoping the crazy crankers would come without it, I was ready to buy a handful of em.

[spookybaits]

Anyone else a fan on non instant anti-reverse reels for cranking?

[Snyder Rods]

So, it will just have the old fashioned multi-stop anti-reverse? What is the benefit to that?

I would imagine it would be a little smoother and trouble free.

[SLM]

So, it will just have the old fashioned multi-stop anti-reverse? What is the benefit to that?

David Fritts likes the feedback from that fractional amount of backplay you get from pawl style anti-reverse mechanisms.

[spookybaits]

For me, it serves 2 purposes- the first is that I can feed it 1/4inch-1inch of slack in a fraction of a second. That slack gives the lure 'wiggle room' which is useful in a number of situations. If you stop reeling and feed it slack at the same time it allows the bait to 'back up' better than if you had tension on the line. You can also do this buy moving your rod forward, or towards the bait but I like being able to do it with the reel. It also alows the bait more room to deflect. For instance if the bait is running toward you(you representing the 12o'clock position) and your lure hits a stump or limb when the line is fence it will usally deflect into the 10-11o'clock or 1-2o'clock positions. But being able to feed slack at that exact section enables it to deflect into, say, the 9 or 3o'clock position, or simply just giving it more room for erratic behavior. It's much more subtle than I might be making it out to be, but with balsa baits it's quite noticeable when your really in tune with your lure.
The other reason is that it just adds a bit more sensitivity. The David fritts 1000cb is the most sensitive reel I've ever used for cranks, there's just no friction. It has it's downsides but sensitivity and smoothness aren't one of them.
To someone not obsessed with cranks me thinks it wouldn't be very beneficial. It's just a comfort thing for me as I've been using them for so long, using reals without it for cranks is awkward for me.

[spookybaits]

David fritts aint the only one who feels that way. There's alot of ol' timers down in Ga, Al, Tenn and the Carolinas who wouldn't be caught dead cranking with anything other than a Lew's/ Browning BB1 or something similar. And them ol' boys know a thing or 2 about cranks...

[Bronzeye]

I can feed it 1/4inch-1inch of slack in a fraction of a second.

I don't see how this would work if your rod tip has any bend to it while you are retrieving a crankbait on a tight line--especially a billed crankbait with backing-up capability.

[spookybaits]

Slack line is slack line, bent rod or not. Once given a bit of slack, the rods(more like the tip)isn't bent anymore. Or as bent. Like I said, its really subtle and we're only talking about 1/2 inch of line or so. But it's easy to imagine or visualize a lure's freedom of movement on slack vs taught line without having to physically experiment

[spookybaits]

It's reall about giving slack to the bait with the reel vs the rod. I prefer the reel as for me it's faster, easier & and more controlled.

[Bassboss]

New for 2013?

I'd be curious to see where you found that, sounds interesting, I'd like to know more!

[spookybaits]

Didn't see it anywhere, I emailed them. Hopefully we'll see it sooner.