Revo
Toro
Rocket – the Mega baitcaster
By Christopher S.G. Tan
Now this is BIG baitcaster! I needed a big overhead casting reel for casting big lures and pulling in big fish, so I chose this! This reel has a gear ratio of 7.6:1 with a retrieve rate of 107cm on a full spool.
The features of this reel are similar to the smaller rockets except it's bigger and beefed up to handle big and powerful fish. It has the extremely strong and effective Power Stack Carbon Matrix Drag System™ which I have yet to see in other star drag baitcaster brands. It also has the unique Active Response Drag Mechanism, a anti-reverse/drag system not found in other brands!
This reel came with three different crank handles. Two of these are double armed handles.One had two large grips at both ends. The other one was a counter-balanced single large grip/knob. Both are are for casting purposes. These two were 105mm in length (grip shaft centre to centre).
An unweighted (no counter-balance) single-arm large grip handle suitable for saltwater jigging is also provided. As it is not counter-balanced it is not meant for casting with the reel. It has three positions to secure the handle to the drive shaft of the main gear. All three positions have a longer moment arm than the two two armed handle. The shortest would be 62mm from the centre of the drive shaft to the centre of the crank knob shaft (this would be the equivalent of a 124mm double-handled grip). The longest moment arm position is 87mm (equivalent to 174mm double-arm length)
I prefer using the Revo Toro Rocket with a single knob counter-balanced power handle. Having a single knob allows the cranking hand to be positioned closer to the reel as it cranks the handle, allowing more power to be applied to the handle. With a two-knob handle the unused knob obstructs the cranking hand from getting close to the reel,causing less power to be applied.
When I used it for jigging, I change the handle to the single armed handle and install it at the longest moment arm position for the greatest cranking power.
I can spool up almost 200metres of 50lb braid on it for freshwater fishing. The reason for the thick braid is not so much for the strength but more for the abrasion resistance to cope with the wear and tear of constantly casting and cranking. I used it to cast large spoons and spinnerbaits from the 1-2.5 oz (30-70gms) range and large lures like the Halco Hamma 123, Sorcerer 150 and the Laser Pro 190.
I used the Toro Rocket for casting the Hamma 105 in the Mahakali River in India for this golden mahseer. The Halco Hamma 105 weighs 18gms, but I was still able to cast it using this large baitcaster.
The larger and heavier Halco Hamma 123 of 28gms was a better match for casting with the large Toro Rocket. This powerful reel easily subdued this golden mahseer.
With
the Toro Rocket, I find I need to activate 5 brakes for
casting crankbaits to get a well controlled spool during the
cast. Using only 4 brakes often results in a backlash. I think
it's because the spool is large and heavy, it necessitates
more braking friction.
If casting heavy spoons, 4 brakes seems to work well, maybe even 3 brakes only for heavy streamlined spoons. But this depends how full the spool is of line. The fuller the spool, the closer the line is to the rim of the spool (larger diameter) and the heavier the spool, the more braking action is required therefore more brakes need to be activated.
I have cranked the deep-diving large lures against fast currents with no complaints. The fast line pick-up also keeps the line tight when the fast river fish races down-current to you. The large knob handle makes cranking big lures and fighting big fish comfortable.
The Revo Rocket was in its element in Uganda, casting out the 47gm Halco Laser Pro 190 to land these nile perch. The Power Stack Carbon Matrix Drag System was certainly put the test many times as the monstrous nile perch would rip line off racing downstream. The high speed retrieve came in handy as they raced back to you.
I am sure the Active Response Drag Mechanism did come in handy during the few times I had to quickly back off the star drag while the fish had the rod fully loaded up!
When saltwater jigging I spool up the reel with 30lb braid, and I can get about 250 metres of line on it. This gives me peace of mind in the event a large pelagic gets hooked up.
The high-speed retrieve of the reel allows fast jigging for pelagics like GTs, dogfish tuna and small yellow-fin tuna. The reel with the single arm large-knobbed handle is easy to fast crank and jig the metal jigs.
These chrome Halco Twistys were fast jigged to attract the YFT and dogtooth tuna.
Conservation
We need to protect and conserve our resources by practising catch and release of our sportfish and protecting the habitat of our fishes.
