It looks like either a toy or a jewel! A jewel it is, but certainly no toy! When you attach this little gem to a light baitcasting rod, it's like taking all of the weight out of your fishing. In my use as a guide, I am using a rod as much as a pointer rather than as a tool to catch fish. This little reel is an absolute delight to have along. And then, after pointing out EXACTLY where the client should have placed his lure, several times, only to see it fall short or to one side or the other, duty REQUIRES the guide to SHOW them WHY it should have been placed there in the first place.

It is at this point that any resemblance to a toy or a jewel disappears with the VST5. Tiny, yes, but it becomes a solid, 100%, fishing tool at this stage of the game until the fish is in the boat. Then, it instantly returns to being just a jewel on the conductors baton! Now I don't know HOW it makes this instant transformation, just that it does. And as most of you know, about all that I fish for are smallmouths and about as big as we normally see is maybe an occasional 4 pounder! This reel is certainly MORE than enough for that. I suspect that it would hold up to a steady diet of 6 to 8 pound fish, but I don't KNOW that. I hope this winter to get an opportunity to find out, either with largemouths, or perhaps stripers. What I do know for sure is that it is more than adequate for Maine smallmouths, it is FUN, and isn't this what it's all supposed to be about?

I have spooled both of mine with about 50 yards of mono backing tied to some old, discontinued, flourescent yellow Spider Wire Fusion 12-pound test working line, which it handles without complaint. When that is all used up, I will probably go with either 10 or 14-pound Berkley Fire Line, which is what I am using on my larger bait casters.