Bassmaster Elite Series Rookie of the Year Jacob Powroznik is built like a powerful nose tackle, but after fast realizing St. Lawrence smallmouth perform more like upward-blazing wide receivers, he placed an urgent call to Quantum for a shipment of faster spinning reels.
“It seems like everybody talks about the gear ratios of a baitcast reel, but for some reason the gear ratio of a spinning reel gets overlooked,†said Powroznik, proudly holding his fresh shipment of reels after day two of practice for the Evan Williams Bourbon Bassmaster Elite in Waddington, N.Y..
“When you hook these smallies in 30 feet of water, they scream straight toward the surface and with the slower 5.2:1 reel, I simply couldn’t keep the line tight,†Powroznik said. “I lost four fish yesterday in practice. A faster 6.2:1 gear ratio reel such as the Smoke Speed Freak should help me keep the line tighter and lose fewer fish when they start to skyrocket. It picks up 33 inches of line with every turn of the handle.â€
Powroznik also stresses the importance of quick line retrieval when using vertical presentations like a drop shot.
“Most of the time you’re watching that sonar screen and all of the sudden you’ll see the whole kit and caboodle appear, but your lure is a few feet off target,†he said. “If you can’t pick up line as fast as possible and drop it back on their nose, you can totally miss that school of fish.â€
The Virginia pro ordered size-25 reels because the spools are plenty large enough to hold all the braid he could possibly need.
“I’m using 8-pound braid tied to a 6-pound HI SEAS Fluorocarbon leader, and that size reel will hold more than enough line and fit perfectly in your hands.â€
Given Powroznik’s in-depth understanding of the advantage offered by faster gear ratios and his attention to every detail—right down to inches of line retrieved per turn of the handle—perhaps comparisons to that of a Crew Chief in his beloved NASCAR would be even better suited than that of a nose tackle.
Amid a fishing trip on the bass-starved Ohio River in the summer of 1987, Alan McGuckin’s Dad told a then 16-year-old “Guck” — “I don’t care what you do for a living, just promise me you’ll do something you love.”
Originally from Pittsburgh, McGuckin considers himself a blue-collar kid, who has been richly blessed to live-out the best piece of advice his dad ever gave him for many years now in the Tulsa area.
After earning a degree in ecology at Juniata College in Pennsylvania, where he placed radio transmitters in largemouth bass to track their habitat preferences, he moved his life to Oklahoma in 1992, where he earned a Masters in Zoology and Fisheries under the direction of Gene Gilliland at the University of Oklahoma, before then embarking on what’s now a nearly three decade long career as a marketing and media veteran in the fishing industry.
His career spans 28 years of wisdom-rich marketing experience working to strengthen brands and increase sales for Lowrance, Terminator Lures, Toyota, Yamaha Outboards, Boat U.S., Carhartt, Costa, Quantum, Vexus Boats, and Zebco.
- Member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame voting committee, as well as a Board of Directors member for Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful
- Co-piloted the Terminator brand of premium lures from its birth to more than 10 Million pieces sold between 1997-2006.
- Has authored and published more than 800 stories on Bassmaster.com, along with several other popular bass fishing websites.
- He has generated $3 Million dollars’ worth of branded digital media since 2020, as a content creator.
- Serves as emcee for hundreds of guests at the annual Toyota Bonus Bucks Owners event.
- Avid angler, who fishes nearly every weekend when not on the road working.
- 13,000 followers on Instagram @GuckFishing.
“Guck” lives just north of Tulsa, OK at Lake Skiatook with wife Sherrie, an elementary school principal who also loves her job, and has a genuine passion for slinging a Rapala Brat crankbait on shallow points and habitat-laden flats.
