bulldog1935

Most reel spindles have a lot of exposed thread, and it takes many turns of the drag cap until you tighten it enough to register a drag load. With the spool fully inserted and the drag cap removed, the forward face of the spool should be seated in a flat-keyed boss on the spindle. Also on most reels, the full drag adjustment range will be in the last half-turn until full tight.

@little giant nailed it for One rod you would enjoy fishing both bay and offshore for cobia. Here's another, TackleDirect Platinum, which I have matched with Stradic 5000 (the link has a good video on rolling e-glass rods) While e-glass rods are heavy, they won't explode on the cobia. Glenn always makes this look too easy.

"Keep drag low" is the problem - that counts as handing control to the fish. Set your drag properly - 1/4 weakest link. Keep the rod low for full drag and to use the butt for fish control, tip high for protecting leader and small hook in fish mouth. Always bow to jumping fish, that is, drop the rod and ease your arm toward the fish. I agree w/ @Bankc about not rushing the fish in river current - use enough pressure to control the fish, let it wind a bit in the current before hauling it in.

While I would love a Calcutta in 1-4-oz offshore slow-jigging niche (platforms), don't do it enough to justify the cost. I settled for a Tica with a handle upgrade, matched the cost of the spiral-wrapped rod (Jigging World), and @Eric 26 likes the color match.

Unfortunately, prices in JDM increased by $45 since I bought my 6500CS Rocket. https://japantackle.com/casting-reels/abu/abu-ambassadeur-5500cs6500cs-2015.html They still make high-grade Ambassadeur for JDM - we don't get them here. https://japantackle.com/casting-reels/abu.html https://www.digitaka.com/items/6/4/2/Ambassadeur

@Kev-mo nah, the person who would argue about this got banned last year.

Traditional UL is a a short para-taper rod matched with a small- or micron-frame spinning reel. The taper is intended to bend deep into the handle, making small fish feel like big fish feel on heavier tackle. 5' Falcon UL (1990) Modern finesse rods, along with traditional threadline rods, are longer progressive taper, and can be rated UL or XUL (sub-gram low end, and on to M in longer rods) - the taper gives powerful butt for turning fish. I have a few XUL spinning rods, 7-1/2' to 8', in salt finesse - these are rated down to 2-lb line, but I've never fished lighter than 4-lb salt copolymer, and can fish farther with PE#0.5 or #0.6. Takamiya 7'9" Rockfish XUL (2010) UL stream casting rod rated 1 to 7 g - if I was using mono, it would be 5-lb, but I fish PE#1 (same dia. as 4-lb mono), which is 20-lb breaking strength, and 8-lb leader - I set my drag to 1.5 lbs for the rod rating. Note 1- to 7-g rating on this progressive taper is much wider than the 1- to 2-g rating of the the traditional Falcon UL spinner above. Smith Dagger Stream 5'5" UL Addressed the differences between UL and finesse rod in this essay: which also dispelled the idea of "true BFS", though some balked.

Both of you should add photos. It does make sense inserting the word Classic implies a newer rod mimicking an older rod. Also, any rod with blank Made in USA will usually state so in a promominent spot. I'm also fond of glass rods, and Lami Classic Glass is imported.

I still love IM6, Fisher and Powell fly rods, spinning - Loomis GL2, and I can't get past my Crowder IM6 - I can count the fish advantage over later, faster (lighter) rods, especially fishing jerkbait.

GT2 implies IM6 (40M modulus) - probable date, late '80s, early '90s. During that time, Academy had a falling out with Falcon, and their rod inventory across the board was replaced with All Star, which spread this brand across Academy's spreading range. As an aside, I used to shop at the 1st Academy, 45th St. in Austin, when it was still an Army Surplus Store, with a few pegboards of Cheap tackle.

I fish 8' leader on the big rod 4' leader is enough on shorter rods. On rods with micro-guides, I fish 18" shock leader to keep my knot out of the guides, even though on small lines the knot is clean enough to shoot through.

Don't know if you'll have a basket or long-reach net on the pier, but big leader is in order. You may have to lift your fish - don't use the rod, but lift the leader. Abrasion is a concern both from surf sand and fish wear. I wouldn't fish less than 20-lb Gold here, and I fish 30- on 8' surf-lure rod. (even on salt finesse, I fish 14-lb leader) I go to 40-lb Gold on my surf-meat rig - at least part of this is the shock casting 2-oz spider weight plus that much meat again on 14' rod.

Rods with wide lure weight range are generally better distance casters in longer lengths. These rods have progressive taper, which loads in a band moving down the rod with increasing lure weight - perfect for wide open spaces. In tight spaces, rods with narrow lure weight range generally cast farther, because they load more of the total rod length. One surprising exception for me has been Daiwa Black Label Travel 5-pc. 6'6" ML rod casts below its rated low end to the distance of many of my longer rods, and still handles its rated high end very well.

You only pay US Customs import tariff when your total package value is over $800. Your courier will pay the tariff, deliver your package, and mail you an invoice. I buy quite a bit from a Japan Broker (shops that don't market to US - 99% of Japan), who stores up to 60 days gratis, packs and ships when you ask. Masamichi has emailed me to split a shipment into two to dodge tariff. Jun Sonada and son Kayo at JapanTackle are the finestkind. Jun has perfect English, Kayo's is passable. Checked my account - I've placed 25 orders with them, including one reel. Honestly, you'll often find better reel prices from Asian Portal and Digitaka. My choice for rods has been FishingShop,kiwi, who discounts rod and lure prices

The formula works off the reported capacity for the spool. FWIW, most reel makers under-rate their spool capacity (especially Daiwa - they usually hold more than they're rated). Use the calculator as a guide for planning - except for 832, I've found most reels hold more thin braid working line than the calculator reports. This is probably because the X-braid is generally thinner than it's reported, while 832 is always thicker than it's reported, and your spool will hold less than the calculator results. 10-15 yds either way isn't going to kill your project.

@new2BC4bass I always fill my spools, but never over-fill them. My photo above is a perfect example - it's filled right to the angled shoulder of the spool rim. While the spool above is a deep spool, and 2/3 of the spool depth is Big mono backing with 100 yds braid on top, note these 2 BFS spools. The 2-mm-deep spool is called 2.5-mm (that's too much), and the 3-mm spool is called 3.5-mm. As a general rule, to you want completely full, to have max length of line peeling off for every rotation. Also, while BFS gets hammered into someone's box, both of the spools just above are fishing inshore ML, with 120 to 150 yds PE#1.2, which is 27-lb braid. The deeper spool on the right gets backed with a little-thicker braid.

@newapti5 I just checked kiwi They don't have stock of knobs that fit your handle. The knobs marked D/S or Shimano Shared are 4-mm for Shimano-A/Daiwa-S. https://fishingshop.kiwi/category/Reels/Reels-Tune-Repair/Studio-composite/?page=2 e.g., this is the OOS knob that would fit - but this is still the best vendor to watch for the next knob run. https://fishingshop.kiwi/STUDIO-COMPOSITE-EVA-Knob-R29XL-Black/

Standard Plus is Studio Composite, a late out of production model https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/1663 (link Daiwa w/o knobs) The knobs are S/C R31. current RC-SC EX Plus, XL29 knobs If you ever get the bug to swap knobs, be careful. S/C sells their knobs for Shimano-A/Daiwa-S, but the knobs they use on their handle are 5-mm, and longer knob spindle than Abu/Doyo. The one vendor that calls out S/C knob for S/C is fishingshop.kiwi

Sam Houston came here cuz you guys ran him out of office. Same thing happened to David Crockett. I don't think that's why Arch Manning came here.

If light-lure distance is your friend, 20-lb braid backed with 20 to 25 yds 20- to 25-lb mono (not fluoro). Here's the capacity calculator for stacking lines https://www.pattayafishing.net/advanced-fishing-reel-line-capacity-estimator/

In Vanford, you have owned Stradic, because there's no internal differences - the only differences are frame and rotor. '18 Stella and the worm-drive series that ended in '21 Excense, including Stradic FL, had major design changes from the previous Shimano-worm-drive series (including Sustain) - A/R clutch, gears, and spindles - the upgrades pushed the reels to higher drag tolerance/ crank load. With '22 Stella series including Stradic FM, they were confident these reels were over-designed, the only design change they made was slight increase in spindle length/ spool pitch. They may have found their limit, with literally a few registered complaints on gear wear. Keep in mind these could be people running their reels at very high drag setting. I think you'll be very happy with your reel - 3 of my friends love theirs - one fishes inshore several times/wk and double-digit redfish count most every outing. Keep us posted.

Quite simply, I don't see the need to try any reel other than Zillion. But Bates has been discussed and reported on the forum, and the owner of Bates reels contributed to the discussion linked below: Also noteworthy, Roy's Bait&Tackle in Corpus is carrying them now, and the most followed fisherman and videographer on the TX Coast "Prof Salt" is raving his - the closest Glenn gets to sponsors is swapping meat fish for tackle credit at Roy's.

1/4 to 1/2 oz identifies this rod taper as Para - most of the flex will be in the mid and deeper - -the tip itself will be fast. The nice thing about this, it should cast its rated range farther than many other rods of the same length.

Reading water and thinking like fish has always been innate for me - not a huge accomplishment, since fish IQ ranges from 6 (trout) to 12 (carp). One hot summer night off a lighted Lake LBJ tee-pier, fishing Daiwa Minicast and 1/16 oz Panther Martin, I cast out as far as I could, stripped some extra line, leaned the rod and sat down until everything sank to the sandy bottom. Stand up, slow retrieve, I caught a fish every 3rd cast and filleted 17 white bass when I got up the next morning. Coming from the cooler, deeper lake, the fish couldn't breathe well in the hot shallower cove, made a run along the bottom, turned up to the light to feed, and ran back out. My presentation exactly followed that route. How I figured this out - could see the flash of feeding fish turning in the light. I had an audience lining the pier, and I was the only one catching fish. (we had a fish fry and invited all the neighbors in the park -Mom's hush puppies were epic)

First off, fish don't think or reason - everything they do is a trade-off between instinct and fear. Gary Borger said it best - big fish aren't smart, big fish are cowards. This is reinforced in the gene pool, because inquisitive fish become dinner for larger fish, birds, etc. Heavily hit fish will feed on cycle driven by fear - when another fish eats, then competition-for-food instinct takes over. @Catt is correct about there's enough natural fiber drifting in all waters. Even with trout, vision is not related to tippet size, but tippet limpness - how your fly behaves in the current compared to the natural food. Many times, I've stood with a fly rod over big redfish and black drum with their backs sticking above 6 inches of water - they don't know you from a bird in a funny hat. If your presentation is stealthy, you get a lot of chances while your heart is skipping beats - when your presentation looks like natural food, they eat it. Same thing is true sight-fishing big bass - lead their patrol so your cast doesn't spook them, and your fly is in the right place when they arrive.