bulldog1935

3/8 oz was long considered the low-end weight for a baitcaster from the turn of the last century up until just about a decade ago. When mini-Ambassadeurs came out in the '80s, 1/4 oz low end was a baitcaster coup. A few things you learn along the way, especially coming from inshore, where 1/4 oz vs. 1/8 oz can make all the difference between dragging up grass every cast and catching fish. Lighter line helps casting lighter lures to distance. Also, centrifugal brakes are better at preventing start-up backlash with heavy weights, while (linear) mag brakes are better dialing-out mid-cast backlash casting lighter weights. (you might hear something different from people who don't understand the physics) You cast light weight by reducing loaded spool mass (inertia), low-inertia spool bearings can also help. The next best thing to BFS is a linear mag reel, low-inertia spool bearings, and a deep spool fishing 20-lb braid. You back your spool with the largest-diameter mono you can fit, 20 to 25 yds of 20- to 25-lb mono. Tie a backing knot that will go through your line guide (improved allbright), and top with 100 yds braid. This works for casting 1/8 oz and, in my case, hauling in slot redfish.

It's about money. No, it's about fun.

I was on Zzeta Italy website last month, upgrading a couple of C3CT surf reel spindles to carboloy. Discovered they offer a barstock CT frame now for mini-Ambassadeur. Since I already had this multipiece rockfish baitfinesse rod for bike-pack shore fishing niche, decided I could make a really cool match with a custom 2500CIT - mini surf reel. Already knew it was cheaper to bypass a donor reel, and build entirely from a few OEM parts and balance of upgraded aftermarket parts. I ordered the frame and handle from Zzeta; CIAR side plates from ereplacement parts; spool, mag brake, trim, brake plate and complete drive from Avail, including ball-bearing pinion, 6.1 gears, alloy mainshaft and drag click-plate with integral roller-bearing sleeve. Since the Avail mag holder snaps into the frame L/S boss, this also lets me run a 2- or 4-pin centrifugal for also casting heavier weights. The barstock frame built a little tank, with wide-open thumb access. Currently has about 100-yds 5-lb Ultragreen mono, but after the brakes are dialed in and it casts like I want, will load it with PE#1 Varivas Si-X (22-lb). An opportunity fishing reel, mostly about casting fun.

photos borrowed from my #1 kayak-fishing bro, hill country rivers from kayak vs. shore fishing a navigation channel and a tide pass noteworthy, finesse rod length that doesn't equal 7' is part of success formula, and the same rod doesn't work in both niches.

Thanks, those are 2 different rivers at extremes of the TX hill country, west, to north. Full range of sunfish species, native northern largemouth, and endemic spotted bass I've spent most of my life busting in and wading the limestone runs with a short glass fly rod, 6' to 7-1/2' - red-ear, yellow-belly sunfish (yeah, big hens) Rio Grande cichlid are native in all hill country rivers my largest endemic bass hen (would have been the state record in 2005, but would have required a liver biopsy for feral smallmouth genetics - I released her instead - she's the screen saver on my desktop) sight-fished largemouth, and a striper that flooded over into trout tailwater our coldwater fishery at easterm end is another story... (8-lb rainbow buck) Regarding 8' rod for swimbait, I've fished rods as long as 9' in salt kayak - tall tip helps to keep heavily weighted paddletails in the zone above the grass.

Here's the kind of river water I kayak. 6' MH graphite frogger, 3/4-1 oz 5' MM composite skip-caster, 1/4-3/4 oz 5-1/2' S-glass ML baitfinesse, 1/8 to 5/8 oz Inshore kayak is different, where I'm typically fishing 7' to 7-1/2' rods, and mostly ML for shallow grass. Different boats, also - river kayak is 10' and spins, salt kayak is 16' and tracks like a razor.

Regarding rods, where you're going find high-end rods more desirable is in MH and heavier action. At this point, the light weight of a high-end rod pays off in lure feel and fishing fatigue. In ML rods, many low-end and moderate-cost rods will do the job very well, because they all have a lightweight tip. Baitfinesse fits in here, and I have a specific thought that you'll find wide-lure-weight-range rods more functional than traditional panfish-action rods. (cashed-in vendor bonus points, but I paid $45 for the rod just below) Editing-in diminishing returns on that high-end MH+ rod - what you want to pay for is in the blank. Higher-grade components and finishing add to the rod asthetics, but these are the diminishing returns. This is personal preference, and is not a recommendation to everyone. Everything I wrote above on this thread is a recommendation to everyone.

JDM Zillion amd Alphas purchase is the next- level baitcaster - Steez function is the same with an ounce less weight because of magnesium frame (Alphas swaps spools with Steez CT, Zillion swaps spools w/ Steez 1000). Shimano Stradic is the exact same design as Stella, same line roller, same A/R roller bearing assembly, and all parts interchange. The difference is ball bearing count and MOC fabrication costs. Please note, personal budget answers dodge the question, which is at what point are you not getting much more performance for the next price step. The real question is, "what should I consider entry level tackle based on what I get for price" See the answers above.

The first defense mechanism of heavily hit fish is to feed on a cycle. This is probably a bigger factor in not catching than anything related to line. Where you really notice this is in a trout tailwater. I can think of great pocketwater in a BWO hatch, where you can't buy a strike for 20 minutes, then you catch 3 fish on 3 casts, and they shut down again for the next cycle. Fear keeps them from feeding, while the hunger drive is always there. When one fish feeds, the rest will feed in competition.

You should be thumbing the spool on the fall for your final elevation adjustment to cast accuracy, then stopping the spool will be no issue. Expect us to cast without crutches. Talbot and Meek reels held all tournament distance-casting world records before modified Ambassadeur C(T) showed up with spool bearings in the 70s. All 3 points of backlash require thumb modulation (tournament casters don't care about backlash at end of cast, and want every cm they can gain on the fall). The closest thing to a brake Talbot/Meek gave you were oil reservoirs on the spindle ends that created oil-whirl and acted like a mag brake at mid cast. If you want to get good with your thumb, tinker-cast a 100-y-o Shakespeare NLW.

more important, where in the cast is your backlash - start-up, mid-cast (hump) or finish cast? If it's at the start-up, you need to cast without jerk - follow-through, but don't snap your wrist. Mid-cast, use higher mag adjustment. End of your cast, anticipate and use your thumb - spool stop is up to you. Selah.

budget understood - sent you a pm

capacity calculator for stacking lines on spools - it's quite good: https://www.pattayafishing.net/advanced-fishing-reel-line-capacity-estimator/ What's not good is the typical result stacking threadline braid on deep spinning spools. The hour-glass or cone line lay result is what causes wind knots - multiple loops of line dragging each other off the spool simultaneously. (The reason I didn't fish braid for 2 decades, until the quality of both reels and braid caught up). Hour-glass and cone line lay is caused by the reel's line lay error adding up as you stack more line deeper. (basically, any reel stacks mono fine - the error shows up in threadline). This is the line lay result you get with a good reel and shallow spool: Stradic is the entry-level Shimano worm-drive - probably should consider it the entry-level braid reel. $140 w/ free express shipping from Japan Back to Legalis - either of these will do nicely On Japan silk-thread scale, your target is PE#1 to #1.2 (go by diameter - lb-test is a USM absurdity).

If you want to tackle improving your Black Max for small-diameter lines and light lures, you should be able to find a shallow, lightweight BFS spool on Express website or ebay. Also don't rule out the glass rod. Most of my River Kayak rods are modern Japanese glass, which has great action for fishing close and skip-casting. (the MH frogger on top is graphite) After the spool swap, you can gain another 10+% by swapping your shielded spool bearings for low-mass/inertia BFS bearings. @Bazoo that's redfish - I mostly kayak inshore, and shore fish long BFS tackle. Especially the skinny expanse on the TX coast (15,000 sq-mi less than 2' deep), we fish lighter tackle than most bass fishermen. I actually began this with surf tackle, to let me cast the latest generation of braid (30-lb breaking strength) to extreme distance. The wide reel throws 2-oz spider weights plus that much meat - the narrow reel throws 1/4 to 1 oz lures. Trying to hammer BFS into a box is a mistake. BFS is everything that's fun and advantageous about baitcasting, and it's possible to set up your reels to blow away any spinning tackle. FWIW, I was fishing Ambassadeur weightless 40 years ago - zero tension on the spool and a centrifugal cast could out-do spinning tackle then. The only thing that's new about BFS is the name (20 years old), and marketing it as a package to bass fishermen (10 years old). Threadline fishing goes back 100 years in every fishing culture - even ours. This '30s diminutive Shakespeare Tournament Freespool had lighweight alloy spool with shallow cork arbor, made to fish the 4-lb silk braid of its day, and fish 1/8 oz all day. The Japanese were making parts to improve small-frame Ambassadeur for light weights in '85 - just a few years after 2500C was introduced. It was simply called reel tuning before it was called BFS, but the goal was the same - reduce the mass and inertia in the spool and spool-driven parts.

The best I've ever fished are Abu Garcia salt all-range baitfinesse rods. 6'6" Xrossfield Baitfinesse to 7+' (8+' if you have a need to go there - beyond 130'). The 6'6" to 7'3" rods plug into bass niches very well. Ask @softwateronly - he recently bought Abu Prototype Kurodai baitfinesse and has been having a blast with it. These will fish 1/16 oz with no problem - casts 2 g well beyond 100' if your reel is set up properly. This lure-weight range of 1/16 to 5/8 oz is typical on the best all-range BFS rods. These also aren't for panfish - these rods have the backbone to stop a big fish that's trying to run wide under your kayak. While most people on BR take the approach of buying a packaged off-the-shelf BFS reel, you can go as crazy as you want with bench reels - this '77 mid-frame Ambassadeur will cast 3 g to 150'

I'm a junkie for these leaders for toothy salt fish and snook gill plates - USA https://aquateko.com/collections/buy-knot2kinky-leaders/products/knot-2-kinky-pre-made-titanium-leader-3-pak Aside from being the only titanium-wire bite-trace made properly in US, their snap is the best I've ever used. (note titanium stretches 4x more than stainless) If you're not already, go to a moderate taper rod to absorb fish shock. if you want the wire only, single-strand titanium ties a 3-turn clinch knot (also snell knot) https://aquateko.com/collections/buy-knot2kinky-leaders/products/knot-2-kinky-single-strand-nickel-titanium-leader-wire

I've been hesitant to post Florida Fishing Products on this thread, because they're simply OOS in threadline sizes. But I fished a spool of their 15-lb 4 years inshore. I believe this line is supplied by Varivas, but it was my first taste of high-grade Japan x-braid ($18/ reel-charge spool). Worth watching for them to restock.

p/n 47 is the o-ring. 48 and 49 are bronze shims of different thickness. They can get deformed from cranking the knob down too far, and then they don't do anything.

Every reel I know has an o-ring on the boss to seal the tension cap as you tighten it. To get the threads started, you have to push inward - hard - to gain ground on the o-ring seal.

17 ipt While you can't change the ipt, you can change the t. Shorter handles have the effect of speeding up a reel, because one turn is a shorter distance - you also wind more with your wrist and less with your arm. With a long handle, you're using more arm to wind, and traveling farther to make one turn. With this 8-geared reel in jerkbait niche, I could count the fish increase from the long handle swap.

Braid that diameter is the purpose of a shallow braid spool, which Shimano Yumeya offers for 4000 worm-drive (Stradic to Stella). The reel and braid is a great match on St. Croix Legend Glass

My recurring comment on these entry-level reels, Shimano sells smooth, and Daiwa builds tough.

again, as I mentioned above, oscillating spool in Zebco begins with Delta, which also has brass gears (metal frame returns at Omega) - the oscillator assy is p/n's 14-A through -C Here's 33 schematic - no oscillator The point of spool oscillation - it Eliminates line dig and improves cast distance.

Pretty sure those are all the reasons I didn't consider those models when I was shopping to take my dad fishing - these times are getting rare, and reliable tackle is important. My buddy Lou has landed some honking fish on his Bullet 30 - but to me, at 13 oz, you have to want to lure-fish it. Also can't complain about the dozen salt-finesse years we got out of UL-1 with my daughters. Zebco has always made a disposable reel - if you sent one in for repairs, they sent you a new reel gratis. Their customer service was the biggest part of what you bought. They're moving away from that now, making reels with higher function and design quality. I seriously considered Kast King Brutus when I was shopping over the winter - all it really had was light weight. Having direct experience with Lou's Bullet, and finding such a great price on Omega Pro, the choice was a no-brainer - the reel has already earned its keep.