bulldog1935

if you want a really good dinosaur with excellent locomotive drive, selective anti-reverse, same spool stroke and line management that compares to Stradic, I'm a big fan of $90 Tica Libra. They're heavy, doesn't matter in the small size, and built to last. Also keep in mind their 3000 is everybody else's 5000. Tica sells direct on Amazon, and TackleDirect also stocks them.

Hi friend. Until I discovered oil whirl in Meek and Talbot, I was afraid to cast them. Now I'm really confident fishing my Niangua. The Bluegrass 33 is plain fun to cast on the long Henshall rod. You feel the wobble in the Bluegrass spool and how it keeps the spool from taking off like the other NLW, Meek No. 3 or the Talbot. Both the Meek No. 3 and various Talbots were the tournament-casters reels of choice before ball-bearing Abu CT NLW, and some still use them today. I don't really have an example of a Summit or Marhoff with the nickel glued-in the spool flange, but it's been discussed before on ORCA. (the Old Reel Collectors Association forum) thanks for the question - hope my answer works for you. btw, if anybody wants to take up antique baitcasting, I strongly recommend the NLW reels of the 19-naughties and teens made by Shakespeare, Meek and Talbot, simply because of the cast distance advantage over all the Marhoff LW variants. The Shakespeare reels have really good bushings, and I have several friends across the country who have taken them up for their full-time bass fishing - of course on split-cane rods. And yes, these guys fly fish first and foremost. Again, you want a line winder to dry your braided line, and it also lets you restore a hand-level wind when you get your reel ready to go out again.

I paid $150/ for two '19 Stradics from Japan, and right now, that may be the only place you can find them.

I'm going to go a different way with the dock fishing recommendation. While MH tackle has its place inshore, we catch 10-to-1 on long UL rods - Japanese rockfish rods, which are actually based on progressive fly rod tapers. It has a lot to do with the micro-sized bait attracted by dock lights at night. Raised my daughters with annual coast trips and catching nursery seatrout after dinner and before ice cream was a ritual with us. Live shrimp on a 4' leader and weightless cigar cork, which you can only throw on UL, would get us 40 nursery trout in an hour. A dozen years ago, discovered rockfish rods from Japan, would get our UL bait rig out twice as far and doubled our fish count. Also, sight-fishing canal lights, discovered I could land 22" and 23" specs on this tackle. Now with the girls grown, we make an annual Nov trip to far S. Texas just for the incredible nite-light dock fishing. The schoolies sweep through the lights at night to raid the tiny bait, and we each get our daily bag limit of 17"-22" specs. The schoolies, btw, are all males. We've refined our tackle to include longer Rockfish rods to 8+', good UL reels like Stradic, mix of live bait and small baitfish lures like 2" and 3" swim shad - 2" Wildeye shad and Tsunami SS3.

I'll throw in a vote for Stradic FL as the baseline workhorse reel, and also point out that Twin Power with metal rotor is the next step up. The latter is also bench-made in Japan, so parts are matched for even smoother function.

I could embarrass myself. I have two Stradic and one Vanquish in UL sizes, plus a Tica Libra - they're all pimped out with double or counter-balanced handles, which I've become really fond on spinning reels, especially when takes are subtle. One of those Stradic, (Japan market C2000SHG) equivalent to FL1000 (but cost $60 less from Japan) fits a mid spot for me inshore for matching winter glass minnows on UL Rockfish rod, and tussles with slot redfish. Three weeks ago throwing tandem rigs, it landed 4 seatrout doubles plus a redfish/ladyfish double - that workhorse thing. I have both 4000 and 5000 size for inshore and near-shore pelagic (mackerel) - the FL4000 has a counter-balanced handle and shallow braid spool. Since it doesn't come up often, here's the little Libra 1500 with Daiwa double handle. The Libra has spool stroke and line management arguably comparable to Shimano, but costs $90.

You might try shopping Japan online. Japantackle, Asian Portal, Plat. Fed-Ex and DHL delivery from Japan is quicker than USPS Priority Mail. I've bought 3 reels from Asian Portal, including Japan market models not imported to US (Vanquish and low-geared Stradic UL size) - their prices are really good if they have stock, and they ship free express.

thanks guys - I'll add these. The first centrifugal brake patent was Redifor, 1915, which was immediately snapped up by Pflueger. It consisted of two teardrop-shaped pawls in the spool flange, which rubbed on the frame rim. Unfortunately, it worked too well, and cost cast distance. The best Marhoff copy I've ever cast, and the only one that will compete with NLW for distance is this Meek No. 30, made after 1928. Like all Meeks, it's not intended for grease, but to oil daily, and you can see an oil port for the main gear. The casting brake is a wool pad you dial into the spool flange. throwing in a third, a postwar 3rd model Pflueger Supreme (this is still a Marhoff copy). The square-section steel rod is American Fork & Hoe, later TrueTemper, and this combo fishes 3/8-oz really well.

I mostly fish kayak inshore and fly rod in limestone creeks. For my little bit of reservoir bass fishing, I've been known to cast wooden plugs (and prefer buzz baits) on my 1914 Talbot Niangua NLW with marked 1914 FE Thomas bait rod and braided silk. What most people don't know about Meek and Talbot reels, the oil reservoirs on the end caps should be filled every day, because these reels used oil whirl for backlash control. In a cast, you can hear the oil whirl, and it works so hard, the oil evaporates. Even older, I've never fished, but it's a hoot to cast, 8'3" Chubb Henshall bass rod with Bluegrass 33 NLW. It will slow-lob 3/8 oz to 150' easy. Backlash control is imbalance wobble in the spool, and your grandfather may have glued a nickel inside his old Marhoff spool to get the same effect. Doc Henshall first published the formula for this rod in 1876. Marhoff's LW patent from 1908 forced everyone else to look into other LW mechanisms for the next 20 years. It wasn't until Ambassadeur that a really good free spool and centrifugal brake became the norm. Lew's (Shimano and Ryobi) and modern low profile baitcasters disengage the LW mechanim from the free spool. The strangest LW mechanism was Pflueger's 1918 Douglas patent, also free spool and anti-reverse. The flyer falls forward during cast, and is disengaged from the spool. On retrieve, the flyer pushes the line to either side, where the yokes pick up the line and drop it in the groove. The arrow knob is a a tiny spring wire on a cam for backlash control, and works pretty well. They discontinued the 1st model Supreme when they could copy Marhoff. But until Lew's, this strange reel would out-cast every other except NLW. antique braided silk lines, btw, will last indefinitely if you dry them on a line winder to prevent mildew

Vanford shines in and L and UL sizes. Stradic FL is the baseline workhorse reel if you need something bigger than 3000 size. Twin Power is worthwhile upgrade with metal rotor, but should be at almost twice the price.

btw, my family is from McNairy Co., and I spent my summers on my grandfather's farm. With a fly rod one day below Pickwick Dam, caught TN tarpon (skipjack herring) as fast I could land them. Sufix 832 is definitely choice for spinning tackle. Another really nice thin coated braid is Florida Fishing Products. I fish Sufix down to 6-lb on inshore UL, normally 15-lb inshore spinning, and even baitcasters with 20-lb 832. The new generation of Japanese braids are shocking. YGK Upgrade in 0.17-mm is 22-lb test.

you may be missing the point, the spool holds 35 yds of 65-lb braid, but I'm casting distance on light lures inshore, and using the thinnest braid that works with bait reels.

I know this is an old topic, and one I researched on every internet source. I ended up with a new Lew's Team Pro SP, and it makes a very nice BFS reel. It has the shallow spool, made for 40 yds 20-lb mono. The shallow spool also holds exactly 200 yds of 0.165-mm braid - my use is for inshore ML and 1/8-ounce - Or the same 200 yds in 4-lb test mono. If you ever need a good line capacity calculator, I like the one at Pattaya Fishing, which lets you also calculate stacking lines of different diameters. The shallow spool on the SP is far lighter than any of Lew's deep spools. I further reduced spool inertia with Hedgehog Air BFS bearings, which are currently on sale in Japan already paired for Lew's - if they haven't already sold out. Before I bought the reel, checked with Lew's whether the SP spool was interchangeable with any other Lew's model (since I already have a few). Definitely not. The SP has the smaller SLP frame, P2 pinion gear, so no go with other Lew's models.