bulldog1935

Yes, we can call these ubiquitous patents "paradigm design changes" Ambassadeur freespool, centrifugal brake, and drag that slips main gear. Lew's Speed Spool "un-synchronizing" freespool from level wind. Most people here have never seen a reel without these. There was one older, Marhoff's level wind patent, 1909 - still on every baitcast reel made today (except, of course NLW). Patent rights expired in 1928, then Marhoff LW showed up on every reel made after, here a Meek 30 (very nice benchmade Marhoff copy made up to 1941). (I still say Daiwa MagForce patent will be just as ubiquitous)

Do not pass go. Here's the same spool in Twin Power with PE#1.2 braid, 25-lbs.

At that price, seems like a no-brainer. Which spool are you looking at?

Throwing up a show and tell from a friend's recent score. '78 4600C, near mint, and replaced a reel just like it that he grew up with. Good follow up discussion on his FFR thread. https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=76370&view=unread#p425207 From my tinkering, this age is the best low-inertia Ambassadeur configuration period, with simply a spool swap. I also referenced this priority list from Jun Sonada, rating the effectiveness of possible upgrades to all Ambassadeurs. https://japantackle.com/Tackle_topics/abu_tuneup.htm

if your presentation is more natural and you feel more subtle touch, it makes all the difference to both you and the fish. @Cbump TSL Grasswalker - neutral density subsurface dog-walker. Everybody is going to have their own sweet spot, but matching the rod length, action, and line pick-up affects how many fish buy into this lure. You can tune your personal sweet spot with handle length. This thread (and this topic in general) has more wrong answers than any other in the history of BR

A reel is a gearbox. IPT is constant. What the reel does is reduce torque into speed - you're the motor. But a longer handle has the effect of SLOWING the reel, not speeding it up. Because your hand is traveling farther to make one turn. You are increasing torque with a longer handle and can keep the reel turning against stronger fish. You also gain lure finesse. I know of people who put a long handle on a low-geared reel and couldn't keep up with charging fish. If you want the effect of speeding up the reel, you put on a SHORTER handle. The shorter handle winds faster because you use more wrist and less arm when you wind. (you may have to pump the rod to gain line against a strong fish) Selah.

Have you tried manual bail technique? Rather than casting out and closing the bail with crank-auto-bail close. Keep your free hand close to the spool, feather the line with your fingertips, very much like thumbing a baitcaster at end of cast. Use the same hand to close the bail manually. Turn slightly with the rod to take up slack before you retrieve. Any time I loan a spinning outfit to a friend, I go over this. They will end up with the line behind the spool. Then we'll go over it again, and this time it takes. Using proper manual bail technique, the spool can be completely full. Manual bail technique solves every complaint about spinning tackle - wind knots, runaway line in the wind, line twist.

Thanks for taking off the blinders (at least for most people). The USM dictated the China-made reels when they relegated round reels to cheap nostalgia niche. (the soapbox is worn through) I'm sure the China reels were never sold in Japan, UK and EU. As our friend pointed out previously, Japan remains the prime market for Abu round reels, closely followed by Europe and Britain. Noteworthy, Tica has made reels in Taiwan since 1960 beginning with offshore (currently make Daiwa that's not made on Japan bench), and 80s inflation forced the Japan bicycle industry to move to Taiwan - most everything mechanically techy today comes from Taiwan.

@GetFishorDieTryin Never heard of them, but just googled their website. On the TX coast, Waterloo rods are renowned, and my buddy Josh fishes nothing else. Come to think of it, this high-$ marina where I'm staged to launch below carries nothing else in their pro shop. I'm really pretty set on tackle, and don't expect to be in the market for awhile with a new truck payment.

@FryDog62 In that rod series, I have the 7'5" MH that's rated 1/4 to 1 oz, and it fishes both ends perfectly, I'm fishing 1/4 oz neutrual density TSL grasswalker to winter 7/8 oz Corkys and 1 oz topwaters. My other Valleyhill rod also fishes both ends of its rated range perfectly, so I would say it's probably perfect for 1/16 oz.

ps - just out of your price range with rod shipping added, here's an inch-longer Valleyhill bad boy. https://fishingshop.kiwi/VALLEY-HILL-Cyphlist-HRX-Pro-Spec-Hard-Rock-Edition-CPRC-72LS-RFF/ Note this vendor has always had the Valleyhill stock edge, and with discounted prices.

Except for USM 13Fishing Omen Green I don't think any of my JDM favorites have current stock. Valleyhill Odessa Abu Salty Stage XKRC Prototype.

@JNorman Since the day I first tried in the salt, I said it makes fly rod obsolete for everything but moving water.

Bait Finesse System, coined in print in 2000 by Mr. Motoyama, is the reel. The combination of shallow lightweight spool, low-inertia bearings, and threadline. Finesse rods are aimed at specific niches, stream to offshore, and everything in between. .

@Bass Rutten you're close - the origins of BFS for bass fishing in Japan were first for shore/bank fishing. How it's applied from a boat in a reservoir is one application. My applications on bass are wading headwaters creeks, and kayak in wide slow spots downriver. And I do a little of the reservoir from kayak stuff. (rivers and salt flats are my fishing love) The salt thing, I do shore, surf and kayak with different-length finesse rods.

@Cbump - you don't have an application for bass finesse, and I get that. But you completely understand the desire for salt finesse, and I get that, too. The biggest problem with the moniker BFS is people want to shoe it into a box - it ain't gonna stay in anyone's box.

@Stale KracKer you're wrong. Holy cow, you own a 1500C - what's that about (rhetorical). (and so is @Cbump who's been asking me about salt finesse) BFS has been here since the 30s - just didn't have the name until 2000. Just because you didn't know about it doesn't make it new and faddish. The name is already 23 years old. The trend is already 40 years old with a 90+ year history. https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/finesse-101.html

In addition to Avail, AMO makes their version of the 1500C and 2500C stamped alloy sheet frames that lower the spool 7 mm closer to the rod. The AMO version is about $75 cheaper, unless you find a sale price on the Avail JDM version. Replacing the stock plated-brass frames, these drop an instant ounce from the reel. With the other brass-to-alloy-swap parts Avail offers, you can get a 2500C down to 6 oz, and a 1500C to just under.

@WRB and @Stale KracKer The nice thing about kayak fishing, can't normally take out more than 3 rigged rods (plus a back-up in the hold). However, I cover a lot of niches from hill country headwaters to inshore and surf. That includes stream, bass, bass finesse, inshore, inshore finesse, surf and shore finesse. My Japan shopping goes back 20 years to fly tackle for those hill country headwaters, and also inshore. Ambassadeur and I go back to 1977, inshore, surf and reservoir bass, though I became a Lew's Speed Spool junkie in the mid-80s, and that lasted 30 years.

Japan has a fishing sub culture built around Abu round reels, from stream trout and bass, to inshore, surf and offshore. Of course, you know all this. Avail has been making Ambassadeur aftermarket parts since 1985. In addition to BFS, drive and trim upgrades, they make lightweight offset frames to lower the small-frame Ambassadeurs on a straight-seat rod. Japanese also make a range of rods with offset reel seats just for round reels. Some are offered as 1-pc rods, and many more offered as separate handles and matching rod blades. They all interchange between the different Japan rod and handle makers, using a common 12-mm butt ferrule that's the Japan standard. Here's a range of handles offered by Smith (in magnesium) and Bright River (aluminum). Other makers include Frog Products, APHL, Dowluck, Sam Lures, Scream, Line Slack, Robelson. Unlikely to find these at Digitaka, though Asian Portal does a good job of stocking Smith - they're mostly snapped up by Japan lure shops, and most sold in advance when a batch is announced. When batches hit the market, they normally sell out quickly. The Robelson offset handle is composite carbon+resin and very lightweight, but they're hens' teeth since the last 2021 batch. You can buy rod blades to fit the handles that range from multipiece UL stream pack rods to 8' 1-pc shore rods. Here's another good-looking lightweight handle/blade from Sam Lures, Light Trip 55L.J-ESCH, sounds like a stream rod, and looking all over Japan and Yahoo, couldn't find one remaining in stock - even had my Japan broker searching for me. I googled one in-stock listing and he called, but no stock.

hmm...

@redmeansdistortion - you have some nice reels to show-and-tell here also, bro. (photos are the stuff of internet forums)

I have the same rod as @FishTank and like this rod immensely. Great blank, very-well made, and light for glass. But you do feel the weight compared to graphite. I'd be worried 7'11" faster-tip glass would be tip-heavy. (My older Falcon Glass rods are 6' and 6-1/2').

The Akios barstock frames were made in two limited runs (first run included 5500), and they left the parts business, now selling only completed reels. The barstock frames have limited application because of the Akios 73-mm-long foot. Takes a custom split reel seat (L3 >70mm), or saddle bands on a long surf/tournament rod. custom 8' 2-hand rod..........................................................................14' rod But they drop the spool 8 mm closer to the rod than the stock Abu frames. The Zzeta frames are a bit easier to match with a 68-mm foot. Of course only Akios made LW barstock frames. The top guide bar also had freeplay because of diameter and key clearance in the end brackets. I solved that with square-section o-rings and the socket-flatheads, which I could torque to compress the o-rings - filled the gaps and centered the guide bar rock-solid. It's noteworthy my LW 6500CS Rocket will cast light lures to the same distance as my NLW 6500CT, both using the 8' 2-hand rod. Though 5500CT and 4500CT (only Zzeta makes 4500 frame) stand apart for extreme distance. Here's my 6.3-geared 4500CT on 8'9" shore micro-jigging rod.

I found a coup in Japan - NS Akios barstock LW frame for my bench-made 6500CS Rocket, casting lures in surf on PE#2 X-braid (set-up backlash-proof with Avail internal mag brake - 9 BB on spool and LW). @Stale KracKer handles - Whiplash Factory on my CS Rocket, Haneda Craft on my '77 4500C bench reel in my first post I like Haneda Craft handles. 1500CI 4600C Express Avail handle on my 5500CT NLW