bulldog1935

I set this up to fish 1/2 oz, but it casts 3 g to an ounce 100% backlash proof, and without making an adjustment. Also my best skipping combo. my life alert battery was knocking out metabolism miles on the greenway system. At 65-y-o, I'm still the guy to beat in Sunday morning sprints.

I have a hard time tolerating coil in my leaders until they're stretched straight on the rod. Main line coil - knock your lights out, none for me, thanks. Seems to me there's no practical reason for posting opinion that's contrary to the subject of a thread - this one happens to be leaders. If the topic doesn't interest you, do something else. Does the OP care about your opinion (rhetorical)

I am always going for abrasion resistance, and my leader test is not far below my braid test. Frequently 22 or 27-lb X-braid with 15-lb leader.

Jun Sonada at JapanTackle is the smartest baitcaster guy I know of. He recommends only hard-coating braid on baitcaster to limit line dig. He's right on many of the X-braids. The softer FEP* coatings work better on spinning tackle, while the harder coatings cast better on baitcaster. One line he recommends specifically is Yamatoyo Resin Sheller, but I don't like that coating anywhere near Duel X-wire - I've had the Yamatoyo coating peel - otherwise, great cost-effective line. For my new reel, I'm trying the new-in-'22 Varivas, in PE#0.6 - I'll keep you posted. * keep it here to not totally derail the thread @FishTank the coatings are a thermoplastic derivative of teflon, so they're slicker than baby scat. Depending on the exact fomulation, they can be hard or soft - YGK Bornrush is about the softest and excels on spinning distance.

This puppy is stunning smooth. @Tail Slap got his a few weeks ago and says the same. (He's buying more.) After the lighter-weight handle swap (esp. knobs), I can't tell it from my Steez, and it cost half. Absolutely nothing clunky about my magnesium Steez after fishing a year and change. (the whole point for this reel was to keep my Steez out of salt BFS and full-time on my freshwater bass rod that was sharing it with a spool swap). I guess Alphas also has free-floating spool. This was made in Japan, where parts matching is the norm. The guys building these reels will pick through parts to find the best pairing that improves the smoothness as they go. The sticker is their bench that gets pinged if the reel is returned. You can say the same thing about Shimano spinning reels. Stradic is an amazing buy, but put it next to a Vanquish, and the difference is surprising. Starting and stopping the Stradic actually feels like work next to the Vanquish.

Great choices listed - you can't go wrong with Avail. One more, Ray's Studio Microcast spool for your Metanium googles up for $50 (half-list-price) and free shipping, Krazi Tackle Store on the Express website, though it's 2.8 g heavier than the Avail spool. The Avail spool is half the weight of the stock spool. This is from JapanTackle listing

nice spool, too

when I'm fishing split shot, I always start a square knot, standing ends in the open split shot, close the knot loop on the outside of the split shot, then pinch the split shot so nothing can slide. Pinched split shot sliding around is a no-no, it has teeth and even though it's soft metal, it's harder than nylon or fluoro. E.g., on a fly tippet dropper, I can clip the complex dropper rig complete with split shot, tie a perfection loop to each side of the cut, put the complex rig in a leader wallet, loop it on and fish it again next time. My largest rainbow, 27" and 8 lbs was caught on a reused 5X (4-lb test) tippet dropper just that way. Here's that buck on size 22 dropper. It's ok to let the rubber Otter's Milking egg (soft) and bare hook (no teeth) slide on the leader, but not the split shot. Here's the same rig, same day, smaller rainbow took the Otter's Milking egg (orange), which slid up the leader to the fixed split shot. The small fish is on the sliding bare hook. I put the milking egg on the leader with a quilting needle, slide up the bare hook, tie on tippet, and the tippet knot bump-stops the hook and egg - the split shot is a foot above the rest. Bottom center just above, you can make out the black and blue size 22 dropper that took the big buck above (such tiny flies make up 70% of the biomass in any tailwater).

Actually, it couldn't be simpler. It's when people try to apply their personal limits to others' definitions that it becomes complicated. The term BFS = bait finesse system, talking about a reel, and was coined in print by a Japanese stream trout fishermen in 2000, who then wrote books on shore bass fishing. Bait reels like this also existed in the 30s. @FishTank A good dry fly rod has what fly fishermen would call a super-progressive taper, short soft tip, long fast mid, powerful butt. (the opposite taper in a fly rod would be semi-para wet-fly or short para close-space rod - these rods have faster tips, slower mids and flex into the butt). The same super-progressive blank makes a perfect finesse rod for spinning or bait, and if you took the finesse rod blank, it would make a good dry fly rod. The paras load more of the total rod length when casting more weight, and have a narrow weight range. With progressive, the rod loads in a band moving progressively down the blank. This gives accuracy and forgiving feel, protects the lightest line, and casts the widest lure weight range. The butt is there for turning big fish.

You disagree with the JDM bass all-range BFS rod being called a BFS rod by the manufacturer, or the JDM inshore salt BFS rod being called a finesse rod by the manufacturer? Finesse rods are progressive taper by definition. The Japanese have been shore fishing rods like this for hundreds of years - they called it Cara. In the '30s the Brits called them Threadline, which was revived in the 80s by people making XUL bass rods from fly rod blanks. My JDM salt finesse rods go back 14 years. If BFS is marked on the rod, it's marketing hype.

Boost spool would be the one you want - HLC spool is 36 mm dia.

The difference is the specific modulus of the graphite fibers, and you can get the same taper with a lighter-weight rod using the higher modulus; i.e., less total material. Boy, did this thread need an actual answer. I gotta ask - how much physics education are you guys expecting from the sales boy at Academy (don't worry, it's rhetorical).

Since we made it around to knots, I use improved Allbright knot - I've been rolling these for fly fishing 40 years now, and they shoot through my snake guides. 2' leader is enough to give you some measure of shock resistance, but always a good idea to keep your leader knot out of your b/c line guide. The guide below is the smallest k-frame on a rod that finishes with microguides. No problem sending this knot through any guides. Double-uni knot is best for joining lines of the same diameter. Any single-bend knot, the smaller line will cut through the larger.

Stradic and Vanford are the same reel internally - Vanford is lighter externally composite. There are differences in the reel knee length that people have hit Vanford for. I have the heavier Twin Power 3000MHG, which has forged aluminum rotor in addition to the forged aluminum body, and bench-made in Japan - not recommending it, but throwing out the weight example to support a vote for Stradic. Also better add I have a JDM Vanquish, which is the best finesse spinning reel ever made.

Both reels appear to have the same 1016 G1 spool - they show the same capacity on the Daiwa US website. They describe the brake using different words, but there's nothing different in the SV TW brake function that's different from what they say about the A TWS brake. Maybe there's a difference in inductor mass. Something else to keep in mind, there's a big array of aftermarket spools that will fit this reel, deep spool, shallow spool, fixed inductor, moving SV inductor, different inductor mass. Brands like Ray's Studio, Roro, AMO. Plus Daiwa SLP Works spools. This is what sent me to Daiwa for my Steez and 2 more Zillion. I cast up to 1 oz on Ray's Studio SV spool.

I fished nothing but Seaguar fluoro until reel technology and braid quality caught up to each other - over the past 4 years, I've got to braid + leader almost exclusively (I have mono spools that back up several reels). The answer with spinning reel is braid-specific shallow spools manage fine braid better than deep mono spool. In JDM, SLP Works offers them for Daiwa reels - part of the trick is identifying your USM Daiwa reel in JDM names. What happens with deep spool and stacking line is stacking too deep and finishing too small creates hourglass line lay, and increases wind knots. The baitcast answer is don't mess with fine braid until backlash is a distant memory. Keeping mass and intertia down so spool brakes are more effective is the biggest gain. Even with a deep spool you can make it work, creating an arbor by filling 2/3 with 20-lb mono, then you can top as light as 20-lb Sufux 832. Micro spool bearings are the biggest step, and even improve deep spools. The next level in fine braid is shallow braid-specific spools, which will let you go down to 0.17-mm dia braid without line dig problems. There may be good aftermarket BFS spools made for your reels, such as Ray's Studio honeycomb SV spools.

Ooh, ooh, ooh... Fresh outta da box. Sorry guys, got the last one on Amazon.JP for $257 shipped DHL Express. Like any good warewolf tale, he'll change... OK, I just checked - they still say Only 1 left - so it's still there. I'm quite sure no exchange rate fluctuation will give me buyer's remorse.

That spinning reel was a Zebco with chopped-graphite-filled plastic frame, and flopped in the breeze. I gave mine away.

The reels I'm comparing have the same spool - Steez spool was the first version of the Boost spool that found its wan onto Zillion with the new name. Both start at 1/8 oz to "heavy rigs" - I've swapped them between Zillion and Steez, and there's no difference. The difference is the weight difference between the magnesium body and the aluminum body. JDM lists a different '21 Steez A HLC (hyper long cast) with 1500-size 36 mm spool (vs. 34 mm) and not made to cast light weights, but rated for 3/4 to 2 ounces. From the description, they fit the larger spool into the same frame. This may be the reel you want. It seems the reels I was comparing are '19 Steez A TW and '19 Steez SV TW. I'm not sure which is the current USM Steez A TWS reel, which they list as a 1016 reel (should match the 34 mm dia spools above) Maybe the A is the reel you're looking for. https://japantackle.com/casting-reels/daiwa/low-profile-casting-reels/reg0000302.html They both list at 190 g, so we can't tell them apart by the weight. https://fishing.asian-portal.shop/category/select/pid/299212 https://fishing.asian-portal.shop/category/select/pid/320242

The difference between the two reels is the frame MOC - aluminum for Steez A, and lighter magnesium for Steez SV TW - the difference is 30 g - 1 ounce (160 v. 190 g). Steez A weighs the same as Zillion, and has a couple more ball bearings, including the LW worm. Other than the ounce of weight, there are no differences between Steez A and Steez SV TW.

@FishTank it has KTF salt-resistant unshielded stainless spool bearings. Studio Composite RC-SC EX carbon handle, kinda-matching ZPI carbon spindle (brake) knob, and KDW thumb clutch, KDW titanium handle nut. There are no spool options for Lews, so it has the stock SDG spool, 20-yds 20-lb mono backing topped with about 120 yds 20-lb Sufix 832 braid. It's a rocket, and no words for how light the handle (titanium spindles, carbon knob tubes). There's not much else you can replace, and it's comfortable to fish all day. . Something to keep in mind, I have a total of 9 baitcast reels in the mix (not counting 40 years worth of retired b/c and a handful of antiques), currently 4 Ambassadeurs (2 surf CTs), 3 Doyo, 2 Daiwa, with 3rd Daiwa arriving tomorrow. OK, and 2 more near-offshore trolling/jigging reels.

Alphas is a compact reel, 32 mm spool diameter, medium spool arbor, same size as Steez CT. Both hold 100 yds 10-lb mono, but Daiwa does call them finesse reels. Alphas Air and Steez Air are the BFS reels built on the same smaller frames, with shallow braid spools, and increased LW pitch to handle fine braid. This year, Zillion Silver Wolf PE Special was introduced on Zillion frame and 34 mm dia spool, and increased LW pitch for fine braid (down to 0.10 mm dia). That said, I have Steez SV TW and Zillion SV TW set up with shallow braid spools, and they fish 0.15 mm to 0.19 mm braid just fine.

Thanks, I have another almost like it (lower gears)

How's this for liking your Lew's reel? I like my Shimano, too (from 1978 - then and now, the only FD with chain lift designed into the cage) noteworthy in RD, Shimano copied SunTour's 1964 patent before it expired.

On another thread, it was strenuously argued by those who want to be in charge that a stream trout rod couldn't be a BFS rod, yet the term Bait Finesse System was coined in print by a stream trout fisherman 20+ years ago, who described it for that exact use... BFS is a reel. Any rod that works well with it is a BFS rod. I hope this thing is on.