spin vs BFS

[KCFinesse]

I Ned rig a bunch on both spinning and bfs set ups. 

 

1. I love the bfs fishing bluffs or other applications where I can quickly give my bait line to fall. Thumb control on stair step ledges is awesome.

2. I'm a straight flouro guy on my Ned stuff and line twist is the bane of my existence.

3. I've had elbow issues, I like being able to switch up ergonomically.

4. When cast control is important, I go bfs... Things like landing softly around docks, etc.

 

I fish an aldebaran most of the time. I bought a zephyr and liked it's cast control, but 6lb flouro keeps making it's way past the spool... Bfs needs to be super dialed in, and that type of stuff drives me nuts.... If anyone has a fix for the zephyr let me know, otherwise the curado bfs looks really nice...

 

-Jared

[desmobob]

33 minutes ago, KCFinesse said:

I Ned rig a bunch on both spinning and bfs set ups. 

 

1. I love the bfs fishing bluffs or other applications where I can quickly give my bait line to fall. Thumb control on stair step ledges is awesome.

2. I'm a straight flouro guy on my Ned stuff and line twist is the bane of my existence.

3. I've had elbow issues, I like being able to switch up ergonomically.

4. When cast control is important, I go bfs... Things like landing softly around docks, etc.

 

I fish an aldebaran most of the time. I bought a zephyr and liked it's cast control, but 6lb flouro keeps making it's way past the spool... Bfs needs to be super dialed in, and that type of stuff drives me nuts.... If anyone has a fix for the zephyr let me know, otherwise the curado bfs looks really nice...

 

-Jared

 

The Zephyr sure came close to being a decent BFS reel at a bargain price but, like the other low-budget BFS reels I've experimented with (Tsurinoya XF 50, Tsurinoya Spirit Fox, Fishband GH100, Fishhband PW 100), it's nothing to get excited about.  If it wasn't for the line-fouling issue, it would probably be my favorite cheap BFS reel.  

 

I used mine for a good bit yesterday and realized that the more I use it, the more it loses its luster.  Too bad... they were very close to having a decent performer.  (And for $70, you can't expect too much, right?)  Solving the line-behind-the-spool issue would drastically improve the reel.  I have an idea or two and I'll let you know if I try them and if I experience any success.

 

As for BFS line twist, I was getting really frustrated by it when fishing a Z-Man TRD TicklerZ on an Owner Ultrahead Finesse Ballhead or Z-Man Shroomz head.  I eventually tied a smallest-sized ball bearing swivel w/crosslock snap on my line.  It didn't look good but it didn't seem to affect the bait's fish-catching ability.  It solved the line twist issue.

 

The Curado BFS does look nice and hopefully it will prove to be a functional and affordable option for folks interested in BFS but not wanting to buy a pricier JDM reel.  I plan on picking up a LH retrieve version soon.

 

 

[Jason Penn]

i've been using a steez ct & 6'4 l power daiwa blazon for the past few months. i've been having a blast catching crappie, bass, shellcrackers, bream, & yellow bass on 1/8oz crappie jigs. 

 

my father was a die hard crappie fisherman, and only used a 9'-10' rod/fly reel, and didn't ever cast. he was strictly a dipper. when i got old enough to start hitting local ponds, i got a daiwa spincast rod & reel, not spinning, so i feel right at home with bfs gear.

 

i will say that fishing a shakeyhead or ned rig feel more natural on a spinning set up though.  maybe i have just fished those techniques long enough on spinning tackle that it feels weird any way else.

[redmeansdistortion]

3 hours ago, Jason Penn said:

i've been using a steez ct

Get one of these spools, I have one in my Millionaire CT which uses a 30mm like your Steez.  It's a really nice spool and will let you throw small 1/32 or 1/16 jigs tipped with soft plastic.  https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B085WWLW87/  The RCS shallow spool starts up noticeably faster than the factory spool too. 

 

This is with no pin or bearing.  With those installed, it comes in at 9.8g. 

 

 

 

The spool in the Millionaire is really nice.  I'm currently running 10lb J Braid Grand on this one, seems to do well with it.  Me and a friend went fishing for bull gills back in May, he was swinging flies and I was throwing small spinners and jigs from a 6' L Kuying Teton, had a great time and a nice meal afterward.  

[desmobob]

3 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

The spool in the Millionaire is really nice.  I'm currently running 10lb J Braid Grand on this one, seems to do well with it.  Me and a friend went fishing for bull gills back in May, he was swinging flies and I was throwing small spinners and jigs from a 6' L Kuying Teton, had a great time and a nice meal afterward.  

 

This brings up the most surprising thing I've found about imported BFS gear: many of the rods, like the Kuying Teton you mentioned, are very impressive for the price to say the least.  I have a few of the Kuying Tetons; L and UL, a couple of Ace Hawk Cu Doubles, and Tsurinoya ProFlex II  budget rods that I am very pleased with.  

 

The Ace Hawk Cu Doubles were less than $40(!) and came with an UL and L tip section, giving two rods in one.  One would probably not guess they are a sub-$100 rod, let alone sub-$40.  The Tsurinoya ProFlex II is a very attractive rod and looks like something high-end; as good looking as my Majorcraft Volkey.  It fishes like it too.

 

Durability of the blanks, guides, etc. are yet to be determined but I have caught largemouths and channel cats up to the four- or five-pound range with all of them.  All guide inserts, thread wraps and reel seats are intact after a decent amount of use this summer.  Sensitivity is surprisingly good.

[redmeansdistortion]

1 hour ago, desmobob said:

 

This brings up the most surprising thing I've found about imported BFS gear: many of the rods, like the Kuying Teton you mentioned, are very impressive for the price to say the least.  I have a few of the Kuying Tetons; L and UL, a couple of Ace Hawk Cu Doubles, and Tsurinoya ProFlex II  budget rods that I am very pleased with.  

 

The Ace Hawk Cu Doubles were less than $40(!) and came with an UL and L tip section, giving two rods in one.  One would probably not guess they are a sub-$100 rod, let alone sub-$40.  The Tsurinoya ProFlex II is a very attractive rod and looks like something high-end; as good looking as my Majorcraft Volkey.  It fishes like it too.

 

Durability of the blanks, guides, etc. are yet to be determined but I have caught largemouths and channel cats up to the four- or five-pound range with all of them.  All guide inserts, thread wraps and reel seats are intact after a decent amount of use this summer.  Sensitivity is surprisingly good.

I was using a different Teton than the one you're thinking of, but I also own the original model in 6'6"L lol.  This guy runs about $120.

 

As you can see, this rod is a feather.  I really don't know that I'd classify it as light, but it's a lot of fun to use for trout and panfish.

 

 

Here's a brood stock rainbow I got earlier this year, first trout trip of the year.  Running an Alphas CT with the SLP Works shallow spool, 8lb J Braid, and a 1/16 Fire Minnow Countdown.

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

I tried it, was just a novelty item for me that served no real purpose so I got rid of it. Spinning gear felt way more natural with the same techniques I was using it for and I don't need a bunch more gear. I think it has a lot to do with the fine motor skills in my right hand/arm vs my left (right hand holds my spinning rods while my left holds my bait casters). I can't do the small manipulations of a bait with my left hand/arm like I can my right. 

[desmobob]

15 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

I was using a different Teton than the one you're thinking of, but I also own the original model in 6'6"L lol.  This guy runs about $120.

 

How boorish of me... I didn't know you were talking about the big money Tetons!   Do you have a rod vault on your Bentley?  ?

[Jonas Staggs]

so I think i might have found a few of the issues with the BFS I am having.

 

1) expectation. I was expecting it to basically replace my L action spin rod setup, but BFS is designed for accurately casting light lures short distances. It does that good. perhaps I shouldnt be expecting to bomb light lures from it like I can on my spin rod spooled with braid.

 

2) I upgraded the bearing on the brakes side of the reel. It seems to cast a bit better. I got the bearing for free. perhaps a bearing a bearing on the other side will help it even more as I definitly notice a difference with the new bearing.

 

3) rod: I have the bfs reel on a 6'6" M action rod. the rod is probably too heavy for what its designed for. I am looking at grabbing the matching zephyr rod, if any rod should be a good match for the reel. it should be that one. 

 

what do you guys mean by line fouling?

 

i thought I would add that many times I fish with a very small snap swivel. I havent noticed it cause any negative effects like scaring fish etc. infact I think it might help, as it adds more movement to the jig, how much different is it than those swing head jigs or whatever they are called. Really  not much of a difference IMO. 

[desmobob]

5 hours ago, Jonas Staggs said:

what do you guys mean by line fouling?

 

I used that term to describe issue with the line getting between the edges of the spool and the reel frame, sometimes even wrapping around the spool shaft.  

 

And you're probably correct in assuming that a medium power rod is not optimal for BFS use.

[bulldog1935]

I fished most of my life sworn-off swivels - my now 90-y-o dad always put a  60-lb barrel swivel on everything. 

I've gone back to them only in the past decade.  

Started first with titanium-wire UL pike leaders for my inshore UL and XUL (now BFS).  

MakoFishing (Ukraine) sold on ebay up to the '20 postal crunch, then I found Dragon brand in Poland.  

Sharing these with friends, they went from sworn-off-swivels to micro-trace junkies, too.  

These are light enough to use on fly-streamer leader.  

  

 

Japan shopping, I'm always looking for terminal tackle that excels - plus you can find things like salty size 1 split rings and size 7 Gami SpMH trebles there.  These micro swivels are 15-lb in size 00 - just don't ask me to pronounce it.  Also, Vanfook stinger hooks

 

Sugihara Ro-tsuke

[Jason Penn]

On 8/10/2021 at 4:44 PM, redmeansdistortion said:

Get one of these spools, I have one in my Millionaire CT which uses a 30mm like your Steez.  It's a really nice spool and will let you throw small 1/32 or 1/16 jigs tipped with soft plastic.  https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B085WWLW87/  The RCS shallow spool starts up noticeably faster than the factory spool too. 

 

This is with no pin or bearing.  With those installed, it comes in at 9.8g. 

 

 

 

The spool in the Millionaire is really nice.  I'm currently running 10lb J Braid Grand on this one, seems to do well with it.  Me and a friend went fishing for bull gills back in May, he was swinging flies and I was throwing small spinners and jigs from a 6' L Kuying Teton, had a great time and a nice meal afterward.  

i had thought about getting a shallower spool for the ct, but i have no problems with 1/8oz and that's really about as light as i go. 

[Big Hands]

On 8/11/2021 at 11:07 PM, Jonas Staggs said:

so I think i might have found a few of the issues with the BFS I am having.

 

1) expectation. I was expecting it to basically replace my L action spin rod setup, but BFS is designed for accurately casting light lures short distances. It does that good. perhaps I shouldn't be expecting to bomb light lures from it like I can on my spin rod spooled with braid.

 

 

For the weight I am using with it, I can cast quite a ways, at least on par with my spinning gear, and generally more accurate too. 

 

On 8/11/2021 at 11:07 PM, Jonas Staggs said:

 

3) rod: I have the bfs reel on a 6'6" M action rod. the rod is probably too heavy for what its designed for. I am looking at grabbing the matching zephyr rod, if any rod should be a good match for the reel. it should be that one. 

 

I have used my two Curado BFS reels on different rods, and the heavier of the two is OK compared to the ML Phenix Feather, but there is a difference. It makes me curious what an even lighter power rod could do. 

=====================================

I would like to see some common terms emerge as what has been referred to as finesse for decades, at least to me, doesn't mean quite the same thing as BFS although I feel there is some degree of overlap. BFS seems to be what I would have previously referred to as 'ultralight' which doesn't mean the same thing as finesse. . . to me.

 

Now that BFS has been used as a marketing term and has the word 'finesse' in the middle of it without any other word to distinguish from what we know as finesse, it makes things a bit muddled for me. Maybe it's just me. . . muddling things up in my own world.

[redmeansdistortion]

2 hours ago, Big Hands said:

 

For the weight I am using with it, I can cast quite a ways, at least on par with my spinning gear, and generally more accurate too. 

 

 

I have used my two Curado BFS reels on different rods, and the heavier of the two is OK compared to the ML Phenix Feather, but there is a difference. It makes me curious what an even lighter power rod could do. 

=====================================

I would like to see some common terms emerge as what has been referred to as finesse for decades, at least to me, doesn't mean quite the same thing as BFS although I feel there is some degree of overlap. BFS seems to be what I would have previously referred to as 'ultralight' which doesn't mean the same thing as finesse. . . to me.

 

Now that BFS has been used as a marketing term and has the word 'finesse' in the middle of it without any other word to distinguish from what we know as finesse, it makes things a bit muddled for me. Maybe it's just me. . . muddling things up in my own world.

Something to keep in mind about BFS, it has become an all encompassing term of sorts.  Trout rods are different from bass rods in this respect.  Bass BFS rods tend to have a butt like that of a M or even MH with the a tip like a L or even UL.  Trout rods on the other hand are different, often using your average L or UL spinning blank which is drastically different from a bass BFS taper as the rods are more moderate action and flex all the way to the butt.

[fishwizzard]

18 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Something to keep in mind about BFS, it has become an all encompassing term of sorts.  Trout rods are different from bass rods in this respect.  Bass BFS rods tend to have a butt like that of a M or even MH with the a tip like a L or even UL.  Trout rods on the other hand are different, often using your average L or UL spinning blank which is drastically different from a bass BFS taper as the rods are more moderate action and flex all the way to the butt.

Yep, it’s amazing how fast it happened too.  The rods are so different it’s ridiculous to lump them together.  

[redmeansdistortion]

1 hour ago, fishwizzard said:

Yep, it’s amazing how fast it happened too.  The rods are so different it’s ridiculous to lump them together.  

Absolutely.  Looking at the Japanese sites, bass rods typically have BF in their nomenclature designating a bait finesse model, whereas trout rods will simply have L or UL in theirs.  

[fishwizzard]

1 hour ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Absolutely.  Looking at the Japanese sites, bass rods typically have BF in their nomenclature designating a bait finesse model, whereas trout rods will simply have L or UL in theirs.  

That’s how I try to explain it to people.  The reddit nfs sub is notorious for conflating the two styles.  

[redmeansdistortion]

Just now, fishwizzard said:

That’s how I try to explain it to people.  The reddit nfs sub is notorious for conflating the two styles.  

It sure is, it seems that you and I are the only people there that explain the differences.

[bulldog1935]

22 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Something to keep in mind about BFS, it has become an all encompassing term of sorts.  Trout rods are different from bass rods in this respect.  Bass BFS rods tend to have a butt like that of a M or even MH with the a tip like a L or even UL.  Trout rods on the other hand are different, often using your average L or UL spinning blank which is drastically different from a bass BFS taper as the rods are more moderate action and flex all the way to the butt.

 

The thing is, most of the BFS reels sold ready to go are also small diameter spools that go best with those trout rods.  

For my inshore small game - and double this reel on all-range BFS bass rod - 34-mm diameter aftermarket BFS spools on 1000 series reels cast and fish much better.  

[QED]

These stock (except the PX TR has a steez handle) reels work fine for ultralight or BFS casting.  Only one purports to be directed to BFS use.

[Rora]

On 8/13/2021 at 1:20 PM, redmeansdistortion said:

Something to keep in mind about BFS, it has become an all encompassing term of sorts.  Trout rods are different from bass rods in this respect.  Bass BFS rods tend to have a butt like that of a M or even MH with the a tip like a L or even UL.  Trout rods on the other hand are different, often using your average L or UL spinning blank which is drastically different from a bass BFS taper as the rods are more moderate action and flex all the way to the butt.

What rod would you recommend for bass that fits your description?  Don’t mean to jack the thread. 

[QED]

41 minutes ago, Rora said:

What rod would you recommend for bass that fits your description?  Don’t mean to jack the thread. 

 

This rod works well for bfs/bass.  Shimano JDM PA.

[Scott804]

In my opinion BFS is just not super efficient. It is really more so for fun over anything else. I can't think of a single scenario where you would be better off using BFS than something else. However, fighting a half pound smallmouth that just annihilated a jr size spook is a lot more fun on BFS than it is on spinning for me. That being said, my BFS setup is pretty budget so maybe the higher end stuff can outwork spinning gear situationally. 

[QED]

1 hour ago, Scott804 said:

In my opinion BFS is just not super efficient. It is really more so for fun over anything else. I can't think of a single scenario where you would be better off using BFS than something else. However, fighting a half pound smallmouth that just annihilated a jr size spook is a lot more fun on BFS than it is on spinning for me. That being said, my BFS setup is pretty budget so maybe the higher end stuff can outwork spinning gear situationally. 

 

I fish light/ultralight gear almost exclusively.  For 2 - 4 lb test line, I prefer spinning.  For 6 lb test, I'm somewhat indifferent as between spinning vs casting gear.  For 8 lb test and up, casting gear for sure.  But catch one of these on ultralight casting gear and you'll be a convert for life!  

[Jonas Staggs]

On 8/12/2021 at 4:39 AM, bulldog1935 said:

I fished most of my life sworn-off swivels - my now 90-y-o dad always put a  60-lb barrel swivel on everything. 

I've gone back to them only in the past decade.  

Started first with titanium-wire UL pike leaders for my inshore UL and XUL (now BFS).  

MakoFishing (Ukraine) sold on ebay up to the '20 postal crunch, then I found Dragon brand in Poland.  

Sharing these with friends, they went from sworn-off-swivels to micro-trace junkies, too.  

These are light enough to use on fly-streamer leader.  

  

 

Japan shopping, I'm always looking for terminal tackle that excels - plus you can find things like salty size 1 split rings and size 7 Gami SpMH trebles there.  These micro swivels are 15-lb in size 00 - just don't ask me to pronounce it.  Also, Vanfook stinger hooks

 

Sugihara Ro-tsuke

 

 

thats the on. size 00 ftw

On 8/13/2021 at 11:06 AM, Big Hands said:

 

For the weight I am using with it, I can cast quite a ways, at least on par with my spinning gear, and generally more accurate too. 

 

 

I have used my two Curado BFS reels on different rods, and the heavier of the two is OK compared to the ML Phenix Feather, but there is a difference. It makes me curious what an even lighter power rod could do. 

=====================================

I would like to see some common terms emerge as what has been referred to as finesse for decades, at least to me, doesn't mean quite the same thing as BFS although I feel there is some degree of overlap. BFS seems to be what I would have previously referred to as 'ultralight' which doesn't mean the same thing as finesse. . . to me.

 

Now that BFS has been used as a marketing term and has the word 'finesse' in the middle of it without any other word to distinguish from what we know as finesse, it makes things a bit muddled for me. Maybe it's just me. . . muddling things up in my own world.

 

 

to me, or IMO. BFS equates to a Light spinning rod setup. I dont think BFS is ultralight. It might be capable of doing it, but not well. I believe if you want to do UL, spin setup is the best. Finesse to me, equates to a Light setup, not UL.