Sooo.... Just Ordered This BFS Reel

[ghost]

After much deliberation and flipping the proverbial coin in my mind(heads won)...

 

And patiently waiting for a real good price...

 

The Holy grail of BFS reels. 🎣

[Bass Rutten]

Nice! Send your address and delivery date. I'll make sure it doesn't get stolen off your porch by some scoundrel 🤥

[roadwarrior]

I own that reel, too!

 

[FishTank]

I have that one as well. I have been using it for small cranks on 6lb test and it has been a pleasure to fish. I will be pulling the trigger on the HG version in the near future. 

[redmeansdistortion]

Sweet reel.  You'll dig it, even the '17 model is fantastic.  

[ghost]

42 minutes ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Sweet reel.  You'll dig it, even the '17 model is fantastic.  

The Conquest BFS is shipping and I should have it by this Friday 🤞

 

Looking to next year to get a 17 Conquest BFS and a 16 Aldeberan BFS .

 

I'm hoping before the end of the year to purchase a Shimano Expride 6'8", 1 piece Light casting rod for the Conquest BFS reel. Till them, I'll use my 2 Phenix Classic BFS casting rods.

[redmeansdistortion]

8 hours ago, ghost said:

The Conquest BFS is shipping and I should have it by this Friday 🤞

 

Looking to next year to get a 17 Conquest BFS and a 16 Aldeberan BFS .

 

I'm hoping before the end of the year to purchase a Shimano Expride 6'8", 1 piece Light casting rod for the Conquest BFS reel. Till them, I'll use my 2 Phenix Classic BFS casting rods.

If you are in any of the BFS groups on Facebook, near mint examples of the '17 model have been popping up for $250 or less lately.

[MAN]

Wow that is a beautiful reel.  I am still not at a point where I cant see myself being worthy of a reel of that magnitude until I learn to be better with my gear. I said that with my new ABU and I scratched it pretty bad last month setting it down upside down on some rocks. 

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

I just had one of those here. Sweet little reel. Enjoy 

[Hytekrednek]

Nice! I just got an Aldebaran BFS newer model reel. 23 model I think,  It is amazing. Worth every cent as far as ease of use and smoothness. I probably could have gotten a 40$ spinning reel to do the same, but it would not be nearly as much fun to use. Plus, I am not a fan of spinning/twisting reels at all. Way to many wind knots and twisted/coiled line. 

 

I hope to get a conquest bfs reel in the next year. They look awesome and reports of them are wonderful mostly.

[FishTank]

20 hours ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

I just had one of those here. Sweet little reel. Enjoy 

 

I dunked mine in some pretty murky water two weeks ago fishing on my kayak so I decided to tear it down. I was surprised to find that for the most part, it was clean.

 

When working on it, it looks like it's almost sealed and the tolerances on this thing are something to behold. It's really a fine tuned instrument compared to a lot of reels. Totally amazed at this one.

[Darth-Baiter]

cool!!  i dont need one of those in my life, but i do admit..it is badass looking. 

[Big Swimbait]

I have had a blast with mine. I started out with the KK Zephyr to see if the style would work for me. It has received a bearing upgrade and is still in the rotation. But the Conquest is amazing compared to the KK.

[ghost]

Big Swimbait, look at the Phenix Classic BFS rod. Very well worth the money. Or wait till TW black Friday sale and get it for 20% off plus free ship.

[Hytekrednek]

?Tackle warehouse has a 20% off everything for black friday?  If so, I will wait on ordering the St. Croix Legend Xtreme  rod I was planning to get this week.

[redmeansdistortion]

I keep going back and forth on one of these.  I have a '17 model but the allure of a Smith Plugger or Isuzu keeps whispering in my ear.  

[Big Swimbait]

2 hours ago, ghost said:

Big Swimbait, look at the Phenix Classic BFS rod. Very well worth the money. Or wait till TW black Friday sale and get it for 20% off plus free ship.

Since that pic I have built 2 custom BFS rods so I am good.

[redmeansdistortion]

12 minutes ago, Big Swimbait said:

Since that pic I have built 2 custom BFS rods so I am good.

If you get the itch again, have Shane Gray of Graywolf roll you a blank, he will make anything you want and you can add your own components.  He does carbon, graphite, bamboo, and fiberglass blanks.  @bulldog1935 knows him well from fly fishing circles.  I have one of his rods and it's my go to skinny creek rod.

[Eric 26]

@redmeansdistortion If you do get either the Smith or Isuzu please post it as between you and @bulldog1935 it’s the only way I can hang in that world 😉

[ghost]

3 hours ago, Hytekrednek said:

?Tackle warehouse has a 20% off everything for black friday?  If so, I will wait on ordering the St. Croix Legend Xtreme  rod I was planning to get this week.

Ah bad news buddy. St Croix isn't part of the TW 20%, I just checked the list I saved.

[FishTank]

So the HG showed up today. This one will pull double duty for light cranks on a Megabass P5 Six Eleven and it will be used for trout fishing next year possibly on a Tenryu Rayz or a Major Craft Finetail. I know nothing about these rods but I am looking forward to the adventure of figuring them out.

 

[ghost]

FishTank, nice reel! My Conquest BFS XG arrives this coming Monday. 

 

Those rods you mentioned I have no idea about them. I'm hoping to get the Shimano Expride 6'8" Light casting rod sometime soon to use with the Conquest BFS and the 23 Aldebaran BFS.

[Hytekrednek]

3 hours ago, ghost said:

Ah bad news buddy. St Croix isn't part of the TW 20%, I just checked the list I saved.

Bummer! Thanks for checking. What about Shimano rods?

[redmeansdistortion]

7 hours ago, FishTank said:

I know nothing about these rods but I am looking forward to the adventure of figuring them out.

Feel free to pick my brain.  I fish trout 3 seasons a year, sometimes in winter as well if the weather is cooperating. 

 

When you are choosing a trout rod, the length of it is the most important and should be picked according to the environment.  If you're fishing headwater creeks, you're going to want something in the 4' to 5'6" range.  Longer rods are unwieldy in these scenarios due to the abundance of trees and brush.  Not only do you minimize your chance of whacking branches, but you also acquire more casting targets since you aren't having to deal with them much in the first place.  If you're fishing a more standard sized river, then you will want something longer to give you distance and help with hook sets at that distance.  In the creeks, most of the action is going to happen within 30' of you, so setting the hook from afar is not a factor in the equation.

 

While some may pass these off as 'fairy wands', many of them have quite a bit of power.  For instance, Smith has a 5'6" model rated from 3-14g, others offer rods of similar length and power.  For me the sweet spot is a 2-10g; well capable of casting most anything, but also enough backbone to keep a 20" brown or rainbow from losing me to the wood.  When you get into the UL and XUL power rods, those usually aren't powerful enough to effectively handle fish much bigger than brookies or brown/rainbow smolts.  Light and medium light will be your big fish powers.  Most trout lures aren't even that light to begin with.  I fish minnows almost exclusively and most of those I use are in the 4g to 7g range.  Even an 8" brookie will hammer a Major Craft Eden 60H.

 

There are many brands worth looking into.  Major Craft, Tiemco/Fenwick, Smith, M-Aire, Palms, Tenryu, Daiwa, Shimano, Rodio Craft, and Daysprout just to name a few.

 

Here's a shot of one of my ABU 2500Cs on a Daiwa Silver Creek Glass Progressive 5'1" L.  This was from last year prior to fishing an urban creek.  My friend was running late so I figured I'd take a beauty shot.

[bulldog1935]

You can count on me to be a bad influence.  

'21 Plugger is my small-frame Isuzu-built reel - the small-frame reels are very happy in either  bass or trout niches.  The Smith Super Strike offset-handle rod makes a nice match, but isn't required with the small-frame reels - this reel would fish well on a straight-seat rod.   

 

Had it out earlier this week, and was fishing 2 to 3.5 g on the short glass rod (FO56), even though the rod is rated 5 to 14 g.  The glass rod skip casts very well below its rated low end.  

 

That's an advantage to progressive glass - I have the longer graphite version with the same rating - 66SPX casts 4 g farther than I need, but 3 g under-loads the rod - at that point of under-load, your cast aim goes off too far in the direction you were swinging and, of course, skip-casting the light weight is right out.  66SPX sings with 4 g, but you're right on the cusp of what it will fish.