Sooo.... Just Ordered This BFS Reel

[FishTank]

@redmeansdistortion and @bulldog1935 thanks for the info.

 

I picked up the MB P5 Criffhanger last year in hopes this 6' rod could bridge the gap between the smallmouth and trout that are in the two creeks I fish but it might be too long and too stiff. It's a fantastic, sensitive rod but it's hard to cast small plugs in tight place. Wrist casts and small flick type casts are hard to control as well. 

 

The Daiwa Silver Creek pictured above is kind of what I am shooting for. Something around 5', a Light power that can do 2-8g lures, short handle, and probably glass. 

 

I'm in no hurry though.  I have already gone overboard this fall and Black Friday hasn't even arrived yet. 💸💸💸

[redmeansdistortion]

23 minutes ago, FishTank said:

@redmeansdistortion and @bulldog1935 thanks for the info.

 

I picked up the MB P5 Criffhanger last year in hopes this 6' rod could bridge the gap between the smallmouth and trout that are in the two creeks I fish but it might be too long and too stiff. It's a fantastic, sensitive rod but it's hard to cast small plugs in tight place. Wrist casts and small flick type casts are hard to control as well. 

 

The Daiwa Silver Creek pictured above is kind of what I am shooting for. Something around 5', a Light power that can do 2-8g lures, short handle, and probably glass. 

 

I'm in no hurry though.  I have already gone overboard this fall and Black Friday has even arrived yet. 💸💸💸

Tiemco/Fenwick makes a nice one as well.  This will be my next purchase.  Those that own both the Silver Creek and Undercut Bank say the Undercut Bank is the more stout of the two and would be better for wrangling larger lake run browns and rainbows as well as large river smallies.  Note that the Fenwick of Japan is a different company than the Pure Fishing owned Fenwick here and makes much better rods.  https://www.tiemco.co.jp/products/groups/view/3290

[redmeansdistortion]

If you're wanting glass, Shane will build you anything you want to your specifications.  He is pretty local to me and does it all.  He turns the cork for the grip and rolls his own blanks on Steffen Brothers tooling and mandrels.  He bought Steffen Brothers a few years back and moved the operations from Arizona to Michigan.  I have a couple of his rods and thoroughly enjoy them. 

 

https://www.graywolfrods.com/bfs-bait-casting-rods

 

http://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/2021/05/graywolf-rods-acquires-steffen-brothers.html

[bulldog1935]

If I didn't get it across in my last post, everybody should have a progressive glass rod for their light end - especially kayak and river.  Graphite rods will pretty much end at their low-end rating.  

But you don't have to chase bass with a Light stream trout rod.  

A progressive glass ML will fish the same stream trout weights, and still horse a big bass at your boat.  

[redmeansdistortion]

Another thing to consider about fiberglass.  Fiberglass rods are only as good as the cloth used to make the blanks.  As some are aware, fewer flaws in the cloth mean a better blank generally speaking.  You aren't going to feel a fish fart like high end carbon or graphite, but the newer crop is markedly more sensitive than a lot of the stuff that was common in the 20th century.  Lower end glass like you'd see from Eagle Claw for instance, is more like the stuff from the old days.  I've grown to love glass the last couple of years to the point that I prefer it for much of my fishing.  

[bulldog1935]

Careful, Fisher, Phillipson and St. Croix were making high-grade, lightweight glass rods in the '70s, these were lighter than the graphite that first followed - it would be nuts to compare them to EC Featherlite.  Scotchply was the first move forward in oriented-fiber cloth, anyone who says he does better because of new materials has found his marketing Snow Job.  

The biggest difference between older casting rods and new will be the taper and lure weight range - bass rods in the 70s were para taper. 

In the rod lengths we want, you won't notice the weight difference, but will notice an advantage in the progressive taper.  The first big advantage for graphite was pushing rod lengths out to 9' in heavy-line-weight fly rods.  

Many of these great mid-length, mid-weight fly rods aren't leaving my hands - their progressive tapers can't be duplicated in graphite or cane.  

Joe Fisher's glass rods are noted to be lighter than most other glass, and lighter than his graphite, because he never trusted graphite.  

Bill Phillipson hand-sorted his blanks and while both rods are marked 2-1/8 oz, the Royal Wand is lighter and the taper more crisp.  

Vince Cummings took St. Croix blanks, then hand-sanded and finish-polished to achieve the tapers he wanted.  His astounding taper will fish 3-wt to 7-wt, and becomes a different rod with each line weight.  It will also accurately cast the leader alone.  

[redmeansdistortion]

7 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

Careful, Fisher, Phillipson and St. Croix were making high-grade, lightweight glass rods in the '70s, these were lighter than the graphite that first followed - it would be nuts to compare them to EC Featherlite.  Scotchply was the first move forward in oriented-fiber cloth, anyone who says he does better because of new materials has found his marketing Snow Job.  

The biggest difference between older casting rods and new will be the taper and lure weight range - bass rods in the 70s were para taper. 

In the rod lengths we want, you won't notice the weight difference, but will notice an advantage in the progressive taper.  The first big advantage for graphite was pushing rod lengths out to 9' in heavy-line-weight fly rods.  

Many of these great mid-length, mid-weight fly rods aren't leaving my hands - their progressive tapers can't be duplicated in graphite or cane.  

Joe Fisher's glass rods are noted to be lighter than most other glass, and lighter than his graphite, because he never trusted graphite.  

Bill Phillipson hand-sorted his blanks and while both rods are marked 2-1/8 oz, the Royal Wand is lighter and the taper more crisp.  

Vince Cummings took St. Croix blanks, then hand-sanded and finish-polished to achieve the tapers he wanted.  

Oh yeah, I wasn't discounting the good vintage gear, I was speaking of mass market stuff like Shakespeare and Sears rods.  

[bulldog1935]

The Japanese today are working glass casting rods the same way FFR heroes from the '70s were working fly rods.  While this 3-power (MM) S-glass is marked down to 1/4 oz, I bought it specially to sight-fish 1/8 oz, and turn redfish at the boat, which it does perfectly.  

My next will be an IM6 to fish 1/4 oz, and dog-walk heavy plugs - the rod is rated 1/4 to 2 oz.