BFS Newbie

[dk2429]

Long story short, one of my buddies acquired a KastKing Kestrel and gave it to me since he’s a saltwater fisherman. Never owned a KastKing but it seems nice. 
 

I’ve never bothered with the new BFS stuff but since I got this reel now, I don’t mind stepping into it. What kind of rod/line/lures do y’all do this with? It has a really shallow spool on it. I’d prefer to not get some super high end rod for this just yet since I’ve never fished like this

 

Thanks 

 

 

[bulldog1935]

your friend missed out

He could fish 20-lb braid and MinnowZ on 1/8-oz Texas Eye jighead on any ML inshore rod.  

[msgf91]

I would start out with a Light powered rod or even a ML if you wanted. Handing rods from Amazon or the dragon II rods off Aliexpress or bfs empire. I use 4 lb fluorocarbon for my Light power rods. Then maybe 1/16th or 1/8th ounce roadrunners to practice casting with. Roadrunners with small swimbaits are my favorite light lures to throw. They catch everything 

[dk2429]

9 minutes ago, msgf91 said:

I would start out with a Light powered rod or even a ML if you wanted. Handing rods from Amazon or the dragon II rods off Aliexpress or bfs empire. I use 4 lb fluorocarbon for my Light power rods. Then maybe 1/16th or 1/8th ounce roadrunners to practice casting with. Roadrunners with small swimbaits are my favorite light lures to throw. They catch everything 

Thanks for the info. What is the point in the BFS gear anyway? If I hang an 8lb+ bass on 4lb test and an light rod that just seems like a recipe for diasater 

[MickD]

It's fun to cast really light lures on a baitcaster.  If you don't want to use 4 pound test, don't.  Try 10 pound braid with an 8 pound leader.  Or 8 pound mono all the way.  There are many ways to enjoy BFS.  But if it's all about landing the big fish, maybe it's not the right technique for you. 

[dk2429]

3 minutes ago, MickD said:

It's fun to cast really light lures on a baitcaster.  If you don't want to use 4 pound test, don't.  Try 10 pound braid with an 8 pound leader.  Or 8 pound mono all the way.  There are many ways to enjoy BFS.  But if it's all about landing the big fish, maybe it's not the right technique for you. 

Thanks for the info. I have some medium light trout rods that I could use and see what it's all about. I'm not after big fish all the time, I'm just saying that it sounds like a bad time to hook a big one with that light of gear lol.

[Bigbox99]

22 minutes ago, dk2429 said:

Thanks for the info. What is the point in the BFS gear anyway? If I hang an 8lb+ bass on 4lb test and an light rod that just seems like a recipe for diasater 

Or a good time.  The point is to use fluorocarbon too heavy for a spinning reel and to present light baits to pressured fish in cover.  

 

Turn on captions and auto translate to English to hear the story of BFS from the guy that invented the term.  

 

 

You don't have to bass fish or use bass rods.  The reel doesn't care if it's on a bass rod or a trout rod.  You'll have to decide what you want to do with the reel.  If you want a cheap BFS rod for bass fishing doing what you see in the video then you want something like a Majorcraft L, Phenix L or Shimano L BFS rod.  Maybe a Tsurinoya Elite 65L if you want to stay around $100.  

 

If you want a trout rod then you have a ton of cheap options.

[little giant]

I use an inshore ML rod. 15 lb braid, 8 lb flouro leader. Biggest Florida LM so far, 8.3 lbs. It's a challenge but a great fun one!! Note that inshore salt fish go over 10 lbs, rod is built for them!

[dk2429]

3 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

your friend missed out

He could fish 20-lb braid and MinnowZ on 1/8-oz Texas Eye jighead on any ML inshore rod.  

 

He doesn't need to know that. I'm always happy with new gear

 

I inshore saltwater fish trout/reds too from Galveston Bay all the way down to Port Mansfield. I don't see how this reel would be practical for that. It looks like it holds maybe 40-50yds of line lol. Plus I'm using 30# braid for inshore

 

I have a Waterloo HP Lite I'll put it on and try for bass fishing. Who knows, I might hop on the wagon too! Heading up to Fork in a few weeks. Will be a good time to try it

[bulldog1935]

To me (and JAFTMA) PE#1 is 20-lb braid.  

It's the same diameter as 10-lb braid in USM  

 

what's not practical is fishing 3/8- and 1/2-oz lures and dragging up grass every cast.  

1/8 oz keeps your lure in the zone on top of the grass and BFS casts it into next week

A TX inshore neubie from PNW spent a fishless year on the coast, reporting on Texas Kayak Fisherman forum.  When he bought an Alphas Air and followed my lead, he brought home fish every trip.  

Also, this time of year, you have two choices - imitate 6" mullet for the few big fish that are willing to eat them - or fish tide passes and imitate tiny glass minnows, where 200 redfish are sipping them like candy - this lasts into April.  

The new summer mullet under canal lights are also this tiny.  

[MickD]

16 hours ago, dk2429 said:

I'm just saying that it sounds like a bad time to hook a big one with that light of gear lol.

I'll not use it under certain conditions, like where thick weeds or other cover would make it problematic trying to get fish out of it.  Most of my fishing is in pretty clean water, so it will work for most.  

[dk2429]

Thank y’all! I’ll spool it up with some light line and put it on a ML trout rod. See what it’s about 

[FishTank]

21 hours ago, dk2429 said:

Thanks for the info. What is the point in the BFS gear anyway? If I hang an 8lb+ bass on 4lb test and an light rod that just seems like a recipe for diasater 

 

There are plenty more but all of these are on 5lb test Sunline Invisible FC. Granted none of them are 8lbs but big fish on light line is definitely possible. 

[Big Hands]

On 2/22/2025 at 12:48 PM, dk2429 said:

Thanks for the info. What is the point in the BFS gear anyway? If I hang an 8lb+ bass on 4lb test and an light rod that just seems like a recipe for diasater 

 

Well, where you're fishing is a factor. Even where I live, I've had my backside handed to me with 4 lbs test on a few occasions, so I have chosen to not go quite that low. I'll fish with 6 lbs mono where I live all day long with BFS gear. Still, you'll have to pick your places out carefully to fish with BFS gear in your neck of the woods.

 

My biggest Texas bass (8.5 lbs) was caught on a 1/4 oz slab with 8 lbs test on a spinning rod on the Community Hump (no side-eye, I didn't pick the name of the spot) at Lake Fork. The same place where I have been destroyed with 15 to 20 lbs line on other occasions. Even on a lake like Fork though, there are places where there isn't much cover and you can fish with lighter gear.

 

KastKing has a few different models of the Kestrel IIRC. The Kestrel, the Kestrel Elite, and the Kestrel BFS. I don't think the original Kestrel is still a current model. The Kestrels are all (IMHO) BFS-ish, but the Kestrel Elite is more BFS-ish (and newer) than the original Kestrel, and I will go out on a limb and saay that the even newer Kestrel BFS is a little more BFS-ish than the Kestrel Elite (but the Kestrel Elite does have a better build quality than the Kestrel BFS).  

 

If you have the original Kestrel, if you pair it with a light or medium light rod and maybe 6 or 8 lbs line, maybe it would be a more satisfying user experience and not quite as impractical in a wider variety of places where you live. You can have an absolute blast catching two to four pounders on a setup like that, and if the water is a little more open, you can definitely have a chance with fish up into the double digits, even on 6 lbs line. You can fish Texas rigged plastics and get a hook set into a bass with 6 lbs line. You can also fish small jigs, weightless plastics, underspins, slabs, poppers, small topwater plugs, crankbaits and jerkbaits. You do have to be careful to not fish thick wire hooks, and keep them sharp.

 

It'd make a dandy crappie rig too.

[FishTank]

It took me a bit to narrow things down but to make things simple, below are a few things I have found that have made BFS fun for me. So, if I was starting out fresh with BFS, here is were I would start.... 

 

 

This should cover around 1/16 - 1/4 oz lures. Some stuff is not in the above pic. 

 

Line - X-braid Ohdragon PE #1.0 or 1.2 with a 8lb leader and 6lb Sunline Invisible. Don't like mono for BFS.

 

Hard baits - Bassday Mononofu 50s, Megabass Karashi,  Evergreen Piccolo PC-5, Shimano Tiny Macbeth.

 

Jigs - Raid Egu Dama Level with a 2in Dolive Craw, Great Lakes Finesse -  all of it

 

Others - Xzone Swammer 2.75 in and 1/16 Keitech jig head, 6th Sense Whale 3in

 

You will bend out hooks - Ryugi Pierce and Dagger sizes 10 and 12

 

For rods,  I would suggest the Dobyns Sierra Ultra-Finesse 700C.  You can do just about anything with it. Good rod to start with.

 

 

[F14A-B]

On 2/23/2025 at 12:59 PM, FishTank said:

 

There are plenty more but all of these are on 5lb test Sunline Invisible FC. Granted none of them are 8lbs but big fish on light line is definitely possible. 

Nice pics. That last bass has what looks like vertical lines on it. Looks like a walleye and a bass. What am I seeing here? 

[spoonplugger1]

We were making BFS like rods back in the 80's to fish the small 1/8 oz. lures they came out with. If you are having a problem getting fish back to the boat BFS, there is a simple fix, go in and get the fish. You're not in a tournament, your just fishing, go get them. All of us fly anglers when we bass fish do it, we also had pushpoles like they use on the flats to silently put our boats in the weeds to cast. Mine when I bass fished with a fly rod was made from a wood closet rod and a foot I made out of a plastic furniture floor pad glued and screwed in place. Google what a Slider fly is.

[FishTank]

8 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

Nice pics. That last bass has what looks like vertical lines on it. Looks like a walleye and a bass. What am I seeing here? 

About a 5-6lb Smallmouth. 

[F14A-B]

12 minutes ago, FishTank said:

About a 5-6lb Smallmouth. 

Nice! I never catch them down here.

[FishTank]

3 hours ago, F14A-B said:

Nice! I never catch them down here.

 

I had to go up north near lake Freeman/Tippe/Shafer.  Biggest one I have ever caught. It was on a Bassday Mononofu 60S.