brophog

When it comes to line on a spincast reel they love mono, hate braid, and flourocarbon it kinda depends. Line management is not great on most spincast reels due to that clamshell design having a pretty narrow gap. Some reels, like the Omega and Bullet, have an oscillating spool that helps. The differences in a spincast reel and baitcast reel are pretty enormous, imo. Everything will be better (and imo, more reliable) on a baitcast reel. Drags are much better, reels are much, much lighter, smoother...just the whole nine yards, really. Your average baitcast reel is designed for a higher price point, so this shouldn’t be a surprise, but the upper limits of a spincast reel just aren’t that high due to its inherent design. The really big one, historically, is gear ratio which really can limit what techniques a spincast reel can employ. Generally speaking, and this includes the Omega, you’re looking at gear ratios of 3:1 or less with line input per turn (IPT) of around 15 inches or so. Compare to a baitcast reel that’s a 6:1 or better and around 26 IPT! And many have gear ratios of 8 or more with IPT in the mid 30’s. The Bullet attempts to solve this, though the result is a reel even bigger, heavier, and more awkward than even a normal spincast reel. But with a 5:1 gear ratio and an IPT of 29 there is no denying it’s a revelation for spincast users.

I wouldn’t go quite that far. Those three aren’t primarily known for their sub $100 reels. Nearly everyone, including the above, has a baseline $100 reel because that’s been a long standing price point for that level of reel. Sub $100 reels have gotten better over the years, but there still is too much corner cutting involved, as seen in those knockoffs. A $100 or more likely $150 reel across multiple manufacturers is needed as there is no question the barrier of entry right now is too high. Rods, imo, has always been the bigger issue, and maybe more specifically the paradox that rod manufacturers don’t want to release product because of lack of reels and vice versa. So while neither is ground breaking, I think the mere fact we’ve seen both a BFS rod and reel released this year in the US is an important early step to greater adoption.

The same thought experiment goes on with the Zebco Bullet, a $99 spincast reel designed to give features (such as a much higher gear ratio) common in a spinning/baitcast reel. By pretty much any metric a similar priced baitcast/spinning reel blows it out of the water and at a considerable cost increase compared to the average spincast reel it loses out on value. Yet it sells because it still does something unique.

I saw a mention of lures, but not the weight of the lures. Spincast (push button) reels can cast smaller weights than baitcast reels, so keep that in mind. Most of the recommendations you’ll find for a “do everything” baitcast rod will be something like a M or MH rod in the 1/4-3/4 or 1/4-1 range. That’s a really good recommendation but it really comes with the caveat of “do everything that a baitcast reel is designed to do”. Those same people are usually using a spinning rod for everything else. ?

I feel like this is a question I’d answer completely different for a kid vs an adult. For an adult, I don’t think it matters that much in the reel because a spinning reel has a lower floor than any other reel type, imo. It is almost hard to make an unusable spinning reel if you’re willing to back reel and work around deficiencies. So for an adult, I’d put more money on the rod. Especially if you’re the one taking the kid fishing, I’d swap that. You want the least hassle reel. Doesn’t need a lot of bearings or to be super smooth, it just has to be reliable and preferably not too large. When looking at reviews, faulty bail mechanisms are often the biggest flag. There generally isn’t that much difference in construction, especially in low end models. I’d also be wary of getting too sensitive of a rod because until they learn what a bite feels like they will try to set the hook on everything in that lake and it’ll be constant snags. The key to enjoying fishing with kids is to realize their downtime is your downtime.

I second the opinion to get the Tatula 300. Barring that, it’s personal preference between the two. They both work fine. I’d be happy with either.

For practical purposes, don’t ignore the $250-$300 range. Most companies put some really good reels in that range. In general, what you’re going to get as you move up in price is difference in materials, weight reduction, tighter tolerances, more (and better) bearings, cosmetics and general smoothness. Sometimes a company will debut a new premium feature only on high end reels. Whether these things are worth it is greatly subjective, just know that there is heavy diminishing returns as you move up in price.

To clarify, it’s not the reel itself he’s disappointed in as he has stated many times over the years that the Steez is one of his favorite reels. He’s disappointed in the massive increase in marketing language (hyper this, hyper that) that leads one to believe there is something new here. The real question will be what kind of improvement the SV Boost spool may give, which his reel teardown doesn’t attempt to address.

So hard to get good quality BFS rods, and importing such things is expensive. Plus, a big reason BFS isn’t more popular in the US is lack of presence. Companies want to know there is a market for their products but until someone takes a chance and makes products available that never happens. So definitely Kudos!

A medium spinning rod is actually my most used spinning rod because it’s such a great one rod solution to situations I may want to use a large variety of things but will only have one rod available. Casting I’ll use everything from tiny to massive, but have really little use for any mh/h spinning setups. I keep them purely to loan to others.

Correct, it was iterative. The central idea behind a BFS reel is reducing inertia, specifically the amount of force required to start the spool turning. Inertia is the resistance to change and that applies to speeding up and slowing down a spool. In designing the SV spool to better function in finesse applications, not only in terms of how the brake/rotor function but also in reducing the rotating mass of the spool itself, it has consequently made it more forgiving at the end of the cast because it’s inertia is reduced there as well.

I would say Daiwa’s SV brakes fit. Obviously iterative from before BFS specifically became a thing but it has evolved from a system thought of as a finesse spool to become a mainstream braking technology. It has a lot of benefits to non finesse users such as being good in poor weather or great for beginners.

It’s certainly an area of fishing where expectation can exceed reality and if someone enters it without realizing the compromises involved it can be frustrating. However, it’s exciting because it’s a new way of fishing for a lot of people. We are well past the point where practically every budget can just dominate something like a bass, and so going about that experience in a different way brings new life to the sport. The technology gains in pursuit of casting smaller and smaller baits has also filtered down throughout product lines benefiting even those not in pursuit of BFS.

With their narrow and shallow spools, line is going to be thin on a BFS reel and when line starts getting really thin they all become susceptible to dig in issues. The shallow spool really negates a lot of the consequences, though. The bigger issue, on some reels, is thin line getting between the frame and spool and wrapping itself around the spool shaft.

Well said. It’s definitely not something you can just walk into your local sporting goods store to buy. IMO, an even bigger obstacle than the reels are the rods, but a lot of dedicated BFS anglers will solve that by building their own on spinning rod blanks. This is a very expensive part of the hobby, and if you really want to go down this rabbit hole I heartily recommend not getting a larger reel and putting in a shallow spool. That can work to a degree for some of the larger and more aerodynamic finesse baits but you’ll quickly find it lacking overall. Those reels brakes just aren’t tuned for the very small baits and though you may find them capable of casting a bait, the accuracy greatly suffers. Doing a search for “BFS” on this site and tackletour will provide you a wealth of information. It’s not a cheap nor easy way to fish, but it is very fun.

At 1/8 oz, all of these will work, though how optimally may be very subjective. As you approach 1/16 oz you will really see why dedicated BFS reels exist. Alongside the reel it’s nice to have a lightweight shallow spool, small diameter line, and as little line spooled as necessary to keep weight down. Most of these BFS reels will go up to 3/8 oz, but you’ll often find the line you want to use casting a 1/16 oz and a 3/8 oz to be very different. Also, since BFS reels tend to be very small, they often have very high gear ratios to compensate and that can make the reel feel a bit sluggish with resistance baits when you start talking the higher end of your range. Personally, I would not use the same combo for this entire range. 1/8 oz and up is just a totally different animal when talking BFS.

That eliminates a lot more reels than I think you’re intending to eliminate with that clause. Everything from BFS reels on up would be affected by that.

The 2020 Alphas is made in Thailand.

If the pursuit is pure distance, I’m not taking any bass reel. Several companies make conventionals for this purpose, including but not limited to Penn, Abu and Akios.

Practically nothing is made in Japan these days, nor even Korea for that matter. Now it’s places Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand.

Reels are bound to diminishing returns like most consumer goods. In other words, the value doesn’t increase as fast as the price does. So if the question is one of worth, the answer is probably “no” for a top priced item, but that’s not the same as suggesting you shouldn’t buy it. Baitcasting reels are an excellent example of this because they’ve been priced at certain intervals for so long that most manufacturers build to certain price points. A $99 reel is going to be a really good, functional, workhorse reel from most brands. In comparison to more expensive models, it may not be as light, have as many bearings, or be built to as tight of tolerances. It may not have optional features like a clicking drag. A $500 reel is not ever going to be 5 times the reel as that $99 reel because that $99 reel is already a fully functional reel. That doesn’t mean you don’t still buy that $500 reel if it does something for you that a less expensive reel does not. If you want a 5 oz and under reel, it’s likely going to cost you. If you can deal with a couple ounces more, you can often save a lot of money and get basically the same reel. Certain people have certain features they consider a deal breaker and those features are generally priced into certain tiers. One word of caution when comparing reels. A lot of reels today are built off of the same platform. Sometimes the price difference is justified, sometimes they just decided to put in more handle bearings and sometimes that platform is even shared amongst different brands.

You don’t need any of that when throwing several ounces. That bait is already coming out hot. You’re mostly getting out of the rod’s way to deliver a full, accelerating, forward stroke.

I thought eating too many hushpuppies made for a well rounded angler.

There are a lot of great reels at that $100 price point. The Fuego CT is really nice because it can often be had for quite a bit less if you’re patient.

Most of the positives have been covered, but there are many negatives. Durability of materials. This is throughout the reel, from frame and side plates to drag stars, gearing, levelwinds, shafts, spools. Smoothness. Bearings add quite a bit of weight when you’re pinching fractions of an ounce. Even line capacity is often reduced because the line itself is fairly heavy. There is also a hollow nature to many of the very light reels that really turns a lot of people off. They can feel more toy like than a piece of precision machinery.