brophog

We all have different perspectives on these things. I only use casting gear these days, but I’m not doing the entire spectrum with one combo. So, if I was limited to only one combo, it’s a spinning combo.

I believe these were remote tournaments. Kayak competitions often just set a designated time and (sometimes) multiple eligible bodies of water and the angler is responsible for following the rules. The fish aren’t ever seen by a tournament organizer in person, they’re simply caught by the angler, a photo taken, and then that’s submitted to a website. In some tournaments, you can even be outside the kayak as long as you’re tethered to it, for instance in shallow creeks. That’s why you can conceivably take a photo with no legs in it. There are usually people inspecting the photos for issues, like checking to see if it’s the same fish, but Kayak tournaments by their nature tend to be more governed by trust than other tournaments.

I'm not arguing, either, fwiw. I'm only going to attempt to explain myself further this once and bow out. Thanks. Go down product line after product line and you'll see companies that have something like a 1/16-3/8 spinning or 1/4-1 casting, very common blanks, but rarer to see it offered the other way around. We've seen "bfs" rods come a long way in the last few years, domestically, but we're still looking for the exceptions and not common occurrences. BPS has had at least an option in the L/ML range of casting for, I dont know, 15 years, maybe longer. Yes, many of us on here know we could pick up a Pro Finesse back in the day or a Carbonlite now, but the average fisherman walking into that store isn't going to randomly run into such a rod because it's still very uncommon. Consequently, while every reel manufacturer for decades has had a $100-ish sort of 100 class casting reel, we don't see much of that in shallow spools meant for these lighter applications. If we did, better believe rod companies would start converting those 1/16-3/8 rod blanks into a casting option.

This isn’t about BFS fishing, imo. There’s a real strong tendency in the industry in this country to look at what sells and everyone just produces that product. Go down the aisle of your favorite fishing retailer and just look at how many white and chartreuse spinnerbaits there are or watermelon or junebug worms. Obviously this is a problem with BFS as the rod companies will say they don’t want to produce a rod if no one is selling a reel for it and the reel company makes the same argument about rods.

Double check me on this, but if I’m remembering correctly those models break down just above the handle.

I had to justify the need for the new rod rack.

I find that’s only the case if you feel the need to put a reel on every single rod you own. I know, personally, I’ve bought rods over the years because they were a good price even though they didn’t go into the main rotation only to later come across a situation where I was glad I had it.

Hard for me to get excited for new reels these days. Part of that is the standard is so high now, for both casting and spinning, that it’s hard for something new to show much improvement. It’s also the prices raising so much that it just feels like it’s best to buy older or used gear and save an awful lot of money. Just a few years ago the idea of a Steez SV Light would have had me very excited.

To a certain degree, that’s true….but also consider all of your reel components tend to scale with the capacity of the reel. Those 200, 300, 400 class reels aren’t just there to hold more line, they’re designed to throw the kinds of weights, handle the kinds of torque, and bring in the kinds of fish that such a larger capacity is intended for.

My reading of this thread is that the BPS Graphite is not the rod you’re looking for. This is a ‘beater rod’ that you accept has limitations but it’s relatively low price means you’re not that upset if it breaks. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you want something more than that.

Depends on the spool depth. If it’s a deep spool I’ll just leave old line on as backing and replace the upper half or whatever that may potentially be used. Shallow spools are fully replaced every time.

Let's focus on this. What is it you’re wanting to do with this reel? Is this something you’re wanting to throw 1/32oz total weight or just want it to throw 1/4oz better? What is it's desired role on this team, or are you still at the point you're just trying to find anything it does well enough?

Your question is confusing. You didn’t ask it what the effect of overall spool weight is on casting light lures, you specifically asked it the effect of braided line’s weight. Had you asked it the question you’re inferring, like what is the effect of overall spool weight on casting light fishing lures, then you would have gotten a very different result. Especially when we’re talking the low line capacities of shallow bfs spools, the overall weight difference between equal diameter braid and mono is not going to be that big. In that case, the other factors inherent to those lines will be a larger contributing factor.

Do I get extra spools? Because if I get extra spools, it’s a 34mm Daiwa casting reel. If not, it’s a 35/3500 spinning reel, many brands would work for a spinning reel, imo.

The Light casting model is about on point to it’s ratings, but the rest of the casting models are all off in terms of power and often quite a bit on their ratings. The H/XFast 1/4-2oz, for instance, is a pretty good rod if you treat it like a standard 1/4-1 MH/Fast, but if you think it does anything even remotely near what a 2oz Heavy rod should do, you’re going to be awfully disappointed. Consequently, they don’t have a 1/4-1 or 3/8-1 MH in their lineup, like most do, so it fills that role very nicely, but you have to know ahead of time that’s the model you want to fill that role. I do like them, though, because they make a pretty decent rod that’s available in 2 pieces and that’s something that’s far too rare.

For some people with injuries, they’ve had to learn to use the other hand. I taught myself to do all of my casting decades ago with my left hand, even though I’m right handed for most things. I don’t cast any better with my right hand than most people would with their non-dominant hand because I don’t use it for that task. If I had to learn today, I’d just use a left hand reel and do it that way, but that wasn’t an option decades ago.

Not necessarily. The fish isn’t fighting against the drag friction, but the rod itself still absorbs a great deal of their strength. What such a proposed contest would do is move people towards very heavy line so they could horse fish in even more than they already do.

I know braid to fc leader is very popular these days, so this may be going against the grain, but do you have a reason you want to move away from mono? You say it’s starting to wear, but you didn’t say you were dissatisfied. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of the lines and people have their preferences so you’ll get a lot of opinions.

Some people report that the inductor cups are crooked and they make more noise, but they’re fast spools.

While I don’t doubt Daiwa would love to sell 14 versions of a Tatula DC, is something like an SLX DC really that popular? You’re still paying a decent little premium these days for the DC experience.

I do think this brings up a good point that the minimum viable baitcast reel is much lower today than 25-30 years ago. Back then going too cheap on a baitcaster got you a set of plastic parts just waiting for a backlash and I dare not guess how many people swore off the technology altogether because of their purchasing choice. While I’m not recommending anyone go buy these cheap, generic OEM reels of today, I will say they’re a lot more viable as useable pieces of equipment.

I missed the part of that press release that included dollar signs

There is a big caveat there. Those guys that weren’t bringing in 45k in winnings this year look relatively better comparing 2024 to the proposed 2025 payouts, but we have to keep in mind they’re still losing money. They’re just losing less of it in the new structure. Edit: Important note in terms of that video analysis. He treats 2025 money as being +$45,000, instead of saying the angler is saving $45,000. His method of accounting makes it looks like an angler that cashed 0 in 2025, but had $15,000 in expenses, is now profiting +$30,000 when in actuality he still lost $15,000 instead of the $60,000 he would have lost had he never cashed out with entry fees. The TL;DR of this analysis is that practically everyone is worse off.

It isn’t coming from anywhere else. Total payouts are dropping by half or more. This is the reality for not only fishing but most professional sports, outside of those few examples we’re all familiar with. Sports like fishing where it’s traditionally been the industry supporting itself, YouTube and other social media sites are proving to be a much more efficient use of advertising dollars. I understand why this change with the entry fees was made, but I don’t think it’s going to work. Unfortunately, for a sport like bass fishing that lacks meaningful revenue streams, it’s going to be tough financially, regardless.

Stick with the Omega and Bullet. They’re pricy for a spincast, certainly can be an issue for people comparison shopping who will use something other than a spincast, but they’re worth the money. The biggest reason they’re so heavy is the construction. They’re literally tanks. About the only part to worry about, especially on the Bullet, is the thumbar assembly. It’s plastic and the little ears on it break with repeated stress but it’s also a 4 dollar part. Keep a couple of spares around.