brophog

Even the newer, higher end models are still like that. The drag is smooth enough, but the adjustment range feels very binary.

I wouldn’t call DC braking snake oil at all. It’s an effective braking system. It just happens there are a lot of other effective systems out there. Personal preference and specific circumstances dictate a lot of what one person thinks of a particular system vs another. DC braking is just another way of going about it.

I don't think that advice is at odds with what's in this thread. It's just that it's easier to describe and recognize that you've gone past the point of zero tension if you add some slop to the adjustment.

You get a lot more for $59 dollars today than you once did (in terms of a baitcaster) but I still caution against a cheap baitcaster for a beginner. Poor tolerances, bad bearings, sometimes useless brakes....these things really hamper your chance to learn a baitcaster without quitting out of frustration. And, yes, I was also one that bought a very cheap baitcaster at first. ?

When it comes to drag specs these days, the numbers might as well say eleventy billion. If you set your drag to 1/3 of your line's breaking strength, then that 20lb drag would be good up to about 60lb. Are you putting 60lb line on a 2500 size reel? There's other guidelines someone may use to set their drag, but that's one way of thinking about it. On a 2500 size reel, there's no functional difference between 13 and 20 lb max drag because you're almost certainly not using big enough line on that reel to max either. It's a 20lb drag because that's what the material they used allows for, and bigger numbers look pretty on boxes. Spinning reels will often have bigger listed drags than low profile casting reels, but you can easily find big game casting reels that have 25+ lbs of max drag and from the fishes perspective that's a lot of drag pressure. In terms of this trip, what do you consider to be a giant? How big the fish is, and what kind of structure you need to pull it out of tends to dictate how big of line you need and that's what will ultimately determine how much max drag you need.

Go with the above advice, for sure. Trying to use a weight and swivel like that has a major tendency to helicopter in the air and that can make things even worse. Also note that the lure ranges on rods are sorta educated guesses and sometimes the top and/or bottom of that range are not very accurate. With a baitcaster, if the rod doesn't load up and/or the spool is too heavy to start up quick, you'll have a tendency to overpower your cast to 'make up' that difference. This leads to a jerky, erratic cast and that's a big source of backlashes.

Some reels, namely bigger reels, will tend to wobble from side to side, but what you’re feeling isn’t noticeable when you’re fishing. Yes, the weight is not balanced from side to side on low profile baitcasters. You’ve got all the gears and handle on all one side and the other side is just a side plate with some small magnets or something. But, when you’re fishing your cranking hand is supporting the handle side and you’ll be palming the other side, lending your hands weight to balance that out. It works really well in practice even if in the store it may feel like that thing wants to rotate in circles.

The lesson is to not buy a Zebco 33. The reel’s price has barely changed over the years, and if your product is that massively behind the inflation curve then corners will be cut somewhere. What people remember their old 33’s as being is basically the Omega.

It is as big as it is to generate that high gear ratio. Since the main gear sits directly behind the spool the entire reel must grow in size to accommodate that gear. That’s why it’s such a long reel, and the fundamental reason spincasts are historically very low gear ratio reels. It’s a bit of a marvel of a reel, really, but I think it also really shows how limited and outdated the spincast design really is.

You can try altering your release timing to compensate. That’s usually a sign the brakes are altering the course of the lure. Pretty common when trying to cast a bait that’s too light. Make sure the rod you’re using can load properly for that lure and that your casting motion is indeed loading that rod. That’s happening because your bait isn’t carrying its momentum throughout the cast. Try a more aerodynamic bait or a flatter trajectory. Sometimes a sidearm cast will kinda loop in the air, using up its momentum very early then slows down before the spool does. Birds nests at the end of the cast are all down to the user, imo. Some reels are more controlled at the end of the cast, but by the end of the cast the user should be able to apply breaking via the thumb to prevent an overrun.

Have you flushed and relubed the spool bearings? Almost all factory bearings are too heavily lubricated if distance is a major consideration. You said brakes are set to minimize backlash, but did not specify what that setting was. There’s a big difference in casting distance between setting for no thumb and some thumb. Since you say you are new to baitcast reels, I suspect you’ll gain distance by lowering the brakes even further as you get more comfortable controlling the spool via slight thumb pressure.

I have a few about that age like that, especially when they went on sale they were a tremendous value. Unfortunately, I think they hit a point where that’s no longer the case.

Rods can get to see some ridiculous diminishing returns at a certain point. I feel like just looking at the top end is a bit disingenuous when we are talking about something like an Ugly Stik. There is just a massive difference between low end rods and that point of diminishing returns.

There’s a couple of reasons I subscribe to this idea. I feel you hit the point of diminishing returns much faster on reels. Plus, as long as you have a good starting platform you can often slowly upgrade a reel to make up that gap. Not to mention the rod is really what’s doing all of the work.

From the sounds of it, definitely something to consider. Most big box stores have it on display it seems so you can get a feel for the size.

Spincast not spinning.

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!