redmeansdistortion

Schultz Outfitters in Ypsi. Go talk to Matt, he runs the side that's geared towards more conventional tackle. Schultz was predominantly a fly shop until relatively recently. They have a lot of JDM baits and rods. I hang out there from time to time, great bunch of guys to chat with. https://schultzoutfitters.com/about-us/

If I were on the market for a brand new BFS reel right now, I would look at the Aldebaran and Conquest. They're about as good as it gets. The FTB in the newest Shimano offerings is spot on. I run my '23 Conquest with the brake dial a third of the way up and it'll cast anything from 1/16 on up with zero backlash, even in breezy conditions. The newer Daiwas are no slouch either, but I feel the braking isn't as consistent as what Shimano has at this moment. If this thread was posted just a few years ago, my opinion would've favored Daiwa as the FTB in the previous generation Aldebaran and Conquest was more touch and go than Daiwa at the time.

Rocks make it difficult lol. The streams here in Michigan are usually sand and gravel, but the tougher ones have a lot of fallen trees. The Jordan River here is one I wouldn't dare fish in the night, it's hard enough during the day. All of the fallen cedar makes it like an obstacle course.

My best advice; first and foremost, be familiar with the water you're fishing. The streams I night fish for browns are very wader friendly with most holes being less than 4ft deep. I've been fishing those streams a long time in general and know that I won't take a dip, barring a previous heavy rain. Second, use a wading staff. This lets you prod the bottom as you move so you can get a feel of the underlying topography. Nighttime or not, it's a good tool to have for wading in general. Lastly, wear a red headlamp. Red light doesn't spook trout nearly as easy as something closer to the yellow, white, or blue spectrum. Being equipped with the knowledge and the right tools, you may be rewarded with a nice fish and make it back to land dry.

Read up on mousing at night for browns. I'm not sure how popular outside of Michigan it is, but a lot of guys here do it. They fish a deer hair mouse tied with a #2 hook with a heavy leader, usually 10lb+. I don't fly fish, but if I did I'd definitely be doing it. https://mangledfly.com/night-fishing/

My preferred bait for trout. There is actually science behind this too. Smaller trout tend to go more for insect imitations like a dressed spinner, fly, etc. They aren't big enough to have fish as a large portion of their diet so they go for easier prey. Bigger browns and rainbows have much more fish in their diets and respond well to jerkbaits and streamers. Even in the case of browns, top water baits you'd use for bass work great since they feed on terrestrial mammals and amphibians that fall into the water. Night time brown fishing with a jitterbug is a lot of fun. They absolutely smash them.

That could be it. A little moisture can introduce rust, and even a miniscule amount can hamper rotation. Bearing manufacturers store their bearings away lubricated to mitigate this, especially large manufacturers that keep a healthy back stock. For long term storage, I would use oil for storage since it's easier to remove and refresh with your oil of choice. FWIW, I did try a set of these bearings in one of my Millionaires right out of the package and while they didn't rotate the greatest, the reel did cast good enough. I've read of many instances where people will pre-service a new reel and find the bearings greased from the factory. What I believe is happening is the manufacturers are putting the bearings straight into the reels without cleaning and lubricating as they get them from the bearing suppliers. I've seen this happen on some of my own Daiwas.

The star wheel from a PX68 is curved and fits perfectly. This SW 103 has a PX68 star with an Alphas Air handle. You can get the star from Japan Tackle either in gunmetal/red or black/silver.

The grease they used was fairly tacky. I tried spirits and simple green, in an ultrasonic cleaner no less. I couldn't get the stuff out completely without removing the shields.

Here is how they look right out of the box with the shields removed. According to NMB data sheets, they use a NLGI 0 grease and fill them to 25% capacity. After a cleaning with CRC electronics cleaner. They spin very, very good without oil. I measured anywhere from 31 to 34 seconds on those four. Hedgehog Airs spin from 10 to 15 seconds, at least the 8 I have anyway. Those in the photo are the 1150 size, same as the Hedgehogs I replaced them with. When both bearings are oiled the difference in spin time is very negligible, not even a noteworthy difference. The Hedgehogs do use the crown retainers whereas NMB uses stamped ribbons. I'm not sure if retainer style makes a difference, especially in the Hedgehogs as they are higher quality to begin with. The AliEx ceramic hybirds I've dissected used crowns, but the edges were very sharp. I'd imagine the Hedgehog retainers are much smoother. The raceways of the AliEx bearings had a rather poor finish as well, and that in itself is indicative of how well it will perform.

That's where I got them. I remove the shields on them and they all came greased. I use CRC electronics cleaner to remove the grease, then a shot of TSI 301, and lastly, blow out the excess with compressed air. I've put them in about a dozen and a half reels so far and haven't gotten a bad one yet.

NMB bearings which are used by Daiwa in the factories. Get them via Yahoo Shopping out of Japan for $1-$2 each, or you can get them domestically for $5 to $7 each. I run them in all of my reels, BFS or otherwise, and they perform just as well or even better than the overly hyped stuff out there at a fraction of the cost.

I would go with an Ambassadeur. Sure a C3 is $140 new, but I'm sure you can find a decent used one locally for $50 or less. The current iteration has been in production for 32 years without any very notable changes aside from the carbon drag, 6 pin brake, and bearing supported level wind. Parts are very easy to get and they are also rather simple to service. If you haven't serviced one, there are lots of tutorials on YouTube. A Penn grease/oil combo will set you back $13 and a carbon drag about $10. The Ambassadeur has been a very popular reel for many decades now. You're sure to find one at a resale shop, antique store, Facebook Marketplace, a garage sale, or estate sale. Looking at Marketplace, there are 6 of them near me for $40 to $50 that are in pretty good shape.

I wonder what they're doing exactly for $20? A lot of the low dollar jobs I've seen usually involved adding lubrication without cleaning anything. Sometimes that may be enough, especially on a reel that's close to new or saw little use. Those are usually very quick jobs and can be done in minutes. A full disassembly and deep cleaning is more involved and will take a skilled technician 45+ minutes assuming they are familiar with the model. Those jobs are typically more costly, with the usual rate being somewhere between $25 and $60 depending on who does it. Some places do charge more than that. I've seen guys in Singapore, Malaysia, and Japan charging the equivalent of $80 to $100 for a full service. It is a good chunk of change, but they're only servicing higher end models to begin with.

I did work early last year for a salmon charter based out of West Michigan. All reels were Okuma Coldwaters, and he showed me a video of the spool shuddering on a few of them, usually when he threw boards out. Every reel had a warped pinion crown. It turns out the captain didn't know how to properly set the drag, but locked it down thinking that was ideal. I showed him the damaged parts and then we got talking about drag and I advised him to get a spring scale and set them to 1/4 the strength of his leader. I will be getting the reels back once he takes his boat off the water come October. He no longer has the shuddering according to him, so I think he may have taken my advice. I'll find out when I open them up.

A little note on NMB that I discovered yesterday. I know many here and elsewhere that speak of factory bearings being greased instead of oiled on a reel fresh out of the box. What I found yesterday, after removing shields on a pair of DDL-1150Y04, grease! This leads me to believe reel manufacturers just use the bearings as they come from the manufacturer and drop them right in. The consistency seems to be either a NLGI 0 or 00. Anyway, after cleaning the bearings, I gave them a test spin unlubricated. One was 31.1 seconds and the other was 30.7 seconds, not bad! Seems rather consistent to me. For the heck of it, I did the same to brand new Boca Lightning SMR115C-YZZ. When run dry, one bearing spun for 15.8 seconds, and the other for 11.7 seconds. Not very consistent. I then lubed all bearings with a drop of ISO 10 oil, NMB got 4.2 and 4.6 seconds respectively, while the Bocas got 2.9 and 4.4 seconds. What I'm gathering from this is NMB is pretty spot on with their manufacturing consistency, and that oil is the great equalizer.

Get some NMB bearings out of Japan via Yahoo Shopping, they're OEM for both Daiwa and Shimano. NMB makes their bearings in Singapore and Thailand. They also supply over half of the precision bearings used around the world in industries such as dental tools, aircraft instrumentation, and precision machine tools. They are the real deal. NMBs run as little as $1 to $2 each when bought in lots of 10. If you were to buy them domestically, expect to pay $5 to $7 each. Lastly, don't pay attention the ABEC rating as this has nothing to do with internal clearances and doesn't account for raceway finish, retainer material, or ball grade. ABEC grades were created as a basis for engineers to spec the fitment of a bearing to a shaft or housing. Too loose a fit can make the bearing not seat correctly, and too tight a fit can compress the bearing rings, removing the internal clearance of the balls, adding friction or even binding. ABEC was devised in the 1930s when machining to hundredths was considered precision. With CNC machining, many quality bearing manufacturers can do ABEC 5 tolerances without any effort at all.

I too run the improved Albright and have yet to have a knot failure. I don't use glue either. I love the improved Albright not just because it's strong, it's also super easy to tie whether you're bobbing around in a boat or having to tie a leader with cold hands in winter.

Pier fishing is a thing here in the Great Lakes. Right now guys are pulling Chinook and coho salmon from the piers on the West coast of the state. On the East coast, it'll be Atlantic salmon, steelhead, lake trout, and burbot in another couple of months. We do a lot of things here that many saltwater folks would be accustomed to, just different fish in the sweet water.

Mineral spirits and a cloth.

From my understanding, Shimano is in the process of revamping part numbers, which is why even newer production models are showing as out of production. You may need to do it the old fashioned way and call them.

6'9" ML Palms Rera Kamuy putting in work on some Detroit River silver bass.

Lake St Clair has one musky per acre, it's definitely the place to go if one wants to catch one. Total musky population is around 175,000 fish between St Clair River, Lake St Clair, and the Detroit River. The smallie and walleye fishermen hook into them frequently, I personally know people that have caught them jigging for walleye. The first time I heard musky being the fish of 10,000 casts I didn't believe it just because they are so common here and it's all I could relate to.

20-30lb is what we normally use north of Toledo. A 6-9" leader will be plenty for all but the largest pike. Most where I am seldom exceed 36", but occasionally you get the 40"+ monster on the line. Pike tend to get larger where there are fewer muskies to compete with them. My three largest pike (39"/42"/44") came out of the Au Sable River in northern Michigan, no muskies are in the river. The biggest I've pulled from Lake St Clair was 32", and most are under 30". That's very hard to do in the Midwest. Pike are present in just about any body of water you can think of. Outside of privately owned stocked ponds, it's safe to assume pike are present.

Use a wire leader. With pike, most bite-offs aren't actually bite-offs, but from the sharp gill plates. As the fish thrashes about in the water, a gill plate will make contact with your line either nicking it or breaking it. Those gill plates are sharp enough to cut your hand. It stinks losing a $10 or $20 bait, but a $150 bait I'd keep scuba gear and a spear gun aboard lol