redmeansdistortion

Fun fact about Kencor. It was founded by Kenny Kawakami, the first president of Daiwa USA. He ran Kencor and Daiwa USA at the same time. Pretty impressive. I don't think anything like that would fly these days. Working for one company while being a competitor at the same time.

That spool in the Black Max 1600 is 10.5g, it'll throw 1/8 no problem. Get Abu part numbers 22565 and 22567, the bearing retainer and brake blocks for the CS Rocket reels. It's very capable.

I've installed a lot of those gear sets for people; hardened bronze pinion and stainless main gear. The king salmon, musky, and sturgeon guys love them.

That's exactly what the Royal Express is, pre-2000 with instant anti-reverse coming in at 8 ounces, less than a Millionaire CV-Z 103 and less than a '21 Calcutta Conquest 100. They were made in 2 runs, 1992 and 1999. In the hands of a truly competent tuner, there really won't be much that it can't do. It's a blank slate ready to be crafted into a spectacular performer. The plastic worm pipe is the weak point of this reel as it adds friction to the level wind. The metal pipe used in other 4000 sized models is best. Other than that, there's nothing a little elbow grease and a few fun parts can't address. A lighter spool and addressing the friction points will put it in an entirely different league.

There are a couple of new in box SS SVs on Yahoo Auctions right now, one of them is $140 and the other $220. This is the poor man's Steez, essentially a Steez without the T-Wing. Pair it with a 1016 SV G1 and you're off to the races. Many don't associate the SV spools with being a distance spool, but there is more to the equation. The SS SV uses weaker magnets and both the 1012 SV G1 and 1016 SV G1 are very fast and capable of good distance in that particular reel. Both of those spools are also very light at 9 grams, so the reel will be well capable of throwing 3g if you want to dip your toe in that end of the pool as well. https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/o1125417032?conversionType=YahooAuction_DirectSearch https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/c1135627853?conversionType=YahooAuction_DirectSearch

Before you order the spool, try a TD-Z Type R+ inductor spring first. You can get them at Tackle Trap. It makes the inductor take a higher RPM to actuate which helps in casting lighter stuff. It's a pretty simple swap, remove the C clip securing the inductor, swap springs, reattach the C clip, go fishing. It would also be a good idea to flush the bearings and use a low viscosity oil.

Family photo time.

It's completely fine with braided lines. I fished mine hard the 3 years I owned it, never warped the spool.

Here it is on Amazon for half that. https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Alphas-Stream-Custom-00614121129681/dp/B07TSDLD6R

Your PX68 is most suitable for conversion out of what you have. It uses a 31mm spool, which makes the spools from the Alphas Air Stream Custom a direct swap. You could also use a Ray's spool with that one if you so choose. 31mm will be best for short range low trajectory casts.

This is exactly how to fish them on BFS tackle. I have some Japanese steelhead rods that are meant to be used with thread line and a BFS reel. Pointing the butt at the fish gets them every time. I have three rods; a Smith 6'5" 3-12g, another Smith 7'4" 5-16g, and a Palms 6'9" 3-10g. I'm usually fishing no more than a #1.5/6lb leader and will sometimes run as low as 3lb depending on water clarity. I couldn't begin to tell you how many guys I've had question my tactics on the water. As you know, the norm for steelies and salmon is something 8'6" and up, and they see me with these comparably short rods hitting targets next to undercut banks and root wads. Swinging a shorter rod on an overgrown stream is much easier than trying not to whack a tree with a 8'6"-11'6"+. A lot of the time I'm casting to spots that would require the long rod crowd to use a far different approach.

If I remember right, Dick's blanks were IM7. A few guys I fish with still use them religiously.

Here's Dick's obituary, he's a legend here in Michigan. https://web.archive.org/web/20210729220352/https://www.ourmidland.com/sports/article/Clare-s-Dick-Swan-was-a-giant-in-the-fishing-world-6918433.php Browning actually sold a line of his rods, but the pre-Browning stuff he made on Lamiglas blanks that were made for him by Gary Loomis, prior to him going solo. Those Lamiglas blanks that Dick used are very highly sought after. I've seen them sell on my local sportsman forum for upwards of $200.

Where I am in Michigan, noodle rods were popular for salmon and steelhead back in the 70s and 80s. The Dick Swan noodle was an 11'6" slow action rod rated for 2-6lb mono. Guys used them to swing spoons and spinners for large lake run steelhead and coho salmon on light line. Most guys used 4lb mono. They've found a new crowd among carp fishermen, who use light line for a stealthy approach to a highly intelligent fish. They're very effective rods and will make quick work on bass assuming one is using sharp hooks. The Dick Swan rods were designed to pin hard fighting fish on light line. They can be used for bass, but like the rod, the rest of your approach will be unconventional as well. I'd use a 1000 size spinning reel with #1.0 braided line and a leader of 2 to 4lb. Set your drag for one pound and have at it. I bet you'll have a lot more fun than the guys that skip them across the water to the boat.

This is the way. Daiwa makes so many models with parts that are cross compatible, one can make their own any way they see fit. Choose your platform and go to work. As @bulldog1935 says, who needs Ito? Here's my latest; Alphas Ito Ai gear set, 1012 SV G1 spool, Alphas Air handle, nut, and spool cap, Alphas pinion shaft, PX68 star wheel, and red RCS knobs. It bombs anything from 1/8 on up. I had a SV Boost PE 1000 in there previously, but the inductor was sticking and half of the casts resulted in fluff. I wanted to love the spool because it was beautiful when it was working correctly, but it just didn't pan out. I sent it back and got the 1012 SV G1 instead and now this reel is doing what I had hoped.

The Admira uses a 30mm spool with a capacity somewhere between the SV700 and SV700S spool. When plugging the capacity specs into the Pattaya line calculator, the SV700 spool will hold 347m of 0.128 2lb mono, while the Admira spool is spec'd to hold 200m. This is nearly 1.75x the capacity of the SV700 found in the Steez. The SV700S on the other hand is rated to hold ~170m of 2lb, so a hair less than the Admira. The original SV700 spool should be a drop-in with the line capacity you are looking for since it too is a 30mm spool. The only thing to be mindful of is the magnet configuration in the Admira. The SV700 spools have a long inductor. If the magnets of the Admira are deep, the inductor may come into contact when running a SV700. Sometimes Mag Z spools use the deeper magnets as the spools tend to be heavier than the SV spools and require more braking.

I'm using a Palms Rera Kamuy 6'9" ML. It's a Japanese steelhead rod rated for 3-10g, absolutely awesome for smaller soft swimbaits and ned rigs. My favorite is the 2.8" Keitech Fat Swing Impact on a 1/8 head, great in the rivers and lakes alike.

If you ever have this happen again, round nose pliers are a godsend. Also, look for an Alphas Air Stream Custom spool, it too is a drop-in.

Keep in mind how reel marketing works; weight (lightness), speed, drag capacity, and bearing count. The more one has of a combination of two or three, or even all four means it will draw attention because of the "more is better" mentality. All of that stuff is important, but there is much more that needs to be taken into consideration. Lighter reels don't make for a balanced combo as good as something with a little more weight to it. Bearing count is nice, but where they are implemented is what counts. Some areas are better served by bushings due to durability. Speed, while nice can come at the expense of torque which can be more important depending on target species. Then there's drag capacity which is marketed to those who don't understand the purpose of drag in the first place. People see numbers and think it correlates to quality, durability, and overall performance, but in reality, this isn't usually the case. The bigger brands earned their reputations. True quality reels come in all sizes. I don't own a Loongze, but I know others that do that are happy with them. One commonality I've read among them, they're still not Daiwa or Shimano and what they offer comes at a similar price point while sacrificing a bit in the quality department. That said, they could become a contender at some point. Gotta start out somewhere.

I change mine up frequently. Some days I want a Millionaire on a glass trout rod, another day I might want a baby Ambassadeur, or maybe even a Calcutta Conquest. The problem with having so many good rods and reels is choosing which ones you want to take on any given trip. It's worse than trying to pick something on Netflix. My destination dictates what rod and reel I will bring along.

All of my reels see action, that's what I built them for. Any of mine that do have marks came by way of the previous owner(s). Reels aren't hard to keep pretty, just be mindful of where you're putting them. I've backpacked down countless trails and waded some of the gnarliest waters one can imagine and my reels still look like they've spent their lives on shelves.

It sure does. I'm missing 3 in this photo.

YGK X-braid, I like the #0.8, 1.0, and 1.2. Sometimes Amazon has it for a good price. I like the metered stuff so I know how much I'm putting on the spool.

I have this set of Wiha drivers plus their hex and Torx drivers. https://www.amazon.com/Wiha-26199-Slotted-Phillips-Screwdriver/dp/B000NZ5QG0/ German tool steel is tied for best with Japanese, second best would be made in the USA. A tool I highly suggest and I use often, a pair of Knipex angled pliers. This is the pair I have, they make re-seating springs and installing E-clips easy peasy. https://www.amazon.com/KNIPEX-31-21-160-Needle-Nose/dp/B003RWS9FG

Something the Japanese do that we don't, keeping a successful company intact after buyout. The best example of this is McIntosh Labs, manufacturer of audio equipment. They were purchased by Clarion, a Japanese competitor in 1990. Clarion let McIntosh run as they did previously, keeping engineering and manufacturing in New York. The Japanese philosophy is to not mess up a good thing, and McIntosh was and still is hugely successful. In the fishing world, Pure Fishing Japan is entirely separate from Pure Fishing USA and offers products many would associate with the Abu from decades past. Same thing with Fenwick. Over here, Pure Fishing owns them. In Japan, it's Tiemco and the Japanese Fenwick rods are vastly different and superior from what we get. In Japan, the tapers and designs are reminiscent of the Fenwick of the 1970s; the products that garnered the well deserved reputation. Over here, we get comparably cheaply designed and manufactured rods with the Fenwick logo attached.