redmeansdistortion

I wouldn't waste my time with the Zephyr in order to get a taste of BFS. Yes, the bar for entry is low, but the lack of refinement may put you off of BFS entirely as a first timer. If you were wanting to buy a brand new BFS reel, the SLX BFS can be had for $140 or less depending on where you get it. I understand this is more than what you want to spend, but it will give you a much better idea of BFS since the reel will perform much more consistently than down market BFS reels. Conversely, your Zillion would make for a nice BFS reel as well since it uses the 34mm standard Daiwa spool giving you an eye watering amount of options. You can go fixed inductor in the AMO or Roro spools or you can go moving inductor in the Ray's spools or even SLP spools like the 1012 SV G1, SV Boost PE 1000, or SV Boost 1000S. There are plenty of options out there.

Last night's build. I wanted to keep this one as factory appearing as I could. This reel has a frame, star wheel, handle, and spool cap from Simon Shimomura. Even the frame is the correct date code for the side plates, 040005 designating this a 2500C IAR manufactured in 1994. The handle and star wheel are also year correct for this reel. Under the hood we have a Valleyhill 2BB cog wheel, Valleyhill 2BB level wind, Avail line guide, Avail 2540R spool, Avail driveshaft and click wheel, and Hedgehog Air bearings. I kept the factory 5.3:1 gear ratio for this one since it will be used more for lake fishing than my usual streams. The rod it's going on is a 5'4" 4-8lb progressive E-glass from Shane Gray of Graywolf rods. It has been too cold to fish these last few days so I probably won't have it out until later next week to get it dialed in.

The Conquest BFS is art, plain and simple. Round reels are my jam, I can't think of one that isn't easy on the eyes. Now the fun part comes, experimenting with the magnets. It should have a couple of user replaceable magnets. I run my '17 model without them and it really opens it up. I felt running all magnets kind of choked it off a little.

Conquest BFS brake adjuster does not click.

Oh yeah, I wasn't discounting the good vintage gear, I was speaking of mass market stuff like Shakespeare and Sears rods.

Another thing to consider about fiberglass. Fiberglass rods are only as good as the cloth used to make the blanks. As some are aware, fewer flaws in the cloth mean a better blank generally speaking. You aren't going to feel a fish fart like high end carbon or graphite, but the newer crop is markedly more sensitive than a lot of the stuff that was common in the 20th century. Lower end glass like you'd see from Eagle Claw for instance, is more like the stuff from the old days. I've grown to love glass the last couple of years to the point that I prefer it for much of my fishing.

If you're wanting glass, Shane will build you anything you want to your specifications. He is pretty local to me and does it all. He turns the cork for the grip and rolls his own blanks on Steffen Brothers tooling and mandrels. He bought Steffen Brothers a few years back and moved the operations from Arizona to Michigan. I have a couple of his rods and thoroughly enjoy them. https://www.graywolfrods.com/bfs-bait-casting-rods http://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/2021/05/graywolf-rods-acquires-steffen-brothers.html

Tiemco/Fenwick makes a nice one as well. This will be my next purchase. Those that own both the Silver Creek and Undercut Bank say the Undercut Bank is the more stout of the two and would be better for wrangling larger lake run browns and rainbows as well as large river smallies. Note that the Fenwick of Japan is a different company than the Pure Fishing owned Fenwick here and makes much better rods. https://www.tiemco.co.jp/products/groups/view/3290

Feel free to pick my brain. I fish trout 3 seasons a year, sometimes in winter as well if the weather is cooperating. When you are choosing a trout rod, the length of it is the most important and should be picked according to the environment. If you're fishing headwater creeks, you're going to want something in the 4' to 5'6" range. Longer rods are unwieldy in these scenarios due to the abundance of trees and brush. Not only do you minimize your chance of whacking branches, but you also acquire more casting targets since you aren't having to deal with them much in the first place. If you're fishing a more standard sized river, then you will want something longer to give you distance and help with hook sets at that distance. In the creeks, most of the action is going to happen within 30' of you, so setting the hook from afar is not a factor in the equation. While some may pass these off as 'fairy wands', many of them have quite a bit of power. For instance, Smith has a 5'6" model rated from 3-14g, others offer rods of similar length and power. For me the sweet spot is a 2-10g; well capable of casting most anything, but also enough backbone to keep a 20" brown or rainbow from losing me to the wood. When you get into the UL and XUL power rods, those usually aren't powerful enough to effectively handle fish much bigger than brookies or brown/rainbow smolts. Light and medium light will be your big fish powers. Most trout lures aren't even that light to begin with. I fish minnows almost exclusively and most of those I use are in the 4g to 7g range. Even an 8" brookie will hammer a Major Craft Eden 60H. There are many brands worth looking into. Major Craft, Tiemco/Fenwick, Smith, M-Aire, Palms, Tenryu, Daiwa, Shimano, Rodio Craft, and Daysprout just to name a few. Here's a shot of one of my ABU 2500Cs on a Daiwa Silver Creek Glass Progressive 5'1" L. This was from last year prior to fishing an urban creek. My friend was running late so I figured I'd take a beauty shot.

If you get the itch again, have Shane Gray of Graywolf roll you a blank, he will make anything you want and you can add your own components. He does carbon, graphite, bamboo, and fiberglass blanks. @bulldog1935 knows him well from fly fishing circles. I have one of his rods and it's my go to skinny creek rod.

I keep going back and forth on one of these. I have a '17 model but the allure of a Smith Plugger or Isuzu keeps whispering in my ear.

If you are in any of the BFS groups on Facebook, near mint examples of the '17 model have been popping up for $250 or less lately.

Sweet reel. You'll dig it, even the '17 model is fantastic.

Many of the newer graphite framed reels aren't as bad as many think. Many years ago it was true that they'd flex under pressure but that was then. Most budget reels use graphite and people will fish them for many years without issue. Many of the guys I fish with use reels such as the Black Max, Pro Max, and various Lew's offerings with graphite frames and have landed some impressive fish with them and they still keep on going. As for this particular reel, it's probably fine and does what one would expect from a $100 reel. Are there others that are better at this price? Most certainly, just as there are others that are not. The vibe I'm getting from the Seviin is that it's a workhorse reel. My only complaint is the marketing, it's way over the top unlike that of KastKing. Honesty is the best policy, be up front with where it's made and don't give the impression that one is trying to polish a turd and the results will speak for themselves.

My thought as well. Some of the higher end rod makers still use standard and medium modulus blanks for the sake of durability, and when using a higher quality fiber cloth with fewer flaws, a blank can be constructed from those materials that rivals the higher modulus stuff. Most will notice this among high quality Japanese made rods. Smith, M-Aire, Tenryu, and Anglo & Co. come to mind on that end, they typically use 24t and 30t (standard modulus and IM6) in their blanks, and those rods are very sensitive and light at the same time. My 6'5" ML Smith Troutin'Spin is a great example of this, it uses 24t in the tip and 30t in the butt which results in a durable and light, yet very capable rod. Many of these rods range from about $400 on up, but you're getting quite possibly the best quality blank and impeccable craftsmanship at the same time. In essence, a standard or medium modulus blank made of higher quality fiber will be superior to a high modulus blank of average quality. On this side of the world, numbers get products off of shelves because of the prevailing mentality that more is better. Many manufacturers offer high modulus blanks at very affordable prices, but if the quality of the materials used isn't above average, it isn't going to be a better rod than something of higher quality and lower modulus. It'll be more brittle, but that's about it.

The pinion yoke is the same across all models. The one you have will work.

They are the same. You will need both the main and pinion gear.

The SLX/Curado BFS gears should drop in since all 3 are the same platform. You can order them right from Shimano.

That's a fact. I don't even pay attention to US market tackle in general outside of soft plastics. Rods, reels, line, terminal tackle, and hard baits have been coming to me from Japan for a few years now. We don't have anything truly unique, even the Doyo reels are pretty average while the best examples are sold elsewhere. Shimano, Daiwa, and to some extent ABU all sell their best gear in Japan.

I cast with both hands, but always reel with my right as I prefer the fine motor skills. Switching hands has never bothered me and it's so quick it's a non issue. I can probably switch hands just as fast as the next guy putting his hand in the palming position on his lefty reel after a cast. The big thing that made me learn to cast with both hands was creek fishing. This helps keep me from having to position my body in weird positions to hit my target or have to pass over it entirely just because it wouldn't be feasible if relying on one hand. It took me a few weeks to get the hang of casting with my left but now I'd say I'm nearly as proficient casting left as I am right. Another redeeming factor is this exempts me from paying the lefty tax when shopping used reels. When some reels go out of production, the prices on lefty models can be considerably more than their right handed counterparts and in some cases double or more.

I have too many. Round reels are my jam, so I have a bunch of small Ambassadeurs, a couple of Millionaires, and a '17 Conquest BFS. The raced out Millionaire Ringa SSS goes great with the Silver Creek Glass Progressive 5'1" L. This is a great combo in the creeks. Another of my favorites, 2500C on a Smith Troutin'Spin 6'5" ML. I use it to throw baits like Hot n Tots and Rapala CD5s and CD7s for steelhead. This is one of my favorite rods, the wooden grip makes it much tolerable to use in cold weather versus metal. This is a very well thought out design and is right at home on the smaller rivers in Michigan where I live. This is my newest combo; well the reel isn't new but the rod is. A 6'9" ML Palms Rera Kamuy. The rod is rated for 3-10g but I've used it quite comfortably in the 14g range. This rod is faster and has a better backbone than the Smith rod mentioned above, making it better for fishing woody rivers where I have a greater chance of losing a fish to the logjams. Within the next couple of weeks I'll be out fishing coho and Atlantic salmon with this one. Line is #1.2 with an 8lb leader. Spool is an Avail 2540R and the reel has the factory 4.7 gears. Here we have a 1600C IAR on a Daiwa Bass X 6'4" L. While the Bass X is Daiwa's budget line in Japan, it's a great rod, especially when compared to domestic offerings around the same price point. I would compare it to a St. Croix both in weight and performance, and at the current exchange rate, it's a bargain and cheap as chips. I've wrangled everything from white bass to big sheephead (freshwater drum for those of you not in the Great Lakes) on this guy. I've kept many a Lake St Clair smallmouth from losing me to the reeds with this one. Other rods I own are a Major Craft Finetail Stream 5'0" L, Major Craft Finetail Glass 4'10", Major Craft Troutino 4'10", Kuying Teton 6'6" L, Graywolf 4'11" progressive E-glass, and Daiwa Bass X 6'6" ML. BFS has become my way of fishing the vast majority of time on the water. I'm not reaching for the heavier stuff unless I'm chasing king salmon in the rivers.

Daiwa Silver Creek Glass Progressive with a raced out Millionaire Ringa SSS, 8.9 oz. The reel itself weighs only 6.3 oz, a feather for a round reel.

Morrum 3600? Those were new to the market at the time and retailed for about $250ish.

Sounds to me that you had a Pro Max or Silver Max 3600. Very cool reels; low reel foot so it palms well and a disengaging level wind. The drag stack is near identical to the 4000 thru 6000 size Ambassadeurs save for the bottom washer which has a nylon gear in its place to drive the level wind. The old round Max reels can be had cheap and are super easy to tune.

Super Lube ISO 10 is great for BFS spool bearings. Unfortunately, they don't sell it in smaller quantities like you'd probably want. You can probably take this 4 oz bottle to the grave with you since it'll last so long. https://www.super-lube.com/multi-use-synthetic-lightweight-oil-50104 This is probably one of the thinnest oils out there. As is the case with super lightweight oils, you'll be applying it frequently. If you want something a little longer lasting, look at the ISO 22. Most shops that put out oils marketed to the BFS crowd are usually ISO 22, if they are kind enough to give up the MSDS indicating as such. As for your other bearings, just get the Bantam oil. It's like $3 for a small bottle.