redmeansdistortion

I agree and not sure why the DNR has a limit on them. They're literally the locusts of the Great Lakes come spawning time. Guys jigging the river for walleye get angry because they will have to contend with the millions of hungry whites snatching their crawlers and minnows.

My bad, the limit here in Michigan is 25 fish on the Great Lakes and Detroit/St Clair Rivers, but the poachers still abound due to very large amount of fish in the river. The white bass really screw with the walleye fishermen at that time of year.

We have a humongous white bass run on the Detroit River come May. One after another all day long, literally. We have a 12 fish limit and the DNR walks around ticketing people left and right because they are unaware and fill up coolers with them. Some are so ignorant of the law they will make repeat trips with the coolers while the DNR maintains a watchful eye. The white bass also like the smaller bays on Lake St Clair, I catch a ton of them in the later spring when fishing for largemouth and smallies. They will absolutely inhale a 4" Senko on a 2/0 hook without issue.

I've used it for both a main line and leader and much prefer it for a leader. The leader material is good stuff, but it is pretty stiff compared to the main line and thus more abrasion resistant. As far as it being a main line, I couldn't tell any difference between it and Red Label. I typically run 8 or 10lb braid for my main line and a good 6' worth of 6lb STS for leader. The knots hold very well and it has performed wonderfully when fish have made a run for the wood.

Look for one in the 1600 size too, the Black Max is a great reel. The drag stack in it is the same as a 4000 to 6000 size Ambassadeur. The handles and star wheels are also cross compatible. If you want faster gears, the 6.3 set from the SMax is a drop in replacement. Lastly, experiment with the brake blocks. Abu makes 3 different kinds. From heaviest to lightest, there are white, black, and blue. You can mix and match them according to your tastes. My Black Max 1600 will throw a true 1/8 comfortably with the blue blocks installed. There are a few reels that use that same platform; Black Max, Pro Max, Silver Max (sold as SM or SMax), and the Tournament Pro. The Tournament Pro was a Bass Pro Shops exclusive and has a different line guide. Other than that, those models are all the same internally and parts will readily swap between them. These reels were all sold with a lifetime warranty and every single part can still be sourced from Abu Garcia. Here's a great article you may find informative: http://www.realsreels.com/servicing/servicingtuningABUBlackMax.html

S, SX, STX, and BCX are made in China. The 7000 is made in Taiwan. C3, C4, CS, and Morrum are made in Sweden.

Trout fishing, much like bass fishing works best with rods suited to different environments and presentations. For general purpose stocker trout in a lake, something long and a more moderate action will be best. This will allow for long distance casting of smaller live baits, spoons, and spinners. Look for something in the 7' to 8' range or UL power. Streams and creeks are a different animal. This is where you want to be picky about the rod you're using. For small brush choked water, something under 6' will be the ticket, and under 5' if you're going to be bush whacking. While UL is often recommended, you would do best with a L or even ML. A 20"+ wild brown or rainbow can run like a raging bull, and a UL will be severely under powered if you have root wads and logjams to contend with. Wild fish seek refuge in them and will not miss the chance to run to cover and break you off. A L or ML will help steer the fish away from those obstacle. Lastly, rod action. Moderate works best for spoons and spinners as it's more conducive to sweeping those types of baits through the current. For plugs and jigs, a fast action will be best since they make those styles of baits twitch better as you work them. Unfortunately, most USDM trout rods are moderate action, even though they may be labeled as fast or even extra fast. It has to do with spoons and spinners being the predominant bait for those fish on this side of the globe. With JDM rods, a fast action is truly fast action. My 4'10" Major Craft Troutino is much faster with a far stiffer backbone than my St Croix Trout 4'10" even though both blanks measure similarly at their tip and butt. Both are sold as fast action, but the St Croix bends like a wet noodle. In Japan, rods are sold as minnow rods or spoon/spinner rods and their actions reflect that accordingly.

You can find Daiwa Sealine reels used for that same price, and they're much higher quality than the Okumas. Not that the Okumas are bad reels, but they're a nightmare from a maintenance standpoint. They are made differently than other conventionals and very difficult to put back together. The Sealines by comparison are much higher quality and a breeze to work on come maintenance time. Another option is to run multi-colored line. It changes color so many feet so you have a good idea of how much line you have out.

I've been a big fan of the Berkley X9 but their measurements are way off unless you go by the Goh rating instead of the US and EU measurements. I like the #0.8 for trout fishing and #1.5 for bass. The color does a great job of staying put as well and that Jordan Lee bright yellow is very easy to see.

I almost bought a Morrum ZX when Fisherman's Factory Outlet had them on clearance last year. They were going for $229.

You can achieve similar results if you put less line on the spool. If you're running something thin like 30lb braid it should do the trick. The take-up rate of a reel is measured with a full spool if I remember right.

I will upgrade bearings for very specific purposes, like BFS conversions for instance. For general purpose use, say 1/4 and up, the factory bearings are plenty good as long as you periodically clean and oil them. There are a few ways you can clean bearings. Methods I have used are naphtha, acetone, and CRC Brakleen. I've been using acetone since I can find it very cheap at Target. The one near me sells 100% acetone in a 6oz bottle for $1, which comes out cheaper than the quarts sold at the hardware stores. The hardware stores near me usually charge $9 to $12 per quart.

Thanks for the correction, I was thinking of it in terms of how friction affects inertia.

Exactly, and polishing along with a good lube reduces much of that inertia. Generally speaking, buying up a bunch of bearings isn't going to improve an Ambassadeur much. However, there are some examples, like your 1500C, where it does help since you are looking to throw really light baits. For your average run of the mill Ambassadeur, it isn't necessary unless you're trying to put your wallet on a diet. Svangsta builds a fine reel, their only downfall is that they tend to use more grease than parts which slows them up quite a bit.

This is my own 4500, nothing special outside of the drag washers. These are the 25 year old spool bearings no less, shields removed and dipped in a solution of 1 part TSI 321 and 8 parts 99% IPA. The worm gear, idler gear post, and axle were treated with the same stuff. This is without brake blocks installed, I typically run one black and one blue, my pier reel I use when the salmon run comes up in the late summer. Just good old fashioned elbow grease and choice lubricants. It'll throw a 3oz meat rig out of sight on my 10'6" Lamiglas. My inspiration doing this stemmed from a heated discussion I had with a Japanese YouTuber. He had a video of a red 4500CS Rocket that was outfitted with 7 bearings, I explained to him that he could achieve similar results by polishing the friction points. I then shot this video to show him what can be done without emptying the wallet. He and I still chat regularly 2 years later, really nice guy. Remember, tuning involves taking what's already there and making it perform better and requires a more nuanced approach than simply adding bearings.

The 100 size would do it for you. Your lower limit will be ~1/4 give or take, but it'll winch in a feisty king or coho no problem. It's too big for resident stream trout, but it'll do just fine with the much larger migratory steelhead. If you're fishing resident (smaller) trout, you'll want to go with light spinning tackle or bait finesse.

Those reels don't even really need to be upgraded outside of the drag. A little elbow grease goes a very long way. Polish the friction points such as the idler gear post, worm bushing, brake ring, and the portion of the axle that makes contact with the spool pinion. Put some low viscosity oil in those locations and it will seriously move really well. 90% the performance of upgrading the bearings for just an hour of your time or less. I've been through the whole rigmarole of upgrading these things with multiple bearings and feel the costs outweigh the benefits when a Dremel and some blue jeweler's rouge will get almost the same results.

There are many ways to skin a cat. My way with spinning reels, ISO 320 oil for the bearings and sliding parts, ISO 10 oil on the line roller, and a NLGI 2 marine grease for the gears.

A reel can be both smooth and geary sounding. All gear trains make noise, and generally speaking, higher ratio gears tend to be noisier than lower ratios. If you aren't feeling any rough spots when turning the handle, you're good to go. This happens when the clutch doesn't fully engage. If the clutch is only partially engaged, the main gear and pinion gear aren't centered and the teeth aren't meshing properly, giving you the rough feel and noise. This isn't exclusive to Daiwa, I've had it happen across all makes and models. It even happens to some of my own reels every now and then, and a quick turn of the handle will get the gears back to where they should be. My guess is this happens when the crown of the pinion gear doesn't seat properly with the spool bearing pin.

I catch the heck out of bigger trout on minnow baits this time of year. Most of the hatches are done in my neck of the woods and the fish increasingly feed on baitfish and crustaceans. As such, I use baits like Rapala Countdowns, Original Floaters, Ultralight Minnows, Rebel Craws, and Yo Zuri Pins Minnows. I got a nice 12" brookie and a 22" brown earlier this week on a CD5 Countdown in the rainbow trout pattern. The creeks I fish are very small and have far too much brush, branches, and other obstacles that make fishing with a fly rod a futile effort. I typically use something under 5', makes fishing the spinach much more manageable.

How do you like the Conquest BFS so far? It's quickly becoming my favorite reel.

Furthermore, the nylon idler gear is a safety feature. If a finger gets caught, teeth strip off saving your finger. If the idler were metal, it would be much more difficult to free a stuck finger. The people who engineer these reels think ahead, unlike others who proudly proclaim the reels as being junk because not all of the gears are metal. Part of engineering is ensuring the user of the product doesn't get severely injured.

I have a few round reels.

Alphas SV TW would be my pick, but it does run slightly above your budget. Amazon Japan has them for $225 shipped.

This right here. I've been fishing baitcast gear for 35 years, still can't get the hang of the overhead cast if my life depended on it. My trajectory arcs way too much. My roll cast, side arm, and backhand are pretty top notch though, with my backhand being by far my best. I prefer to cast one handed much of the time due to the greater range of motion. As such, I tend to stick with shorter rods because the butt section is shorter overall making it easier for me to cast one handed.