redmeansdistortion

It'll work just fine. I was on Lake St Clair when I first got mine and the bite was red hot, fished T-rigged worms like a champ.

I fish king salmon in the rivers with 5lb of drag and have no slippage whatsoever setting the hook in their rock hard mouths. Bass have paper thin mouths by comparison. If you're getting slippage, make sure it isn't your line slipping on the spool. A properly functioning drag shouldn't slip on the hookset unless you're running it way too light.

Sheesh, where do I start? While I don't have as many combos as some here, I do have a sizable amount. I dunno if I'd even call them combos because I don't often use the same reel with the same rod, just depends on what I'm feeling before I hit the water and what I'm planning on throwing. I typically carry only one setup with me since I'm fishing in waders most of the time and value mobility.

Light tackle has been my thing for nearly 30 years. I'm one of those freaks that likes the fish to have the upper hand as it makes it that much sweeter when you get it on the bank or in the boat. I'm not a numbers guy unless I'm meat fishing for perch or walleye. Outside of that, I'm looking for that hair raising experience of doing more with less. Most of what I throw in general is 1/4 or less, even when prowling Lake St Clair for footballs. Fighting a lunker LSC smallie on a 9' steelhead noodle rod and 4lb mono is quite the experience. Set the drag accordingly and hang on!

Shoot Jerry Foran an email, his site is hookless.com. He has tons of Abu parts, his site just shows a fraction of what he has so you're best off emailing him.

I'm hoping with the release of the Curado BFS, it will motivate the likes of Daiwa, Abu, and Lew's to put out competing models on the US market. The Curado BFS is a fine reel and at that price point, there's a lot to love. If I were to be getting into BFS today, it's what I would choose since it's readily available domestically and doesn't carry the price tag of its JDM counterparts. When I first got into BFS, it was either spend $300+ on a JDM reel or under $100 on a CDM reel with nothing in the middle. The Curado BFS effectively fills in the gap between them. I'm curious to see what models from other manufacturers we will see in the future. Will Daiwa bring the Alphas to the US market or resurrect the Pixy name? Will Abu bring its Ultracast BF8 to the states? I sure hope so.

That's almost like taking 3 weeks off of church. Go shed some line my brother!

One rod I thoroughly enjoy is the Daiwa Bass X 642LB 1/16-3/8, excellent backbone, lightweight, and can be found anywhere from $80 to $100 on the various Japanese sites. I paid $75 for mine last year when Digitaka was having a sale. It's my go-to rod when fishing the flats of Lake St Clair for smallies. https://www.digitaka.com/item/4/6/5/4960652222464 https://www.daiwa.com/jp/fishing/item/rod/bass_rd/19bass_x/index.html

Exactly, and their slower action is required due to Kokes having paper thin mouths. Something faster action will rip the hook right out.

I have that rod in 7'6", one of the first rods I bought when getting into BFS a couple of years back. It's a pretty decent rod but it is a moderate , almost slow action, with a deep parabolic bend. I really have no complaints about it other than I find it too long for the type of fishing I usually do, which involves a lot of bushwhacking through the undergrowth. It's a good rod for fishing spoons and spinners or floating bait, but for something like jigs and cranks, you will want something faster. I think for a better all around budget oriented rod on your end, the Major Craft Benkei 6'7" L would be worth a look. It runs right around $100.

I had an idea you did, but man does he build some nice looking stuff. Have you tried one of his rods? I'd like to give one a shot.

Check out Gray Wolf Rods, Shane typically does fly rods but also does some really high end glass BFS and spinning rods which are designed for fish such as Atlantics and steelhead, both of which are in the Great Lakes and tributaries. Shane's rods are pure artistry https://www.graywolfrods.com/ The rods don't come cheap. The last 7' BFS rod he had on his site was marked at $550.

This is a Japanese market Millionaire geared towards BFS, one of two round BFS capable reels on the market with the other being the Shimano Calcutta Conquest BFS. It uses a 30mm diameter spool like the Steez CT and Alphas CT. The reel foot foot is low, so it palms really well. I have it spooled with about 50yd of Daiwa J Braid Grand and run a 6lb Seaguar STS leader. I fish everything with it, crappie, perch, gills, largemouth and smallmouth bass, as well as trout. I have a few different rods I use it with, but for bass I like to use my 6'4" 1/16-1/4 Major Craft Speed Style. For the most part, I'm fishing small cranks, jigs, spoons, and spinners from 1/16 to 3/16. https://www.daiwa.com/jp/fishing/item/reel/bait_rl/millionaire_ct_sv/index.html

Crankbaits are by far my favorite trout bait. The best patterns are trout patterns, since they tend to hit more out of aggression than hunger. A word to the wise, swap your trebles for single barbless hooks. Not only will you get snagged far less, but they penetrate easier than their barbed counterparts, the fish will often hook itself providing you're running sticky hooks. I prefer the Owner Cultiva hooks, but the Daiwa Presso hooks are also very good. This is what I always have in tow with me on the streams and creeks. and the hooks I run on them. These all range in size from #10 to #4, with #10 going on my smallest baits and #4 typically used on those of about 3/16. On baits that run two hooks, I sometimes omit the front hook and run the rear only, typically a #6 or #4 depending on the size of the bait. Front hooks like to get hung up in the wood.

It sure is, it seems that you and I are the only people there that explain the differences.

Absolutely. Looking at the Japanese sites, bass rods typically have BF in their nomenclature designating a bait finesse model, whereas trout rods will simply have L or UL in theirs.

For as much as I love the Millionaire CT, I wasn't a big fan of the orange spacers. I found a guy on another forum that made me some new ones to match the reel. Daiwa, why didn't you do this from the start? So here we are now with proper silver spool spacers.

Something to keep in mind about BFS, it has become an all encompassing term of sorts. Trout rods are different from bass rods in this respect. Bass BFS rods tend to have a butt like that of a M or even MH with the a tip like a L or even UL. Trout rods on the other hand are different, often using your average L or UL spinning blank which is drastically different from a bass BFS taper as the rods are more moderate action and flex all the way to the butt.

I was using a different Teton than the one you're thinking of, but I also own the original model in 6'6"L lol. This guy runs about $120. As you can see, this rod is a feather. I really don't know that I'd classify it as light, but it's a lot of fun to use for trout and panfish. Here's a brood stock rainbow I got earlier this year, first trout trip of the year. Running an Alphas CT with the SLP Works shallow spool, 8lb J Braid, and a 1/16 Fire Minnow Countdown.

For as much as I'd like to try one of the JDM plugs, we have plenty of stuff domestically that works great. I use HD Lures Dynamic Trout, Rapala Ultralight Minnow/Countdown/Original, and the Yo Zuri Pins Minnow/L Minnow.

Get one of these spools, I have one in my Millionaire CT which uses a 30mm like your Steez. It's a really nice spool and will let you throw small 1/32 or 1/16 jigs tipped with soft plastic. https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B085WWLW87/ The RCS shallow spool starts up noticeably faster than the factory spool too. This is with no pin or bearing. With those installed, it comes in at 9.8g. The spool in the Millionaire is really nice. I'm currently running 10lb J Braid Grand on this one, seems to do well with it. Me and a friend went fishing for bull gills back in May, he was swinging flies and I was throwing small spinners and jigs from a 6' L Kuying Teton, had a great time and a nice meal afterward.

I'm currently running 10lb x9 on my Calcutta Conquest BFS and my initial impression is that it's awesome line. It's a little stiffer than the J braid I was running previously, but it's also smoother casting and not nearly as prone to digging in. I can see myself sticking with this line, good stuff.

It's really good line, but can be expensive for mono. @WRB swears by it as well. I've been running it for a couple of decades.

Maxima Ultragreen

It is a challenge to cast like that, but it is easier with a more moderate action rod and finding your sweet spot for the brake. The trick behind it is to get the rod tip to load as much as possible and timing your spool release as the tip is loaded. Once you get the hang of it, it's very, very easy to fire off a low trajectory cast, even on a brush choked creek. Ideally, this casting technique works best with a sub 5' rod. I taught myself that technique last season with my Millionaire CT and find myself using it often when fishing skinny water.