redmeansdistortion

Instead of upgrading the bearings, you could try deep cleaning and lubricating the factory bearings. Often times, they come overly lubricated from the factory. If you feel the brake is what's holding you back, upgraded bearings aren't going to do much of anything except lighten up your wallet a bit. Factory bearings are plenty good for most with few exceptions.

Which Lew's is it? If it has a mag brake, you can always experiment with removing magnets until it suits your tastes.

Just part of the learning process. When I first started fishing woody streams, I had days where I'd lose at least $20 worth of baits, sometimes a good deal more than that. The best way to mitigate snags is to run single hooks instead of trebles. Running singles lets you fish closer to cover without getting snagged. Since I quit running trebles in stream environments, I seldom get snagged. Most of the time I get snagged is when my bait manages to find its way between rocks.

Somebody call the ambulance, roadwarrior has been bitten by the BFS bug!

That's the legendary Angler Saito, he makes casting look like art. The rod he's using is a custom build from Anglo and Company, 3 piece fiberglass that runs about $1100. I chat with a guy on another forum that has an Anglo rod, the wait time is often close to a year or even more depending on how backed up they are. Their rods are built to order.

Those are really cool too. I know a guy that makes custom spacers to enable them to use the 30mm spools from the Steez/Millionaire/Alphas CT reels. He's making me a set in polished aluminum as I'm not a big fan of the orange on this reel. Those spools start up lightning quick. This is my other bushwhacker combo, Millionaire CT, SLP Works shallow spool, and Roro micro bearings on a 4'10" Major Craft Troutino. It pitches like a dream.

You're going to love the FTB system, it's very forgiving like the air brake found in Daiwa SV spools but doesn't sacrifice distance.

It's probably the best there is right now. It won't go as light as an Alphas Air TW, but it's really wonderful all around. The build quality is impeccable. If one were to shop around, they can be found for about $375. My favorite lure for trout is the 1/16 Countdown, which in reality comes in at 2.7g and the Conquest performs really well with it

One of my absolute favorite reels. It may not be as smooth or refined as the newer stuff, but it's d**n near bomb proof. Quite a few salmon guides here in Michigan use them in the 1600 size. I've had my 1300 for 30 years.

The JDM trout rods come with a thick canvas carrying pouch, really easy to transport. Some of the higher end ones, like Anglo and Company even come with an aluminum tube similar to a fly rod tube, but that's a $1000 rod lol.

I have been staring at the 3'8" version of that rod for months, but I can't pull the trigger. I talk a big game about liking short rods, but 3'8" is nuts. The rod is rated as a Fast and is 1-8g. It's graphie and I really wonder how it loads across that range. In my experience, JDM trout rods are indeed fast action. I think this has to do with the prevailing technique in Japan, fishing with minnows/plugs. You need that fast tip to work those baits effectively when fishing trout. USDM trout rods, such as St Croix, Lamiglas, and Loomis, while rated as fast by the manufacturer, are every bit of a moderate to moderate fast action. On this side of the world, most trout fishermen are throwing spoons and spinners if they aren't swinging flies, and they fish better with a moderate action rod to sweep them through the current. In Japan, trout rods are sold as either minnow rods or spoon rods. The spoon rods have a moderate action and the minnow rods are typically fast or extra fast. As far as the length goes, try to pick a rod that will work best in the environment you fish. If you're fishing skinny overgrown creeks, something under 5' is best since it's more manageable. Not only more manageable to fish, but also to transport through the brush. Running a long 7'+ rod on skinny creeks will limit your casting options since you risk smacking overhanging branches or stuff behind you when casting.

Not at all. The rod itself comes in at 3.3oz. I tried my Alphas CT for craps and chuckles to see how it balanced, way too tip heavy. With the Conquest or my Millionaire CT, the balance is very, very good.

It's a lot of fun with BFS. I highly suggest it!

I fish light and ultralight tackle the vast majority of the time, be it spinning or BFS. I thoroughly enjoy both. Most of my spinners are of the vintage type, such as a ABU/Zebco Cardinal 3, DAM Quick 110 Microlite, Daiwa SS Tournament 700, and a Penn 420SS. With my baitcasters, I have a pair of Alphas CTs, a Millionaire CT, Alphas ASC, Revo BF7, and a Calcutta Conquest BFS. With that said, I tend to use the baitcast reels much more often since I enjoy them more. I usually reach for one of my spinners when night fishing or on 2 and 3 day backpacking excursions into the wilderness that is the western UP of Michigan. Those vintage spinners are super easy to repair in the field if need be, as it would be very fiddly having to do that with one of my baitcast reels. Gotta prepare for the worst. I'd be bummed having a reel bind up on me half way through a backpacking trip.

My Major Craft Finetail Stream Glass finally came in yesterday, 4'10" glass blank with a nice deep bend which I love, the recovery is lightning fast too according to my yard casting experimentation with a 5g weight. I'll have it on the stream this weekend, look out trout!

Trolling will definitely do you well. As a matter of fact, this is how me and a friend fish for them. We will use a 3 or 4" paddle tail on a 1/4 or 3/8 jig and putz around until we start hooking fish. This is a very effective way of finding them in general. 20 years ago I used to regularly fish musky with a friend on Lake St Clair. and we were always hooking into smallies, a lot of nice ones at that. Yes, they do hit musky sized baits lol

My uncle got me into it. He was (and still is to some extent) a live off the land kind of guy, raised his family mostly on wild game, fish, and produce that he grew or foraged. On his property there used to be a small pond, and at 6 years old that's where my addiction began. When my family would go visit, I'd be out there fishing rain or shine. As a pre-teen, I discovered a creek at the back of his property and got another addiction, trout. I was happy as a lark as long as I had a fishing rod in my hand. My uncle is now 80 years old, still hunting deer, elk, and turkey, still chasing salmon, steelhead, perch, and walleye, and still fishing bass during the summer. He and I get together every November to fish Atlantic salmon in the Au Sable River.

Shimano reel handles have a different size (7 x 4) mount than that of Abu and Daiwa (8 x 5) so they won't work. Your best bet is something like a Gomexus carbon fiber handle. You can find them on Amazon, eBay, and AliExpress.

Excellent write-up, bookmarked that one.

Have you tried white vinegar to remove the corrosion? White vinegar in an ultrasonic cleaner makes quick work of salt without damaging anything. Here's a well salted Abu 4500C frame I did.

You're right, regular fast in Japan is what we refer to here as moderate fast.

I have a few Major Craft rods myself and another that has been on order since May. Production of the rod I ordered was supposed to start in June but was pushed back, the Finetail Stream Glass. I really love the moderate action and fast recovery of a good glass rod, but unfortunately nobody on this side of the world makes anything like that in a L or UL variant, let alone a casting model.

I feel like America is the only market that has fallen out of love with Abu. In Japan and Europe they are much more popular than they are here.

My lightest reel is my Alphas CT which comes in at 6oz. In contrast, my Millionaire CT tips the scale at 7.5oz and the Conquest BFS at 7.1oz. For round reels, they are pretty light but there will never be a quality round reel that approaches the weight of a nice low profile.

I use this on the creeks, chasing everything from little 8" brookies to 20"+ browns, a Millionaire CT SV with a SLP Works shallow spool and Roro micro bearings mounted on a 4'10" Major Craft Troutino. Most of the baits I throw are in the 2g to 5g range and it performs great. I've never tried to swing for the fences with this combo so I'm not sure how far out I can reach, but in the spots I fish I'm typically pitching 10 yards or less into undercut banks, pools, root wads, or beaver dams.