redmeansdistortion

The Fuego CT is still a great reel. I'm honestly surprised Daiwa hasn't revised it to some degree since it has been on the market about 4 years thus far. I have a 6.3 and 8.1 that are my general purpose reels.

They make cars now with 'lifetime' transmission fluid. I wish I was joking. On my car it's stated as such, but way, way back in the owners manual there's tiny print that says to change it every 36k to 60k depending on driving habits and conditions. A fluid change on my car runs about $200, and a new trans is $7k to $8k.

USPS can be hit or miss. I sent a box of reels back to a customer 30 miles away, took 16 days to get there. At the same time, I sent reels back to a customer in Georgia and he got them in two days. The private couriers are much faster, but the cost can be much more when shipping heavier packages. A lot of the time the customer chooses the cheapest shipping option, which also happens to be the slowest.

Off topic here, but this reminded me of a car I bought a long time ago. I wanted wheel locks, so the dealer added them plus changed out the lug nuts. I was up fishing the Thumb here in Michigan and when I got back to my car I had a flat. Went to change the tire and the lug nuts the dealer installed on delivery were too big for the lug wrench. To say I was livid was an understatement. Had to hitch a ride to Walmart and grab a 4-way.

At least you get a spare tire, scissor jack, and lug wrench lol

Same with my Calcutta Conquest BFS. Most of the Ambassadeurs I've bought new also came with oil. Newest one was purchased a couple years back and came with a vial of Abu oil plus one with Rocket Fuel Red

Have a look at the Daiwa SS Tournament. I have the 700 and 1300 models; worm drive, multi-disc drag, external bail trip, shallow tapered spool, a big beefy ratchet gear and AR dog to match. They've been around $100 since they hit the market 35 years ago. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered Daiwa was still making them so I bought the 700 last year. The line lay is still some of the best I've seen to this day.

I don't pay much attention to the breaking strength, but instead I look at the diameter. Generally speaking, 20lb braid is equal in diameter to 6lb mono, 30lb to 8lb, 40lb to 10lb, 50lb to 12lb, and so on. While I do use thinner braids like 6, 8, and 10lb, I don't use them on reels with deep spools. The line can dig into itself plus removing a backlash with such thin braid on a deep spool can be quite the exercise in futility.

For braid, I like Gosen Roots x8 PE, runs about $15-20 for a 200m spool. I've been using the 14lb, 16lb, and 20lb depending on which reel I'm using. The 14lb my friend refers to as frog hair. On the Japanese Goh scale, it's 0.6, which is something like 0.128mm diameter, super thin stuff. With mono, I've been using Maxima Ultragreen for a very long time and see no reason to stop using it. It's tough stuff and almost disappears in the water. I usually use the 3, 5, and 8lb strengths. It's a little spendy for mono, but well worth it.

We can like both, right?

I use baitcasting gear for river smallies. Where I am, most of the rivers have quite a bit of overhanging trees and overgrown banks, so I prefer a rod of 6'6" or less. I also prefer to cast one-handed in those situations so a shorter and lighter rod is much easier to manage in that respect. Honestly, if I could find a decent 5'6" in a bass taper and not a trout taper, I would be all over it. The rod I'm running right now is a JDM Daiwa Bass X 64LB, 5-12lb and 1/16-3/8. Most of what I throw are small jigs and cranks of 1/8 to 1/4, but I feel I could be more effective with a shorter rod due to the environments I find myself fishing.

Got the Cardinal 3 mostly finished up. New parts are a set of homemade carbontex washers, Avail CD0490R spool, IOS Factory bail springs, and lots of Dremel polishing internally. I'm also going to add a small 3D printed part to enable manual bail return and possibly swap out the worm gear bearing for a one-way needle bearing for instant anti-reverse capability. What a smooth reel. My plan is to pair it with a 4wt or 5wt fiberglass fly rod blank with a Michigan handle and slay some trout. The rod probably won't materialize until next year as I'm still looking for a decent blank between 7' and 7'6".

Nice fish! Now you've been bitten by the steelhead bug, and boy does she ever bite!

I'm halfway there, Zebco Cardinal 3 is already in possession and serviced. Now I want a 4wt or 5wt fiberglass blank set up for spinning with a Michigan handle. This one is using an Avail CD0590R spool, Carbontex washers, and will soon have a IOS Factory line roller and bushing so it works better with braided line. I'm also working on a 3D printed part that enables the bail to be returned manually. Should be sweet when it's done. I'm really loving the Cardinal.

I use vet wrap, it's a tape that only sticks to itself and commonly used in human and veterinary medicine. Really cheap on Amazon. It's also great for wrapping small reel feet, as some of the smaller spinners don't sit securely on some rods.

Enjoy your new reel, those Bantam MGLs are sweet. Which baits are you throwing? I know you said cranks, but anything specific?

Conquest 100, that's the Rolls Royce right there. I'm pretty sure the '21 model has the MGL spool too, so it'll be a fine machine. They come in a 5.6 that brings in 22" per turn, great for cranking.

Lately, I've only been using the palomar knot, it's simple and strong no matter which line you're running. I like to run snaps for everything but soft plastics and jigs, those snaps too are tied on with a palomar.

While Asian Portal typically has the best prices, the exchange rate is really, really good right now and better deals may be found elsewhere. I recently purchased a Calcutta Conquest BFS for $375 from Digitaka, Asian Portal wanted $390 for the same reel. When the exchange rate is up, then Asian Portal is definitely the place to go for the better deals.

Oh man, those are sweet reels. The last hurrah before the Pure Fishing buyout. Very cutting edge and I don't think anybody has made anything like it since. Honestly, I'd be happy to own one of any size, but for bass fishing, the 2000 will be best. Here's a really good article and teardown of the Suveran, what a great reel. https://www.alanhawk.com/reviews/suv4.html

What kind of noise is it? Is it a ticking noise or something more constant like a slight grinding?

I remember not even a decade ago, I felt very uneasy about potentially spending more than $100 for a rod or reel. Like many here, I'm a man of modest income and when I see something I really want, I squirrel away a little money here and there until I have enough to get it. I've had other more expensive hobbies than fishing, like high performance cars, PC gaming, and hifi stereo, all of which make fishing an outright bargain, even when buying higher end gear. The fact of the matter is, any hobby can be a money pit if you so choose, you have the choice. It doesn't matter what it is, if you're overly enthusiastic, you're probably going to spend money or test your patience waiting for a nice deal to come up on whatever it is you've been longing for. There's no sense in belittling those that make the choice to spend their money on higher end gear or more budget friendly gear. We all earn our money and make our decisions. Some of the most proficient fishermen I know never cared to buy anything more than Ugly Stiks and blister pack reels that are found at the big box stores. Do they criticize my affinity for beautifully crafted gear? Never. We go out and fish, and much of the time they are catching more than myself. Bottom line, we are all having fun no matter what, and that's what fishing is all about.

I was kind of surprised the SV700S spool for the Millionaire/Steez/Alphas CT platform didn't come with a micro bearing. I ended up with a set of Roro bearings and they definitely made the spool more manageable for me.

Is it possible to fit in both camps? If I'm running regular bearings I do what many here do, just clean and lube the factory parts. That said, when it comes to finesse reels, I'll go with micro bearings like Daiwa and Shimano do with their BFS reels.

I grabbed this guy from an estate sale for a measly $40 earlier this year, finally got around to cleaning it up yesterday and tweaking a few things. It's a 2500 CI with a foot stamping of 0400, probably early to mid 90s production. Instant anti reverse and 5.3:1 gears.