redmeansdistortion

Okuma Ceymar C-10 would fit the bill. They can be found within your budget and are pretty light and smooth for a reel in that price range. I own one and use it with a 6' Celilo, does a great job.

I have the Celilo is the 8'6" ML variant, really good hardware rod for steelhead, but not something I'd use for king salmon. It's pretty good for steelhead, Atlantics, and cohos though.

I've been eyeballing an SV Light Ltd, supposed to be a fantastic reel. One of the Japanese shops has a nice deal going on them right now, so I'm sitting here chomping at the bit.

In general, hardware is most effective when the water is above 40°F, and when it's colder the fish become more sluggish and more inclined to hit on bait. Let that guide you. If you fish a lot during the winter the longer float rod may suit you better. If you're fishing most when the water is warmer, lean towards the shorter end.

Fellow Great Lakes trib fisherman here. A salmon rod will be different from a trout rod. When I think trout, I think resident browns, rainbows, and brookies which don't get as big as their lake run cousins. A good all around trout rod would be something in the 6' range, preferably light power. The 6' is very versatile and will give you distance in those wide open spaces but also be manageable in the smaller brush choked creeks which are very common around the Great Lakes. The reason I say light instead of ultralight like many often recommend, try wrangling a hot 20" brown on an ultralight as it's running for the logjams. In that situation, a UL can be under powered, plus the L has the backbone to wear the fish out faster, which is what you want to do in order to avoid any undue stress which can happen as water temps rise. Next, on to the salmon and steelhead rods. I typically go with anything from 8' to 9' for throwing hardware (spoons, spinners, plugs) and if I'm floating bait, I like a nice long 10'6" or more. A happy medium between both techniques would be a something of about 9'6", short enough to effectively cast hardware, and long enough to mend your line on a drift. For steelhead a ML or M is fine, but a MH will be better once you start hooking into salmon. For the reels, a 1000 size is best for resident trout. This gives you the option of running 6lb mono which may be beneficial if you're fishing a woody river. For salmon and steelhead, you want to step that up to a 2000 to 3000 size. Lean more towards the smaller size if you're throwing hardware since line capacity isn't going to be much of an issue in that situation. If you're floating bait, you will want the 3000 size since you'll may find yourself making long drifts and the added capacity will help out. Better yet, a 2500 size should offer the versatility you need.

The Ray's spools are nice, I have them for other reels. I was looking for something that used a fixed inductor and grabbed this Momo Studio spool. This reel is set up for short range pitching. At such close distance, the inductor on a SV type spool isn't going to move much at such a low spool speed as is typical of that type of casting. I'm not intending to cast much past 10 yards at the very most. Mounted on a 4'10" Major Craft, it's quite the creek fishing machine tailored towards trout. While I don't use that spool and rod for bass, I do have a SLP Works spool for when I do and pair that with a JDM Daiwa Bass X 6'4" L. On that one I run 10lb braid and throw small jigs and soft plastics of about 3g up to 5g. It's a lot of fun catching smallies in the reeds on Lake St Clair with that setup.

I never have, but I can see it happening with the honeycomb spools as they don't have the structural integrity of a standard non ported spool. I run 8lb J-Braid on this guy.

You shouldn't need a BFS spool for throwing those sorts of baits, she will be just fine. The Alphas SV is very well capable of throwing 1/8 out of the box, so you're good to go. If you're still wanting to run braid, maybe consider stepping up to 15 or 20lb since that is a deeper spool than a BFS spool.

I run 8lb or 10lb J-Braid on my BFS reels, works great. Dig-in isn't that much of an issue with these shallow spools. As long as your drag is set right and you aren't trying to horse your way out of snags, you have nothing to worry about. I run my 10lb with a 6lb Maxima Ultragreen leader and my 8lb with a 4lb Maxima leader, both work very well.

I'm not sure what kind of discount you'll find, but there will probably be more than one retailer selling them. I grabbed a bunch of husky jerks a couple of years back really cheap, they were about half price. Walk around and see what's out there. If you need any spoons, Eppinger, the maker of the famous Dardevle and based out of Dearborn, sells them at their booth for probably the best prices I've seen.

I have been attending the show every year for the last 30-ish years, pandemic aside. As sad as this may sound, the show is a shadow of its former self. Throughout the 90s and into the early 00s, the bigger tackle manufacturers themselves (Daiwa, Shimano, Abu, St Croix, etc) had booths showcasing the newest baits, rods, and reels that would soon head to store shelves. It was really cool seeing all the latest and greatest and getting to mess with it in your hand. Gradually, the show became more like a flea market of sorts over the years, and now it's mostly local tackle retailers, charters, and boat dealers. There are deals to be had, and usually the final day of the show will see many products heavily discounted. It's still good, just a different kind of good.

I totally understand why some do, being a person of modest income myself. I don't have any other hobbies that are potential money pits, so fishing is about it for me. I prefer to have a handful of nicer combos versus a large quantity of more budget friendly gear. At the end of the day, you're pretty much spending similar amounts of money, it's quality versus quantity. Besides, patience and waiting for deals can really pay off in spades. I don't think I've ever paid full retail for a rod or reel, each one was heavily discounted as part of a sale or the retailer was clearing stock to make way for the newer model. I've also bought a lot of used gear which can also save substantially. Now that I think about it, the only reels I've ever bought new were JDM. All the rest came second hand via eBay and various forums I frequent.

I'd really love an Abu 2600C, don't see those come up very often. I know a few guys here have them, but man those things cost about what a mortgage payment does lately lol

Hmmmm, tough question. I already do own a Millionaire CT SV and that's about the most I've spent on a reel. I supposed it would have to be a Ryoga 1016H, just because I'm a sucker for a nice round reel.

My favorite is a pair of curved fine tipped gripping pliers. They work wonders for removing and installing parts in hard to reach places, also great for removing and reinstalling clutch springs.

Yep. I personally feel that many of the higher end round reels are of heirloom quality.

My favorite tool for removing clutch springs is a pair of fine tipped gripping pliers, preferably with a curved tip. They definitely come in handy working on reels, whether you're installing or removing springs or trying to remove or install a part in a hard to reach place. They're also great for reinstalling E-clips. This is the pair I have https://www.knipex.com/products/gripping-pliers/gripping-pliers-needle-nose-pliers/gripping-pliersneedle-nose-pliers/3121160

Which line counter does everybody use? I've been thinking of getting one for spooling reels but it seems like many don't work with thin braid?

Look at the reel foot and cross reference the schematic, it will indicate the number of shims that go inside of the spool tension cap. Most will use 2, but some will use more.

There should be an o-ring under both tension caps. If they aren't there, the knobs will move too easy.

That's the best smallmouth fishery isn't it? The flats around the delta of the St Clair River are probably one of the best places to fish them. I'll be out there Sunday morning before all the party boaters come out. Great job. The area you fished can be slam fest when the conditions are right.

Purple Bass Stopper worm with white dots. I was probably about 7 or 8. The Bass Stopper is made by a company relatively local to me that enjoyed immense popularity prior to widespread internet use. I don't see them much at the bigger chain sporting goods stores but all of the mom and pops around me carry them.

I've caught the vast majority of my bass on 6 and 8lb mono. Granted, the bass where I am don't get as big as they do down south or out west. My PB 7lb 5oz smallmouth was caught on 6lb and a 1/8 tube jig. This was long before (20 years) I got into BFS though, I was using a Daiwa SS Tournament 700 and a Gander Mountain Guide Series 6'6" ML 1/8-3/8.

It's the logistics of the shipping company. When buying from AliExpress, you have the option to choose faster shipping, which can be very costly depending on the seller. I've bought some items that had an option for either AliExpress Premium Shipping or UPS shipping for a fair price, those items typically arrived in 2 weeks or less. If it's AliExpress Standard Shipping or one of the other domestic Chinese couriers, it can take a fair bit of time.