redmeansdistortion

I have a Sunset Orange 4500CS that I will probably never fish. My fishing buddies give me a ribbing about it, but those side plates are impossible to find since Abu only made 125 of them in that color. My silver 4500CS goes with me just about everywhere.

I have the 5' baitcast rod.

I use that stuff for salmon and steelhead, never once let me down. It's super stretchy, but that's fine when you have a torpedo at the end of the line.

Welcome from Macomb County! Enjoy the site, lots of knowledgeable people on here.

It gets comfy once you jump in lol

The only way you get experience is by dipping your toe in the water

A good place to look is Ichiban Tackle, they have a used section and some decent prices as well. Last I looked they were selling the 105 for as little as $100 and the SV105 for $140-ish all depending on condition. Shipping isn't too shabby either.

I'm sitting here scratching my head on how a handle makes up 1/3 the cost of the reel lol. Those handles can cost more than some of the RCS spools.

That anxiety will be gone the second you hook into a smallie

Later this week is looking mighty good!

It's my most used reel if that says anything. I fish bass, trout, and panfish with it. The comfy lower limit is a little under 1/8 ounce. I like to use 1.5" Charlie Brewer Slider Grubs on a 1/16 head, total weight I measured was 2.8 grams. The most ideal range for baits will be in the 1/8 to 1/2 range. It uses the same spool as the Steez CT SV.

When you're going to checkout, it will show you the total price with shipping included in USD before the order is placed. They have a nice deal right now on the right hand retrieve 6.3 and 7.2 ratios https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Daiwa-Bait-Reel-Alpha-Model/dp/B07N22GTJ6/ Prices fluctuate frequently so it pays to check back often if you don't see a price you're comfy with. I also got my Revo ALC-BF7 from there for $160 shipped.

DVT nailed it, but if you have reel-itis, Alphas CT SV can be had on Amazon Japan for a nice price. I bought a second a couple weeks ago for $180 shipped to my door. That's substantially cheaper than everybody else.

Gomexus makes a nice one as does Lixada, they're both mostly the same handle. I wonder why the RCS handles are so expensive, many of them are over $100. The handle on my Air Stream Custom looks identical to the 80mm RCS handle.

You can never have enough, but I'm sure many of us here sometimes sit and scratch our heads pondering over which rigs to take out on the water. I'm pretty cyclic in my reel buying. I'll buy up a bunch, keep my favorites, sell those that get used the least, buy more, rinse and repeat. I've had a lot of reels pass through my hands, but I usually manage to hang on to about a dozen or so at a time. Now rods, I have enough to build a beaver dam.

So this pertains to spinning reels? I'm intrigued, never heard of reversing braid so I'm just looking to be in the know.

That looks like a great river to fish and a great time had by all. The rivers here in my state are just getting started at the moment for the steelies. I plan on making more than a few trips out between now and April.

What is the advantage to flipping braid? Some of my older Penn conventionals had the same Power Pro on them for 4 or 5 years without issue. These were my St Clair River reels I'd rig up to catch walleye, steelhead, and salmon, fishing 1lb to 2lb of lead to keep my rig from drifting in the fast current. The St Clair River is pretty rocky and I've never had any line issues just leaving it be.

There are a few guys here that fix reels to either put food on the table or as a secondary income. We don't step on each other's toes. If anything, we learn from one another. Some of us are more proficient with some reels than others and sometimes we have to turn to our peers for advice. I've picked the brains of some here and have had others pick mine. Reel repair is such a niche occupation that most of us have no trouble getting business. If you do good work, people seek you out. DVT has built himself a stellar reputation due to his quality of work. He would still be successful without sponsorship. When you have passion for what you do, people take notice.

A 4501CS is a very, very rare reel. They don't come up often, and when they do they go for substantially more than the same model in right hand.

Try and find one of these, very hard to come by at a reasonable price but man is it a sweet reel. This is a 4500CS, hasn't been made for the US market in 25 years, but they do put them out on the Japanese and European markets every so often. They typically pop up on eBay for $150+, or if you want an unusual color like Sunset Orange, Red, Green, Gold, or Black, you'll be spending at least double.

Ambassadeurs change very little compared to other reels out there. As it stands now, the reels on the market are almost the same as those that were available nearly 30 years ago. The only things that have really changed are the drags (Teflon graphite to carbon fiber), brake (2-pin to 6-pin), and the spools which get lighter over time. There are a few "new" models out now, like the catfish, striper, and carp models, but they aren't far removed from their C3 and C4 counterparts aside from color scheme. Internally, there is no difference. The last real innovative reel was the Record, which is sort of a mix between the classic Ambassadeurs predating the 80s models and the newer Ultracast design. The main difference between the Ambassadeur and the Record, the Ambassadeur uses a fixed spool axle whereas the Record uses a moving spool shaft. The Record also has its spool bearings located in the side plates while the Ambassadeur has them located in the spool. The Record does have an anti-reverse bearing located inside the spool plus the anti-reverse needle bearing in the crank side plate. I'd wager that Abu will release another Record in the future, they seem to put them out every 10 to 15 years in limited runs.

The first time you do it is the toughest time, but the more you do it the easier it gets. Once you do it enough, you'll be like a one man NASCAR pit crew.

I have three BFS reels, an Alphas CT 7.2 with RCS shallow spool, Alphas CT 6.3, and a Revo ALC BF7. Initially, I was going to take a dip into the Pixy pool but saw that Amazon Japan was selling the Alphas CT reels for a similar price of an excellent condition used Pixy. The Revo I also got really cheap, something like $140. I did have a Daiwa Air Stream Custom but sold it recently. Not because I didn't enjoy it, it was a fantastic reel but it wasn't as versatile as the others due to the odd spool size (31mm). It was too much of a one trick pony for my uses. For my rods, I have a Major Craft Troutino 4'10" UL, Tsurinoya Dragon 5' UL, Kuying Teton 6'6" L, and a Lamiglas X11 7' L. This gives me a lot of options. For fishing small creeks, I like to use the shorter rods since they're easier to maneuver when you're neck deep in the spinach. For the larger mainstreams, I like to use the longer rods since I can pick up distance and have more backbone to fight the bigger browns and rainbows I'll probably encounter. Next week Monday I'm going to try my hand at BFS fishing steelhead. I'm going to run the factory spool in my Alphas CT 7.2, throw it on the Lamiglas, and fish the Boardman River here in Northern Michigan.

BFS trout fishing, no finer drug out there. I took to it in a big way earlier this year. I sold off a lot of unused gear and hopped on the BFS train. Trout fishing has always been my love as my state is blessed with a multitude of great trout streams, many of them world class blue ribbon streams. The fly fishermen give a sideways look when they see me out there with a baitcaster, like I'm some sort of demon spawn. "You won't find any bass in this stretch of the river." I'm here for trout brother.