redmeansdistortion

On the Pere Marquette a couple weeks back.

I carry only one rod plus a small box with an assortment of baits that I keep in my wader chest pouch. I don't want to be weighed down in the event something happens. We recently had a wade fisherman succumb to a logjam in a river on the other side of the state I live. He was hung up by his backpack and couldn't free himself.

The Zephyr is a trout rod, not really enough backbone for bass fishing. BFS rods are very different from trout rods and it pains me that so many manufacturers either intentionally or unintentionally blur the line. Trout rod blanks are much thinner in the butt section than BFS rods. For instance, my JDM Daiwa Bass X 64LBY is 10mm in the butt section with a 1.5mm tip. It's a fast action that bends in the top 12" and rated for 1/16 to 3/8. My Kuying Teton is a through and through trout rod. It comes in at 6'6", rated for the same lure weights as the bass rod, but the blank is 7mm in the butt section and 1.4mm in the tip. That rod is a moderate fast action with a parabolic bend that goes almost down to the reel seat. Trout rods are designed that way because those fish have softer mouths which makes it easier to rip a hook out when fighting them. Having a more moderate action helps immensely in keeping them pinned.

I've noticed this with some Abus of mine, same model and all. One of my 5500s is a freak of nature and will really put it out there. The only thing I think it could be is that maybe some reels received a better batch of spool bearings from whomever they contracted to make them.

Abu 6500CT, mono mag, some low viscosity oil and a good thumb. You can watch people on YouTube with rigs just like that throw in excess of 200yd, some will even cast all the line off the spool. Most are throwing 4oz of lead or more.

From my observations, once you get above the $300 price point, there are plenty of Japanese reels out there. Calcutta D, Alphas, Steez, Luvias, Stella, Aldebaran, Bantam, etc. The list goes on.

I recently got into higher end reels with my purchases of a couple of Daiwas (Alphas CT SV, Alphas ASC) and a Revo (ALC-BF7) and my first takeaway is how smooth they are compared to the other reels I have. When you disengage the clutch they make a nice click as the spool begins to turn. On my Fuegos it's more of a loud and hollow "clack" that would wake the dead by comparison. The refined feeling of a Japanese made Daiwa is unlike anything else I've ever owned. Even the Korean made Revo of mine is very well built and oh so smooth. Would I do it again? Heck yeah, these are great and a lot of fun to fish. High quality gear costs no matter your hobby. In the grand scheme of things, I spent a drop in the bucket compared to some fly and centerpin fishermen I know. Those guys really drop some coin when it comes to higher end gear.

Just remember to crank slowly or you'll scare the fish away

Get an old Mitchell 300. They're bulky and feel like a coffee grinder, but they do last. I've refurbed some recently, some more than 50 years old and didn't need anything replaced outside of a worn bail spring. You can find them for $20 or less on eBay. Keep in mind, it won't be nearly as smooth as even a modern budget spinning reel, but you can drag it through the mud and back and it'll still work. A couple of them I serviced wouldn't even crank. When I opened them up, I discovered the grease had turned to wax. Cleaned them up, new grease and oil, and the owners are out there catching smallmouth with them as we speak. It's the reel you want in your bug out bag.

We use reels with a flipping switch for jigging walleye in the Detroit and St Clair rivers. It's so much easier to hit the thumb bar and get your bait to the depth it needs to be instead of disengaging and reengaging the spool. Some of the charters are up in arms about the increasing lack of reels with that feature. I think there is just a handful on the market now that can be bought new.

That's exactly how it is with light baitcasting tackle. I landed a 14" brown trout on 2lb test last weekend. It's quite a challenge keeping a fish like that from losing you in a logjam.

BFS can be costly, but it doesn't have to be very expensive. Will it cost more than a decent spinning outfit? That depends. If you're buying higher end gear to begin with, the spinning vs BFS argument is pretty much a wash. There are plenty of $200+ spinning reels on the market and there are but a handful of BFS reels at that price point. Additionally, BFS gear isn't widely available on the US market so you almost always have to buy from overseas. If you fish more budget oriented gear, it isn't so much about cost as it is availability. At the budget end, there are near limitless options for spinning gear. You can go to any store, buy what you want, and go fishing. With BFS, every budget item, be it a rod or reel, needs to be purchased from overseas, usually from China. Many of those reels do have respectable performance, but the inability to buy domestically really hampers their adoption in our part of the world. Additionally, some of the bigger more familiar names could very well bring those here since some use those same OEMs. The bigger names don't see a market here for it like they do elsewhere at this point in time.

I haven't hooked into many musky while bass fishing, but I used to catch tons of smallmouth trolling Lake St Clair for musky back 20 years ago. You'd be surprised at the sizes of baits a smallmouth will hit. Some days it seemed like that was all we caught.

Absolutely. None of my rods came from here, they all came from overseas. Many Japanese sites ship here very fast and it's generally cheap or even free in many cases. I've received gear from Japan in as little as 2 days, free no less.

I fish small creeks with baitcasters. Inspiration came from Hobie Wan Kenobi on YouTube. Look him up. Word of warning, ultralight capable baitcasters can be spendy.

I don't have any qualms about it from a performance standpoint, but come maintenance time it can be a little fiddly.

I tend to like them all. Each one has something I like. I tend to get addicted to one brand, get bored, and move on. Previously it was Abu Garcia, now it's Daiwa. There's also some Penn and Pflueger in there as well. Next will probably be Shimano.

Amazon Japan had a screaming deal when I got it. Came out to $175-ish shipped. Cheapest that reel goes for new on eBay is $250 and most are right around $300.

I just wish Daiwa didn't throw the T wing on everything. I'll be buried with my Alphas reels.

Yep that's the factory spool. It's the saltwater version of the LTX BF8. It has the same spool, two less bearings, and an aluminum frame instead of magnesium. Comes in at 5 ounces.

Linear magnetic. It came with 3 magnets preinstalled but also came with 7 additional so I added those in as well. My plan is to use it throwing tiny cranks and jigs for trout.

I have a Ray's Microcast spool on my Fuego CT, that puppy weighs a little under 10.5g. The Abu weighs 5 ounces and my Fuego CT with the Ray's spool comes in at 7.2 ounces, pretty big difference. The Abu is so light it feels like a toy. I also have a Daiwa Air Stream Custom and the spool on that one comes in at 8.5g without the bearing. I think the most inexpensive lightweight spools you can get are those made by Roro and Amo, some of those are in the 4g range and the spools usually run $50 to $60.

It's the lightest spool on any reel out at the moment. 6.3g without the bearing and pin installed.

Added an Abu to my ultralight arsenal. I have yet to fish it, but I did cast around the yard for a bit with a 1/16 jig with the hook nipped off. Seems to work pretty good so far. This weekend will be its first trip on the water.

Trout are my favorite. Bass is fun, but it's a different kind of fun than trout. Trout can prove very challenging to catch and many days you'll have to work to coax them from their hideouts. Learning to read the anatomy of a trout stream is a priceless skill, there are lots of great articles and YouTube videos out there. Heck, an entire 3 part documentary aired on PBS about it in the 90s. You're doing it the old fashioned way with no fish finder. I think my favorite aspect of trout fishing is stomping through the woods to that creek. You get there and enjoy solitude, the sounds of nature, and good fishing. You don't get much of that bass fishing. I do enjoy both thoroughly, but every time I fish trout I feel like I'm going on an adventure.