redmeansdistortion

Trout rods can be noodly, or not. The fastest rod I own is a trout rod, not a bass rod. It's the Major Craft Finetail 5' L, it's meant for fishing fast water. It needs to be stout in order to present lures correctly in that environment. Too much bend and you're going to miss bites and struggle to work your bait through the current. It isn't the rod you'd choose for a low grade stream, but something where the water is really moving. Another is my Smith Troutin'Spin 74M, it's a moderate fast but it's a big fish rod meant for sea run cherry salmon, steelhead, and Dolly Varden trout. I use mine for steelhead, coho, and lake run brown trout. When I was at my meeting with Michigan Steelheaders back in June, Roger Hinchcliff, VP of Lamiglas was there. He's also their lead blank designer for salmon and steelhead rods. He spent a very long time with that rod analyzing it and was very impressed with the action, weight, and build quality. I'm pretty sure he walked away with ideas that will be incorporated into future Lamiglas products. The idea of a trout rod is to keep the fish pinned due to their propensity to throw the hook. Slack line typically means a lost fish, especially when running barbless hooks. If you look at most US market trout lures, everything typically comes with a treble hook which is notoriously hard on the fish, but also helps keep them hooked. In the end, bass rods are meant for bass and trout rods for trout. Most BFS (bass) rods are designed with a parabolic taper; less flex in the tip, a flexible mid, and a stout butt. This is what gives them the perceived fast action. The problem with a bass rod when trout fishing, especially big fish, is that the tip will break up and become ineffective the closer the fish is too you. It will literally flatten out because there is no more bend left. Now trout rods are more progressive taper with a smooth bend from tip to butt. It isn't unusual for a trout rod to bend all the way into the handle. This is how they pin fish. When the heat is put on them, they're much better at keeping tension on the line.

They're probably the only new production reel that are an investment to some degree. Even though the DD31x has been out just a few months, asking prices for them are already north of $600 used and $700 NIB, more if you want gold. I paid a paltry $475 for mine. The prices go up as time goes on. No other reels jump in price like that, and have to be on the market for years before prices begin to inch up past MSRP. I've already had offers to buy mine from people on Facebook and Reddit. Nope, it's staying with me.

The reel was designed for top water bass fishing, but they also sell a shallow honeycomb spool for trout which I also bought. It's a complete hoot to fish with.

Here's the schematic to the DD310SSS, simple as can be.

It's one of the first trout rods he put out after he bought Steffen Brothers. I bought it 3 years ago. The blank is his own design, rolled on Steffen mandrels. It's basically the equivalent of a cut down E-glass 4wt and it has a nice deep flex that keeps the fish well pinned. The reel is a direct drive Isuzu DD310SSS with an Isuzu Tough Light spool. It's the only knuckle buster you can buy brand new. As @bulldog1935, it's a Marhoff on steroids.

I took this with me out to Colorado a couple of weeks ago, fit right in my carry-on no problem. 2500C for scale. She's a feather. Spooled with 50m of #0.8 Seaguar GrandMax x8. I ran it on a Graywolf 4'10" 2-6lb, this made for a very light setup. I was catching rainbows and cutthroat up into the mid teens range. Had I brought a longer rod, I'd have went after bigger fish but those freestone streams are a tough wade compared to the sand and gravel bottoms we have in Michigan. The small assortment of lures I brought with me. Small enough to fit in my pocket.

Interesting. I haven't seen a reel with collapsed Belleville washers yet. I have seen a lot of leather and felt smashed paper thin though or even nearly disintegrated. I'll keep my eye out.

Put an Alphas SV105SH worm in there, it's a wider pitch so it tracks faster. This will help mitigate any line dig with thin braid. It's the one in the top in this photo. Bottom is an OEM TD Sol worm which came with the 5.8 gears like your Airy Red. You'll definitely want it if you're running thinner than #1.0 line.

If you're running felt, leather, or Teflon/graphite washers, the drag is best backed off for long term storage purposes since those materials compress. With carbon fiber, you can set it and forget it.

The beauty of rolling your own. Fishing aside, my biggest reason why I love BFS is the bench tuning process. Taking something and making it mine and capable of things the manufacturer didn't intend. That often means spending more money than I paid for the reel itself. I go in with a plan; a niche I want the reel to fulfill, and build it out from that. My tackle is very environment specific; whether I'm casting piers, bushwhacking skinny creeks, or plodding along an expansive river. This is also why I don't "marry" certain reels to certain rods. I mix it up according to what I'm doing. Combos don't exist in my world, it is much more refined than that. I pick the rod and reel that will best lead to success according to the body of water I'm fishing. Primarily being a wade fisherman, I don't like to weigh myself down with multiple rods and reels. I need only one, because more than that sacrifices mobility which is antithetical to my run and gun fishing style.

When you're building out a reel for BFS, especially a reel that wasn't BFS to begin with, you'll sometimes spend more than you paid for the reel. I paid $105 for my new old stock Black Max, the spool was $60. The prices on them have been climbing the last few years.

I have a BFS spool coming for a new old stock Black Max 1600C I bought a couple of months back. The spool maker is in Vietnam and does outstanding work. I should've had it by now, but it has been tied up at the Detroit post office since June 24th. The same guy also made me a split shaft shallow spool for a 3500C I'm converting to semi direct drive.

That's all I use. I sold off my low profile reels a few years ago. I can't say I miss them. My only gripe is there aren't enough round reels. The only games in town are Isuzu and Shimano. Daiwa as well, but they have yet to release a new Ryoga or Millionaire and show no noteworthy round reels on the Japan or US sites. Abu is all but finished, and they bowed out as BFS was picking up steam. The Morrum ZX 1600 Mag had the potential to be a hell of a BFS reel had Abu been competitive with Daiwa and Shimano.

BFS is about all I've been fishing for the last 5 years. Where I live, I can use it on everything but musky, sturgeon, and king salmon. Panfish? Yep. Bass? Of course. Stream trout? Heck yeah. Steelhead? You betcha! I just size my line and leader according to the conditions and off I go.

Hard for me to pick, but it's definitely an Ambassadeur. 2500C or 4500C. I like the mix of simplicity and performance, plus they can be field serviced if need be.

4000-6000 Ambassadeur frame jig, now I can realign and re-crimp frames. The #1 performance robber of an Ambassadeur is a frame that is out of square. No amount of bearings or go-fast goodies will compensate. With Svangsta closing, the frame supply is sure to dwindle over time. Just another tool in my arsenal. I'm also having a jig made for 1000-3000 sizes.

Welcome, neighbor from across the river!

The Great Lakes pier finesse monster. I'm going to spool her up with some #1.0 Seaguar GrandMax, going to be fun for smallies, coho, and steelies. I made it an aesthetic match to my 2500CIAR as well. My RCN 5600 6.8:1 gears aren't going to be here awhile and the bug bit me to build, so I'll just throw them in whenever they get here.

Buy them in bulk from Japan, they run about $1-$2 each after shipping. If you buy them domestically they run about $7 each. http://zikuuke.shop35.makeshop.jp/smartphone/index.html Make sure you cross reference the model number with the catalog because some bearings may be of different dimensions. Take for instance the 1150 size. NMB has two, the DDL-1150ZZ and DDL-1150ZZY04. The 1150 is 5x11x5, while the 1150Y04 is 5x11x4. DDR and DDL models are full stainless while those beginning with a L or R (R-1150ZZ) are chromed steel. https://mkt.minebeamitsumi.com/bearing_catalog_en

Or you can make it simple and just use NMB stainless from the get go. They're used by Isuzu, Daiwa, and Shimano across their entire product lines. These are the same bearings found in precision machining tools, dental tools, and aircraft instrument panels. They're arguably the best quality bearing you can get and are made in such high volumes that they can be bought cheap. Here is a NMB DDL-1150Y04 with a thin film lube applied. I use this exact bearing on my ABU 2500Cs. They rival Hedgehog Airs and come at a quarter the price. https://imgur.com/a/QVx6bJ4

What you are experiencing is what is known as shearing. When grease is subjected to forces that cause it to flow, it experiences shear stress. This stress can be due to the movement of parts, vibrations, or other mechanical actions. It's completely normal. Brand new or freshly serviced reels will all sound and feel exceptionally smooth until the grease has sheared out and left only a thin protective layer behind.

It's an aluminum 4500CB frame. The one that is on it now is brass, so I should be losing considerable weight. https://www.dadsoletackle.com/811527-frame-black-aluminum-abu-garcia-4500c.html

My 4500CS came in along with some parts. Now I'm just waiting on my frame and gears then I can get this show on the road. I'm going to be using this for pier fishing the area near me. There are plenty on Lake Erie, Lake St Clair, the Detroit River, and St Clair River plus all the way up into the thumb, all within a reasonable driving distance. They're all good fisheries with a mix of smallmouth, pike, musky, burbot, lake trout, steelhead, Atlantic salmon, and walleye. In the slack sections along the rivers is where you find some really nice smallies.

I have three builds I'll be doing after my trip to Colorado next week. The one I'm most geeked about is a '94 Abu 4500CS. Avail 4530UC spool, Avail level wind, line guide, star wheel, and 2BB cog, aluminum frame, Record 5600 6.8:1 gears (33 IPT), and a Haneda Craft 80mm handle with white knobs. I also have the semi direct 3500C and a BFSed Black Max 1600C I'll be doing up. It'll be a fun week.

You ain't lying. We've had dew points in the middle 70s for the last couple of weeks with daytime temps in the low to mid 90s. My blood is too thick for that.