redmeansdistortion

This thing is super tiny, 2500C for scale. I dialed it in with a Rapala CD1, virtually zero fluff. It's first mission will be in the mountain streams of Colorado next week on a Graywolf 4'10" 2-6lb. Small enough to stash in my carry-on luggage.

You'd be surprised at what fly fishermen buy. I'm sure @bulldog1935 and @casts_by_fly can relate. With many of us, the allure is mid to high end Japanese equipment. With the fly fisherman, it's boutique rods and reels made in small batches. Fly fishing is a whole different thing as many rod makers roll their own blanks because there is a specific action they are looking for. With your usual spinning and casting rods, especially domestically made, very few are doing that and using off-the-shelf blanks they can make work for them and their customer. Shane Gray, owner of Graywolf rods right in my backyard, caters to those fly fishermen and many of his finished products run over $1,000. Most of the rods he sells are on blanks of his own design, made by him on Steffen Brothers tooling in unique tapers that you just aren't going to find anywhere else. He uses that same tooling to make spinning and casting rods for trout. Two of which I own and love dearly. I was at a Michigan Steelheaders meeting early in June, doing a presentation on BFS. Roger Hinchcliff, VP of Lamiglas is on the board of the organization. Roger is also their primary blank designer, having designed the well reputed Closer walleye and steelhead rods. I took a quiver of rods with me, such as my Smiths, Graywolfs, and a few others. He loved Shane's work and sat there playing with the rods and taking notes. Same with the Smith rods I had with me, unlike anything he had ever seen. He was especially impressed with my 7'4" Smith Troutin'Spin, wondering how a rod that long could be so light. The beauty of the wooden reel seat was something else he loved, he had never seen anything like it. When we chatted for a bit after the meeting, I said "Roger, this is what people want. With American rod brands, everything from cheap to expensive is using plastic. Surely you can transition away from plastic and build something like this". Roger is a super nice guy and I feel like he walked away with new ideas after my presentation. I put the bug in his ear that if he needs somebody to test prototypes, I'd be more than happy to do so.

Amazing isn't it? I know one local shop that sells it, and we were actually talking about it when I stopped to drop reels off earlier. They know I buy right from Japan. The owner was telling me that over the last couple of years he had been steadily watching his JDM rod and reel sales go down, most likely because people are researching and finding threads like this. I told him to focus more on the higher end in general. Typically with USDM fishing tackle, wholesale is usually in the neighborhood of 50% of retail. Most of what he sells is mid range stuff on the bass end, but his fly fishermen guys come in and drop 4 figures.

I've always run 6-8lb for Lake St Clair and Huron River smallies without issue, drag set at 2lb. The Huron is very rocky in many spots so snags are to be expected, but St Clair is mostly weeds and break-offs come by way of freshwater barracuda.

I like being a fly swatter every now and then 😏

I think it's the way the carriers are woven IIRC. I've run small diameter braids like Berkley X 9 and J Braid and on reels with a slower level wind, dig can be a problem. These were in diameters similar to #0.8 YGK. I've never had that issue on the same reels running the YGK.

It's pretty much the golden standard JDM line, can't go wrong with it.

It's great stuff, my go-to. I use it on diameters from #0.8 to #1.5. It handles exceptionally well.

The Tats I had in weren't the newest models, probably one or two generations back. They were 200s used by river salmon fishermen. We call em kang bangers lol

The trollers can get away with lighter stuff because the fish are getting hooked in the lip the majority of the time. They really don't have the chance to take a hook far back putting the leader closer to the teeth. Most guys are trolling in the 4-5mph range. If you haven't fished over my way, you should check it out. A lot of musky are caught by guys jigging walleye in the river during March through May. The popular river jigging setup here is a 2000 size spinner with 8lb Power Pro running straight braid with no leader. One guy even hooked into and landed a sturgeon. The local bait shop, Dip Net Bait & Tackle, has the video up on their Facebook page. The fight lasted a good half hour before the fish got to the boat. I don't remember the exact length. I can't find the full video but here's a clip from it. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1JDoXp9Cg3/

They can't handle it either; I've had Tatulas, Convectors, Coldwaters, Sealines, Ambassadeurs, and Revos in the shop with buzzy gears. What it comes down to is how the reel was treated. With a drag set too high under prolonged use, damage will occur at some point. Something in the chain is going to give, whether it's a sheared spool pin, a damaged pinion crown, or malformed teeth. The pinion gear takes most of the abuse on a reel. I once had salmon charter send me some Okuma Coldwaters for service, every one I received had damaged pinion gears. Turned out he was throwing planer boards in the water at max drag which caused them to shudder. This happens when a spool pin or pinion crown warps. Either the spool will move side to side under pressure or the pinion yoke will move up and down. The pinion crown can't fully grab the spool pin so that energy gets transferred elsewhere. That was an expensive repair on his part; $42 per gear set, $20 per set of drag washers, plus labor charges for 6 reels. From a monetary standpoint, he wasn't too far off from brand new reels. Those are only $120 each.

Yes you are, that's what it's there for. You want the drag set tight enough to set the hook with larger baits, but still loose enough to let the fish run. Charters have it easy because they can run lever drags with a strike setting and fight setting. Some guys I know that cast for them will back the drag off a quarter to half turn after the hook set so the fish can pull line when needed.

Learn to use your drag correctly, then they won't go buzzy I've landed a lot of coho and steelhead on my '17 Conquest BFS and there is zero buzzing. Those fish actually fight, too. My drag is set to 2lb.

I just re-read your thread and stated you were going after 40"+ pike, so yeah, you will want to go with a 50lb+ leader. I use Seaguar Abrazx or better yet, get some steel leaders. I totally missed the part about the size of the fish you were after, my mistake. Here in Lake St Clair and the Detroit River, 60 is often used for trolling, while those casting for them will run 80-100lb. I used to fish tournaments with a friend 20+ years ago, we would run Penn GTIs with 100lb Power Pro and a 60lb leader pulling boards with plugs. He did pretty well, you won't get your name on the board unless the fish is 50"+.

Oh yeah it's plenty for pike. 60+ is what is used for musky.

You'll be fine for just about any pike short of northern Canadian monsters which get close in size to musky. If pike and musky are present in the same waters, most pike are going to be in the low 20" to low 30" range. I've caught plenty on light tackle. My personal best, a 40" caught on the Au Sable River in northern Michigan, was caught on a 2500 size spinner and 8lb mono. I wouldn't worry so much about the reel, even a 1000 will handle them assuming your drag is set correctly. You'll want to use a 20-30lb fluorocarbon leader to avoid break-offs. When they thrash around is when the chances of breaking off increase.

To be fair, you were the only guess. Ron already knew what I had coming. I can't keep my secrets from him 😄

This is what I have coming tomorrow, the reel in the post from @bulldog1935 is based on. Same reel, just a different color scheme. I got the black and chrome. https://youtube.com/shorts/PrGBU50NAQY?si=sjS3DhpNgsaTiCEp

Nope. Here's a clue, it's the only knuckle buster you can buy brand new at the moment.

I use the same terminology golfers use when explaining to somebody how to throw a baitcaster, "don't try to kill it, follow through".

The reel this goes with will be here tomorrow. Would anybody like to guess what it's for?

@bulldog1935 is a wealth of info, he and I have been corresponding for a few years now being bad influences on one another. One of the best to learn from. We're both going down this direct drive road together. I just bought an Isuzu DD310SSS and Isuzu Tough Light spool, probably one of the only new knuckle busters you can get. My spool came today and the reel should be here tomorrow or Wednesday.

You're going to warp the pinion gear. That reel isn't designed for that kind of abuse. The pinion crown starts to spread at about 6lb, I can only imagine doing it repeatedly. The frame also can't withstand that either, they go out of square fairly easy. Simon's frame and gear set will enable it to take the heat, but you're looking at close to $400 for the frame, gear set, and clutch assembly.

TD-Z Type R+ inductor spring really makes the SV700S rip. It's a firmer spring, so the brake comes on at a higher rpm and retracts faster. I run that spool in my Millionaire CT SV and now it can really bomb. With the factory spring, I could get away with running the brake between 2-4, now I have to run it about 1/3-1/2 way depending on wind, but man does it rip.

Then you'd complain that it's too heavy if it were alloy. Me thinks you should bust out a few CAD mock-ups and go show those Shimano engineers who's boss.