Eric 26

Although I have zero experience with the Zephyr it closely resembles my above mentioned Carbon X reels which I’m thrilled with.

So with that tight of a budget you have 3 options imho, you can buy used or go for a budget reel such as the Daiwa Laguna, Shimano Sienna or Abu Garcia Max X. The last option is Amazon sells quite a few Chinese reels and although I haven’t tried a whole lot of them I do have a Kast King reel and 5 Piscifun reels that I really feel are worth what I paid for them. You can also check both of the above mentioned websites and they usually offer at least a 10% off your first order coupon code, I just bought a Piscifun Viper X 2000 spinning reel last season and although I prefer my Carbon X reels it’s right there in your price range at $40.00-$45.00 for sizes 500-3000.

I have both also, my Miravel is a jdm 2000 sized shallow spool, with braid on a 6’-8” ultralight and my Stradic is a 1000 size with 4 pound monofilament paired to a 7’-0” light powered panfish rod. Although I like them both I personally prefer the Stradic due to its solid feel and ultra smooth retrieve. As far as the weight difference the Miravel is 6.3 ounces vs 6.5 for the Stradic so no discernible difference there, so for me it just boils down to feel.

I appreciate the advice and now I’m going to have to do some research but as of right now I’m feeling…..🤣😆😂

As already stated I’m very interested to hear as well.

@NorthernBasser Although I didn’t use my BPS rod very long we finally had a warm day without obnoxious winds during the week so I stopped for only a 1/2 hour but I have a few observations to share. So for starters I have 6 pound Suffix 832 on the reel with a 6 pound Yo Zuri Hybrid leader at about 36” long, I’m using a Uni to Uni connection knot and to be honest I’m not good at tying knots in general so my knot isn’t very pretty but I trimmed both tag ends to next to nothing and I could feel the knot hitting the top 2 guides on my casts which was causing some trouble and forcing me to use my thumb to control the fluff which I didn’t always do. When the cast was perfect I would say I was getting about the same distance as @PhishLI with a 3/16th ounce BPS Crappie Max spinner bait fished with no trailer. Although I didn’t get any takers I was honestly surprised by the feeling of the rod as in hand it feels a bit slow (parabolic) but while retrieving the bait it felt a bit faster overall if that makes any sense. I can’t wait to get it back out hopefully Sunday for a proper trial after I shorten my leader down considerably and I’m going to try a few different baits on it as well. I did in fact trim the leader down to about 12” and I feel that should help in my casting distance 🤞🏻

Hmm it’s funny but someone else just posted something similar. I will say that although my favorite retention ponds aren’t giving up 3-4 pounders I really do think I can catch more fish as well throwing smaller presentations. I have a handful of spinning rods with 3 being true ultralight’s and I finally bought a proper bfs rod that I’m hoping works out as well.

@NorthernBasser I have not had a chance to take mine out yet, I do have it ready to go but the winds have been pretty bad in Illinois.

@BrianMDTX Your Seinfeld comment made me laugh out loud as I can relate seeing as I have Fred Flinstone fingers according to my wife 🤣 As far as comparing to the Fuego I would say the Fuego has the upper hand in terms of the braking system.

I love my CA80!

I was able to do this exact same thing. Best of luck.

That is really cool 👍🏻

No offense meant to anyone but if he has to make a choice between BASS or his tv show I for one hope he chooses the tv show.

@Joedodge So I have to ask, is that a tattoo of Scabby the rat getting constricted with the words “Fake it until you make it” on your arm? I worked with a great guy who had a few different sayings and that one and “If you don’t produce they’ll cut you loose” were 2 of his favorites. Either way it brings back some great memories from a really great job I was on with one of the best crew of guys I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Also those bass are beautiful.

Congratulations! That’s definitely a beautiful boat.

@SJS Im not sure if you shared what you were using before but I will say although I’ve not personally used a Black Max it gets plenty of love on here and I’m not surprised in the least bit that you’re enjoying it. I will also add I for one find that there are some hidden gems in the lower price points and 2 that come to mind for me are the Daiwa CA80 casting reel and the Piscifun Carbon X (1) spinning reel, I was able to get my Daiwa for just under $70.00 delivered to my door from Amazon and I have 3 of the Piscifun spinning reels. I definitely enjoy my Tatulas along with some better spinning reels but I still enjoy using the above mentioned as well. Most important thing as far as I’m concerned is that you’re getting out to use your gear. Best of luck and be sure to post some pictures when you get your first fish on your new combo.

@Bass Rutten & @MN Fisher My now wife, brother and I believe his then girlfriend who became his wife saw the The Black Crowes at The Aragon Ballroom in Chicago in 1991 on their “Shake your money maker” tour. They were super tight as a group back then with those killer riffs that remind me of the Rolling Stones, I’m sure they are even more polished now. Also if you don’t know the venue the security was very lackadaisical back then in terms of smoking so to say the least by the end of the night you could cut the air with a knife 😆

@SJS If I may ask what did you ultimately get? It appears you may have gotten the JM reel but I don’t want to assume.

@SJS That reel is an older Piscifun Saex Elite, I don’t know if it’s still available but if so it would be on Ali Express. It’s basically a rebrand of an Ardent Apex Elite with red instead of blue accent colors and a dual brake system vs just magnetic. At the time I bought the reel it came with a spare BFS spool that they marketed as a spare shallow spool. I had it paired with an old Mitchell Fulcrum rod but I recently bought a BPS Carbonlite technique specific super finesse rod to pair it with.

I actually fish with Light powered spinning rods paired with 4-6 lb monofilament quite often in my favorite retention ponds. For me it’s more enjoyable to catch the small bass along with the crappie rather than being skunked. As for the bluegills I generally speaking drop down to one of my ultralight setups and downsize my hooks but still wind up getting a few bass as well and it’s definitely a lot of fun. This is also the reason I picked up a new for me BFS rod to use this season.

Ok I guess I didn’t understand what you were asking.

@Speedy Turtle First off although I don’t throw swim baits I will say you can definitely find some much cheaper alternatives. I just google searched a few and here’s what I found. Best of luck.

I’m definitely not going to say the 2000 JDM isn’t bigger than the 1000 domestic size but my JDM 2000 shallow spool Miravel is pretty much the same body size as my domestic 1000 sized Stradic.

@the reel ess