newapti5

A broken 13 Fishing Fate rod (I still caught it though) and Tatula CT reel, with a C-rig soft plastic.

Casting issues are relatively straightforward: usually it's the brake system, and/or the spool tension knob tightness, and/or the two spool bearings. You can check them one by one. Thumb bar issue may have many causes. It could be some damaged parts, or it could be just an overdue deep clean. But either way, you'll need to disassemble the reel. If you're not comfortable with that, send it to professionals like @Delaware Valley Tackle here.

Toshinari Namiki (並木敏成) is a Japanese fishing pro/celebrity. He not only helped Daiwa design rods, but also had the famous SV Light Ltd reel named after him, as well as other fishing products. The so-call "machinegun cast" comes from his fast casting style - using the momentum of the lure at the end of retrieve to cast it right away immediately. Here's a video link for it: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AlomEX5tRj4rhLNv216lLmif-1yfgQ So, to serve this casting style, the so-call machinegun cast rod was born, as well as some mono line series from Sunline.

I am not a BFS expert, but IMO 15lb braid is a bit too much for BFS reels. Heck, I mostly used 20lb braids on regular baitcasters. I have an Alphas Air with 10lb Smackdown, an Revo LTX with 10lb Berkley X9, and an Aldebaran BFS with 8lb Sunline Xplasma Asegai. All of them are used with 6-8lb fluoro leaders. I cast them with 2-3 gram lures for trout fishing, and I don't recall any serious dig-in problems. Like others have mentioned, maybe the winding tension is not high enough when loading the line? Or you set the drag too high?

As I have tried out different jerkbaits over the years, now I have boxes of different ones. I find myself in a dilemma: what is the most effective and efficient way to organize them? By buoyancy - float vs. suspend vs. sink? By size and weight? By diving depth? By colors and patterns? By brands? All the above? .... I'd like to know how you organize yours. Thanks!

Wow, this used to be a censored term here. I guess it changed. Search "heighten handle" over there; their carbon handles are good quality and light.

It's personal preference of sort. The person who bought it from me apparently loves it - he had already had a Deputy, besides a couple of other Zolo rods.

I did put an 8+ oz TD Zillion on it. It helped a little, but not enough for me. I eventually sold it after several trips.

I had that rod, but it's a bit tip heavy IMO. Otherwise it's a good rod.

EXACTLY

The first thing I do when I got a Zero Adjuster reel is to adjust it, but to make it looser. For Steez A's Mag-Z brake, it is designed for heavy lures. The brake inductor spring is relatively strong and the brake force is minimized, so you should set the brake a little higher, instead of tightening the so call "Zero Adjuster" knob. If you thumb the spool when casting, set the brake on 10 should be fine. If you cast really hard, or without any thumbing, brake setting on 15 or more would be suitable.

That is interesting. Thanks I'll give it a try next time.

This one's weight (~4g) is perfect for any BFS lures, down to 1g trout magnet, but it's a centrifugal brake system. TBH I don't find centrifugal brake forces stable enough for BFS lures.

I just got this after market spool for '20 Metanium from KKR. I have to say its quality exceeds my expectation. First of all, the packaging is quite assuring. It's the first time I received a spool packed in a metal barrel, then packed in a thick foam box. the spool only weighs 5g, with a 5x11x4 bearing on it, so the spool itself would probably weigh around 4g. I was worried about how sturdy the spool would be, but it's quite solid for that kind of light weight. The quality of the spool is quite nice, given its $50 low price. The tolerance is rather impressive - the picture probably won't show it, but the tiny gap between the spool edge and reel frame is even smaller than the stock spool. The spool requires two SVS brake beans from the stock spool, but it does provides other tools to assemble them. It's a process that requires patience and good eyesight, but it's manageable. The spool can hold about 80 yards of 20lb Sufix 832, which is similar to the shallow version Metanium spool line capacity. With its super lightweight, it should be able to handle BFS tasks without problems, but I personally would use it for general finesse lures, as I don't like centrifugal brake for BFS reels. The only complaint I have so far is the bearing it comes with. It's a nice quality Japanese bearing from NMB, but it's packed with grease from factory. You must flush it first, otherwise it kind of defeat the purpose of having a lightweight spool.

That is a daring statement, but I am interested in their iReel one DC reel.

I am a Daiwa fanboy but I also love Metanium and Bantam. If you look closely to the schematics of '20 Metanium, '18 Bantam, '22 Bantam, and '17 Chronarch MGL, you will see they all use the SAME gearset, except for '22 Bantam the pinion gear is a bit different due to the Infinity Drive design. They're all interchangeable, yet the feels are different. It tells me how much the frame material and tolerance matter, also the Infinity Drive on '22 Bantam has nothing to do with its gearset.

https://www.campsaver.com/seaguar-invizx-fishing-line.html?_iv_fishing-pound-test=12-lb,15-lb You are a bit late - only 12lb is on sale now. If you want to have a source that constantly having sales on fishing lines, then Amazon is the only place I know. I usually buy in bulk when on sale. When stored properly, fluoro line can last for years.

TBH too dark for me to show off the new toy to others.

Hehe, have you tried some bass fishing video games? I have during the winters. It also involves looking at screens all the time. If I tie a piece of stone at the end of line to simulate hookset, I'd say it's close to the experience of ffs fishing, at least from an audience's perspective. I don't like eating bass, or any fish for that matter. so that part of experience would be lacking. But what I can do with my computer screen won't matter, what matters is what pros are doing with theirs. As a part of tournament fishing audience, I want to see how they find the pattern and use the right lures and entice the fish to eat them with different presentations. Those are fun to watch. But maybe I was asking too much.

I don't mind pros using ffs at all, or any other technology in the future, but it's boring to watch them staring at 7-8 big screens worth 50k in a boat all day. I can do that at home with my own computer screen. It's a sport but above all it's also supposed to be an entertainment.

Interesting, that sounds like a Daiwa T3 frame. I've seen a bps reel with a Pixy frame, so maybe they also had one with T3 frame?

As Shimano reel manuals mention, add one drop of oil to the brake drum before trips.

I have a 7' MH Extra Fast, Sensitive line, and I pretty much have the same opinion. Sensitive and nicely crafted. The tip-heavy isn't that bad with this model, but it's too stiff for a MH, or its rated 1/4 - 1oz weight. More like H and 1/2 - 1.5oz.

The only "adverse effect" is not to your reels but to your wallet, since after you've done one reel, you want to do the same to the rest. Some handles, like the Livre ones and KTF ones from Japan, are not cheap. As for why not all stock handles are like that, it's because some prefer shorter handles, which sacrifice winding power for winding speed.

Line twist in spinning reels is inevitable, given enough time. What I do when spooling, besides the detailed process mentioned above, is to spray some KVD line conditioner on a piece of paper towel, and pinch the line with that towel when spooling. I find it helps a little, especially with fluoros.