newapti5

For bank fishing in shallow water, the techniques tend to be finesses-oriented, and for light lures, reel and rod weight play an important factor in sensitivity and presentation. IMO BG 2500 is a bit heavy for that task; a 1500 under 9oz should suffice. Although the 1500 only has 4.4lb max drag, it is enough for most bass fishing.

I once had one for a few hours. Way too heavy for bass fishing, so I returned it, before I could try out its sensitivity.

For finesse fishing, IMO light weight spinning setup is essential. Tatula LT is a great light weight reel, tough enough and smooth enough for that task. On Shimano camp, the more suitable choice would be the new light weight Vanford instead of the heavier Stradic FL. PS: I feel like this is a topic for the reels and rods section. Admin may move it there eventually.

One day, dc reels will outcast any traditional reel on the markets, without making a single backlash. But given the advancing pace of Shimano's DC technology, IMO that day is still far, far away.

You don't have to use white braids to avoid color fading - Vicious No-fade braid. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Vicious_No-Fade_Braid_Moss_Green/descpage-VNFB.html Or FINS Pitch Black Windtamer braid. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/FINS_Windtamer_Braided_Line_Pitch_Black/descpage-FWTBL.html Finatic Pro braid used to be another great choice, but I think the company went south last year.

I once bought two spools of fluorocarbon from the BPS annual sale. Same brand same series, just different test pound. One spool of 12lb was very strong, and the other spool of 10lb was so weak that I could easily break it with a little pull. So yes, I believe "bad spool."

Seems a bit too hardcore to me, but hey, whatever makes you happy - we're not pros.

I never caught one, but it's a popular fish in Japan. Here it is: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/bottomfish/rockfish

No problem. I am sure others have more experience than me, so I would just be brief, and tell what I know. As you may have already known, for Daiwa reels, "Air" usually means super light shallow spool for BFS/finesse lures. "PE" usually means it's designed for braided lines, with shallow spool, specially tuned Magforce brake, and often faster level wind. "LTD" means limited edition with tweaks and tune-ups, often designed by some gurus/celebrities. "HLC" means hyper long cast, usually with lighter spool and special brakes of less force, to cast heavier lures a long way. GekkaBijin Air TW PE - "Beauty under the moon," upgraded version of Alphas Air, designed for braided line. HRF PE Special - It's originally designed for Hard Rock Fish. It usually uses Tatula platform. Hard gears and extra fast gear ratio so you can winch the fish back quickly before other big predators hijack it. The last version has a shallow spool, but the new version has a deeper one. It also has a faster level wind to avoid braided line dig-in. Millionaire CT SV - Round reel for finesse and BFS. Morethan PE TW - Saltwater version of Steez, designed for braided lines. Ryoga - the 18 Ryoga round reel is a tank, also the only reel with Hyper Mesh Gear - Daiwa's small gear teeth design. For cranking and other general purposes. It has two different spool sizes, 1016 and 1520 SILVER CREEK AIR TW STREAM CUSTOM - tweaked trout fishing reel, designed for finesse/BFS. SV Light LTD - a limited edition of the old Steez, designed by Japanese angler 並木敏成, super shallow spool for finesse/BFS.

Not sure what you're going to use them for, but some of them are jigging reels with no brakes, only spool tension/mechanical brake: Basara Catalina BJ KOHGA TW HYPER CUSTOM Kyohga Saltiga BJ

Maybe, but they're available for Japan domestic customers. Maybe Amazon Japan has two different inventories: one for domestic market, one for foreign market. Anyway, it's weird to see none of Shimano reels is being sold by Amazon Japan itself, not even one, old or new models.

I was browsing Amazon Japan for Shimano & Daiwa reels, and found out most of the sellers are third party sellers now. I just couldn't find a reel that's being sold by Amazon Japan itself. I changed my delivery address to some Japan address, then voila, all the popular reels were being offered by Amazon Japan in great prices. Then I changed back to US address; all of them became "Temporarily out of stock". It seems that Amazon Japan has stopped selling ANY of Shimano reels (baitcaster or spinning) to US, and most of Daiwa popular reels, and most of Abu's reels. You can still find them on Amazon Japan, but they're all sold by third parties. I don't know this decision is from Amazon Japan or from reel companies, but it probably has something to do with the ridiculously low exchange rate right now.

Chatterbait is a high resistant bait that puts a lot of pressure on reel gear set, which would wear them out fast. So besides the HD reels discussed here, you may go with the other route: use some cheap reels for that task. I don't fish Chatterbait/bladed jigs much. When I do, I use a cheap old Exceler reel for it. It's geary as heck now, but it's still sturdy enough to get the job done. And it casts really well, being a downgraded version of Lexa.

Gee, you guys got expensive customized bday present(s). What I got last time was a steak dinner without cake.

IMO you can still throw A-rig on rods rated for 1.5oz lure, given the action is moderate fast/moderate. You don't snap cast it anyway. I think this rod is pretty much the heaviest the Champion series can get, so if you want to stay in the Champion series, this is the rod to consider I guess.

Hmm, the lure rating is about the same as my 735, yet it's rated as 4 power instead of 5. Well, this is for A-rig all right.

Not that you asked, but IMO a 4 power Dobyns XP might be a bit soft for A-rig. 5 power would be better suited. Regarding reels, Zillion HD is fine.

It seems that way from the photo you shared, but how is this able to reduce noticeable amount of friction and increase winding power? That new support location is pretty much where the X-ship bearing is. Anyway, I give up. I guess I'll take Shimano's word for it.

Don't know if this is right, but here's my understanding of how "infinity drive" could reduce friction and increase winding power. As shown below, when under load, especially heavy load, pinion gears with traditional X-ship support may bend a little, causing heavy pressure on certain contact area, which increase the friction. With infinity drive, there's some extra support in the middle, which is from the spool shaft. This could reduce the curve of pinion gears, so the heavy load could be distributed more evenly. Thus, the friction will be reduced as well.

Yes, I agree with you about the X-ship. With the infinity drive, Shimano claims that the spool shaft is supporting the pinion gear as well. That means the spool shaft has to be in contact with the pinion gear inside while retrieving, and has to be no contact with the pinion gear inside while casting. From there, I figured that spool shaft has to be tapered. Don't know if that's true, but I can't think of other ways for Shimano to achieve what they claim.

Yeah, I am still not sure whether or not my understanding of infinity drive is correct. Maybe there's more to it Shimano didn't tell us about, or maybe it'll stay a mystery.

Yeah that's what I was trying to say: If my understanding of infinity drive is correct, it's not something new. It may increase the manufacturing cost since it requires tighter tolerance, but it's not something new. That was my initial thought, but the new 22 Bantam schematics, as well as 21 Conquest schematics, shows the two pinion bearings are still there. So X-ship is still there, they just don't include it in their feature list anymore.

I have been reading some information from Shimano, from TT, and from other forums. The conclusion I can draw is: "infinity drive" is not a X-ship replacement mechanism, at least not on baitcasters. The dual pinion gear bearings, AKA X-ship, are still there, but the pinion gear is shorter. In addition, the spool shaft seems to be tapered now, so when casting, there is no contact between the shaft and pinion gear inside; but when engaged, the tapered spool shaft will be in contact with the pinion gear inside, providing extra support for the pinion gear. So in short, "infinity drive" on bc reels seems to be a multiple supported shorter pinion gear, instead of the traditional dual supported longer pinion gear, AKA X-ship. Is that why Shimano calls it "an upgrade of traditional X-ship?"

I have to admit, this kastking reel looks pretty nice. They have come a long way from the Royal(?) series reel I first tried several years ago.

From what I gather around Shimano official sites, the spool of JDM version is 200 size (~140 yards of 12lb mono), instead of 150 size (110 yards of 12lb mono) of USDM version. Could you help confirm that? Thanks!