bulldog1935

@FishTank it has KTF salt-resistant unshielded stainless spool bearings. Studio Composite RC-SC EX carbon handle, kinda-matching ZPI carbon spindle (brake) knob, and KDW thumb clutch, KDW titanium handle nut. There are no spool options for Lews, so it has the stock SDG spool, 20-yds 20-lb mono backing topped with about 120 yds 20-lb Sufix 832 braid. It's a rocket, and no words for how light the handle (titanium spindles, carbon knob tubes). There's not much else you can replace, and it's comfortable to fish all day. . Something to keep in mind, I have a total of 9 baitcast reels in the mix (not counting 40 years worth of retired b/c and a handful of antiques), currently 4 Ambassadeurs (2 surf CTs), 3 Doyo, 2 Daiwa, with 3rd Daiwa arriving tomorrow. OK, and 2 more near-offshore trolling/jigging reels.

Alphas is a compact reel, 32 mm spool diameter, medium spool arbor, same size as Steez CT. Both hold 100 yds 10-lb mono, but Daiwa does call them finesse reels. Alphas Air and Steez Air are the BFS reels built on the same smaller frames, with shallow braid spools, and increased LW pitch to handle fine braid. This year, Zillion Silver Wolf PE Special was introduced on Zillion frame and 34 mm dia spool, and increased LW pitch for fine braid (down to 0.10 mm dia). That said, I have Steez SV TW and Zillion SV TW set up with shallow braid spools, and they fish 0.15 mm to 0.19 mm braid just fine.

Thanks, I have another almost like it (lower gears)

How's this for liking your Lew's reel? I like my Shimano, too (from 1978 - then and now, the only FD with chain lift designed into the cage) noteworthy in RD, Shimano copied SunTour's 1964 patent before it expired.

On another thread, it was strenuously argued by those who want to be in charge that a stream trout rod couldn't be a BFS rod, yet the term Bait Finesse System was coined in print by a stream trout fisherman 20+ years ago, who described it for that exact use... BFS is a reel. Any rod that works well with it is a BFS rod. I hope this thing is on.

what both boils down to is being a fan boy If you're not a fan boy, you don't have anything to knock down in order to build your choice up. Figure out what works best for your where, and plug it in there. Let everyone else do the same, and avoid oversimplified statements and generalized criticisms. The tackle that's out there works, or no one would be catching any fish. Kind of like the pros who are so often trumped here as models of discerning tackle selection - they fish with what they're paid to fish, not necessarily because it would be their first choice if they were outfitting themselves.

@KP Duty, you will be giggling with any and every YB rod. Anyone I know who has bought them just says WOW. Mr. Yamaga always lands fish with shoulders at the end of his rod videos. Unfortunately, whatever big was bending his 69/B for several minutes at the end of that video, he never landed it.

First Lew's I bought for my dad's birthday gift was a BB-1LMG, which was Shimano-made. I bought it for him several years before Daiwa non-parts-support on my Millionaire 6H (7-y-o) forced me to buy my first BB-1NG (not Shimano-made). That kept me away from Daiwa until I bought my '19 Steez and then '21 Zillion for the aftermarket spools made for them. (Just bought a Zillion Silver Wolf for my 3rd Daiwa since 1978). Yes, it was Lew's patent that separated freespool from LW, and wrote a whole new clean sheet of paper and the Next Level in casting that everyone is spoiled with today. Shimano copied Lew's design, which ended Lew's business relationship with Shimano, and sent Lew's elsewhere to build his idea. I wouldn't have considered anything but Lew's until I found a better reel for my ML niche. And I'm still not sure how this thread ran for 3 pages.

ML and MM rods are choice matched with BFS. I'm going to take rare exception with @QED. I fish a BFS reel in my salt ML niche, and love the combo for 1/8 oz jigheads - it will cast them too far, but thumbing for range is what you want to do. Fast rod with some flex in the tip. My bass BFS rod is MM all-range and extremely versatile for kayak fishing - I can take it out as my only rod. This rod will cast and fish both ends extremely well - 1/16 oz jigs and neds to 5/8 oz crankbaits. Valleyhill calls this rod Regular Fast, and you wouldn't guess from the fast tip that's it's able to throw 1/16 oz. These are big fish rods, light-in-hand and extremely sensitive - my Omen Green feels every blade of grass, and very different from L/UL stream rods.

The normal production mode is batching one model at a time. If you check JDM sites like Asian Portal, you'll find some models with 100 in stock, and current models from the same manufacturer that are sold out. Have to watch for what you want, and snag it. Amazon has stock of both RH and LH SLX XT 150/151 XG

I thought the same way when baitcasters switched to full time A/R roller bearings. But I also replaced three A/R dogs on Lew's BB-1 reels. Ever have an A/R dog go out on you when you're trying to land a 30" redfish (rhetorical) - it takes 3 hands from there. Honestly, it seems like having optional A/R would be more important on a baitcaster, because without it, the only way to feed line is engage freespool or loosen the drag. Thirty years after optional A/R switch disappeared on baitcasters, no one is complaining. My Tica reels (who also makes many Daiwa reels, probably all the ones with optional A/R) - all have optional A/R switch. Can't remember the last time I used the switch, except maybe to align the handle to put the reel in a reel cover. You get used to full-time A/R - at first you work around it, then you don't notice it. You get really good at opening the bail just enough to feed one wrap of line (baitcaster doesn't give you anything that compares). You can take it to the bank, optional A/R is going to disappear, even before crank-auto-bail-close disappears. There's really no reason to give up all the qualities of a precision spinning reel just because it has full-time A/R.

@Darth-Baiter Complex rigs are where those silly-looking Japanese reel stand/ balancer/ hook-keeper that replaces the blank handle cap come in really handy. This is a jighead with a double stinger hook looped to the leader. The Tsubaki reel stand is also one of the cheapest and most functional, with the rotating hook keeper. Most of them also contain a pair or stack of o-rings that will grab your line to loop it around and back to hook your first guide k-frame. They store your lure, hooks and line away from the rod, prevent line wraps. Easy to grab and fish, easy to put back away.

Sufix 832 is choice braid, round, well-behaved, good FEP coating. Spool capacity of the Ultegra 2000 is 110 m 0.15 mm dia; 80 m 0.17 mm dia That corresponds to 6-lb or 8-lb Sufix 832. YGK X-braid is excellent, higher test for the same diameter, and has found its way on all my spinning reels. The Ultegra has more drag than you need. If you set with a spring balance, you should set drag to 1/4 of your weakest link, line test, leader test, or rod max line rating.

Buy your rod, then shop your 2000 reel in JDM. https://fishing.asian-portal.shop/category/select/pid/320552 https://fishing.asian-portal.shop/category/select/pid/300983 https://fishing.asian-portal.shop/category/select/pid/368003

At JPY 138 to the US$ exchange rate, consider that All of Japan is 30% off. Since you want to fish braid, I strongly recommend 3000MHG Shimano size. You can only get this braid-specific spool size in JDM, where it's available in all Shimano worm-drive models, Stradic, Vanford, Twin Power, Vanquish....all these reels are the same design as '18 Stella, with cost cut in materials selection and labor quality (Malaysia line vs. Japan bench). https://fishing.asian-portal.shop/category/select/pid/316257 https://fishing.asian-portal.shop/category/select/pid/300224 (these are the same reels, the only difference is Stradic aluminum frame vs. Vanford plastic-composite and lighter rotor). Likewise, for braid in Daiwa, I would be looking at Luvias LT2500, which has the right braid spool, right price, and is a better reel than previously made your list. https://fishing.asian-portal.shop/category/select/pid/301306 This is your chance to step up to a quality worm-drive spinning reel, with increased spool pitch for casting greater distance, and improved line management just for handling light braid. Leave All the locomotive drive reels behind. Twin Power 3000MHG medium frame, 47-mm spool dia, loadedwith PE#1.2 X-braid, 27-lb.

My Lew's Super Duty SDG1XHF has a flipping switch. You can't randomly bump this, you have to really want to move it. It's also a nice feature for vertical jigging. You use it when you may want to set a hook before you have time to turn the crank. Any time you push the thumb bar, it lifts the pinion from the spoon pins. It normally locks the pinion in that position for freespool, and you unlock it by turning the crank. The flipping switch defeats the lock, so when you let go of the thumb bar, the pinion spring pushes it instantly back onto the spool pins.

but nothing could be simpler in operation or set-up than Daiwa's magforce, which is why everyone else is playing catch up, because they can't directly copy Daiwa's patent.

kinda covered on the Brand Loyalty thread

I paid $257 shipped for a JDM Zillion Silver Wolf - a known quantity in comparison. Exchange rate hit 139 JPY to the $ that day, all of Japan is On Sale - 30% off. I-Cast is where tackle gets introduced every year, but they're going to have to make a helluva smoke screen to hide the current exchange rate for JDM shopping. @AmmoGuy fixed - Japan is good shopping anytime it's over 100 JPY to the $

tripod and focus-stacking - spiral-wrap slow jig rod @AmmoGuy - I would consider that rod damaged beyond use - I suspect it will break on a good fish. You can be sure it came off the mandrel straighter than that. It was probably bent during transport

I was anti-braid until braid and reels caught up with each other. Matched with the right reels, I've gone to all fine braid with just a couple of spools of fluoro main line. Can think of some lures that I was able to set on fluoro main line, but set so much better with braid (+leader). Even 2' of leader gives you some measure of shock absorption that braid alone doesn't have.

I fished nothing but Falcon through the 80s and 90s. Also kept my dad in them. (ok, I also fished longer Lami and GL2). Thirty years ago, they were peerless, but they also wouldn't meet your budget back then. On your other thread I recommended 13Fishing Fate Black. This means something. How many threads do you need to do this (rhetorical) @Eric 26 - tell him again

I don't have a 13Fishing bass rod, but I'm bowled over with my inshore 13Fishing Omen Green - it's the least expensive rod I fish, and I'll always have one in my ML niche. They have plenty of stock on the Fate Black bass rod, @Eric 26 has tried and recommended this rod, and it fits your price. https://13fishing.com/fate-black-3-spinning If you can up the ante, Omen Black is a very good price for The entry level Toray graphite rod. Those long steelhead rods are great for casting, but you'll get a lot more feel and lure finesse from a lighter-weight 7' rod.

It's exactly the same idea as thumbing your baitcaster, keeps your line tight, and the single greatest weapon against wind knots. It's manual bail technique, which we've covered on the forum many times. You don't have to touch the spool, and you can use all your fingertips to feather the line. While your hand is there, close the bail manually rather than using the crank auto-close, turn with the rod to take up the slack, and retrieve. Any time I loan a rod, we go over this. If you do this, you can load your spool to the brim with the finest braid.

@NorthernBasser the Design that you're complaining and that others have complained on the forum before is specific to Vanford and the CI4+ frame. It's definitely not enough to write off Other Shimano, because Stradic remains the Best Buy in a quality spinning reel. The other Shimano worm-drive reels don't have the short knee issue. Stradic 2000 .................................................................................Vanquish 2000 Twin Power 3000 don't have a Vanford to compare side-by-side, because plastic-composite-frame spinning reels are never on my purchase list. @The Bassman - Must be Pianist fingers.