bulldog1935

Just got back from the Arroyo Colorado in far S. Texas - 4 nights of dock fishing, a bit of daytime kayaking. Prevailing SE, highs in the low 80s, lows 65 - the lights drew finger mullet and scads of tiny glass minnows. Lou fishing the sunset a pelican fishing with us Susie's monster buck speckled trout landed on XUL - it made two 50-yd runs added to our best overnight stringer me having fun yet with a quick sunset snook before dinner.

I think it's the opposite, 7' is more versatile - 6' and shorter are for fishing streams and tight cover. More people may have 6' UL rods, because they're traditional. Mine go out to 8'3' but they're about reaching as far as possible. If you look at casting as ballistics, rod rotation being constant, every 20% increase in rod length doubles cast distance. With the longer rod, you cast light weights with the tip, which also protects the light line, and fight fish with the butt. As I tried to describe above, the short para UL loads deep over the full rod length to cast a narrow lure weight range.

that combo makes my tongue hard - congrats.

You'll get my standard rod taper description here. Short traditional UL rods are para taper, with a faster tip, more flex as you move into the mid and butt, and a narrow lure weight range. Long UL, all-range, bass finesse, shore light game (rockfish) rods are progressive taper, with most flex in the tip, a faster mid, and a stiff butt. They have wide lure weight range, protect the lightest line, and keeping the rod low sets the hook and turns big fish using the rod butt.

Not to derail the big-reel subject, but with Texas vast inshore water, I grew up pier fishing in the bays. Pier fishing in the surf, people catch bull redfish, black drum, sharks, a few mackerel, pompano, jacks, maybe a lifetime cobia - this is different with the normal inshore fish - seatrout. Had it honed to an UL science before I brought my daughters up doing the same thing - releasing 40 nursery trout every sunset, and maybe some schoolies thrown in. Under the lights, so much of the bait you're imitating is tiny - tiny mullet in the summer, tiny glass minnows in the winter. Counted it, 13 years ago, bought our first pair of UL and XUL shore light game (rockfish) rods from Japan, and they were an instant boon for getting tiny baits to the edge of the lights. I've added two more of these in even longer rods, and fish them with light braid and 1000- and 2000-size Shimanos. and more recently, BFS Likewise in the winter, your two daytime inshore choices are imitating 6" mullet for scattered big fish that will eat them, or tiny glass minnows for fish stacking in tide passes. (Or catch the pompano migration in the surf.) This September, our tide-pass timing found stacked snook. We have our dock-fishing Jones for 4 nights beginning tomorrow night (new moon) in far south Texas. The place we go new moons every winter is a phenomenon - the Arroyo Colorado was once the main channel of the Rio Grande before the main channel moved 17 mi south. Now it's part of the delta with a dredged barge channel from Lower Laguna Madre ICW to Port Harlingen. One side of the arroyo is lined with houses and lighted docks. While the larger females stake a breeding turf on the flats, and also travel to feed, the male schoolie specs chase bait 25 mi /day. They sweep through the arroyo dock lights all night, especially in the winter - and on new moons, they don't have any place else to go. Fishing tandems, we often double with redfish and snook - the two fish fight each other, we just have to get at least one of them into a big long-handle net. It's really cool and requires some stealth. You sit on the dock, smoke cigars, sip rum, and talk, waiting for fish sign in the lights. Someone stands up, catches a fish and sits back down. Everybody on the dock rotates through, and we get limits of fish taco fillets every night. Out of 200 fish, I filleted only two 16" nursery trout females,, and only kept those because they were injured. We normally keep 17", which are too big for nursery trout, and should be schoolie males, up to about 23" Just checked latest weather prediction for the next 4 days. Prevailing SE the entire time - no front is going to reach us. Highs low 80s, lowest low 65.

@J Francho I never fish more than 2-oz spider weights (and that much meat again).

If you look at the flat 250 yards on my Yumeya spool (no backing), you may get it even better -- a fuller spool with perfect flat line lay and no hour-glassing. As a rule, deep spools get perfect line lay with larger diameter lines, but they hour-glass as you load more and more thin line. The hour-glassing limits capacity, but more important, it affects cast distance, and possibly wind knots.

You absolutely can buy the 3000MHG spool from many Japan vendors. You can fit any Shimano 47-mm-dia, 17-mm-stroke spool to the reel body - Shimano Yumeya S-20 The Yumeya I linked, 1215 S-20, is perfect for 10-lb Sufix 832, 120-m capacity (same diameter as PE#1.5) The vendor I linked to above, Plat, will contact Shimano and get any spool you want. Here's the complete skinny on JDM Vanford - note the sizes are the same for '18 Stella (magnesium spool), '19 Stradic, '19 Vanquish (magnesium spool), '20 Vanford and '20 Twin Power.

5000D is a big reel with a deep spool. It's intended for light offshore or heavy inshore. The capacity is 150 m (165 yds) of 0.4 mm line - 20-lb mono, or in X-braid, that's 90-lb Here's the calculator for capacity with different line diameter https://www.pattayafishing.net/fishing-reel-line-capacity-estimator/ The braid spools are 4000CXH, 3000XH and 3000CXH, and of course, the smaller 2500XH. I looked it up, 4000 is a different body, and spools won't inerchange. I haven't figured out Daiwa RCS spools, but they may make aftermarket braid spools for your reel. Here it is, I found it on ebay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/402517039171 200 m PE#1.5 (0.2 mm dia.) - that's about perfect You might try hunting this spool on Asian Portal - probably cheaper, and free Fed-Ex express for $100 purchase. Here's my Yumeya PE1520 spool (same capacity) for large-body Shimano You can use this line calculator for stacking lines - mono backing and working braid on top. https://www.pattayafishing.net/advanced-fishing-reel-line-capacity-estimator/

@Team9nine They call that finger-bail, and that's the norm on the best offshore spinners. Joe Robinson recommended it in his book on XUL spinning. Hard to think of all the Daiwa SS500 reels out there intentionally hacked.

If fishing light braid is your goal, 20-lb X-braid or 15-lb Sufix 832, or smaller, the JDM-only Shimano 3000MHG size is the most desirable spool. Since they make reels in batches, you won't find every model in stock at once, anywhere. My buddy just bought a Twin Power 3000MHG for ML and loves the reel. He bought his on a Friday, and it was delivered on Monday. Asian Portal currently has 4 Vanfords in stock in this size. This means something. ...make that 3 reels in stock - somebody owes me a like

I certainly didn't buy Steez and Zillion 1000 reels because of the TW, but for the range of 34 mm aftermarket SV spools out there. The theory of the design produces less line friction coming off the spool, and it works fine even with the smallest braided line. vs. and the whole falling line guide idea is pretty neat - we haven't seen one of those in 100 years.

...and a snappy hook set won't break the fly rod. But if you're holding a straight-wrapped bait rod at the same aspect and set hard, you're apt to break the rod 1/3 from the tip for all the reasons I just described.

In 1881, Book of the Black Bass, Doc Henshall described keeping the rod low to fight fish (set the hook, etc) as "giving him the butt" Since I'm here, 8'3" Chubb Henshall bass rod, c. 1910, but first described in 1876 article. And btw, Doc takes credit for designing the first bass rod under 12' A high-stick break, btw, is a torsional overload. It results from the guides trying to twist the rod tip around so they're at the "bottom" of the bent portion of the rod. In theory, a high-stick set won't break a spinning rod, a fly rod, or a spiral-wrapped bait rod, because the rod spines aren't twisted by the loaded line guides.

Over the history of fishing reels, there were paradigm changes; level-wind (a big step backwards for tournament casters), freespool, separating freespool from LW, the comfort of LP reels; the flip-bail, anti-reverse, skirted spool, ball bearings, lightweight materials. There were parallel advances in rod MOC and construction, and in fishing lines. Throughout the history, old reels don't make the swap to new lines. I can still catch fish with 1914 Talbot and Thomas cane, from the other side of all those major changes. My older daughter's go-to choice for creek-fishing was a 1937 Luxor half-bail and short Airex solid glass rod (no anti-reverse on the reel). Over the age of @basspro05 's reels, he's not going to see paradigm changes in new reels, but subtle improvements that parallel the subtle improvements in rods and lines. The comfort changes in baitcasters including lighter weight and better shape noted by @AaronH @QED and others are certainly real. The things that are harder to see are CAD/CAM and processing improvements in the gears and structural improvements in how to use lighter-weight materials (where they bombed in the '90s). The biggest decade difference in baitcasters is the performance gained by gradual reductions in spool mass and inertia, accompanied by subtle changes in brakes. Reducing spool mass and inertia gets the same brake result using less brake, and that equals greater cast distance. The way to read cast distance is effortless, reliable fishing with a wider lure weight range. Out of all my new reels, I'm still most impressed with ZPI Alcance, a bench-raced Revo incorporating magnesium spool, titanium spindle, and tuned mag-brake adjustment cam. Shimano and Daiwa are going to have similar step changes. If you happen to like Daiwa's basic mag-force brake, the SV brake is the next-step better. In spinning reels, the CAD/CAM improvements may be more important, because of the high bending moments inherent in the basic design, and pushed harder as spindles get longer and drag goes higher. Structural stiffness is most important - reducing flex in the body, rotor and long spindle, and building gears that are better at handling the high contact loads that result from pushing to higher drag loads (what fished-through Mitchells). For my money, '18 Stella is the benchmark, and all the new Shimano reels introduced since then incorporate that same design, to the extent that the parts inerchange with '18 Stella.

My Lew's BB-25SW still casts great w/ 3/8 oz It's just that my new Steez with Roro-X spool and KTF micro-bearings will cast 1/16 oz farther than the 3/8 oz cast above. It's also more fun to fish - the rod and reel weighs 1/3. ha ha ha ha ha

I think I would mix it up. You could turn one of your Gen 1 Revos S into a BFS reel with a nice aftermarket spool and upgraded spool bearings https://japantackle.com/tuning-parts/spools-casting-reels/abu.html And try a new reel or two such as Daiwa Tatula SV and Shimano Stradic. The thing I really noticed after not having bought a baitcaster in 20 years was the big step in mag brakes. In spinning reels, it's longer, shallower spools with improved line management, and extreme rotor balance compared to older reels.

Small BFS reels with short para rods are made for stream trout fishing - accurate casts under 50' are the goal. You can make Bait Finesse System reel from any size baitcaster - low-inertia spool bearings and a low-mass, shallow spool. You may have to go to aftermarket to find both, but you may already have a reel that can make the swap - Daiwa, Shimano, Abu, including Revo and Black Max. AMO Store on the offshore Express website is a good place to start. There are a few ebay US vendors with very low-cost spools to give this a try. @Kirt Howe If you have a reel and you want to swap in a spool, pm me for possible links Two example rods, bass BFS all range, though a spendy rod and 13Fishing Omen Green inshore ML - mid price ($120) - they also make this rod in 7'7" (OG2C77M), though finding stock may not be easy. Check inshore ML offerings from other brands. 13Fishing has this rod in stock, and I highly recommend it. Either of these rods will cast 1/8 oz 140-150' with the right reel set-up. Both rods are fast, neither rod is tippy over full lure weight range. Just in the past few years, the Japanese have been taking BFS to shore light game (rockfish) and offshore jigging. This 8'2" all-range rod will cast 1/16 oz to 140', and protect 4-lb test. All of these are definitely progressive taper rods, and the last example is pretty tippy to get the full lure weight range. All the fish power is in the butt. @Kirt Howe You can build your own from a fast 5-wt fly rod blank. That would let you cast 1/16 to 3/8 oz farther than you could fish it.

I was ok until the Three Little Slivers of pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and Reese's peanut butter cup pie. Thankful? My mom was able to walk the steps up to my sister's house - just a few weeks ago, none of us thought she'd do that again.

come kayak fishing with us - you bet it's exercise. A day with us is a core muscle workout. Or follow Glenn off the beach for even more exercise Do you consider kayak fishing to be exercising?

Of course I fish mostly the salt with my spinning reels, but I so dislike plated brass line rollers, I don't give them a chance to fail, and swap them early with dual-BB, titanium roller with no seals. The plasma-TiN that both Daiwa and Tica use are also good line rollers. The zirconia line roller @newapti5 suggested is a smart swap. I'd put a new ball bearing in with it. They typically use the standard 4x7x2.5 mm BB

I don't know - papas, huevos and venison backstrap have fished a few good mornings for me. coming of the water after noon, it's tough to beat a chile relleno at Mamacitas before the drive home.

My Steez SV TW is a couldn't pry from my etc fingers. The Zillion is a nice substitute wearing an extra ounce in aluminum v. magnesium there are great aftermarket spool options for these reels, but you might consider the shallower 1012 spool if you can find it - lighter total line mass for skipping.

The rods I showed above, I don't even think about heavy weights on my shore light game rods, because I'll switch to ML or MM, and I use them primarily for light end capability. The one rod I own that excels at each end of its lure weight rating is the Valleyhill all-range BFS. It's really remarkable to get all this from a 6'7" rod, especially throwing 1/16 oz to 100' And it does that without being tippy on the heavy end.

@A-Jay What I discovered on my NLW CTs and shallow braid spools, while you have to lay a proper hand LW to load the spool, you rarely have to think about it with your working line. Winding the braid, the thin line naturally hunts the deep spot on the spool, and tends to LW itself while you're fishing. Before you take it out next time, it's a good idea to restore hand LW in your working line. The narrow 4600 spools @TnRiver46 is throwing don't need LW even with mono. Adding a PS here - ZZeta of Italy offers a 4500 CT frame, but they are proud of it. https://surfcastproshop.com/shop/ols/products/zzetatuning-twin-mag-pro-side-plates The beauty of these NLW barstock frames is they don't have or need crossbars.