bulldog1935

even if Lew's parts swap in, you can't buy parts from Lew's currently - they've suspended parts sales, and only accept reels for repair.

I push my little reels pretty hard inshore - they've all caught doubles with seatrout, snook and redfish. Doubles actually fight against each other - you just have to get them to the net.

I push my felt washers pretty hard. Not necessarily recommending this spendy (and really brilliant) upgrade, but MTCW TD drag knob can make a remarkable difference. First, it's all metal. Second, the elastic component loading the drag is a spring rather than elastic compression of a lump of plastic. They come with both fine and stiff springs, but swapping springs is fine work, especially to get the detente clicker set. It's next-level drag performance, widens the drag-adjustment to extreme, whether you want extreme fine adjustment on the silver spring, or balls on the red. Up front, if you want more than 2-lbs drag, you have to swap-in the red spring. Also with the fine silver spring, you can push on the front of the knob with your fingertip to add drag for hook set or to slow a running fish.

Are you guys sure this guy isn't a beta-bot? @new2BC4bass Certainly I never mentioned you might be a beta-bot, but beta-bots are computer "personalities" that show up on forums and make conversational posts that seem a little strange and more than a little uninitiated. Their purpose is to establish a link in internet forums and then begin spamming. We haven't heard back from our OP, though we asked him reasonable questions.

Many states won't give a DL now before age 18. Traffic is very different than when I was that age. I had a car before I had a DL, a '62 Corvair bought from our neighbor, and I had to put brakes on it. But my folks would let me solo across town on city streets with only my learner's permit. But there's literally 50 times more cars on expansive crowded roads now. Trepidation also keeps many young folks from wanting their DL. My older daughter and my buddy's younger daughter didn't want to drive until they were well into their 20s.

That's a sure way to go swimming - like comparing a car to a skate board. Very Different roll centers.

wow, lotsa information overload without knowing what was brother's rod he borrowed, whether he liked it and wants something similar. also, if brother stopped fishing, what happens to all his idle tackle? Are you guys sure this "guy" isn't a beta-bot?

I hate tee-handles on spinning reels - they grab everything. My favorite handle knob on a mid-size spinning reel is Livre EF30. It swaps out with Shimano A and Daiwa S. This one is on a Tica Libra 3000, which is a bit larger than Shimano 3000 (closer to Shimano 5000). It's round against your palm, with seven facets on on the inside cone for your knuckle and thumb - you can hook it with two fingers. Both comfortable and lightweight. There are a few 10th Anniversary black ones out there, but they'll be asking collector's prices for them.

Fog is always a great fishing omen.

I'm having a blast with my raced-out 1500C and 4600C3 - either one with short rods will throw 1/8 oz past 80' 40 years ago, I was fishing Ambassadeurs with weightless rigs and spiral cast. The ZPI Alcance with magnesium/titanium spool probably isn't a fair comparison, but I'm more impressed with it than Daiwa Zillion and Steez, and I dig all these reels Clearly, you use them for different reasons, set up to cast where you plan to fish them. My Ambassadeurs are really for fishing close - the other 3, a range of lures over distance.

2500 is for braid, and 3000 for larger mono/fluoro - each will manage the correct line better. Both are the same body with different depth spools. 2500SHG [Nylon (lb-m)] 5-110, 6-95, 8-70 [Fluorochemicals (lb-m)] 4-130, 5-100, 6-80 [PE (No. -m)] 0.6-200, 0.8-150, 1-120 C3000XG Nylon (No.m) 2.5-180, 3-150, 4-100 [Fluorochemicals (lb-m)] 2.5-160, 3-130, 4-100 [PE (No. -m)] 1-400, 1.5-270, 2-200 Either should out-cast 2000 because of the longer stroke and larger diameter spool. 2000 is the small frame and would be the choice for managing even finer braid and UL mono. JDM has a 3000MHG model that is based on the larger 4000/5000 frame and uses a shallow braid spool, but that's heading the wrong direction for our OP.

No question your Revos were made in Korea by Doyo, next to Lew's and ZPI Alcance. They're a completely different animal from a C3 and will outperform the latter even in race form.

The times my posts have been hidden for moderator approval, they contained off-site links. Glenn and company have set up protocols that automatically hide posts containing links to questionable websites. They've established those protocols, which is their business. I get a notice when a moderator approves my post with such links. I could block this one right now with a link to one vendor I can think of and, again, after they check them out, they have always approved my links. One thing I notice about BR is a complete absence of Beta-Bot spamming. Beta Bots are getting pretty good about making conversational posts and feigning to be people. Their protocols obviously do a great job blocking that annoyance.

There are two things you pay more for in rods. Finish grade is one - the rod received higher-quality components, more detail and looks nicer. More important is probably the blank itself. Higher grade blanks use helical reinforcing layers, and nano resins so there's actually less plastic and more strong fiber in the blank. The volume of material to get the same rod taper is smaller. The more expensive rod should be noticeable in lighter weight for faster action.

Since no one else has mentioned them, the Lew's SLP-frame reels are small, as are the Daiwa CT reels.

@throttleplate Livre handles are indeed very nice - also spendy Pretty sure I bought it from Asian Portal. FishingShopKiwi also has good discounted prices if you can find stock. I noticed Digitaka stocks them. Hedgehog stocks most all at strictly retail. Here's an English Livre catalog pdf - worth studying to identify models and understand their system, so you know what you're looking for before you begin. Gomexus makes their look alike not-quite-Livre handles. Two things stand out about Livre - titanium knobs, and variable-pitch handles. The 37-mm EF knob below weighs 13 g, vs. 35-40 g for big pot-metal or rubber knobs. If you're after the dial-in pitch, buy Livre. If you're not keen on the pitch, Gomexus has the look for 1/4 the cost. Though I knew a guy who put a long Gomexus double handle on a low-geared UL Shimano spinning reel, and couldn't keep up winding against charging trout. There are several Japanese companies whose bread and butter is motorcycle racing parts, and also make pretty neat and even brilliant fishing reel parts on the side - MetroTech Custom Works (MTCW), ZPI Racing, and Livre Megatech. Their shops form and CDC-machine titanium and magnesium in batches. I've cobbled a few really functional handles using a mix of Livre and Gomexus parts, -Daiwa and Avail parts, also. One place in Japan that will provide any Livre handle with any Livre knob combination is SquidMania - they also offer their own Livre custom parts that no one else can, such as the hook-keeper add-on to the Livre "custom balancer" While I believe they sell and ship direct, their website doesn't translate well. I ordered this Union 37-43 for my low-geared Vanquish, along with several hook keepers, from SquidMania but used my long-time Japan broker, Masamichi at noppin.com.

For stream fishing, you can't get too small on either. The Japanese have been fishing BFS for stream trout for a decade. The rod I show is a Tailwalk Troutia, and found a great ebay buy from a Japan vendor (better price than AP or Digitaka). They offer a spinning version, as well. In the US market, it will be easier to find traditional UL spinning tackle. You usually want 5-1/2' or less. I bet @redmeansdistortion can recommend a half-dozen rods. Most of my trout fishing for more than 20 years has been in vintage cane.

Stream fishing is one thing - short UL rods fit better. But Lake fishing, I would think any ML or bass finesse rod would do the job just fine I have inshore 7'7" ML spinning that is rated for 1/8 oz on the low end, and would plug right in.

Show and tell on a finished 4600, Royal Express 1 The visible parts here are of course the AMO braid spool, and Valleyhill LW rider with ceramic guide. Inside, here's the light spool again, BB spur gear, Avail mag brake (adjusting this is the reason to want the thumbscrews); the new LW worm gear is Valleyhill dual BB; the new idler gear (drives the LW off the spool during cast) is Kagawa BB. When I rebuilt the drive for new carbontex, I also swapped in a BB main shaft. The Ultracast spool design is part of why I love my CT surf reels. Swapping spool bearings is nothing - everything snaps into place. The Roro BFS bearings will only be there for a few casts, playing with light lures - seeing just how light I can get with it. I have a set of MTCW heavy-duty unshielded spool bearings that will swap in for the 1/2-oz niche. I'm going to load it first with cheap light mono, set the mag at my light end, and set the centrifugal at the heavy end. Then I'll swap line to the good braid I don't want to backlash. I'm matching the reel with a Very Good+ condition Falcon Glass rod. This reel is a more comfortable fit than the old-style Lew's BB-1N I had here before. When you buy parts from Hedgehog, they always send you these little stickers to put on your reel - this is the only reel I ever thought might look good with the sticky added I already had the thumbscrews around, because they're pretty much required on my surf reels, along with a few other parts listed above. Next time I'm looking for something to do, I can get affordable chemicals to black-oxide the stainless thumbscrews from JAX, a jeweler's bench supplier. ____________________________________________ ps - back from the mag-set trials, and I built a rocket. The normal setting on the Avail mag (for Avail microcast spool) is to install the magnet plate flush, then turn the single setscrew that moves the whole mag plate outward, 1/4 to 1/2 turn. For a full-flange deep mono spool on my CTs, it's 3 full turns The Avail starting point was a mid cast disaster, flush wasn't a lot better. But when I set the plate flush and turned each individual setscrew CW 1/4 turn to move the magnets inward, I got perfection. Note I wasn't aiming this to fish 3 g, just casting there for fun and to set the magnets for light-end. I get consistent 70' casts with 3 g and the correct magnet stand-off - horizontal cast, tall arcing cast, it all works. I was afraid I wasn't going to be ready for braid for a long time, but I'm back to confident, and on to setting centrifugal shoes with 1/2 oz - it's all easy from here. ______________________ All done - it's casting 3 to 15 g without making an adjustment. .

I mentioned this on another thread

@txchaser Fade has never bothered me. The Japanese X-braids are the worst for it - a few times wet and your working line fades to pastel at best. But I really like the meter marks for loading spools - you can count off every 10 m, 5 m, and even single meters. You can read jigging depth or cast distance right off your loaded spool. Plus you know exactly how much new line you have left on your reserve store spool, for spooling the next reel.

Where the Vanquish matters for me is light-touch fishing - small lures, and big fish that are in and out often quicker than you can respond.

The US market Stradic FL2500 reel is the 2500SHG in Japan - all reels imported to the US are high gear ratios. Here's the skinny on JDM models - https://www.jpfishingtacklenews.com/shimano-stradic-19/ The C2000S is 5.3 gears - personally, I'd rather have the lower gears for better feel and torque, and I've bought and fish a C1000S Stradic, and a C2000S Vanquish. I also have a C2000SHG Stradic, and had to put a longer handle on it to like it.

You won't be disappointed. When the '19 Stradic was first introduced, it was reviewed as "The Best $400 Reel You Can Buy is a $200 Reel" Here's my 5000 for near-offshore, throwing 6" topwaters to mackerel

if that's an or, buy the Stradic 2500S and put braid on it. I recommend you grab it before someone else gets it. These reels sell out, and finding this inventory was a bit of effort on my part - where are my likes for it? look at this gorgeous long-stroke braid spool. (you can add a C3000 spool later if you want a mono spool)