bulldog1935

😁

I believe pike fishing is a big deal in Ukraine, and they also supply throughout western EU. FFR forum has several Ukraine members who post great photos of wild rivers and native salmonids. Before the '20 postal crash, my favorite titanium-wire bite traces were Mako, sold both on website and ebay, but they completely blocked US sales when postal delays were charging-back paypal. I had no problems ordering from SDS, but haven't tried under current tariffs. While Ukraine has an advantageous tariff schedule, 10% with no aluminum-derivative tariff, buying a Japanese part from Ukraine may not be so lucky, and could receive a 200% unknown-derivative tariff. https://reelmaster.shop/delivery - link states he only uses Air Small Packets (Ukraine post). I would contact him and ask what his experience has been with US Customs CN23 form. You also want to avoid courier cost from Europe.

@Falkus It costs a lot less to make the reel run the way you want. (this was a used $200 '18 Ryoga - more proof there's no such thing as a $300 truck)

I've gone 100% threadline braid over it. My first target was salt shore, fishing 3-g micro-plugs, and bought a new Steez for the 2-g capable Roro X-29 spool. Next step was kayak ML using Ray's Studio spool on Zillion. I've pushed it from limestone creeks to frogger and even surf on bench Ambassadeur. It all casts my light target weights farther than I need to fish, which means casting with reduced effort and improved reliability and accuracy. Even my Ryoga in mud-marsh, skip-casting bunny shrimp, has KTF Kahen spool and PE#1.5

I've been pretty transparent, even empirical, about casting weights and measured distance. When something gives instant results, I recognize that, too. Both MTCW and ZPI Racing made their mark in motorcycle racing - fishing is a sideline - another is Livre. Both sell top-line bearings, both sell fop-line lubes. By far, the fastest LP reel I own is ZPI Alcance with magnesium spool, titanium spindle, and their mag-cam tuning. But this is a thread about round BFS. There are other ways to measure bench results, too, like reaching fish that were comfortably far away from your tiny bait.

Lew's offers 5.6 gearing that will get you down to 23 ipt. Revo offers 5.4 gearing also equates to 23 ipt. Ark Gravity 5 offers 5.4 gearing with 21 ipt. Something to keep in mind, starting with any low-geared reel and increasing the handle length has the same effect as lowering the gear ratio. It reduces your turn rate and increases the torque you put into the reel. (works on high-geared reels, too)

How do you plan to use the reel - line, casting range, technique. Spinning, baitcast. Realistic price range. IPT alone won't get you many useful recommendations.

My greatest-distance reel, by far, bench 5500CT uses these hybrid ceramic bearings - full-size 1040. I did set the mag brake casting 1/8-oz loaded jighead. Should be tuning reels to match rod range and your intended use. But it's not capable of casting 2 or 3 g to any useful distance. This ability is in the physics of the spool + bearings. Also, C3/Ultracast bearing configuration doesn't gain anything from microbearings, because the inner race is fixed, and outer race spins with the spool. Essentially the same set-up, 4500CT, but narrow spool and SiN 1040, this is a 3-g micro-jig combo. Don't remember if 1150 Air BFS microbearings in my 1500C are Hedgehog or Roro, but this reel fishes 1.5 g, and casts 3 g much farther than you need to fish any creek. I use Hedgehog Alchemy Oil for lube chores, but hybrid ceramic bearings get ZPI F-0 Pro Extra Long Cast. Might be worth noting excess oil drags down microbearings.

If the physics didn't matter for light-lure distance, double-row bearings wouldn't work. As it is, casting light weights, only the inner race and ball-row turn with the spindle. It works this way because starting the small inner ball row takes less energy than starting the larger outer ball row. Casting heavy weights or with big drive loads, both inner and middle race, and both rows of balls turn. (also giving this bearing design essentially unlimited load range). Any unshielded (air) bearings require more maintenance - a drop of oil about every month of use - or in the case of salt, a drop before and after every trip. Hedgehog also does a really good job bracketing useful load ranges on all their spool bearings. They make this empirical vs. hyperbole. Bringing this up, Air HD is the best bearing Hedgehog sells, but it starts at 3 g. To fish 1/16 oz, should use Air BFS.

@John B. - I'm happy for you. Where I fish salt tide passes, distance is everything, doubling your fish chances by fishing both far and near channel slopes. Wind and tide currents combine to stack glass-minnows into bait balls. Snook and redfish are picky about individual bait size, while seatrout will take a larger flashy lure for slashing into bait ball. Jun Sonada reports 3 to 6% cast distance improvement is possible by upgrading bearings. When I measured different bearings on casting range, everything else constant, I got 15% difference between Daiwa shielded bearings and the best microbearings, Roro and KTF/IXA double-row. Number - casting 2-g JH past 130', and routinely fishing this distance with 3-g micro-plug. Since then, the best spool bearings I've found, especially for salt-impervium and extreme light distance without giving up load range, are full-silicon-nitride, which are infinitely light, slick, and run dry. They also run quiet, just the slightest purr, which has made me a junkie. Any ceramic bearing doesn't apply. My 2500C mini-surf was casting 1/4-oz plug to 200' last April - probably more impressive, PureLure Seabed 7'8' Baitfinesse was hooking fish 180' away (measured on GoogleEarth).

BFS on a rod is a misnomer - BF on a rod is correct. BFS is the reel - combination of shallow lightweight spool, low-inertia spool bearings, and threadline.

This was a better thread talking about reel capabilities. It's dumb to compare local brick-shop prices to wholesale warehouse-export prices and think the difference is anything other than overhead and inventory costs. When you buy from Japan mail order, boxed reel is drop-shipped from distributor, the Japan vendor packages and ships the reel to your house. He's working from a storage building or home-office. The local brick shop that has reels in display cases for you to see, handle, and try, has spent a lot of money on the shop, on the clerk or technician who shows you the reel and answers your questions, and on the inventory that's stacked in back so you can compare, decide, and take it home. Only problem with The American Way is lb-test - a nebulous number that has no factual basis, and invites poor quality control. Especially if you want to fish braid, get over lb-test, and think about braid by diameter. This is what makes Japan PE# scale so easy - it's the traditional scale for measuring silk thread diameter. Compare to fly leader and tippet, sold using "X" scale. If your 5X tippet doesn't fit through the eye of a size 22 hook, it doesn't do you any good..

Abu Garcia

@gim UV shadow

For me, drag clicker is ersatz. When I rebuilt salt-use '18 Ryoga and swapped in '22 Basura hyperdrive gears, had to give up drag clicker. Can never hear one in coast wind, and can always feel the inertia impact of drag pay/stop through the rod.

For braid-to-leader, to have some measure of shock tolerance (stretch), both for striking fish and for fish lunges - if both happen at the same instant, the impact through braid alone can break your rod. Fishing salt, fluoro sink is even more important than fishing freshwater.

I think you'd find the Tranx SVS brake to be just as effective at throwing big weights, but would likely spend more time adjusting it to change weight range.

If you want compare capacities for different line diameters, this online calculator is very accurate: https://www.pattayafishing.net/fishing-reel-line-capacity-estimator/

What you didn't make clear is whether you plan to use braid or mono. Tatula 200 line capacity is 110 yds 20-lb mono (250 yds 12-lb mono). Tranx 400 is basically the same line capacity. As @F14A-B notes below, I'd consider Daiwa MagZ if you also want to cast lighter weights.

Horse hockey. Start here I've filled enough spools using Pataya calculator to know that JAFTMA X-braid (YGK, Varivas, Duel) diameter doesn't vary - made in Japan by Izanas - spool will always hold the full calculated amount, and more, because spool capacities are usually under-rated. I've also filled enough spools using 832 braid to know that the diameter does vary, averages greater than the reported diameter, and actual loaded spool amount always comes up less than the calculated amount. Also worth noting that for the same reported diameter, X-braid breaking strength is over twice 832 breaking strength. Same diameter as 6-lb 832, X-braid breaking strength is 16 lbs. If you want to learn something, follow this search. Adding a ps - the 5000D bench reel below has a 5-mm-deep Avail spool, with #1.2 braid stacked on #3 backing. Both braids are pentagram, changing color every 10 m. (the #3 was less-than-half-price close-out line known not to have a durable coating, but makes great backing) I calculated the length of #3 backing (107 m) so the working line would finish filling the spool in the third green 10-m length.

PE#2 made to JAFTMA is 40-lb breaking strength. Possible line stack based on Tatula 150 spool capacity.

That explains it. The $500 truck came with a sense of humor.

@Smirak - cost-effective quick-release rod leashes. Separate rod+reel harness, and leash. You can get everything to make these on Amazon. Rod leash uses bungee and bungee-size toggles - swivel hook on short leash can glide on anchor trolley line, longer leash clips to deck eye. Small paracord buckle connects the two sides. You make up a separate rod-end harness for each rod. Rod-end harness uses coreless paracord, smaller paracord-size toggle, and some salty knot-seizing. Paracord knots are round turn and half hitch. You can make the spinning size shorter. To wrap both rod and reel foot - loop harness over reel seat - insert the reel foot facing backwards on the seat - when you turn the reel forward, both rod and reel are wrapped together, and the reel can't fall off the rod. Any rod out of sight and out of mind gets leashed.