bulldog1935

then there's black flies. A bottle of DEET and continuous cigar. and keeping on topic if I look like I'm in a hurry here, mama bear is coming down the beach behind me - we jumped in the boat and moved to the next sand bar...

YoZuri wake bait is my most productive all-time topwater. Can count on one hand the fish caught on jointed topwater minnow baits. When a summer monsoon washed stripers over the spillway into our cold trout tailwater, people were reporting stripers eating big rainbows off the end of their fly lines and right at their net. Two different crack-of-dawns, took a Castaic rainbow to deep "Barking Dog" pool, where most rainbow eats had been reported. After awhile, felt silly casting the thing. From there into fall, though, harvested 7 good stripers swinging cats whiskers on a Teeny sinking line. I've always thought big piscivores on small flies had to do with your fly/lure drawing a good bait ball. Same spot, two friends broke the state record twice that summer into fall. Jeff's 36"er on a San Juan worm surprise. John's targeted 43"er had 5 rainbow carcasses to 16" in its gullet - they do eat them, but a jointed/diving topwater just doesn't imitate them that well.

Tica reels are made in Taipei since 1960 (and sold in Italy)

The key to tying a good Allbright is remember the direction you rolled the loops. Begin tightening by pulling the tag end of the braid as you continue to roll the loops and get more of that tag end out of the knot. Before it's completely tight, pull the tag end of the fluoro to shorten that loop. The last thing you do is pull the standing ends of both lines. After I trim, a drop of Zap CA+ pink. This knot I tied yesterday will zing through any microguide.

Throwing out a different choice, while they still have stock. ZPI Alcance is a bench-raced-out Revo/Lew's mag brake, medium-depth 11-g spool (ZPI bearings), brass gears. If you're throwing less than 1/2 oz and don't need the SV start-up brake, this reel will probably out-cast everything else out there.

@WPCfishing Daiwa Zillion SV TW G will get you 34 mm dia Boost SV spool for good cast distance and Brass gears.

@redmeansdistortion Certainly not to detract from your good hunting, but you might read this post about the logistics and Actual billed price at Asian Portal - their billed prices track exchange rate, as well, because they bill in JPY - it just may not show in their listed USD price - that is, you may get billed less (or more) than their listed dollar price as the exchange rate fluctuates. The listed dollar price doesn't track exchange rate - the billed price does. The trick anywhere is finding stock. So if you find it, snag it.

There are several Steez models, different spool diameters, Mg and Al frames, and you didn't tell us which. Zillion is Al frame, and you're giving up the worm shaft ball bearings, but you can add those later (and turn your Zillion into a Steez A). Great prices shopping JDM - I believe Asian Portal still has Zillion stock and best price anywhere with free FedEx. Steez CT has 30 mm diameter spool, Alphas has 32 mm dia., Steez Air is 28 mm dia. The same size Zillion is a great follow up, e.g., Steez SV TW 1016 (or 1012) and Zillion SV TW 1000, both 34 mm dia, can swap spools. ps- if you improve your spool bearings, keep it quiet around here ...

There's a slight difference on the inside end, - When you install a Shimano knob on a Daiwa handle, you can put a bushing (spacer) on first, or you can put another BB there with a shim between two ball bearings. It's the Shimano handle that has a bearing-thickness spacer built into the base. Daiwa knob onto Shimano handle usually takes the fewest spacers. @Tail Slap - the extra base on the shimano is 2.5 mm - the thickness of a 740ZZ ball bearing.

yes, they should swap across the full Stradic range. Aside, the 3 reels you called out should all be the same length handles - you'll definitely get a different knob on the 4000 with the tee paddle. There are many aftermarket knobs that fit Shimano A, if you just want to swap the handle knob. Daiwa S and Shimano A knobs interchange on handles. Handle knobs - Tuning Parts (japantackle.com) IOS makes an adapter that even lets you use a Daiwa handle on Shimano reel.

quoted out of context - that's chicken-****. Read the very next sentence. Freespool, the cap bearing is non-contact on the spindle. The purpose of the bearing is to support the loaded pinion gear. Daiwa made them shielded and bonded rather than clip-in. And nothing wrong with the clip-in unshielded micro bearings, except that Daiwa is not going to use those, instead, using their design to meet USM expectations - people who want to fish and ignore their Micro bearings. I'm casting 2g consistently to 100' on my baitcaster with 6'7" rod, and fishing 3 g past 120'. This doesn't happen without selecting bearing application. I'll be there to cast distance with anyone.

When I want to halfway fill a deep spool for braid, I use Big mono - 20- or 25-lb. This minimizes the added mass and inertia on the spool. You can't use a double uni knot and get it through your baitcaster line guide - has to be a good Allbright knot or smaller FG. (Not that anyone should Ever use a double uni knot on uneven line diameters). Here's the excellent line calculator for stacking lines.

Direct experience says otherwise. As you lower the system inertia, you also lower cast control tension to get the same braking result, which gives you improved start-up speed = distance. (Actually, the distance improves with the square of the velocity improvement, so it doesn't take much inertia change to gain notable distance.) I continue to remain floored by performance of Super Duty with stock deep spool, mag brake, and improved Air-HD spool bearings. This is fishing 20-lb Sufix 832, with 20-yds 25-lb Maxima backing. My normal lure weights are 1/4 and 3/8 oz jigheads, and on to 7/8 oz Corky's soft plugs, but the reel gives remarkable performance with 1/8 oz jigheads.

Not manufacturer, not guide, not bass pro, not forum member is going to tell me where my limits are. If I start with a Black Max, by the time I'm done, it will contain the parts that will optimize its performance in the niche I put it into. OK, I guess you gotta stick with manufacturer's rod ratings.

txt - see ya at Little Cut

here's the math - add up the number of inexpensive combos you would consider combining to swap for a higher-grade combo.

@SergeiD My reel is Abu CT built on a 5500-width barstock frame (Akios - there are several choices out there). Avail Microcast spool AMB5550UC (appears to be discontinued, or at least OOS everywhere), unshielded hybrid ceramic bearings, and Avail internally adjustable mag that matches the spool. ZZeta spindle and Rocket ReelCo speed bullet (the drives don't matter, but these have Rocket ReelCo stainless drives). I'm using the lightest Abu 6-pin centrifugal, p/n 1116727, with 2 pins engaged - I also prefer this centrifugal for reduced pinion wear. Lined with 200 m PE#1.5 Duel X-wire braid (30-lb test) I can get over 50 yds consistently with TSL grasswalker on unweighted swimbait hook, a spoon will go farther, and even a 1/2-oz spoon will sail 100 yds. Hedgehog Alchemy Ultralight on bearings and centrifugal race. I've hit a sweet spot with this combination and my (internal) mag adjustment (trial, remove the cap and re-adjust, error, etc.), which matches the 1/4 oz lure perfectly. My 6500-width built otherwise identical, holds 300 m of the same X-braid, needs more weight and longer rod to go that far. It also needs two more centrifugal pins engaged with more weight. Probably the biggest effect on this reel, in place of the speed bullet, I used Mike's BB bushing and BB reel gear so I'd have a working clicker for bait feed - the gear has a wind effect inside the backplate, plus 2 extra BB directly pinned to the spool. Still impressive cast distance and ease, especially with 1 oz on the RH rod just below, but not quite as racy as my 5500. My 5500CT custom is on RH Composites SS861 8' - my surf lure rod and loads beautifully Not yet done with this project, but my 6500CT custom is going on a ZZIplex Trinity 14' rod, and the fishing goal will be 2-oz spider weights. For those who harp and harp on about striking at distance. The purpose of racing out your reel is to improve cast distance and reliability with reduced effort at both. Also to get the attention of pelagics that will follow your lure in and only strike in competition (on your reservoirs, think stripers and white bass). Where you test that distance is in the back acre and, oops, over the fence into the neighbor's back acre, so you move to the county park soccer field. And since you don't drag your good braid through the grass, you pace every cast as you're re-spooling it. 6 paces = 5 yds.

well you had better talk to Daiwa instead of me [DAIWA] Spool Bearing Kit For Bait Reel - HEDGEHOG STUDIO (hedgehog- studio.co.jp) they're shielded micro bearings bonded in lightweight alloy housings - made the Daiwa way. The purpose of shielding is to retain lube so they can be ignored and fished. Those of us who prefer unshielded bearings like to pick our own performance bearing oil. I hope this thing is on. tossing an on-topic bone for our OP @Chaos10691 check HPR Bearings and SDS Custom - both reliable ebay vendors, Florida and Ukraine, respectively. They will offer spool bearing kits for your reel - if they don't show one, contact them and they will put one together for you.

@desmobob that's kind of what I'm talking about - anything on the pinion that causes friction with the spindle pin can prevent it from finding the slot. And worse - over time it makes its own slot there. Ambassadeur pinions are really bad about that, and a part that always needs replacing when you rebuild one.

To cast out to 300', you should be looking at 9' and longer steelhead spinning rods. My Abu CT with 8' surf rod will cast 1/4 oz that far, but that's a special raced-out conventional reel that's not for everybody. Match the rod rating with your min lure weight at min of the rod range - If you want to cast 1/4 oz, pick a rod with 1/4 oz rated at the low end, e.g., 1/4 to 1 oz, etc. Also use the finest line the rod is rated for. What's going to cast farthest are spoons and jigs.

Not so, I have a new Steez SV TW 1016 and a 21 Zillion SV TW 1000, and both came with SLP Works micro bearings in the spool and palm plate. @Chaos10691 Below is my Super Duty - Very Similar to your reel and probably the same bearing sizes - the unshielded micro bearings are Hedgehog Air Ceramic HD, which have salt-proof races. They make a notable difference in the performance of my reel. You don't need to replace the spindle cap bearing. I had my spindle cap removed, spun the spool and noted that bearing did not spin. The spindle-cap bearing only turns under pinion gear load. You will need a pin tool to replace the spool bearing. The simple Hedgehog/Billings type will work on this spool. Rorolures is another good place for bearings, and their pin tool works on every spool, and is a very good buy.

That's a jewel - I'm betting you're going to have a blast racing it out with Valleyhill, Avail and AMO parts.

salmon omelette A paper-thin flake of Nova salmon - salsa on top. I make these every fishing trip, and my buddies line up for them.

I'm casting 1/16 oz to 100' on SV (BFS spool), and the same set-up will fish over an ounce without adjustment. There's no question SV is the least futzing for someone wanting to learn baitcasting - our OP. And you use zero end tension. As far as my thumb goes, I was out-casting guides with weighless rigs 40 years ago using Daiwa Millionaire 6H. I'd PO them - they'd tell me what was wrong with my spiral cast, and I would double their cast distance - it's ok, I always made them look good back at the dock. I'm not a Daiwa fanboy, in fact I quit Daiwa altogether in 1984 when they wouldn't support parts on my Millionaire - I fished nothing but Lew's until this first Steez. Exceeded my expectations so that I also bought a Zillion. But SV is a no-brainer for results with ease of use. Not counting offshore and surf, my only baitcasters currently are Steez, Zillion, and 2 Super Duty. I gave away my dual-brake Lew's to a buddy - good reel for him to learn baitcasting with big weights, but way too much spool mass for distance (wind control) in ML niche. @jimmyjoe the main brake in our old Ambassadeur and Millionaire was the level wind mechanism itself, constantly driven off the spool during casting. Abu's patented centrifugal brake was essentially a start-up brake add-on - then add in end-tension for constant-force braking. Those reels can never achieve the kind of spin velocity we get on new low profile baitcasters (or old Lew's), which disengage the LW mechanism during the cast. You would be floored by the spool speed on one of my NLW CT's.

and they get you to mid cast with less velocity than mag brake. Unless you work on disengaging them in pairs and re-setting your brake number (stand-off) to optimize your cast. The SV is easy - set your mag for the lightest thing you're going to throw, and the moving brake rotor handles everything heavier.