bulldog1935

Already showed the raced-out Steez, but now I have a raced-out Zillion to go with it. The black Ray's Studio spool is in the Zillion, the one-third-lighter Roro-X in the Steez.

Plugging the bank or bottom bouncing works the same regardless of salinity. Don't fish many spinnerbaits (some do), but the plugs, jerkbaits, spoons, and wakebaits are pretty much the same with salt hooks. ... sounds like you do a lot of bank fishing, which is what we're doing here - we just get there via kayak (this is Feb, the seagrass is dormant) We also drift fish our kayaks on the flats with a drift sock, and using heavier rods comparable to traditional bass tackle. @Luke Barnes Here's my buddy Alex fishing one of my first Takamiya rockfish rods (7'9") in Pedernales R. headwaters - he sight-fished a 4-lb bass in the 2nd photo. This is a remarkable cold spring creek with Really big fish. Noteworthy, the light-lure distance I can get on the raced-out Steez with 6'7" Valleyhill bass rod is not much different than I get on 8'2" Y/B rockfish rod (and yes, the longer rod has a distance edge). The salt use isn't singular for this tackle, but is certainly both novel and Japanese.

I make a point to keep my kayak put away from holiday weekend boat traffic. Many new boaters on maiden outings. Most of those weekends record kayaker kills somewhere.

That's not considering, that's writing off. I've fished Japanese XUL and UL small game spinning rods for over a dozen years. These are designed for shore fishing - casting UL lures to fish sign. They call them rockfish rods partly for the fish that live in the niche, but especially because they cast them from the rocks. YouTube of a flagship light game rod edited to a couple of fish with shoulders. Bought our first low-end versions for kid fishing nursery seatrout from pier lights with my daughters, but soon discovered sight-fishing big seatrout in canal lights, they have the backbone (really, the butt section) to handle big fish. We have standing winter trips to the Texas tropics to dock-fish the nite-lites for schoolie seatrout that sweep through the lights every night, with a by-catch of snook and redfish. Also use the rods winter through spring fishing tide passes - both uses are to imitate tiny baits - glass minnows, tiny shrimp, tiny crabs. The Japanese have only been offering the bait versions of small game rods to match with BFS reels for a few years. A few weeks ago, was able to fish my just-put-together bait combo at the same tide pass I fished comparable spinning rockfish UL the spring before. It's a favorite spot we paddle to because under the right tide and wind, it creates an eddy that pins the bait and stacks gamefish. At this cut between big bay and shallow flat, we wade the hard-pack beach, and cast into the grass edge across the deeper channel. With the 8' bait rod and my Steez raced out with BFS spool, I could cast a 3 g plug farther and with much greater accuracy and daring into the edge of the grass than I could a 5 g plug on the spinning version of this tackle. If you want to do the math, it's well over 100' If you don't get the thrill of accelerating a raced-out bait spool with UL lures, you simply haven't tried it. For sheer fun, it compares to casting my raced-out CT surf reels. I liked it so much, added a wide-range BFS bass rod, working up a range of finesse bass lures, added a second racy spool, and a new Zillion to move into my salt ML niche. The people who claim over and over on BFS threads they can do all this on spinning tackle are in denial.

Where I use my long small game rods is wide open spaces, and where I need to cast that light weight out to 100' The long rods are designed for shore fishing, and the UL for stream fishing. The deadened feel thing doesn't apply, though - this 8'3" rod weighs 73 grams and always shocks when you pick it up. It will also cast 30% farther than a 7'6" rod - Big fish sip tiny baits here all winter, and if you don't feel it, you don't catch them.

looking for something else, stumbled onto this place today, with Many cost-effective handles sorted by reel brand. Reel Handles | Mat's Reel Repair and Parts (matsreelrepair.com) @Linewinder

I've made some pretty long stretches through tiny hatches to get backing, especially with a ratchet wrench, but I have the gibbon-like arms they built all those Italian cars for... @bigbassin' Since you don't have much choice about the need to repair, the self-tapped machine threads in the plastic can be enough, if you self-tap them first, then take them out, and inject 3M marine sealant into the hole before final installing the machine screws. Don't tighten them enough to strip the plastic threads you tapped. The other choices are add well-nuts, and the one I've never trusted, pop-rivets.

Kayak also lets you taxi your bank and wade fishing to awesome spots. But then, a boat will let you mothership your kayak to even more awesome spots.

If you can get inside to add backing seal washers and nylok nuts, I would take the approach of switching the fasteners to the slightest size up. Socket button head capscrews or star-drive truss-head machine screws have very low-profile smooth heads. You only need to drill to the minor thread, so the screws will self-tap and seal into the plastic. On the inside, you can add rubber-seal washers and nylok nuts. In order for all this to seal completely, you need to be able to final tighten from inside with wrench or nut driver. Bolt Depot is a remarkable source for piecemeal fasteners - they treat small piecemeal orders with the same respect as big industrial orders, and they offer first-class mail shipping.

been having so much fun casting BFS, with tiny-capacity spool, tiny braid and tiny weights, couldn't imagine life without one.

... Searching a few leads on StripersOnline, Quick 700 swap with Ambassadeur handles. (they have a pretty amazing archive that searches well) @Linewinder from Japan, Valleyhill makes nice $40 double handle options (80 mm double - 40 mm pitch). Mike's reel repair offers a 40-mm pitch single handle, $52. Kahara makes a 55mm double handle for $50. Someone else may know how to find an Ambassadeur handle on Ali Express, but I haven't been able to... and I'll still bet $10 our OP doesn't have an offshore reel with Daiwa L or Shimano B knob - - that fits a Studio Ocean Mark knob.

No offense, but the 4 mm replacement knob spindle fits both Daiwa S and Shimano A. The problem is that it will probably also need a new knob with a set of 740ZZ ball bearings, making the complete Ali replacement handle the best and most cost-effective result. Ten bucks - MAD Magazine Cheep. On antique reels, where the rivet was splayed at its base, never, ever had any luck trying to reset the rivet (that really needs a new rivet), but many times have set them in JBWeld with success. But even that is halfway to a new Ali Express ball bearing handle.

I think I would look for a cost-effective handle replacement through Ali Express or ebay. You didn't tell us your reel configuration, but can probably find one with ball bearings in the handle grasp to fit just about any reel - baitcaster, spinning reel with hex-shaft handle, etc. We're talking about $10 or $15 with patience for slow-boat shipping. baitcaster handle boss is 4x7mm or 5x8mm; the hex shaft shown is for Daiwa 1000-3000.

fishing buddies this morning on a bike-ride coffee break. All except for Tad on the left - me behind the camera and the rest all fish together. Lou, Stevo, Jemma, John and a good turn-out of classic steel. Tad's blue bike is a 1930's French racer with Osgood gearing. The first year the clunky derailleur system was allowed in TdF, the slowest rider with that set-up beat the previous year's record time. the good photo - my speedy Moser at Sunset Station

@inferiorfisherman BFS means bait finesse system. In the US, we're mostly talking about bass fishing. In Japan, they use them for stream trout, bass and salt light game. Some people in the US also fish trout and salt light game, but most here are talking about bass and bass BFS rods. In small streams for trout, the rods are shorter and reels aimed for this niche have smaller diameter spools, not really intended for casting distance, but the lightest weight - with finesse. Traditional small stream UL rods are more para taper, and flex deep into the butt and handle., and typically shorter rods to fish in tight spaces. The bass and salt small game reels and rods are for casting farther, the spools usually larger diameter, and the rods faster, progressive taper - more like a fly rod - with a fast mid and stiff butt section. The longer the rod, the wider the lure weight range. I have a Steez SV-TW set up for BFS using a Roro-X spool that weighs 6 g, and holds 100 m PE#0.8 (16-lb test in X-braid). I swap it between two rods, a 6'7" Valleyhill bass rod that's very fast and versatile for most niches from 1/16 to 5/8 oz - not even the tip feels soft on this rod, but it's made for light weights, and to protect 5-lb test. The rod action will fish Ned rigs, 1/4-oz spinner baits, and lipless crank baits even to 1/2 oz. I also use the reel in the salt on an 8'2" Yamaga Blanks small game rod, made for shore fishing and casting out of sight, and also rated up to 20 g, which is almost 3/4 oz, though I don't fish it there. My target for it is 100+' accurate casts with a 3-g plug - the same lures stream trout fishers use, but casting a lot farther (trout trebles swapped for salt singles). With either rod, the speedy reel will cast 2 g to 100', and 3 g well beyond. When you're casting that light, really don't need anything more than linear mag brake for mid-cast wind backlash. The nonlinear start-up brake becomes important with heavier weights. I don't have a Dobyns Ultra Finesse rod, but do have two solid-tip Japan and Korea small game spinning rods - have fished one of those along with a faster tubular tip rod in salt UL niche more than a dozen years. Solid-tip fits the bill of a fast rod with a super-soft tip, and bass or small game version has reinforced butt section. The solid tip XUL rods cast a fraction of a gram, and protect line down to 2-lb test. No one has ever imported these rods to the US - they're really a Japan thing. Don't think I'd want a solid tip rod in any but XUL spinning, and definitely wouldn't want one in a bass BFS rod. I would think Dobyns has homogenized the formula a bit for American tastes and for more functional bass fishing - not quite so soft-tip and not quite so XUL, which you should see in the low-end of lure and line ratings. My newer 8' Korean solid-tip rockfish UL has a much faster tip and not quite the light lure and line ratings of Japan rods, and I would guess it's closer to what Dobyns is offering.

This is a dart board until our OP gives more detail The spool capacity on the reel and how you plan to use the combo may make all the difference.

there's a favorite spot on the Guadalupe where we sight-fish alligator gar on fly rod - under the trees across from the flagstone shelf. It's a hoot to watch them lunge 10' to attack your fly, and they give great aerials.

red-head Bomber, but my first big bass, 6-1/2-lbs, was on a black-and-gold Jitterbug. She took it at rest.

Here's a diminutive Shakespeare 1740 Tournament freespool. From the late '30s, one of the rare prewar bait reels with an aluminum spool, shallow spool by design - it came with a factory balsa arbor. It's loaded with 4-lb silk braid. It will cast and fish 1/8 oz with modern BFS reels, but takes a bit more thumb to cast.

I've been a Lew's guy since 1984. Shimano didn't impress me until the '19 Stradic. Though I have a friend with a flock of Metaniums and he hasn't looked back. I wasn't even a mag fanboy until the past 5 years, blown away by distance and wind control on my LFS Super Duty - I gave away a Custom Inshore with their centrifugal+mag because I didn't like the added spool weight. Only been a SV-TW guy for a month, but I started at the top. It was Daiwa's mag combined with the aftermarket spool options that got my attention there, and been really impressed with the light-lure result.

If you ever want to sell it, do it now. Ebay can be fickle - there was a time a Fenglas Lunkerstik would bring $500 to $700 on ebay - when Japan collectors were buying them up.

This counts as the most complex reel schematic I've ever looked into. There's a lot going on in the palm plate, and looks like the palm plate has a rod that goes all the way through the frame. The spool itself is basic, though I guess it has the SVS brake that has to fit inside the brake race in the palm plate - the spindle glides through the pinion gear, the pin keys on the pinion gear, and the palm-side spindle drops in the palm bearing as long as the SVS clears. Unless loose line is binding the spool on the frame, I'd be looking at how it closes without the spool installed. Make sure the latch mechanism is fully open when you try this. If it still doesn't close without the spool, something is misaligned along that rod. If it does work, and the spool isn't pinching line in the frame, try installing with the cast button depressed to fully relax the pinion gear. The spindle pin could be sitting on a high point on the pinion without dropping into the slot. When I install a spool, before the palm plate, I always make sure the spool is turning the drive so that I know the spindle pin is keyed in the pinion slot.

or some liquid bread I can tell you that Revo 16, the fastest pedal yak made, has a hard time keeping up with my paddle Kestrel, while my fast T160 can't keep up with him. Can also add that in 28-kt gusts with waves (not predicted by NWS), can aim my T160 where I want and it's still stable. In the same condition, the Revo won't steer or head up, windcocks and flips.

Thanks to everyone who replied. I find myself in this market, too. Stocks are really lean out there. I hunted down a Booyah 1/8 oz (jighead - 1/5 oz total weight), and added a Z-man 1/4 oz. Half-ounce spinnerbaits were a mainstay growing up fishing Canyon Lake. Funny, I've never caught a fish on Beetlespin, though Lake Travis striper fishers swear by them.