bulldog1935

On sailboats, they keep their clothes on until they board.

I'd offer you a *like* but I'm out... @redmeansdistortion The larger diameter spool combined with Ultracast bearings and all the bearing options out there means nothing has to work as hard. You can also really slick up a LW for braid and lighter weights with the shallow spool options from Avail, and the idler and worm gear options from Valley Hill and Mike's. Japan Tackle lists an Avail 2500C spool that won the 2012 World Casting Championship (I'm sure that reel had the LW removed)

@ATA @redmeansdistortion My buddy had a fishing day ended by both reels birds-nested. His benchmade IRT spinning reel had poor spool shimming from factory, and the palm cap on his new Abu LP came off mid-cast. He had already complained about it trying to come apart. He and another mutual friend took a paddling tour of new water, then headed for the barn. This was part of the reason I opted not to buy a JDM Abu LX992Z, and bought Daiwa instead. My Abu CT's will out-cast every other baitcaster ever made.

Proper manual bail technique has been covered in pieces on this thread - you get most of it if you read the whole thing. It can make your cast nearly as accurate and nearly as instant-retrieve as a baitcaster. Because your free hand is near the bail, you can feather the line using your fingertips, to final adjust cast elevation and line speed - just like thumbing your baitcaster spool. The one thing left out, after you close the bail, turn slightly with the rod to take up any line slack before you begin retrieve - this is what puts your line in the line roller. Anyone to whom I hand a braid reel gets this tutorial - this is not an option if you're using my reel. But even fluorocarbon, they always seem to manage to get it behind the spool - that also gets the tutorial. Slamming the bail hammer under drive can't be good for the drive. Any kind of impact load is a 4x to 10x force jump over normal load (the reason for a 4x factor in drag set). It was never a good design. We're going to see auto-bail close disappear on spinning reels just as optional anti-reverse has disappeared. Especially as part of the competition to bring reel weight down. Most offshore reels have been there for a long time. On surf reels, auto-bail-closure is considered a detriment because of the potential for it going off mid-cast. Line-feed reels aren't big here (yet), but the Japanese buy them to supplant the need for back-reeling. BTW, the old Mitchell 440 Ottomatic had manual bail close function. The bail was designed for one-hand operation - when you push it with your thumb, it opens by itself - push it again, and it closes by itself.

all that's left of dorbeR for most of a decade now is a way-back of their fly rod page on FAOL archives Fly Angler's OnLine Magazine Supporter - Dorber Global (flyanglersonline.com) That's exactly the kind of information I'm sure John is looking for, and he has a subscription on this thread. Thanks for the information. The advice may be questionable - John turned here because he has exhausted what he can find online.

@Eric 26 Along the way, I've had a couple of inexpensive baitcasters (low-grade Okuma bought for back-up comes to mind). They had a really cold-blooded behavior - they'd start stiff, need loosening, and after warming up, you'd have to tighten. Put them down, pick them up again, and start over.

makes it a good time to sell if you think you have too much. In the past, I've sold 3 contemporary benchmade fly reels for 80 to 100% more than I paid, either because the maker grossly raised his prices or stopped making them and demand took over. Admitted, they were bought very well. That was after fishing them for 4 or 5 years. Speculating in antiques can be next-level. I've bought kayaks and firearms from antique reels going out.

probably pollen that makes all that color, but beauty sunrise

a topic that gets worn out on antique tackle forums - it's a form of denial, because everyone who begins or even contributes to such a thread turns into a virulent collector. (bicycles, Lionel trains, Barbie dolls, firearms) 1918 FE Thomas Special at work (will always be worth more than I paid)

my friend has a Bullet and really likes it. It's heavier than a baitcaster. Casting a baitcaster will give you more distance and next-level accuracy improvement. My buddy bought it for his wife, she cast it a couple of times and put it down for lighter spinning tackle. She became an instant pro with that - this is her bag limit - Lou and I weren't fishing this night, because we limited before breakfast. In addition to liking it matched with Lami MTC casting rod for dock fishing above, my buddy takes it on inshore kayak and has landed some nice fish. I'm planning to give him one of my baitcasters and make him learn it.

I was surprised by how much I prefer them over my former favorite Avail knobs - fishingshopkiwi has the best price on the only current Studio Composite handle, 30% lower than hedgehog. Since I'll be in the salt, used titanium spindle bolt. The handle is remarkably lighter than stock, and those big knobs are carbon tube. I'm always after big fish on light tackle.

never seen a spinning reel nor a baitcaster that doesn't have some kind of handle wiggle or end-play, and it's not brand dependent. At the very least, you have slight play in the main-gear teeth mesh, and main shaft slide. At the greatest end, there's required tolerance between the handle hex shaft and the main gear. In the case of a hex shaft reel, you may feel rotation freeplay in the hex shaft gap - you can reduce that by tightening the handle nut on the opposite side to squeeze the nylon crown washer. Anything you feel after that is in the gear teeth mesh.

Jun at Japan Tackle recommends only hard braid for baitcasters, and Spiderwire braid is one he specifically recommends. Though I haven't found problems using coated braids like 832, YGK, and Duel hardcore. Just recently threw away the remnant spool of a 10-lb Spiderwire copolymer that only got fished one day. My daughter caught 3 massive sheepshead on the flats on Penn 4200SS + Falcon Open Hook Special. The line literally extruded to a tiny diameter and dug inside the spool, ending the day. It's ok, we were done fishing and brought home a great meal of schoolie specs, but stripped the reel, replaced the line with Abrazx, and only kept the remnant spool for leader.

@Ski just gotta reach in and get it not this river largemouth, but my best hen endemic Guadalupe bass, pushing 5 lbs, lived at a bat cave vent, and got her size eating the baby bats that fell in.

and the spool is on the reaction side of the force balance. If you have a big fish on your line, a larger spool means you have to overcome more opposing torque to be able to turn the crank, the smaller spool is easier to take up (less) line.

@Mjmj actually, I have a new Steez and it's beyond silky.

The erroneous handle statement gets repeated over and over on this forum. A reel is a gearbox. You put torque into it, reduced torque comes out of it, some of that work turned into speed. The more speed, the less torque. Open the hood on your car. Your transmission doesn't do anything without the engine. If you put more torque into the reel through a longer handle, you get more torque out of it. The length of the handle affects how fast you turn the reel - it's simple ergonomics. With a shorter handle you can spin faster because you use more wrist and less arm. If you match it with lower gears, it's still easy to turn. A longer handle is easier to turn because of the leverage, but you don't naturally turn it as fast. If you work the circumference of each handle rotation, it exactly plugs into the effective final gear ratio. Power equals force-times-distance. Torque equals force-times-radius; in this case, radius = handle pitch.

I think it's a fair guess he's not in the $300 market for a starter casting reel. 1/4 oz is a pretty good norm for lower limit on starter baitcaster. 1/4 to 1/2 oz is also a really good range to learn the reel. Agree with @brophog and @Kdizzle, 3/16 oz and down belong to spinning tackle. You can throw down to 1/16 oz with special "BFS" baitcaster combo, but I would keep this option in a back pocket for later - first target where baitcaster shines, and learn to use it.

Haven't found a low profile baitcaster yet that I wanted to buy two of, have each dialed-in to their best niches, and have only fished one I didn't want at all (Lew's Custom Inshore). The oldest (in service) is Lew's Super Duty G, 20-lb 832 braid plus mono backing, a stout and reliable distance reel, wind reel, on my MM rod (inshore kayak, would be the equivalent of most MHF). Miles of big fish on this reel, and I could be tempted by a new G3 to get the P2 pinion. Lew's Team Pro SP is in ML niche, has only fished hard one day so far (retired the Custom Inshore) and is a joy with light X-braid (PE#1, 22 lb test). My back-up reel stored in a small Pelican is Lew's Tournament Pro, also a joy, and fished one hard day (including a 24" flounder) when a rod-wrap backlash put away my Super Duty. Loaded with 20-lb 832 plus mono backing to move between both niches above. Just set up a Steez 1016 for BFS, (Roro X spool, fixed brake rotor, PE#0.8 X-braid, 16-lb test). Holy cow does this cast nothing. Sorely tempts me for another, did buy a third (BFS) spool with SV complication for casting more weight, planning to load PE#1.2, 27-lb test, to walk it through all 3 niches. If I can get away, looking at a good tide week after next for its baptism. Spinning - go-to for the dark and first-light topwater. Inshore MM is Stradic FL4000 with PE1520 spool and 15-lb, 0.14 mm braid (Florida Fishing Products). A workhorse. Have Stradic FL5000 in offshore topwater niche for 300 yds 36-lb X-braid (other offshore reels are Tica Caiman 150 for jigging, and Seigler SGN for trolling). Had a Tica Libra SX3000 in the inshore MM niche before Stradic tempted me, fishes great, built to last, and has landed many big fish - it's a frequent loaner when friends want to paddle the salt. The kayak finesse niche that the Steez is going into is currently filled by a Stradic C2000SHG. We rig a lot of finesse rods for change up nite-lite dock fishing, standing winter trips to Arroyo Colorado. Three other reels I have in this niche are Vanquish C2000S, Stradic C1000S and Tica Libra SX1500. These are fishing 6-lb 832 to 12- and 14-lb X-braid. Also have 3 surf reels, one spinning and two conventional... My occasional reservoir bass fishing gets a random grab, what I feel like fishing that day. Paddling the perimeter of this 400-acre hill country no-motors reservoir is as much a priority as the fishing.

oops, wrong thread

It's a flagship reel for them, handmade in Japan, aluminum body, Zaion rotor, fully sealed body and bearings. If you want Daiwa, I'd guess it's their most durable spinning reel. The Daiwa I'd buy if I could justify it is the new JDM magnesium-bodied Luvias, with long-stoke braid-specific spools, but there's a waiting list in Japan, plus I don't need it That's also put some good discounts on last year's JDM Luvias with full Zaion body.

On Shimano spinning reels, spool shim washers compress in creep under constant drag load. When I re-line them, I re-shim them. Another reason I like Tica - their overqualified spool shim washers don't seem to be affected by long-term drag set. If you look at a baitcaster drag stack, there's nothing in there that's going to change shape over time.

if I picked an 8.1, I'd put a long handle on it, which lets me put more torque into the drive. 6.3, I'd fish it with a short handle, which lets me crank faster.

that's a 15% difference in lure speed, 15% difference in torque you're able to deliver through the gears - at what point do you notice it? It's enough difference that you should be able to identify which you prefer for a fishing niche. It's enough difference you might prefer a different handle pitch.

many of us here cut our teeth on Fenglas Lunkerstik, Lew's Speed Stik, Berkley Tri-Sport, and Garcia Conolon. The only new glass casting rod I've fished is a Lami Classic Glass steelhead rod for inshore drift fishing, but the best glass bass rod I've used is Falcon - these turn up on ebay occasionally. My offshore rods are e-glass. As far as handling big bass, glass rods are much tougher than graphite, and virtually indestructible. My St. Croix Legend (S-) Glass spinner is the most perfect MM kayak rod I own, and is lighter in hand than my Crowder IM6 MM bait rod.