bulldog1935

Like other Japan reel aftermarket parts makers (ZPI Racing, MTCW), reel parts are a sideline, and their bread and butter business is motorcycle racing. Right away, this gives them a mystique in Japan. Titanium-shell handle knobs are trick.

@WetBlanket Given the Japanese bent to perfectionism, it's also somebody's art. If you look at all pre-order, limited batch production, such as Isuzu reels, a large slice of the buyers don't even want to open the box - don't want a scratch on the box. They want to keep a perfect collectible that will out-pace inflation - even out-pace common sense - in rapid market value increase. There are many Japanese collectors who want one of each limited batch in their collection. All the good Yahoo buys I've found on (my few) Isuzu reels were when a new batch opened lottery sale, and the collector sold one of his older reels to fund the lottery sale he just won.

@MontanaBasser - the 8-geared Super Duty above is on IM6 Crowder jerkbait combo. Between the old-school rod and 60-mm-pitch Livre SB jigging handle, I can count the fish improvement in my presentation. The counterbalanced Livre Union handle on spinner prevents gravity acting on the offset bail and rotor from pushing against your hand. Heavy offset handle weight puts torsion on your grip hand, which also affects lure feel. More here: Swapping knobs - most of our reels use Shimano A or Daiwa S knobs, which can interchange. You use sub-mm shim washers (included with knobs) at the bottom to shim out end play in the knob stack. Abu/ Doyo have 5-mm knob spindles, and SDS Customs in Ukraine sells a good range of knobs. @Brycecover https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/phone/page/77

Certainly, you guys are wiser than those silly Japanese Yahoo bidders. The guy who spent $150 and stashed that handle has a pretty good ROI. It's kinda like getting $850 in tackle for free. If you don't like their market, it's easy to stay out. (Who wants to buy insurance for a comic book) I upgraded the finesse performance of all my Shimano spinners using Livre Union handles. When I was searching for a '77 Ambassadeur 4500C to bench-race, a friend had one to trade for all my out-of-use stock Shimano handles - sure thing. From that, I built a better BFS reel than you can go out and buy.

No one is going to fish that example. It's a complete as-new package, of a discontinued and limited quality part. Livre makes DRT as their limited edition upgrade. There's a collector, even investor-speculator market for items like this in Japan. In this case, don't look at it as a reel handle, but a rare curio that's going into a glass cabinet. If you want to fish a DRT handle, watch for the next (different) limited run, and buy early because it will sell out in days to weeks. If you want to improve your reel, skip DRT, buy Livre, Studio Composite, or Avail, match the handle to your reel and niche

The rotor bushing is worn out, giving reverse-cone line lay. In the 90s, I had a Penn 4400SS that looked just like that after a dozen kingfish. Hmmm

Both rods I mentioned, Abu XKRC Kurodai Baitfinesse, and Yamaga Blanks Wizy, are in Beastfinesse catagory. Made for light lures and big fish. My friend fished through his ST Major Craft on schoolie seatrout, until the tip splintered in fatigue - not quite in this game, IMO. (He replaced it with Yamaga Blanks BCIII) My rods range from 13Fishing to EverGreen what matters is they do what I demand (redfish, snook, tossing light lures into coast wind)

@newapti5 Formulation and quality control are what makes dedicated leader material. The 5x Froghair example clearing the eye of a size 22 hook, while other brands need smaller dia. 6x to do the same - clearly I'm fishing where every half-lb of breaking strength matters. Leader is made for toughness, the best-possible knot strength (made for tying to other lines), and extreme control of uniform diameter and uniform properties in every length. Note that hard, abrasion-resistant leader works against the other properties, toughness and knot strength. They put more money and time into making it, to make it better. Using the example of Toray Solaroam ExThread main line, the spendiest fluorocarbon spooled for mainline, they report separate formulation for each diameter they produce. ExThread manages both low memory and limpness, which are also competing properties.

This JDM Abu baitfinesse has several fans on the forum, and is a go-to rod for me on inshore kayak. I have one longer L from Abu Prototype series, and @softwateronly has several more. We've covered this before, finesse rods are the opposite of UL, and it's one of the odd topics where people who've never fished baitfinesse post opinions about it. Another that really shines, though it's multipiece, Yamaga Blanks Blue Current Wizy 72B 1/16 to 3/4 oz

yep - here Froghair 5x Only 6x in other brands fit size 22 hook eye. YGK, Seaguar Grand Max, in 9 to 19-lb breaking strength. Seaguar Gold, Varivas Ocean Record, 30- to 40-lb.

All these power handles (including knobs) weigh less than the stock handles they replaced. I always match handle length to gear ratio. The only warning is you get what you pay for.

@10,000 lakes Bassin I throw 4 oz routinely on bench Ambassadeur with 6-pin centrifugal. Purple MagZ Boost inductor is the closest start-up brake Daiwa offers to this. Mid cast, that much weight should carry itself over the hump with no problem, again making MagZ Boost the best choice for distance. Boost changes the start-up curve, so less speed is removed from the spool, giving long, effortless distance. Fixed linear mag on my Ambassadeur above was set casting 1/4 oz on short rod, and it's everything I need for 4 oz through mid-cast on 14' rod. MagZ should work the same, set mag scalar casting light end, and purple inductor takes care of heavy start-up.

@10,000 lakes Bassin @F14A-B For throwing that much weight on 100-size reel, I would swap-in MagZ Boost spool to get the largest-mass purple inductor so you need less (maybe none) end-tension to start that much weight: https://japantackle.com/tuning-parts/spools-casting-reels/daiwa/tu002306.html Btw, thumbing the spool backwards as you open the clutch will reduce the 4 oz preload on the clutch contact.

@Rocky998 Every one of their spools is listed in Japan aftermarket with that information. https://www.hedgehog-studio.com/page/628 Here's the chart that gives diameter for JDM braid and mono. https://www.jpfishingtacklenews.com/japanese-line-size/

Hey, I just typed all that. Same size, half-oz heavier because of the brass gears. I have the SLPW-Z, based on '22 HD, and supposed to have an improved clutch. HD comes with MagZ spool, vs. SV Boost on '21 Zillion SVTW.

The two springs push the pinion bridge back into engagement when the open clutch is triggered to close. The two leaf springs in Ambassadeur C3 do the same job as the coil springs in Daiwa. Note Daiwa clutch won't close properly with the cover plate removed - but an open C3 drive plate will function. If either of the leaf springs is not seated properly, the clutch won't move in either direction. The result, instead of lifting and dropping the bridge, is loading it like a diving board, and trying to turn the pinion gear sideways.

Topic was covered pretty well on this thread. @casts_by_fly is referring to Pattaya calculator: https://www.pattayafishing.net/fishing-reel-line-capacity-estimator/

Upgrading can have many purposes. The reel I show above, and again, shed a whole bunch of offset weight by swapping too long and heavy handle plus original drag star built on a huge steel threaded spacer. A finesse reel that torques your grip hand wouldn't be very finesse. What can I say, the spool bearings I added cost more than the reel, and the knobs cost the same, but I have the exact result I wanted.

Odd f'n question. Guess at some point Shimano USM chain homogenized US fishers as big mono users. They keep the good stuff at home.

Curious photo, looks more like C2500 spool. Here's the '23 Stradic chart from the same publication. Japan Fishing and Tackle NewsMost Sold Spinning Reel from SHIMANO Has Come Back Renewe...This is the mid year new fishing products season as we have already introduced you DAIWA 23 LEGALIS, SHIMANO has also revealed some renewal of products. And we assumed this is one of the biggest news

@T2DM JDM C2000SHG and USM 1000HG FM are the exact same reel, same gear ratio, same spool. All my spinners are '18-Stella series (FL), but this is JDM C2000SHG, and JDM was $80 cheaper.

Best photo I have of bellville spring washers, the concave sides face each other to make the spring as tall as possible. For gears, you want medium to high viscosity grease.

Check out ArtSea on Express website. This is a nice 85-mm carbon handle that came with nice cork knobs, but since I'm using this in the salt, I swapped the knobs for salt-sealed. Looked up my invoice, total with cork knobs was $20

If it says C2000, it's small 1000 frame. (Same with C2500 - it's just a deeper spool) 2500 and C3000 are medium frame. 4000 and 5000 are large frame. JDM C2000 and 1000 - both small frame.

For those not familiar, adding a note about practicality of fixed-inductor spools for Daiwa, AMO, Roro (several other brands, KKR, Gomexus) These spools weigh 5 g, and shine for extreme light distance. They turn MagForce into linear mag - they don't have SV function. They will give you max distance casting 2 g (1/16 oz), and they light up casting 3 g micro-plugs to long distance. I wouldn't cast more than 1/4 oz on them, and they're completely unforgiving of start-up jerk, wrist-snap, big weight. BFS spools in the 8-g range usually have SV moving inductor. They start at 3 g and really shine casting 1/8 oz. They're completely forgiving, lower inertia and greater distance than Daiwa 1000S SV. The purple tapered inductor on Ray's Studio SV spool gives the same result as SV Boost. They did one better on KTF Kahen spool they copied. KTF invented SV and let Daiwa have it, while Ray's tapered inductor is their own invention. By the time you get to 1/8 oz, can't really tell much difference between fixed inductor and Ray's SV, but you can push the upper end on Ray's SV as far as the stock Daiwa SV spool.