bulldog1935

When I bought my Steez, it was simply the Daiwa I wanted that was available in JDM. I didn't buy it for magnesium frame, double LW bearings and metal thumb bar, but because it would take the spools I wanted to fish. I wouldn't even consider a Daiwa for the previous 25 years. In 1984, Daiwa wouldn't support parts for my 7-y-o Millionare, and burned a bridge for me. I had already bought a Lew's for my dad. Lew's then was the paradigm ultimate-casting reel promoted and supported by all the local pro shops (before BPS and outlet malls franchised around the country), and was still able to get parts for these original BB reels from Roy's Bait & Tackle in Corpus into the last decade. After the 2018 advent of X-braid, and trying it on finesse spinning tackle, I also wanted to try it on BFS, and that's why I bought my Steez. When '21 Zillion became available in JDM, I bought mine the same week it was introduced. BR forum has changed in a positive way over the same time period - then, Zillion was derided here as elitist tackle. Now, it has become the norm. Though I hardly think owning a Steez is the new elitist.

I've been tying dissimilar diameters and MOC for 4 decades using Allbright knot. Everything from king mackerel to endemic river bass. (PE#1 braid to equivalent PE#3 fluoro leader, 15+5 Improved Allbright knot) backing up to fly-rod kings in the '90s, I used the same wire @A-Jay posted, 30-lb leader butt wrapped a 6-turn Allbright, perfection loop made steel leaders I could exchange. Short leader-butt on the fly line gave me quick loop-to-loop leader swaps. Sorry no king photo, but here's a Smack.

If you're looking at trout/stream rods, @redmeansdistortion and I are both probably going to praise rods by Smith, Ltd. Another place to look, glass UL from Shane: https://www.graywolfrods.com/lurefishing

extra BB on LW, and a metal clutch bar in place of plastic. An ounce lighter, because it's magnesium. No accident I buy Zillion and Steez (Silver Wolf, SLPW Zillion) - I can move the same spools around between them all.

@woolleyfooley I'm in the TX hill country. But my first love is kayak and tide passes on the TX coast - best place in the world to own a kayak - entire coast lined with barrier islands - inside those, we have 15,000 sq-mi less than 2' deep. If you look at my G/E link just above, I'm beginning the morning in Trout Bayou pass after a 4-mi paddle to get there. The interactive map covers about 300 mi of kayak launches. The drill for the rest of the morning is put out a drift sock and drift down Trout Bayou on the NNE wind. Here's the GPS trail that goes with the NNE wind

@Smirak since I posted that link, 8 have already disappeared from their stocklist.

what I think is $200 is too d**n close to a JDM Zillion to spend it on a Concept C2.

@F14A-B Both my Steez and Vanquish have seen salt time, daytime tide passes, though I have that niche covered on other tackle now that I'm happier taking out on kayak. Where these both have annual salt niche is nite-lite winter dock fishing into Arroyo navigation channel.

It depends on base metal forming and anodizing quality. Die-cast is no-go - I can't fish my ZPI Alcance in brackish or salt, but my Steez is fine, though I don't often take the Steez on kayak. On magnesium, look for white deposit, especially around fasteners - indicator the reel body can't take (any more) salt exposure. On Alcance, I removed the screws and cleaned everything, reinstalled the screws with Mg-specific threadlocker, and moved it into freshwater BFS.

Most reels made today are salt-safe (consider most reels in Japan shore-fish the salt most often). Reels that aren't salt-safe include many magnesium-frame reels. Just takes a little TLC - light rinsing after each trip, attention to spool bearings. My oldest Super Duty G has been exclusively in the salt for 7 years. The only extra attention it has needed was replacing the (cathodically coated) brake magnets at the onset of corrosion after 4 years. (upgrading to stronger Nd magnets, had to remove 2 to keep brake operation on the dial cam)

This is kind of the whole point, why buy an aluminum-frame A2 that's a Zillion with an extra BB and metal clutch bar. The magnesium frame on Steez SVTW makes it One Ounce (30 g) lighter. Most times, I can't notice the difference, but it's noteworthy on rods lighter than 100 g.

Both Speed Spool LFS and Mach 2 SLP have the same mag brake, which I like very much on Super Duty G LFS, and bought a 2nd reel on closeout. Good brake for casting light weights. I'm not a fan of Winngrips, and swapped them with Abu EVA knobs (from SDS Customs in Ukraine). (different reel TP-LFS - these are the EVA knobs) I think the choice comes down to how hard you plan to fish the reel. If you want a beast, it's the LFS. If you want smaller fit in hand, it's SLP.

@GRiver nah, a fun thread, no tears, no bad blood, everybody throwing out ideas - the purpose of discussion. Adding a datapoint, NS Black Hole rockfish marked UL and rated 1 to 5 g - this rod is really fast and feels like a rocket, even with the solid tip. I go to this rod for soft plastics, especially tandem rigs. Loaned this rod to my bud Stevo on a tide pass trip, and he liked it so much he went home and ordered both this rod and the 8'9" M version, and matched them with a pair of small-frame Stradic. He's already a Black Hole fan, since IRT sells their rods in heavier sizes to match his US-built spinning reel.

@eldorado5 Hi friend, the blue-anodize in my photo was sold by Jackson, but it's the titianium line roller made by MTCW - they offer both titanium https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/3947 - this is the one I have on every Shimano spinner. and hard-anodized alloy https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/3948 Version from IOS Factory https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/2019 Levitation Engr https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/7921 Ulucus https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/6543

There's always NLW surf/tournament reels, and small sizes of lever drag reels. https://carolinacastpro.com/products/akios-tourno-555-mm3 The inexpensive option here is buy a C3 Ambassadeur and simply remove the LW and idler gear. They have macho drag. @Reel Ambassadeur also has a normal size reel foot, while the barstock-frame NLW reels need reel seat L3 of at least 72 mm.

I've done this before.

I set some pretty big single hooks on ML - 4/0 - bigger than finesse spinnerbait hooks. The safe thing is don't high-stick set, but set with the rod below 45-degrees, so you're loading more of the butt and less of the top third.

The OP is not a question that can be answered for another person. To me, rebuilding an Ambassadeur is so crazy simple, and when a really sharp BR member (who's now in law school) tried it, he couldn't do it, and sent his to me. The reason I picked on Ambassadeur is because the parts are big and the function makes sense. Everything gets trickier as it gets smaller and more complicated. If you're not confident, check how far you can go on simple maintenance exercises before you consider a major rebuild. Another good idea is take photos for bread crumbs - I always have my sports camera on tripod beside my bench. Electrons are cheap.

@F14A-B Hi friend, that's a Big Tica surf reel (same as Daiwa surf reel) - I have 2 braid spools, one for PE#1.5, and another for PE#2.5. The photo above was handy - already had it for showing the spool shim to trim the line lay.

Most reel spindles have a lot of exposed thread, and it takes many turns of the drag cap until you tighten it enough to register a drag load. With the spool fully inserted and the drag cap removed, the forward face of the spool should be seated in a flat-keyed boss on the spindle. Also on most reels, the full drag adjustment range will be in the last half-turn until full tight.

@little giant nailed it for One rod you would enjoy fishing both bay and offshore for cobia. Here's another, TackleDirect Platinum, which I have matched with Stradic 5000 (the link has a good video on rolling e-glass rods) While e-glass rods are heavy, they won't explode on the cobia. Glenn always makes this look too easy.

"Keep drag low" is the problem - that counts as handing control to the fish. Set your drag properly - 1/4 weakest link. Keep the rod low for full drag and to use the butt for fish control, tip high for protecting leader and small hook in fish mouth. Always bow to jumping fish, that is, drop the rod and ease your arm toward the fish. I agree w/ @Bankc about not rushing the fish in river current - use enough pressure to control the fish, let it wind a bit in the current before hauling it in.

While I would love a Calcutta in 1-4-oz offshore slow-jigging niche (platforms), don't do it enough to justify the cost. I settled for a Tica with a handle upgrade, matched the cost of the spiral-wrapped rod (Jigging World), and @Eric 26 likes the color match.

Unfortunately, prices in JDM increased by $45 since I bought my 6500CS Rocket. https://japantackle.com/casting-reels/abu/abu-ambassadeur-5500cs6500cs-2015.html They still make high-grade Ambassadeur for JDM - we don't get them here. https://japantackle.com/casting-reels/abu.html https://www.digitaka.com/items/6/4/2/Ambassadeur