bulldog1935

@Woody B I skip cast from kayaks with the right rods. This bass came out of the overhang on the right bank. Can't beat S-glass for skip casting. My best freshwater river rod for skip-casting close is 5' composite butt and S-glass tip. Best salt marsh kayak photo I have is Josh's sister Nina casting to redfish back. I put together this 6'4" 2-hand S-glass just for mud marsh skip casting to redfish. extended grip is not for casting, but for stopping redfish at the boat

this guy is showing off a bit - doesn't have to be this energetic, but the best skip-cast (reverse spiral cast) demonstration I've seen on the internet. Where to use it, under cypress overhang, under mangrove overhang. Note that intentionally skipping on the water surface is not required (myth) - what you're shooting for is low trajectory. ps @ol'crickety - this is also something you can practice, casting to the bottom of shrubs in your back yard - you don't need blazing distance here, but accuracy. A shorter, light-tip rod helps, and if the weight you're casting under-loads the rod, the trajectory will arc upward.

I have to thumb my Zillion to keep out out of my friends across a tide pass casting 1/8 oz. How you set your brakes is up to you. If you dial it down too much and it results in start-up backlash, um, don't do that. From direct trials, the bearings I suggested will add 10+% distance to your cast - the difference is both at the start and the finish. It's oranges in an apple conversation, but my latest BFS on Steez and Silver Wolf with AMO and Roro-X non-SV spools, full-silicon-nitride bearings, fixed inductor mass are both so small, have to run brake dial at 10 to 12. It doesn't matter when you're casting 1/16 oz past 130' I'll admit backlash is a little hard for me to fathom (can describe all the physics). It never happens to me on the water - the only time I get close is intentionally searching for incipient backlash when I'm setting up a reel on the back-acre casting range - may even add a little bad habit to test the result. 45 years of cast stroke and thumb are involved.

One thing, Daiwa comes with their shielded spool microbearings (left). Replace these with KTF/IXA dual-race wide-range microbearings (right), and Zillion will cast 1/2-oz frog so far it will frighten you. While it takes a Japan broker to buy from KTF, MC-squared makes their version you can buy direct from Hedgehog.

fixed @Bandersnatch - if it helps, JY is at an all time low, 160/US$ https://www.amazon.com/Daiwa-Gillion-1000H-Right-Handle/dp/B08NNZ2VT1/ref=sr_1_2

It has plenty of backbone with 1/2 oz, would likely throw 3/4 oz well, also.

I think the horse has been breezed, run, walked, and stabled

That's why it's good there's a choice. For me, I'd rarely cast more than 3/8 oz on the multipiece - up to 1/2-oz kastmaster. My use for an MH rod is limited to big topwaters and Corkys on winter mornings.

There's 1/2 oz difference in the rod weights, 3" length difference, and 1/8 oz difference in the top end.

If "damping by water" was universal, fish wouldn't have lateral lines, which are their ears. Sound travels farther, faster and stronger through water than through air. The rod itself is a source of vibration, and there can be harmonics that amplify each other. The other end of your line is a vibrating lure, and the line is under tension just like a string-and-tin-can telephone.

My favorite US-direct vendor, and where I bought my L/D rod, and several other rods. If you can find what you want there, it will be discounted. They will send you an e-mail with a total that may include a moderate rod shipping charge - if you don't like it, reply, "no thanks" Kirill is in Miami, perfect English, and fields US orders - they don't do anything quickly, because they confirm available from distributor, you pay, then they receive from distributor (about a week) and then ship - when they do ship, UPS is Very Quick - 40 hrs. Make sure you register an account - easy to go back through your orders, find the link to pay, etc. Great place to build up a $200 lure, lines, and Meiho lure box order - logged in, your cart will remain indefinitely, so you can come back and work up to $200 free shipping. They will give you bonus points to cash in next time. They're also the Whole JDM catalog - if there's stock available anywhere, it will be them (they buy from distributor).

@Rockhopper I don't think you could go wrong with a Daiwa rod in that grade. Except I question whether the 3/8 oz low-end is versatile enough - that wouldn't work for me. I mail-ordered the Legit Design 5-pc that met my pack-size need. But I suspect the L/D 6'11" MHMF would be a great bass rod. My L/D feels more like a bass rod than any other multipiece I've handled. I like the looks of the L/D MHMF, starting at the same 5 g rating of my 6'8" rod. I wouldn't pass go on that one - that's a versatile range. (1/6 oz, btw = 3/16 oz = 5 g) For most of my shore fishing, I need to sail 1/8 oz into next week. One reason I like the Legit Design, rated 5 to 18 g, it fishes well beyond both rated ends - it feels like a substantial rod with a nice blend in fast/moderate action. The L/D 6'11" looks like more of everything - same light end, plus extended range.

There's always the assumption on BR that braid = braid. There are 3 generations of braid currently on the market - bare spectra, coated braids, drawn+fused+coated braid. Of course there's a noise difference fishing 50-lb spectra vs. 25-lb WXP1.

@Bazoo - lawn-casting trials with Omega Pro - in case I want to loan a shore-casting combo to a friend on a bike-fish. I compared my 6'8" Legit Designs casting result with an 8-1/2' Ali Express rockfish 7-pc. The Zebco cast farther on the shorter rod, which I attribute to lower mono friction in the quality Fuji guides on the (much) higher-grade rod. In fact, the Zebco combo cast 1/8 oz as far as a BFS combo will cast 3 g. Also interesting, threadline braid didn't care about friction in the cheap guides - a BFS reel would send 3 g past 130' on the long cheap rod.

If you want Crazy-Versatile, and price is no limit, Transcendence Pulchra 62+ includes an extra butt section, so you can assemble a 4-pc 6'2" medium-action rod, and a longer 7'3" with the same action: https://www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/product/4592 Pack length is 21" while they call this ML, it matches the range of the Legit Design 6'8" M If you want a quality telescoping rod for moderate price, look at Daiwa BBB - and a price that's hard to pass at current exchange rate. The problem with cheap telescoping rods, they don't have near-enough guides, especially for a rings-up bait rod. Daiwa BBB has floating guides on the 5-section telescope that seat at intermediate positions, improving the number of guides for a quality rod. Another nice thing about telescope, you can move from place-to-place with the collapsed rod assembled and baited. You just have to freespool the reel and stretch the telescope.

In last fall's kayak Redfish Rodeo (normally a week, but weather limited us to 3 days), Kurodai Prototype BF caught every fish that mattered, and likely made all the difference in presentation when I was on 200 redfish moving toward the tide pass, and a staked guide boat that was waiting for them.

I got lucky, and scored mine, pre-owned but never used, on Yahoo auction for 30% less than retail (add 6% broker fee). Also when I bought mine, there was still retail stock around Japan. There's one listed on ebay with shipping for 30% over retail/ make offer. They like this rod in Japan - it's the one rod in the BLX series that's sold out everywhere. The Xrossfield XRFC-654ML-BF-MB fishes well beyond its price. Baitfinesse is a forte for Abu rods. @softwateronly found the 2-pc Abu Prototype Kurodai 7'3" ML Baitfinesse at my recommendation, and he sounded delighted with it.

The Japanese are a travel rod culture - they travel by train to fish, mostly fish from shore. The Yen is at an all-time low, 160/US$. Certainly the best suitcase package is 5-pc Legit Design Wild Side - comes in a Meiho box 21" long. Inside, theres a zip-neoprene case, with a rod sock inside that. For what you're describing, I don't think this rod would disappoint, and will have a familiar bass action. You won't lose anything with the rod spigot joints. Tackle Warehouse has this rod at USM prices. I bought mine 2 years ago from FishingShop.Kiwi for $234, but they don't have current stock. Worth looking around. The All-purpose rod, including baitfinesse, is Daiwa Black Label Travel C66ML-5.

I can recommend two - both will cast 2 g beyond 100' without windage swing. Both rods surprise you with light lure distance. These are not trout rods, but baitfinesse rods with power to turn big fish. Surprising quality and light-in-hand for the price. Abu Xrossfield 6'5" 4-pc BF is an inexpensive jewel - Abu named it for "crossing all fields" - inshore, shore casting, bass. Closed length is 52 cm. Daiwa Black Label Travel 6'6" ML 5-pc, though rated 3-g low-end, will cast 2 g accurately into next week without windage swing, and is the best multipiece rod I've ever handled. Daiwa also made this to be the All-Japan rod, inshore, shore casting, bass, and even vertical jigging to 4 oz. Notably, 2 g loads the rod past the first joint, and it casts that light weight really well. Closed length is 46 cm. A 3rd rod to consider is Legit Designs Wild Side 6' ML https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/LEGIT_DESIGN_WILD_SIDE_5-Piece_Travel_Casting_Rods/descpage-LEFW.html I have the 6'8" MM - this is all-bass, not a BF rod, and it's rated 5 g at the low end, but will cast 3 g without windage swing.

Most people I know who bought package Daiwa BFS reels still upgrade them for casting lighter weights with AMO, KKR, or Roro spools and palm-side BFS bearing. What you gain with a package BFS reel like Silver Wolf, etc., is increased LW pitch that will let you fish braid smaller than PE#0.8 without line dig. Standard LW pitch will fish PE#1, which is a joy (equiv dia to 4-lb mono). https://www.jpfishingtacklenews.com/japanese-line-size/ I've stuck to 34-mm Daiwa - all interchange spools - and most recently bought a SLPW Zillion ($192 on Amazon) because I was going to add my own handle and spool, anyway. SLPW Zillion with Ray's SV spool, and Steez with AMO spool (my longest, lightest result). Fixed-rotor spools like AMO, KKR and Roro cast the lightest weights to the greatest distance, but they turn MagForce into linear mag - these spools weight 5 g. They will fish 1/16 oz and limit your top weight to about 3/8 oz. (KKR will fish mono) SV spools like Ray's and Daiwa 1000 Boost PE Special (Silver Wolf) let you fish wider lure weight range (1 oz). These spools weigh 8 to 13 g. (Daiwa SV Boost 1000 PE will also fish mono) If you cast with wrist snap, or want to fish wide weights, SV is forgiving on spool start.

@Bazoo - thanks. Small frame Ambassadeur (1500C to 3600C) fish fine on straight reel seats, but the medium frame reels, 4500C and larger, are a stretch on straight reel seats. The Japanese still make offset grips with separate rod blades that are very comfortable with medium-frame round reels - a style that ended in USM in the late '70s. These are go-to for me in river kayak for bass. Smith Ltd. makes Super Strike w/ 12-mm butt ferrules. The other Japanese grips and rod blades use a 9.4-mm butt ferrule from the old Fuji standard in the '70s. These grips are made by Bright River, Robelson, and a few other brands, and there's a cottage industry of boutique makers for matching rod blades - I call this market the Japan Underground. They also sell the ferrules in a range of I.D. sizes, if you want to build your own rod blade. They offer rod grips in 4 handle lengths, from short 4" and pistol grips up to 2-hand 12" grips. This combo has a salt niche, skip-casting to redfish backs in mud marsh and mangroves.

Of course, the only place big EVA knobs go on a round reel is on a big surf reel. I've never found a use for cork knobs - set some up for friends (he picked the wood on the reel below - cork ended up on a smaller size of his reels) - but cork knobs are also a terrible choice in the salt. FWIW, there are quality grades in EVA. One of my favorite handle/knobs is Livre titanium-shell knob, and the long counterbalanced handle on this high-geared reel makes a big difference in lure finesse presentation in my salt jerk bait niche.

What Shimano and Daiwa have done is make their line management accurate enough to handle the tiniest threadline braid, and have the line rollers to match. If that's not enough, aftermarket makes improved dual-BB line rollers for both Daiwa and Shimano.

Since Ambassadeur came up - if you race these out, they look best with Haneda Craft handles.