bulldog1935

I have the 6'8"M, and it's a quality rod. Good blank, spigot ferrules except for the butt ferrule - spigot ferrules eliminate dead spots in the joints and allows the rod to load deeper - no stepped increases in bulk modulus (i.e. tip-in-butt sleeve joint), but a tiny bulk modulus decrease through the spigot. Comes in a sock + padded case + Meiho box. It will cast both below rated low end and above rated high end. 125-g weight compares to many 1-pc rods. In every way, this is a bass rod.

In my river kayak niche, I fish so close, can't use longer than 6' frogger rod. However, I can see from a boat that you almost can't get too long, depending on how much rod you're willing to hold up. Simply, a longer rod moves more line quicker when you move the rod tip. The added leverage also lifts better. Fishing the flats from boat in the '90s and naughties, I went to long steelhead rods, 8'2" to 9'. Aside from long casts getting away from hull slap, the longer rod let me react to keep weighted baits in the zone above the grass.

Here's my post this morning on bike-fish Multi-piece and telescoping rods are Major in Japan, because most everyone travels by train to fish. Carrying a long rod in a crowd would be losing face. I would, and do, look into JDM for quality travel rods (Mobile rods in JDM). Daiwa, Alpha Tackle (Tailwalk), Major Craft, all offer decent entry-level rods. (Shimano, Daiwa, Megabass offer high-$ versions). You've also described the need for baitcast reel with a centrifugal brake (or Daiwa MagForce non-linear mag brake). I vote with the look separately for a rod and reel that meet you specs and budget.

The way you look at this hookset, from fishing with the rod low and pointing down the line. First off, you're moving the line very quickly when you lift the long rod. The hookset is in the powerful rod butt and reel drag set. Once you get the rod tip tall, the soft tip protects UL leader. When you need power for turning fish, you lower the rod again - in 1881, Doc Henshall called this "Give Him the Butt"

The next choice from glass is IM6 moderate graphite - here's a Crowder rod that might meet your spec, E-series Lite - Crowder makes E-glass offshore rods, and note, they think this IM6 rod is close enough to still call it E-series. I have the 7' version for inshore, and I keep coming back to its moderate action because of jerk-bait fish count. Crowder blanks are handmade (and rods finished) in US. Crowder also makes 6'6" in a lower finish grade, even-lower-modulus Graphite I. A rod worth watching ebay is Falcon Glass (you can set up a search with e-mail alert). I have the 5'10' version - the taper is a little more para, rated 1/4 to 1/2 oz and it's classic bass-glass. I'll add the rod seems to cry uncle casting 1/2 oz, but it fishes 1/4 and 3/8 very well.

@Team9nine most people who come from fly rods would use XF bass rods for tomato stakes. Hookset - fish the rod low, pointed down the line, and simply lift the rod.

@throttleplate even better, this is a fabled snook hole - a dam across Cayo Atascosa in Laguna Atascosa NWR. There's really no water that matters above the dam, and below the dam is a tidal basin limit. It takes at least 3 hours to padle a kayak from the only launch, at the county park on the Arroyo navigation channel. It's tricky to find the channel from the expansive mud flat at the mouth of the Cayo, which keeps the motor skiffs out, except for guides who have found it by braille. The bike ride from the visitor's center at the south end of the NWR is an hour. No motor vehicles are allowed on the roads because the NWR has 35 native ocelots - the roads belong to bikes, and most bikes don't venture this far north, they stay on the trail loops at the south end of the 98,000 acres. The max collapsed length for a rod to fit the bike half-frame bag is 51 cm. And of course, most of the good travel rods are 52 to 58 cm collapsed length. I have a couple of 5-pc mid-grade Japanese rods under 7' that fit, and went to A/E to find longer 6- and 7-pc shore-casting rods. Bike-fish also has its place in the TX hill country. Several counties don't allow parking on county roads near river crossings. But you can park your vehicle on state roads, pedal to the county road crossings, roll a bike into the flood-plain sendero, cafe-lock to a tree, and you're into State navigation rights - can hike and wade anywhere below the high-water mark. I have a few rod choices, and the bag will hold 3 of these rods, so I can outfit a couple of friends, as well. In the first photo, the big front bag on my bike will carry wading boots and a fishing bag, or if you prefer, a 15-l Ice Mule and a 6'er.

I have only one rod that I can feel the difference of reel weight, and since it's in my lightest-touch salt finesse niche (big fish on tiny winter bait), this makes me happy. It's an 8' rod that weighs 73 g.

That's ok, I have a $30 rod I'm planning to break on snook.

@KP Duty They named it right Megabass Asylum

I fish 40-lb Seaguar Gold Label leader on meat rod, One reason to use heavier leader than braid is the shock of casting big weight (especially at the end of a 14' rod). Another is constant abraision in the sand. I use 12' leader above, 6' leaders below. I want my leader knot off the spool before I cast. 30-lb Seaguar Gold on lure rod - shock and abrasion from fish is the consideration. 19-lb VGK V12 on micro-jig rod - diameter is closer to 15-lb Gold Label

I'm definitely not in the market, even for a nice Pagani, which would be my Ito choice (Monoblock might be nice, too). What you gain with Megabass, Mr. Ito's choice of styling, trim components, and his bench tuning. @ATA gave us the OP "Too Pretty to Fish" - Megabass could fit that niche, and even be an investment remaining NIB - there will always be a Japan collector's market for these. Certainly with Pagani, compared to Isuzu-bench sister 520X Chimera, the difference is all styling. Does Zillion get better performance or simply see-through side plates - rhetorical question. Have to hope drive, clutch and spool are also improved.

@Catt this one gives any new tackle a run for its money I built it with full-ceramic bearings, zirconia micros throughout the LW, and full-silicon nitride spool bearings. The new Smith SPX graphite rod and magnesium offset grip are also a step up from the old days - the rod blade is so light, the balance is completely in the offset grip. Dock fishing Arroyo navigation channel in March, the 6-1/2' rod was 2-hand casting 3-g micro-jigs to surface slashes 150' out

@Hulkster I will always say DC is a band-aid until MagForce patents expire and Shimano copies them - no accident their complex variable mag brake is named SVS - get the trademark secure. @Catt while it's expensive, aftermarket parts will get the weight of a small-frame Ambassadeur down to 6.0 oz.

@MAN you can count on finding Ambassadeur parts and upgrades as long as you want to fish, and yes, your reels will be heirlooms that will fish for generations. Easy to replace with a 90-mm handle, but 5.3 gears may be too slow to use that long handle. My. 6.3-geared Express has a 90-mm Haneda Craft "power" handle My 5.3 geared Ambassadeurs, these are both '77 4500C, get 70-mm H/C handles. Only C3 and C4 (Ultracast) offered 6.3 gears, and are easy to swap on U/C models. Avail and Valleyhill offer 6.1 and 7.1 gearsets for small-frame Ambassadeur (2500C), but no one offers gear upgrades for older mid-frame Ambassadeur.

Thanks for the clarification, I haven't pursued Miravel and was repeating what I heard before on this forum. I always look at Stradic as the baseline spinning reel. Sounds like Miravel is a CI4+ (composite body) Ultegra, which is Shimano's top locomotive drive reel - cold-forged anodized gears vs. die-cast in lower grades. My buddy has 6 years' very good service from his Ultegra.

If it's a reliable shop closing it out, in preparation for the '24, I would definitely snag that. In addition to lighter, same drive as Stradic w/ more BB, titanium bail and magnesium body and rotor, the reel is finished on a Japan bench instead of Malaysia assy line.

If you need a reel and want a recommendation, add $45 to the ante and buy new JDM Stradic. My '19 Stradics are still fishing hard, and my friends' '23's are doing the same. If you want the dressed-up and magnesium-body Excense, it will be a different-color Stella body with downgraded drive. Value for a used reel is set when what someone is willing to pay overlaps with what the owner is willing to let it go. If his reel is coming from the salt, you may not want it.

@Mobasser is correct that every reel is a compromise at this price level. Daiwa reels run tougher at this end, Shimano run smoother - -the Miravel (worm drive) @MN Fisher linked is the First Choice if managing light braid is in your sights. no offense @PhishLI adding ps - option A/R switches are going to disappear from the rest of the reels you buy over your life - get used to not having one now. You're 16 - go for the fine braid and hone your manual bail technique skills.

Seaguar and Sufix have you covered there, generally in larger diameter braided line. Where Japanese X-braid excels is in smaller threadline sizes, e.g., PE#1 is 20-25-lb breaking strength. Pretty easy to argue in line this small, you're more interested in being able to see it rather than a need to camoflage it. On the recent Favorite Finesse Braid thread, @redmeansdistortion pointed out the 10-m color changes in threadline braid are very useful for counting off the amount of line you're adding to your spool. The color change is there for this function, not for decoration (offshore jigging guys measure their drop depth counting color changes).

I would go to credit card to reverse the charge given that history. Amex is really good filing on line, even if your charge to their card went through paypal.

@Dye99 Did you order from existing stock, or did you Preorder? If you considered Preorder, best advise is Don't Do That. Note "ship your order at the next production run"

@FrnkNsteen These 3 fly reels belonged to heroes of WWII - they were possibly given as gifts, never used, squirreled away for a generation, then put on the market. (They say about vintage fly tackle, the best of both worlds is a Brit reel on an American rod.) From left, Young pattern 1c marked for Army-Navy CSL; Young pattern 15a imported to US by Lyon & Coulson sporting goods of Buffalo; Young pattern 1c marked as Allcocks Ousel. When I posted this story on ClassicFlyRodForum, a friend wouldn't relent until I sold him the A&N CSL, which he wanted to put on a shelf. BTW, all 3 reels contained edge-finish wear from sitting in their boxes since 1940. The Lyon & Coulson Varden came from the collection of Hogy B. Carmichael, and my 3-3/8" went under the radar while a 3-1/8" reel just like it took all the auction heat. I bought the Varden for $255, and it's worth about $850 today. The two reels I kept, I took them fishing. I can't think of a better way to honor their former owners.

I'm not even sure of the spool configuration at this point - I can't see what you see - your overall reel frame and the "bumps" in the drive side plate match C3 drive configuration. this schematic is CT non-level-wind, but drive and spool are the same for all Ambassadeur C3. (this reel doesn't have palm-plate idler gear and LW to drive off the idler - it's the schematic I had handy, and clear to see the rest without the LW parts) I do now see in your photo that what I thought was the end of a short spindle is reflection from the bottom of the pinion slot. C3 spindle is usually clipped in place in the drive side by p/n 20090. The tabs on these clips sometime will break, and I keep spares for my reels. The plastic part is kinda woosie (there's a stouter UK part in my blue CT above, but that doesn't do us any good). @CatfishAndBass Since the spindle appeared to come out with your spool, I think we're back to spool centering as the issue causing spool pins to impact the pinion gear. I don't have time to take photos this morning (all the other photos I posted were stashed), but may get there this afternoon. The increased diameter boss on the spindle (p/n 802631) bump-stops the spool bearing inner race, and limits how far the spool can move toward the drive. If the 20090 clip is not pinning the spindle, tightening palm-side brake knob can push the spool too close to the drive and pinion. The solution may be as simple as replacing 20090 clip and adding a brass square shim (p/n 20917, also 5145) to the drive side cap nut. I have a couple of reels w/ Avail spools that need as many as 3 of these shims to center properly. You can get these parts from e-replacement parts or Dad's Ole Tackle. Get some spares, like I said, the plastic part is woosie, and the phosphor bronze shims wear and bend from cranking on the brake knob. The shims are what you add to or remove from cap nuts to adjust spool centering. editing in these photos - spindle - note the groove in the drive end for the clip - the clip and shim. This shows the clip tabs in the spindle groove. But you have to remove drive side cap nut, push the spindle through the pinion, and install the clip on the outside.

@CatfishAndBass - you're kind of putting me on the spot - we don't know for sure that spool pin impacting pinion is causing the noise. If it is, it's not a good thing, but there's nothing I can see in the blurred pinion photo. I'm not familiar with the stubby spindle in your photo. Every reel I know with this configuration, Ambassadeur, Akios, Rocket TG, Kast King, duplicates C3 Ultracast spool design and all have a fixed spindle that's wider than the reel frame. One possibility for making noise is that you lifted the drive from the spool, and dropped a brake shoe into the centrifugal race. Another possibility, the noise is from the LW and needs oil. I'm going to have to see schematics of your reel to tell you anything more - they don't provide them on their website.