bulldog1935

I have Legit Designs Wild Side 5-pc MM (kiwi purchase) that fits in this bike half-frame bag - only way to get to this famous fishy tidal boundary is by bike or a half-day kayak paddle. (yeah, there's a 15-l Ice Mule and West Coast IPA in the front bag). I also just added a great Yahoo snag, Daiwa Black Label ML, $190 for the patient and persistent Yahoo hunter. This 5-pc fits in the same bag, gives me a choice, or a loaner for a friend who makes the pedal and doesn't have a pack rod.

I have paid $40 in the past - the discount is that good, but every kiwi order I've placed since last April including a rod has not been above $20. @NorthernBasser - adding this ps - if you reply to an e-mail from kiwi with a question, Kirill will field your question, and you can get in a Very Friendly e-mail swap with him. I've replied with an "oops - left this out of my order", and he canceled my order so I could start over. Also a reminder with kiwi, only Buy in stock items - "preorder" will tie up your order waiting for an OOS item.

@NorthernBasser It will take a week to confirm your order. You'll then get a payment e-mail from Kirill, which you can pay, or reply no thanks if you don't like the total. I have never used the PIN, but go go straight to my logged-in account page and click on payment link there.

Asian Portal always bills in JPY. Your credit card may add a separate fee for currency conversion. My past purchases with Asian Portal included Vanquish that came in 10% lower than their list price, and my Zillion came in 3% higher, both due to currency exchange fluctuations after the website listing was posted. Never enough difference to matter. Asian Portal does not have a good courier contract, which affects their shipping rates. Before '20 when Japan Post and USPS ISC Customs both worked, Asian Portal was free post on $100, 4-day delivery, and even a below-$100 cart only received a $12 post charge. (Throw in a $12 lure to get to $100). Reliable is a cultural thing for the Japanese - you're not going to find bad customer service, though there are some scam sites operating from China with .jp web addresses. What you will find is an extreme language barrier, requiring e-mails forwarding back and forth to a contract interpreter before they can get you an answer. I've used Masamichi at noppin.com for a broker, buying from Yahoo (Yahoo is not for the lame, but for the patient and persistent), Rakuten, and especially shops that don't market direct to US - the remaining 99% of Japan. When I began buying in Japan 18 years ago, a broker was the only way you could buy. The list of Masamichi's extra effort to earn his 6% brokerage fee can only be abridged - he baby-sat a custom inshore S-glass fly rod rolled from scratch on order, finds stock, hunted down a Yahoo seller when a reel I was following through 2 reduced-price auctions didn't come back for a 3rd, gets questions answered we never could from this side of the big pond, and always knows the scam websites when I ask. The broker stores small orders from around Japan for up to 60 days gratis, and combines them into one FedEx shipment. Brokerage also gets me into other Japan discount stores, such as Naturum, which is kinda their version of Academy.

Answering out of turn. 1016SVBoost is the 16-lb mono-capacity spool that comes with Zillion SVTW - the spring returning the SV inductor is tuned for casting heavier weights farther. 1016SV is the spool that came stock with Steez SVTW, and the SV spring is tuned for casting both lighter and heavy weights more reliably. Other Daiwa spools that fit 34-mm Steez/Zillion platform are 1012SV, which is shallower 12-lb mono capacity (you can hunt down a JDM model delivered stock with 1012). 1000SVBoost PE Special is the spool that comes stock with Zillion Silver Wolf - it has 8-lb mono capacity and is a better choice for fishing light braid (PE#1.2 and thinner). There's a whole range of aftermarket spools for Steez/Zillion 34-mm platform. Roro-X on the right is the lightest of these, for casting 1/16 oz on PE#1 threadline braid.

The best place I've found for discounted rods and lures, Meiho lure boxes, is FishingShop.kiwi. They've recently improved their courier contract to US, and lowered their UPS Express charge to $20. Excluding rods, free shipping on a $200 order. Also doesn't include large Meiho tackle boxes because of the large-box shipping charge. Kirill is in Miami and handles US customer contact on our clock. They're not quick out the door, because they have to confirm your order with their distributors, and takes them about a week to get it together. But their prices are the best you'll find. adding a ps - if you have a logged-in account, your cart stays indefinitely, and you can mull over it that long putting a $200 free-shipping cart together.

@Big Hands it's either that or put down the $100 that says I can cast 1/8 oz farther on deep-spool linear-mag Super Duty, and any Lew's centrifugal brake will dial down to backlash before it reaches my cast distance. This difference showed up on the water one day, then I took it home and measured it on the casting range (and sold my Lew's centrifugal brakes). Linear mag excels at casting light where mid-cast (wind) backlash is the bad guy. Centrifugal brake is for solving start-up backlash with heavy lures and heavy hands. This is BFS-magnesium-spool Alcance, also Doyo-built to ZPI design. ZPI reports the 7-g mass of their shallow BFS spool (titanium spindle) - Lew's doesn't report theirs.

@PaulVE64 - if you've ever been in a "shad run" - a white bass run where the shad are pushed up the river channel ahead of the white bass, hybrids and stripers, the river bottom turns black, and a white footprint opens up for every step you take. One Easter like that, I caught the same largemouth 7 (seven) times. Couldn't miss him, he had a scar on his head.

the OP turned out to be a rod question

$80 will get a Steez/Zillion swap-in spool that will cast 1/16 oz to 130' My spools are zero-set with 1 mm end-play in freespool. If you're set up like this, and getting start-up backlash, it's because your cast stroke has wrist snap either at the beginning or end - ala spinning cast, which rewards cast jerk with distance - with B/C, that same amount of jerk energy has to be absorbed by centrifugal or SV brake to prevent start-up backlash, so it adds ZIP to cast distance. Without wrist snap, light lures don't have enough spool jerk to create start-up backlash. You set mag dial to prevent mid-cast (wind) backlash using the lightest thing you ever intend to throw. While I pick my own BFS bearings for salt use, AMO spool even comes with the palm-cap BFS micro-bearing (for freshwater). And if you want to cast a few g into the wind, you add a couple of mag-dial notches. For stock Zillion/Steez 1016 SV spool, 12-lb fluoro, routine cast distance w/ 1/8-oz JH +plastic is 85 to 90' - plenty to fish.

c. 70s Vince Cummings Water Witch glass and c. 30s Pflueger Medalist. the fly?....doh......cat's whisker

I'm the opposite here, I prefer wide-range baitfinesse rods, both for reservoir and inshore kayak Xrossfield is closing out in Japan, and I went back for a second $70 rod. Abu named this rod for "crossing all fields" seabass to bass finesse. amazon listing google search None of these rods feel tippy, they all cast their rated 1/16 low-end with accuracy, and to 130' on the right reel set-up. They're all light-in-hand, good bottom-contact feel, and fish their full-weight range with aplomb. They also have the butt power to horse big fish at the boat. A TKF friend moved from PNW to TX coast 2 years ago. He went fish-less the first year, and saw the advantage to BFS for inshore (he watched a lot of Gulf coast youtubes). His first BFS combo included Alphas Air and Dobyns Sierra 69L baitfinesse rod. He couldn't get the distance he wanted, and said he was terribly under-gunned on the fish he started catching (especially from kayak). On my recommendation, he snagged Omen Green ML, and has been tearing them up ever since. He and I each went back for one more of these on recent half-price closeout.

@Basshunter_ adding the pss about Silver Wolf spool capacity - the 3.5-mm-deep Boost PE spool will hold a working capacity of 8-lb mono/fluoro - it holds more line than Daiwa rates it. Another advantage to Silver Wolf, it has increased LW pitch, which prevents line dig with the tiniest threadline (rated down to 0.11-mm-dia). Cal at TackleTour recently gave kudos to Abu Garcia baitfinesse rods https://www.tackletour.com/reviewabugarciazenonbfsrods.html While I don't have these exact rods, the JDM Abu salt versions are stacking up around my house. http://www.tackletour.net/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=90459#p728306

Late to the party, I just got back from the river with 2 high school aquatic science classrooms (hmm, Antonian HS brought 67 students - I think that's more than AS class...) - they were releasing trout fry into cold Guadalupe tailwater - they raised the fry from eggs - I head up the program for Texas with 32 schools. If you ever have the desire to swap spools around, some UL, some ML, and the ability to fish light braid on to 1 oz lures, you can't beat the 34-mm Zillion/Steez platform, which includes Silver Wolf ready to finesse from the box @Tennessee Boy. You can spend a little less with Air TW, the Alphas platform, but from here down, you lose the versatility. Showing examples of 2 spools, the 1000 Boost PE Special that comes with Silver Wolf, and a Roro aftermarket spool, which will send 1/16 oz into next week (seriously, 130'). I also agree with @KP Duty, you'll do better fitting aftermarket spool for Tatula over buying a cheap Express website package reel. Others may have different results, but from the go, Steez/Zillion and aftermarket spools (Ray's Studio, AMO) have been a boon for me, fishing 2- and 3-g lures. adding PS about the forgiving part - both Boost PE Special and Ray's Studio spools are SV, which is wide range and forgiving. Both AMO and Roro spools are fixed rotor (linear mag only), which is not wide range, and cast the lightest weights to the greatest distance, which also doesn't need to be as forgiving.

In my 20 years of shopping Japan, always considered it a worthwhile buy when the US$ was worth more than JY100. All of Japan is still on sale for 30% off.

I don't know about their bass line, but I've become a junkie for their JDM salt baitfinesse rods. From low-grade to higher-blank-quality and finish grade, they're light in hand, they fish their rated low end and full range with aplomb, and have backbone to turn big fish at the boat. First one I bought was their long 8'9" shore micro-jigging rod to match with Silver Wolf, because I was afraid to take my expensive Yamaga Blanks BCIII 82/B + Steez combo on my kayak. The Abu rod excelled in both shore-fishing and kayak-fishing niches. It's close, but won't quite cast its low end with Y/B, because it doesn't load so much long tip, but that's exactly what gives it fish-power to spare. Year-before fall Redfish Rodeo, it landed my trip fish and muscled it at the boat like a champ. (my buddy Josh teased me about the long rod on kayak) I liked this rod so much, I went back for another, and modified the reel seat to accept my 4500CT in its designed shore micro-jigging niche, so I have 2 of these I can rig with different shore lures. Next, I matched Silver Wolf with 7'3" Kurodai Baitfinesse Prototype for kayak niche, and it caught every fish that mattered in last year's Rodeo. This year, I snagged 4-pc 6'5'" Xrossfield ML, almost a give-away on closeout. I strongly recommend this rod for someone who wants a wide-range truck-stash bass finesse rod. 2 g is the sweet spot on this rod, and setting up a spool brake 2 days ago, it was casting 2-g jighead to 130'. Again, I liked this so much I went back to find the closeout on the 6'6" 2-piece - the 4-pc is going in my kayak back-up-rod dry-bag. Abu named this rod for "crossing all fields" - just as good in bass finesse as seabass. This or the 2-pc Xrossfield would make a great UL to 1/2-oz bottom contact rod. The Japanese also use these for jigging 2 oz.

SLPW '23 Millionare Air Stream Custom sold out in presale at $720 MSRP. The few that people are willing to part with, they're re-selling for over $1000. Daiwa is crushed by your editorial. Other round reels are bench-made today, and will always be worth their original purchase price or more in resale. (out of the box, these cast toe-to-toe with any LP reel) While you can't say the same about new Ambassadeur production, there are still limited bench editions that will retain their value, and it's pretty remarkable both how long- and strong-lived, as well as how strong in the market old Ambassadeur remains. Cal at TackleTour published a new Conquest MD review today - I suspect that has something to do with this thread OP.

If you follow my first post, you will solve this. btw I always tie the backing mono and braid together with Allbright knot before I load the reel. It's easy to spool 25 yds of mono onto the braid source spool after you tie them together. This way, I never lose the tension on the line when I'm filling the reel.

Yesterday, setting up a new spool brake, I cast 2 g (1/16 oz) to 130' on 6-1/2' rod, braid diameter 0.15 mm. Guide dig statement makes no sense, and spool-line-dig w/ 0.21-mm braid is only an issue on a poorly-loaded spool.

I began fishing braid with 20-lb 832 (0.23 mm), 120 yds stacked on top of 25 yds 20-lb mono backing. Tie the braid to mono backing using Allbright/Alberto knot to pass the line guide. This puppy sails and gives my BFS reels a 1/8-oz run for their money, even though it's in my 1/4+ oz niche. I did improve my spool bearings with KTF/IXA MBS, the equivalent of Hedgehog Air HD. You increased the loaded mass of your spool by filling it completely with fine braid, which stacks very efficiently with almost no air gaps in the spool stack. Your loaded spool was lighter before, could start easier, spin faster, and lower spinning mass also needs less brake force - adding up to distance. And if you didn't fill it all the way, the smaller loaded diameter means the spool has to spin faster to cast the same amount of line - also greatly reduces cast distance. The Very Thick mono arbor I describe above stacks so inefficiently in the spool bottom, it has a huge air volume, fills the spool more than halfway, and gives me perfect remaining shallow spool depth for my much thinner working braid. Selah. ps - easy to fix, get a 25-yd spool of Maxima Ultragreen 20-lb, (Amazon sells), spool up your braid on a receiver spool, and start over. Don't use fluoro backing, it's 30% denser (heavier) than mono.

@Bandersnatch That's SLPW-Zillion, which I matched with Ray's Studio spool: Not CT, but 34-mm spool. I made one change since the post just below, I found the gunmetal knob caps for my Studio Composite handle through west coast importer JDMFishing.com. I also replaced the 3-y-o Duel X-wire braid on that spool with PE#1 Varivas Si-X (white). It is shown with the right rod above, I'm matching it full time with Abu 7'3" Kurodai Baitfinesse Prototype - seabass finesse rod.

me too if I had had been schtupping w/ a backlash, wouldn't have cast to this jumping bait - 28" speckled trout visit your boat about 1/ 25 years.

if you don't backlash, you get lotsa free tries.

@Fishing_Rod after 45 years, evaluating what you do with your thumb is just hard as describing it, because the muscle memory has become a reflex. I get those nasty bumps all the time (try practicing skip casting under shrubs in your back yard). The result is always a full-thumb-clamp on the spool. I'm sure somewhere in the past, I got the backlash, too, but the automatic math is something like, "this isn't going to work, stop, start over will be a better result" [Start Over] > [Follow Through]

@Big Hands The solution is having 100% thumb in your pocket (more accurately, a mm from your spool). Even if you're not using thumb, keeping it so close you feel the "fuzzies" of incipient backlash and can react. If you're using your thumb right, it's always the final elevation on your cast distance, so it should already be there to adjust spool speed as needed. 40 years ago, I was casting this weightless (of course no end tension) and my forward centrifugal cast PO'd two different guides, because I consistently outdistanced their weightless spinning cast (while they were trying to correct my cast error). The physics of all of this has always been intuitive for me, but my thumb has been educated through experience. Whatever it is, I can cast it. If you want some serious thumb skill, play with an antique Meek or Talbot: Or you can do like @TnRiver46 and cast an old Ambassadeur with all the LW parts removed. If it takes 100% thumb and casts 1/8 oz into next week, it makes me giggle. If I take the same reel and modify it for BFS-threadline w/ mag brake and no thumb, bringing working weight below 2 g, so much the better. Honestly, I only remember 2 backlashes - of course I know there were more in 50 years - the first time I cast my neighbor's Ambassadeur and swore I would never backlash again. Second was April 2018 when I had a single line wrap on my rod tip (plus casting into wind). Plugged in my back-up reel and fished a great morning.