bulldog1935

Here's a finesse example where BFS baitcast excels over finesse spinning tackle. Micro plugs with hook swap to plug singles (big fish on tiny lures) On spinning tackle, the single hooks foul on the line four out of five casts. They almost never foul on BFS because of tight line casts and instant retrieve. Set up properly, BFS will also out-distance comparable finesse spinning tackle. I prefer the spinning tackle fishing tandems and complex float rigs.

On a 30-mi ride the other day, quest for Two Bros. ribs and bluebonnets. Successful on both counts, and managed to keep the ribs off the keyboard while messing with photos.

Magnets just weren't effective back then, compared to modern Nd magnets. Those reels still had to be set-up and fished with end tension. The rod that would match that is the original Falcon, which were sold at the original Academy stores (Austin).

@GetFishorDieTryin Sent a pm with the Avail link. But my favorite 88-mm handle on lower-geared reels is Studio Composite, and I sent links for that, as well.

@KP Duty 2/3 of inshore species around the world are scienids, in the Croaker and Drum family. Croaker, whiting, red drum, black drum, corbina, seatrout.

Avail and ZPI make lightweight and very good 105- and 107-mm length handles. This is Avail STi-2 (Avail A knobs) on Zillion This is ZPI SSRC Carbon handle (sold w/o knobs) on Silver Wolf, but on Zillion 10, I'd be looking hard at ZPI Jignist (sold w/ knobs). Gomexus offers even longer, 120 mm handles, but won't have knobs as light as the examples above (or Ti spindles, etc).

When 3D printing arrived, everyone was ga-ga over e-mailing each other new fly reels. The cost of the powder-metal printer may not be what you're thinking. The one I saw in a gas turbine shop filled a room - the only worthwhile parts it could make were a handful of small burner parts, and it cost $18M (useful for a regional GT support shop). Most fly tiers make the mistake of duplicating a mirror static fly. This is a shrimp in the bay as a fish sees it evading, also perfectly imitated by stripping line. (insects on the water surface tension look very different to fish than we see in the air)

8'3" Yamaga Blanks - perfect match.

I'll give you a like for glossy effort (great photos) and enthusiasm, but also want to remove it for missing the boat. Still the best 1987 photo I have, partly because our will-be guide buddy behind the camera will become Phil Shook's inshore guide, and get write ups with action photos in Parks & Wildlife, and FR&R. Also, my buddy Stevo (in the middle) and I spent a few socked-in lubricated weekends working out the perfect shrimp and crab imitations and picking up on hill country flies from Billy Trimble to David Train. The Austin Angler kept a wash tub of iced free beer. Joe Robinson was always perched to involve an unsuspecting visitor for a couple of hours at the vise. My very first vise time was with Billy Trimble, and a decade later, was able to join him and a few other trout wizards on week-long runs along the CO/NM border - they tied tiny midges by Coleman lantern light - I just held out my midge box and poured the Scotch. The clerk at The Angler was Alvin Deaudeaux, who may be the best guide in the country today - he certainly sets the best lunch. The Angler was on Congress Avenue, a street-level window box entry, and a stairway window box climb to the 2nd floor. Downstairs was Alfa of Austin. In a way, they hawked each others' wares, since a trip to the Alfa dealer might involve killing a couple of hours, and when you took a rod to the alley to test-cast, both sides of the alley were lined with classic coachwork Alfas. Besides its blazing inaugural run from visiting relatives in TN, down Naches Trace in a blur, and on to the '84 NOLA World's Fair, Stevo and I made a run from camping in Palo Duro Canyon to fishing Cheeseman Canyon in 4 hrs 10 min. But the point, what good is fly tying without a washtub of iced beer, good friends, and the memory after they each become "world famous in TX hill country" - - no AI can do that.

Fished nothing but Lew's since 1984, when Daiwa wouldn't support parts on my 7-y-o Millionaire - certainly didn't have a kind word for Daiwa for those three decades. Speed Spool was a paradigm change in baitcast design, which Shimano manufactured then stole. Besides, Shimano rear derailleurs cracked, plus they stole SunTour's patent before the patent expired. Before that, they copied Campagnolo. Shimano index shifting was superior to every other and finally put SunTour out of business. If you didn't care about index shifting, Shimano was for the gadget-happy (their brakes sucked for 3 decades). 1987 photo of 3 young salts (think they're something on a stick) I was even dumb enough to try Lew's spinning reel in the '90s, but gave that away when I replaced it with Penn. Just about every TX coast kayak fisherman I know has a gang of Super Dutys, and mixed Lew's, and doesn't want anything else. For a generation Lews = baitcaster, just like it was Ambassadeur for the previous generation. Dollars to donuts, more Doyo-made Revos were sold than Shimano or Daiwa, as well. IMO, where Lew's lost it was spool options, their obese dual-brake design, and putting all their eggs in their centrifugal brake basket. Deep spools and centrifugal brakes work perfectly for fishing thick lines and heavy weights. What made me look at Daiwa again was the desire to fish threadline braid. Just like Speed Spool separating freespool from the LW moved syncho reels to the back shelf, Daiwa's Mag-Force and SV brake design will become the industry standard when the patent expires (every rear derailleur made today uses's SunTour's 1964 patent). Better add Shimano made their mark with Calcutta, though $400 was a lot for an inshore reel in the '90s, and I was happy with my Lew's Salt.

My fishing buddy, retired Baptist preacher, and noted rodbuilder Floyd Burkette will attest that even a $1000 rod is working way below minimum wage. It's strictly a labor of love. Floyd builds everything himself, from butt cap to tip-top. The custom reel seat (to accept 2-7/8" 1917 Hardy foot) and the hex rod tube are mesquite. He machined his own die for wire-forming snake guides, and offers it to other rodbuilders. He's machined nickel-silver parts for me in repairing OP's valuable antique fly reels.

Here's what I found about June fishing Carolina Spanish Mackerel are exciting fish to catch on lures from the beach, and will beat bait into the beach - Great Eats. (or here, fly rod - bobbing off the jetties on the beach side) They hit fast lures like a freight train, though play out quickly compared to their larger cousin. (tough on a fly rod, you put the rod under your arm pit and Chernobyl strip with 2 hands) Flounder will take a slow bottom-bounced lure, ambushing from the sand. Tough mouth to set the hook. Probably the finest food any coast offers. Redfish will take lures and especially staked cut bait at the second gut. Snook are the most bass-like in their attack and fight - though not really a beach fish, you most often find them on channel slopes and piles on moving tides. Sorry I don't have a larger one to show, but 2 of the 3 snook species on our coast don't get over this 18 inches. This one, caught on winter finesse lures, is also hopping off the table, and went right back into the channel. I did fillet a slot fish just once, because I had to know - there are no words Here's the Best Primer on Reading the Beach https://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/topic/177314-reading-the-water-again/

If you're fishing light lures, threadline fluoro or threadline braid is going to get down faster. At the same time, threadline braid is going to float well for topwaters. If you fish with good habits, threadline braid will always be superior. If you don't, mono or fluoro will be better.

No question, 20-25-lb mono for backing - all you'll need for backing is 20-25 yds.

This is really easy. You're casting with jerk, snap, wrist - all the tricks you use in spinning to get more distance that only produce backlash when you use them on baitcaster. It will do the same thing no matter what rod you use. Get rid of the jerk and cast it like a baitcaster, and you'll get rid of the backlash.

that applies to trout, but less to bass - trout are looking for aquatic insects drifting in the current - bass are looking to ambush baitfish, crayfish, amphibians. We fish bass more often wading downstream, and fishing down and across, here fishing with Kevin Townsend filming an episode of KT Diaries. we're wading down a flagstone shelf and fishing down and across over dolomite ruts - a summer day, 15 degrees cooler in this cypress tunnel than up by the road. Same spot on an October fall bite, I caught 75 bass on the same wade. And this is me catching trout in my tailwater with Frank Smethurst on TU on the Rise. how are you going to present down-and-across to the fish you just stepped on to get upstream. I hope this thing is on - it hasn't been for most of this thread. Of course, if you only fish in one direction, you can't go home. It's best to do your exploring downstream, fishing down and across to structure. Remember the big fish you saw, and fish them on your way back up, directing your cast at their last lie where you saw them - they won't remember you by then. And I'll still raise the flag that says, "I'm the only guy here who has stream fished on national TV"

Here's a river bass lure for fishing down and across to straight down the current and bottom bouncing. BFS Empire sells the Mukai Max 4-g single-hook keel spinner, and Vanfook sells the pre-tied woolly bugger tail. This duplicates the action of a cats whisker on Teeny sinking shooting head with a fly rod. Put a couple of these together, you may never need another lure. Just how much structure is there in a 15'-wide channel. Big bass will pick the deepest water with the best overhang, hardest for you to present with a rod that's too long. The bass on the left was sight-fished. Single most important skill is stealth. Don't go out to cast. go out to explore, and spare your casts.

and 7' seems really silly considering the OP's question. You might be able to fish that rod length and extra cast distance in 10% of this overhang. If you want to bank-fish ponds and lakes, fish panfish from a boat, the 7' rod is right. If you want to wade creeks, you want no more than 5-1/2', and you might find 5' more useful.

This is a stream rod https://www.digitaka.com/item/29/6/6/4560350821749 Asian Portal has stock on ebay. Better price on ebay - I've used this vendor before. Plat has the casting model in stock, if you're interested in adding a BFS reel. Guess this thing isn't on.

@Koz I like Ima lures enough, they have a sticker on my kayak cooler. Matsuya, btw, has a brick store, and is a big-time Yahoo.JP seller.

Go by weight you want to throw, 1 to 7 g or 2 to 10 g. My Smith UL lands everything I want to catch, but the 5-pc telescoping configuration gives it a faster taper and powerful butt. Before I bought the Smith, I also bought a Tailwalk 55L/C rated 2 to 7 g - I like the Smith better, and it fishes full range 1/16 - 1/4 oz very well. The guy who really has a quiver of these rods in varied lengths, MOC and taper is @redmeansdistortion Maybe he'll show up. My small-water kayak rods are 5' to 6', ML and MM glass, and MH graphite. The ML glass will fish 3 to 4 g really well. MH graphite is a veggie frogger.

I've landed 4-lb smallmouth on 6' 3-wt fly rod, which is lighter than any UL finesse casting rod. As a rule, even where you find rare big bass in headwaters creeks, they're eating nickel-size crayfish and dime size minnows, so if you're not using finesse tackle, you should probably be using a mid-length, mid-weight glass flyrod. A big bass in a still pool is not going to live with forage-size bluegill - he already et em, and even the big bluegill will be spooky. You also won't find a largemouth in fast current - that's not their natural niche - that's where you'll find spotted bass. The point - you're unlikely to find big bass in headwaters creeks, and you'll catch more of the fish your targeting fishing finesse lures. The guys who really know how to use the current against you are red-ears.

L to UL finesse rods are pretty perfect for small headwaters creeks. 5-1/2' down to as short as 3'8" This Smith Dagger Stream telescopes down to 17" and can carry it in a bike bag to fish county road crossings where you're not allowed to park a car. The little Ambassadeur is raced out, and the combo fishes 1/16 to 1/4 oz. Short glass rods will let you fish heavier lures. One place you might want to look is Graywolf rods, who just rolled a batch of blanks. This is 5' MM Bright River Concorde from JP. This is a great choice for kayak, keeping a larger fish from going under the boat.

Rods made for casting lures in the surf are generally very useful inshore and, especially pier and jetty fishing. These rods are generally under 9' Surf rods over 10' MH and up, are generally made for casting spider-weights + meat. Many surf-fishing buddies also use steelhead rods for their surf-lure rods, and these fish inshore very well. That said, I've caught plenty of bull reds on 7-1/2' MH inshore rod with 2-ounce spider weight and that much meat. Both casting examples, both I fish inshore, also both for long-cast dock fishing, both light-in-hand - here is an 8' 1-pc ML Rich Hedenberg surf-lure rod, 1/4 to 1 oz. On the spendy side, but a 2-hand pocket-rocket. This Japan Abu 8'9" 2-pc shore micro-jigging rod was my inshore champ at the redfish rodeo last fall, fishing 5-g (1/8 oz) plugs. This is a $100 rod. @Clumsy fisherman If you want a specific recommendation, look at Tsunami Airwave Elite. I have the 1102H for staking spider weights and meat. Keep in mind you notice the weight on surf rods, especially as they get longer. I would stick to 9' to 10' rods. Linked above, there's stock of the 962M, which would be a friendly rod, if 3 oz max rating works for you.

New truck day. Only way to get all my demands was to buy a fleet truck. But I love the rubber floors I can hose-out after a fishing trip. When I parked at the greenway summit trailhead for a bike ride, a car pulled in beside me while I was gearing up. Their dog hopped out of their car, and hopped right into my truck. My old red, truck, btw, was done at 250,380 mi - transmission was slipping 3rd. It made 20 mi to the dealer on the back road in 2nd gear, to be worth "$1000 if you can drive it in." When I left, my dealer said, "See you again in 17 years."