bulldog1935

It ain't the salt, it's the sand slurry, and the sand carried in the water in the NE surf is the finest and most pervasive on any shore. This is what fully-sealed reels are for, and you of course pay dearly for those. I'd be making a trip back to the beach, 5-gal bucket, and a couple of pieces of 1x12" I carry in my bucket and use for a sand-free base on the beach, stands the lantern at night, and doubles as a fillet board. Can't think of a beach-spike rod holder that's made to hold your rod near horizontal - they're all aimed to keep your rod tip high - this is kind of the upscale norm from fabricators on etsy. But I guess it could function as a rod-butt prop while you walk to the other end of the rod.

I understand JDM rods - the Japanese fish like I do. I've bought from low grade to high grade, and am still fishing two low-grade finesse spinning rods I bought 13 years ago, which have caught 13 years of big fish in pretty amazing numbers. And was buying fly rods a decade before that, when Japan was the only source for new glass rods. The lightning-bolt sticker is the Japan domestic product quality approval - their version of UL-Listed, though it's a government bureau in Japan, which noteworthy applies to domestic-made fishing rods - and it's kinda what makes a rod JDM. Wasn't targeting striper this day on 5-wt streamer rod, just worked out that way. I don't understand USM rods, but technique-specific discussion shows they've created a pretty good market. Reservoir bass fishermen are harder on rods than most open water fishermen, so I can understand the warranty concerns. As far as paying 60% more for what should be the same product - you're only buying that warranty insurance from the USM importer, and counting on them to come through if you need it. If you think you're buying a different level of quality, that's completely wrong - the US government has no equivalent product quality approval bureau to JDM.

@warefisher I sent you a pm on very limited remaining stock.

Because the 800S shallow spool will keep mass down, it should have both distance and reliability advantage. Sounds like a Perfect combo - the reel will get everything out of that rod. Alphas Air would only be an advantage for 1/16 oz distance. A lot of inshore guys are picking these up for tiny winter baits. My BFS-raced Zillion is in inshore ML, PE#1.2, 7'1" Omen Green ML, and it casts 1/8 oz into next week without ever a backlash - in that case, it's about light spool+line mass and SV brake. A big advantage over the Zillion G1 Boost spool, which works, but not to such extremes at that light lure weight.

I would back with the big stuff to make a low-mass arbor on the spool for the lighter working lines.

@softwateronly The Alphas SV TW 800 is probably just right for you, and it's aimed at 10-fluoro - 80 m (90 yds) capacity. Jun Sonata rates it to cast 3.5 g, which is 1/8 oz. My Steez and Zillion cast 1/8 oz fine on 10-lb fluoro. Alphas Air has a lower mass and shallower spool, rated to cast 2 g - also has a faster LW pitch to let you use really fine threadline braid without the risk of line dig. Alphas Air spool capacity is 45 m PE#1, or 75 m PE#0.6 There's also a '22 JDM Alphas SV TW 800S that fits right between the two, and is rated to cast 2 g. Capacity is 90 yds 6-lb fluoro (just right for 20-lb Power Pro). Here's the Japan line diameter chart up to PE#1.2 - Japan X-braid is going to be about twice the strength of Power Pro for the same diameter. You could always consider an aftermarket spool to swap in Alphas just for the light stuff. Ray's Studio makes an SV spool that has wide upper end - take a look at my Zillion. I have three 34-mm Daiwas that swap spools, and I have aftermarket spools from Ray's Studio, Roro-X, and AMO, plus the stock Daiwa G1 spools. I can fish down to PE#0.8 on Steez and Zillion - there's rarely a need to go smaller. The Roro and AMO spools aren't made to cast more than about 10 g, but they push the distance edge casting 2 g.

JDM Soare and USM Vanford 500 are the same reel with different cosmetics. The Vanford 500 is USM only, not offered in JDM. Both are the same locomotive-drive reel, and smaller spool pitch than the rest of the Vanford line, which are worm-drive based on 18 Stella.

Hope you don't get a double on that rig.

There's a lot of 1/8-oz tackle mentioned on this thread. When I fished Lew's Super Duty and Lew's SP side-by-side with 1/8 oz, the mag-brake Super Duty cast farther and more reliably. I routinely fish 1/16-oz on 5 baitcasters from streams to tide passes, and I'd raise the ante to get a JDM Daiwa Alphas Air TW, $245 (shipped) from Digitaka or Asian Portal (ebay). Then I'd look for an inexpensive wide-range BFS rod to round out the budget. https://baitfinesseempire.com/product/shimano-majestic-rod-series/ A friend just bought one with a higher-grade rod, and went right to fishing 1/16 oz. He also found it backlash-proof with the light lures and threadline braid. This isn't the reel - a BFS-raced Zillion - but the idea. Since rod length and cast distance with 1/16 oz was raised, my 6'7" bass finesse casting rod is an easy 90-100', 5'5" stream rod is an easy 70' - twice what you need for stream fishing. My long salt finesse rods, optimized at 8'2" will send the 1/16 oz past 130', where it's often needed. Also, the way to read cast distance is inverse cast effort - an effortless cast is a reliable cast.

Storm Wild Eye 2" Though when Tsunami was closing out SS2 size, snagged quite a few glows.

Japanese numbers are so easy. PE# is traditional silk thread size grading - they use it for braid and mono. PE#1, #2, #3, or fractional diameters, e.g., PE#0.6 braid and PE#2.5 leader.

I can't answer on that specific rod, other than you're getting a really good price for that high finish grade (Ti-frame-ZrO guides) I can tell you about two Abu Garcia JDM rods I purchased recently, a few months apart, and the first one shined on a week-long trip. The blanks are extreme quality, made using Toray prepreg. One is long, 8'9", and respectably light in hand - 135 g for that long length and big power. The 7'3" version is shockingly light in hand, 80 g. Both are fast, powerful rods - mine are salt finesse made for tiny lures and big fish, but also have a very wide lure range. For being close to the frugal end, they're exceptional quality.

Here's how far the Japanese push super-progressive taper (and beyond this). This 7'3" salt finesse rod with extreme lure range is made for Kurodai (black sea perch), and will command big redfish and snook. Most important, turns a redfish from going under the kayak. Progressive rod tapers get more powerful as they get longer without making big changes in the tip and mid. This one is maximized for cast distance, and gives up some of that power. This one gives up a little distance and light lure end for more seabass-turning power.

If you think in terms of tapers, the traditional UL rod in USM is 5-6', moderate-slow para taper, and flexes deep into the handle - narrow lure weight range. JDM rods are all progressive taper with fast mid and more powerful butt - very wide lure weight range. My Smith Dagger Stream that I show in photos above makes beautiful skip casts off the tip (with a reverse spiral cast). They'll have just enough flex in the tip to cast their light lure rating, and nothing about them will be noodle-y.

I suspect Daiwa Europe will continue offering the Whisker SS 1600 and 2600 models in Europe -- or else they would be sacked and burned.

@BlakeMolone You need to visit Bait Finesse Empire - they have rods divided by niches Onshore, they stock both USM and JDM tackle, and a great place to sample lures without having to shop in Japan. Look for versatile rods that show up in more than one niche, and don't rule out salt light game rods that overlap in bass finesse and panfish. You'll find stream trout rods to be very specialized, though. Short UL rods for throwing 1-7 g. @redmeansdistortion is a forum member who fishes more stream trout than any other here. I fish some of that, but most often salt finesse. smallest plug in this box is 1.5 g; most are around 3 g - largest spoons are 3.5 g. The largest 62-mm plug is 4.5 g That said, lake fishing will let you use longer, faster rods. I have several friends in the Sierras who fish mountain lakes for trout and bass using 7' bass finesse and salt light game rods.

@JeepFisher A good and frugal rod to look for in Japan are Abu Garcia Salty Style and Salty Stage. The Salty Stage Kurodai rods (black sea perch) are aimed right at inshore-size redfish and snook. They're fast taper, wide-lure range with a soft tubular or solid tip rated down to 1.5 to 3 g, and up to 15 to 20 g. This "Prototype" 7'3" that I picked for kayak salt finesse fishing has a tiny marking shield on the handle... At 80 g, it's almost as light as Yamaga Blanks. The 82/B is the only Yamaga BFS choice - the shorter bait rods are too light. Abu has really gone crazy on salt bait finesse, offering a dozen models to fit anything, and half the price of Y/B. Though you will never hear me complain about my Y/B rods - they're jewels and out-distance every other rod made. spinning We're on our sixth winter (and 8th trip) to the Arroyo Colorado barge channel in far S. Texas, though I was salt finesse fishing piers and docks at night for a dozen years before that with my daughters and inexpensive rockfish rods bought on Rakuten. We were catching nursery specs for kidfish, 40 in the hour after sunset, but when I sight-fished 22" and 23" specs in summer canals, discovered they had the backbone for big fish. Way back - when I was a teenager fishing bay tackle, popping cork and live shrimp from a lighted dock for specs - I witnessed my first salt finesse master. I caught a few fish, but he caught 40 or 50 throwing a tandem rig with 1/16-oz jigs and crawling retrieve. Big fish sipping tiny bait won't expend much energy to eat, and everything is light touch.

@JeepFisher Hi friend, I use PE#0.8 X-braid - YGK, Duel, Varivas - 15-lb test. My leader is 12-lb - YGK V12 or Seaguar Grand Max. Titanium bite trace, hoping to make it through gill plates, Dragon Brand (Poland) or Mako (Ukraine), 6 kg (13-lb). This is on my Yamaga Blanks BCIII-82/B, and an 18" snook is a riot - this one is hopping off the table, and went right back into the channel. Our slot is remarkably narrow, 25-28" - I did fillet one to try it once, they're wonderful. I've broken off, or more likely gill-plate cut a couple of over-slot fish. I'm going back this winter armed for the bigs. Shore micro-jigging rod, rated 3 g to 28 g, 20-lb leader, and my custom finesse 4500CT - already proved the rod on slot reds this fall. Going up to PE#1, 24-lb, and 16-lb V12 leader. Imitating winter glass minnows under the nite-lites - of course you catch the snook in the dark outside of the lights and parallel to the docks. We've seen 20 snook stacked and loitering on our dock piles. Our bread and butter are schoolie male specs that sweep the dock lights lining the navigation channel all night. Last winter overnight stringer for 3 limits/fishers - only kept injured 16s, and Susie's 25" male spec. Suzie's big male made two 50-yd runs, first across the channel, then along the docks. Riotous finesse fishing, and good eats.

Super Duty always amazes me here - uncanny ability to distance 1/8 oz. Heavy reel, though. ZPI Alcance wins hands down - great linear mag brake. Magnesium spool, titanium spindle, Overall light reel.

When you swap a spool, you have to open the "zero adjust" knob so you don't damage anything closing the palm plate latch - this is because all spool spindle widths vary just enough to be dangerous. You should open the knob every time you open the palm plate latch. When you have the palm plate latch closed, the spool should have too much side play because you opened the zero adjust knob. With the clutch in freespool, tighten the zero adjust knob to dial out the side play to the point of just finding incipient side play - now you're as good as the Daiwa factory - all done. the knob is made to be hard to get to, so you won't randomly change it while fishing. It's not made to tension the spool, there's no need for it. Can't imagine what you could damage in the SV, but you can definitely damage the palm plate latch. I think the salesman was fishing for an answer. If you try fishing with spool tension, you'll likely defeat the function and purpose of the SV brake, and won't cast to the potential of the reel.

you mean wait until Daiwa's casting brake patent expires and Shimano copies it?

Still hasn't been a mention of the reel or reels, their manufacturer, model. Some handles have 2 bearings, some have an inner nylon bushing that's the same size as a bearing, and an outer bearing; others have two nylon bushings. Have a photo of a new Daiwa handle and the package that came with it, including 2 bearings, shim washers, bearing puller, and end screw with blue loctite. The stack is shim washer, bearing, knob, bearing and screw. If it has end play, take it apart and add another shim washer between the bearing and the knob. I've had many knobs that weren't happy until they had 3 shim washers between the bearing and the knob. It's not always symmetric on baitcast knobs - had one side with 1 shim while the other side wanted 3 shims. If you get too many shims in the stack, the knob doesn't turn freely, so pull the handle and take one out. It's easy enough to fix that you don't have to put up with it. If you swap many knobs, buy aftermarket handles and knobs, you'll have all the parts around.

An lot of assumptions on this thread that aren't exactly correct. Most soaps contain ammonia. Magnesium is reactive in even mild acid, just as aluminum is reactive in even mild alkali. It's only anodizing that protects either. If you see white chalky deposits on magnesium or aluminum, especially around screw holes, you're doing something wrong.

Thanks for the report and photos - congrats on the great catch. My best on fly rod is 32", and have caught them to 38" in the surf on MH tackle. You have a lot of good eats there. If you took the skin off those fillets, next time try skin-on half-shell redfish fillets. I was never interested in eating redfish in the TX slot until my buddy Josh showed how to grill-blacken half-shell fillets.

Lamiglas has been making steelhead rods longer than anybody else out there, and deserve their PNW reputation.