nomadx1 Posted January 9 Posted January 9 Hey guys, I'm new to the forum, but definitely not new to fishing. I have been doing a lot research via the forums on the site, but was unable to find an answer to my specific question. I just picked up a Zodias ML-Fast and an Expride Medium glass rod. The ML will basically replace one of my spinning setups for small 1/8-1/4 oz treble baits like the strike king 100 jerkbait and the Megabass X80 jr, but I will also be fishing lightwire hooks with weightless plastics and ned rigs, mojo rigs, 1/8oz t-rigs. The glass rod will be a cranking setup mostly fishing in 2'-8'. I spent a lot of time finding the correct rods, but now I am completely overwhelmed by the amount of reels that Daiwa offers. I really like the Daiwa BF70 for the ML, but someone at bass pro said that might not be the best choice since the spool doesn't hold much line? I saw the new Alphas BF TW, but saw that the Tatula SV TW 70 also is a finesse reel. I am so lost guys lol. Can someone please help me out. Doesn't necessarily have to be Daiwa either. I would love to stay in the $150-$250 range for both reels if possible. Any help is greatly appreciated! Quote
Super User new2BC4bass Posted January 9 Super User Posted January 9 Welcome to the forum. Nice choice of rods. I can't help with the newer reels. I do read good things about the Alphas. I'm a fan of the older (non-BFS) Alphas reels. There are aftermarket spools to turn mine into BFS reels. However, there are quite a few on here that are familiar with those reels, so you should be getting an answer soon. 1 Quote
nomadx1 Posted January 9 Author Posted January 9 Thanks! I didn't know about the BFS spools. I will have to check those out! Quote
PBBrandon Posted January 9 Posted January 9 7 or 8 speed Alphas SV for the Zodias. I have one on my Tatula ML rod for throwing X80s and such and it does great. It’s an upgrade for sure over the Tatula reels. Id get a 6 speed Zillion SV for the Expride, throws cranks like a dream, and honestly I like my Zillions as much if not more than my Steez SV. The Zillion might be the best bait caster on the market and you can get them for under 200 bucks right now. with the current JDM market, the Alphas and Zillion are too good to pass up when considering reels 2 Quote
Super User MickD Posted January 9 Super User Posted January 9 If you're going to fish BFS you'll be using small diameter line, and all the reels will hold enough. The reel was designed for BFS, not to worry. Just don't start putting 15 pound mono on it. 2 Quote
nomadx1 Posted January 9 Author Posted January 9 Awesome! I didn’t even look at zillions because they are normally like $350. I’m going to start the hunt for one tonight! Quote
nomadx1 Posted January 9 Author Posted January 9 1 hour ago, MickD said: If you're going to fish BFS you'll be using small diameter line, and all the reels will hold enough. The reel was designed for BFS, not to worry. Just don't start putting 15 pound mono on it. Ok perfect! I was going to do 10lb braid to a 8lb invizx leader. Quote
little giant Posted January 9 Posted January 9 I have 3 bfs set ups on ML rods. 10 lb braid on all of them. No worries on having enough line as long as the baits aren't more than .25 oz. Thumb education comes into play...... The alpha and zillion are awesome reels! I have both and love em! Welcome to the forum!!! 2 Quote
nomadx1 Posted January 10 Author Posted January 10 17 minutes ago, PBBrandon said: 7 or 8 speed Alphas SV for the Zodias. I have one on my Tatula ML rod for throwing X80s and such and it does great. It’s an upgrade for sure over the Tatula reels. Id get a 6 speed Zillion SV for the Expride, throws cranks like a dream, and honestly I like my Zillions as much if not more than my Steez SV. The Zillion might be the best bait caster on the market and you can get them for under 200 bucks right now. with the current JDM market, the Alphas and Zillion are too good to pass up when considering reels Ok, perfect! I didn't realize the Zillion could be found under $200! I didn't even look in that direction because of the price 1 hour ago, little giant said: I have 3 bfs set ups on ML rods. 10 lb braid on all of them. No worries on having enough line as long as the baits aren't more than .25 oz. Thumb education comes into play...... The alpha and zillion are awesome reels! I have both and love em! Welcome to the forum!!! Ok, great! There's so many options I just wanted to make sure I was getting what I needed. Nothing worse than spending $250 on something that you can't really use lol. Out of curiosity, what are your setups and what do you mainly use those for? Quote
nomadx1 Posted January 10 Author Posted January 10 3 hours ago, PBBrandon said: 7 or 8 speed Alphas SV for the Zodias. I have one on my Tatula ML rod for throwing X80s and such and it does great. It’s an upgrade for sure over the Tatula reels. Id get a 6 speed Zillion SV for the Expride, throws cranks like a dream, and honestly I like my Zillions as much if not more than my Steez SV. The Zillion might be the best bait caster on the market and you can get them for under 200 bucks right now. with the current JDM market, the Alphas and Zillion are too good to pass up when considering reels I found a 2021 Zillion SV TW 1000 in a 6.3 gear for $196. Is this the one you would recommend? Sorry for all the questions. I'm so lost in the sauce on the trim levels lol. 1 Quote
Solution PBBrandon Posted January 10 Solution Posted January 10 Yep that’s the one. The US model is 360-370 but the Japanese model is that one you are looking at. Thanks to the exchange rate between the USD and the JPY, you can get reels from Japan for way cheaper than the US. Only difference between the 2 I believe is that the US model has brass gears and the JDM version has aluminum gears and I think that makes it a bit lighter. Other than that there should be no difference in performance 2 1 Quote
nomadx1 Posted January 10 Author Posted January 10 Wow! I’m way under budget for reel#1. I did a little bit more research and I might be able to afford an Alphas BF TW (I wish). Thanks for the tip! You saved me a lot of money! 2 Quote
little giant Posted January 10 Posted January 10 14 hours ago, nomadx1 said: Out of curiosity, what are your setups and what do you mainly use those for? I got into bfs by getting a gomexus shallow spool for a Daiwa TW 80, 8 speed which I already had. Paired it with a 7' Magic L ML rod. This is my optional 4th set up. I live in south Florida, so its largemouth, peacocks, and crappie. ML is the lightest I'll go. The other set ups are: 7' Kistler KLX ML, Curado BFS, dedicated ned rigs. 6'7" Falcon salt inshore ML, Dream Tackle BFS, finesse worms or 3" paddletails 7' Lew's Carbon Fire M, SLX BFS, small cranks and jerk baits. All are 8 speeds, 10 lb kastking hammerbraid (micro filament weave), 6' Seaguar 8 lb Abrazx flouro leader. I upgraded all spool bearings to Japanese abec 9 ceramics for effortless casting. Biggest fish: 8.2 lb largie on the Falcon, 3" Kietech easy shiner. I love the challenge!! 2 Quote
nomadx1 Posted January 11 Author Posted January 11 Nice! That makes feel better about my decision to go ML. I have a handing miraclebass but its a light-fast. Not bad for $17 but I need a little more backbone. Jealous of that PB! Trying to break my 6.2lb PB this year! 1 Quote
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