Top left to right:

Loongze B51 DBC, Loongze Airlite B101, Loongze B51 MC 

Middle left to right:

DK100 black, 
23 Shimano Calcutta Conquest BFS, 
DK100 gold

Bottom left to right:

Sabre AKS 51, 
YeYa B51, 
Lizard Boki

I'd say this is a nice BFS round reel collection. 

Not bad for only fishing BFS for 4 years. I have way too many low profile BFS reels and regular low profile reels that I've modded for BFS use.

👍💯😁🎣🦈
 

Nice, what rods do like?

Tom

Hey WRB, I own quite a few BFS casting rods. My (IMO) high end BFS rods are: Shimano Expride, Zodias, Calcutta and Curado. I also have a Daiwa Tatula XT BF rod and Phenix Feather Light BFS rod. And a couple Phenix Classic BFS casting rods. Also a Dobyns Sierra Ultra Finesse BFS rod.  I have 4 BFS trigger rods, a couple of them have wooden trigger handles.

 

And a whole bunch of BFS rods from Aliexpress and Amazon.

 

My most favorite BFS rods are the Expride and Phenix Classic BFS rods.

 

I want to BFS fish at Castaic someday...

 

 

@ghost I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind me asking about your Tatula XT bfs rod, I’m thinking about picking one up but nobody around me carries them so any information would be appreciated such as what you’re using with it. 

@ghost Since I already have the Calcutta Conquest,  outside of that one, which reel is your favorite and why?

Discovered my Reply Badger 20A, sold in Japan by two lure shop brands, 

is the same reel as Sabre 50.  I replaced the 3 spool bearings with silicon nitride, and it's 1-g capable.  I strongly recommend this reel,  with the caveat that the thumb reach is happiest on offset rod grip.

Mag brake range is perfectly tuned,  and it has the best drag of any small-frame reel I own.

There's also a version selling on Amazon

Another one to consider, especially because you like centrifugal reels, is the Ming Yang W300.  They're a vintage Abu 2500c style reel but super chintzy.   Not exactly a glowing endorsement but they are cheap and fun and let's you check out that vintage form factor and synchronized level wind and tinker with upgrade parts.  A slightly higher end option over the Ming Yang is the magnetic brake Aioushi round reel.  It features a better frame to reduce gaps around the spool and a thum bar operated clutch.  The Ming Yang W300 doesn't like casts where the reels is swung through the air and stopped.  It will engage the clutch almost every time on the cast.  It's best used with the type of rod loading cast you see in the stream fishing videos.  The Aioushi doesn't have this issue due to what I assume is a better clutch design.

 

W300

 

Upgrade parts 

 

https://youtu.be/Fw7D5HkIPgc?si=P9EIMyepq9qN2-vI

 

Aioushi reel

 

 

Small frame Ambassadeur was introduced as a 1/4-oz reel.  My two, in stream and salt shore niches, have centrifugal pin replaced with Avail spacer and mag brake. 

Even my slaved spool 1500C fishes 1.5-g balsa plug.

 

2 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

Discovered my Reply Badger 20A, sold in Japan by two lure shop brands, is the same reel as Sabre 50.  I replaced the 3 spool bearings with silicon nitride, and it's 1-gram capable.  I strongly recommend this reel,  with the caveat that the thumb reach is happiest on offset rod grip.

Mag brake range is perfectly tuned,  and it has the best drag of any small-frame reel i own.

There's also a version selling on Amazon

Actually I think he already has that one.  Looks like it was his round reel gateway drug.

 

I suspect others are reading this thread and might appreciate my recommendation for cost-effective XUL BFS with backbone drag.  Should be noteworthy that both Sabre reels and Aioushi rod grips made a mark in JDM boutique market.   I really like Aioushi offset grip blanks, but don't recommend their rod blades.  The one AE BF rod I can strongly recommend is PureLure. 

I'm all round over here.  Thanks to Ron, I'm going to grab a JKS 50 and play around with it.  It'll be my first CDM round reel and looks ripe for the bench tuning.

 

Beautiful reels! 😍

20 hours ago, ghost said:

Hey WRB, I own quite a few BFS casting rods. My (IMO) high end BFS rods are: Shimano Expride, Zodias, Calcutta and Curado. I also have a Daiwa Tatula XT BF rod and Phenix Feather Light BFS rod. And a couple Phenix Classic BFS casting rods. Also a Dobyns Sierra Ultra Finesse BFS rod.  I have 4 BFS trigger rods, a couple of them have wooden trigger handles.

 

And a whole bunch of BFS rods from Aliexpress and Amazon.

 

My most favorite BFS rods are the Expride and Phenix Classic BFS rods.

 

I want to BFS fish at Castaic someday...

 

 

Only have 3 BFS rods a Falcon CARA ML BFS and 2 Phenix Classic BFS.

Reels are Ark Limited Edition BSF and 2 Aldebaran BSF.

Castaic had a good surface bite going in Sept for BFS with some Stripe bass mixed in. Stripers are a hand full on BSF and crush Karashi small hooks!

In am back seating now no boat. Big Hands is my BSF guiding light.

Tom

12 hours ago, Eric 26 said:

@ghost I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind me asking about your Tatula XT bfs rod, I’m thinking about picking one up but nobody around me carries them so any information would be appreciated such as what you’re using with it. 

There are 2 Tatula XT BFS rods;  Small Plug Rod and Vertical Master.  They are entirely different, I have both, matched with different Daiwa BFS reels;  love them both.  The Small Plug Rod is for just what the name implies, and the Vertical Master is intended for video games/minnow shaking.  I will probably add a second Small Plug Rod this year, it's a hoot with Smallmouth and Brown Trout.

14 hours ago, Eric 26 said:

@ghost I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind me asking about your Tatula XT bfs rod, I’m thinking about picking one up but nobody around me carries them so any information would be appreciated such as what you’re using with it. 

Hey Eric,

The Tatula XT BFS rod I have is 6'5", 1 piece. The 1 piece part is misleading, it is a 2 piece rod. The rod does not split in the middle of the shaft as most 2 piece rods do. The split is where the rod blank goes into the rod handle. So the blank is 1 piece. Daiwa also sells a 2 piece rod that is traditional split in the middle of the rod shaft.

 

The Tatula BFS rod reminds me more of the Shimano Expride 6'8" BFS rod, but not quite as firm. I consider both these rods as a bass BFS rod because the action is very similar to a ML casting rod, not as whippy as BFS rods suppose to be. The Tatula XT BFS rod has a little bit more give than the Expride. The Tatula XT BFS rod is light in weight. 

 

I've only used the Tatula XT BFS rod with 1 Daiwa casting reel that I modded for BFS. I have a Tatula SV TW 70(left hand) modded with a drag clicker and shallow BFS spool. I have modded a couple other Daiwa reels for BFS also. I know Daiwa has the Tatula BF70, BFS reel which is technically the Tatula SV TW 70 with a shallow BFS spool w/o drag clicker. That reel came out after I bought my SV TW 70 reel, so I decided to mod that reel I have to work for BFS.

 

This rods sweet spot is from 1/8 to 3/8oz lures. 

4 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Beautiful reels! 😍

Thank you

13 hours ago, FishTank said:

@ghost Since I already have the Calcutta Conquest,  outside of that one, which reel is your favorite and why?

Hey FishTank, from all those round BFS reels I own; the 23 Calcutta Conquest BFS is my favorite cuz it's more refined. The Loongze B51 Air MC comes a close second.

14 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Beautiful reels! 😍

I agree

10 hours ago, ghost said:

The Tatula BFS rod reminds me more of the Shimano Expride 6'8" BFS rod, but not quite as firm. I consider both these rods as a bass BFS rod because the action is very similar to a ML casting rod, not as whippy as BFS rods suppose to be.

 

That's actually how BFS rods have always been and what makes them special.  Whippy trout rods have been around for a very long time and BFS rods are a relatively modern phenomenon.  I remember when they 1st came out in Japan and we were importing them and discussing them in the 2010s.  What made them exciting was that they were unlike any L or UL rod any of us has come across in that they that light tips and could cast light baits but were very stiff with lots of backbone to hook and control a fish around cover. 

 

Why Shimano, Majorcraft and other were putting letters "BFS" on these bass rods I don't know but they only put them on these bass rods and not their stream or area trout rods.  "BFS" at the time just meant a type of bass rod.  And a BFS reel was a reel you would pair to that rod which was something like Daiwa or Shimano with a aftermarket spool and later the Daiwa Air reels, Alphas SV and Alde BFS.  People would ask what BFS means and we would tell them "Bait Finess System" and then when asked what that meant the reply was "I don't know it's a new type of rod from Japan".  At the time you just had to get one and fish it to experience what that type of rod could do.  I remember skipping tiny baits at the shore at pressured fish and pull then out when no one else could get bit.  This was a time when a weightless 5" senko was considered crazy light and for spinning tackle only.  I was getting crazy looks skipping with a baitcast reel let alone skipping wacky finesse worms and neds at the time.

 

Later when BFS rod became more popular with the masses of redditors the term evolved to meaning casting as light as weight as possible with a baitcast reel.  Now most in the US think of BFS as UL and super UL whippy trout rods casting trout magnets.  Shimano, who I think gained some legal ownership of the acronym, are the only ones putting it one their rods and reels to my knowledge.  Interestingly, some of their BFS reels (22 alde) have evolved to become super UL capable stream trout reels while their BFS rods remain true bass rods.  It's to the point that you almost don't want to put a Shimano BFS reel on their BFS rods.

 

Anyways, here is a pretty good topic from. BR user that has the same sort of impression of his Majorcraft Volkey BFS as you do of your Expride BFS.  The Volkey was a popular BFS around 2015 because it was only $150 and considred super nice for the price.  

 

 

7 minutes ago, Bigbox99 said:

 

That's actually how BFS rods have always been and what makes them special.  Whippy trout rods have been around for a very long time and BFS rods are a relatively modern phenomenon.  I remember when they 1st came out in Japan and we were importing them and discussing them in the 2010s.  What made them exciting was that they were unlike any L or UL rod any of us has come across in that they that light tips and could cast light baits but were very stiff with lots of backbone to hook and control a fish around cover. 

 

Why Shimano, Majorcraft and other were putting letters "BFS" on these bass rods I don't know but they only put them on these bass rods and not their stream or area trout rods.  "BFS" at the time just meant a type of bass rod.  And a BFS reel was a reel you would pair to that rod which was something like Daiwa or Shimano with a aftermarket spool and later the Daiwa Air reels, Alphas SV and Alde BFS.  People would ask what BFS means and we would tell them "Bait Finess System" and then when asked what that meant the reply was "I don't know it's a new type of rod from Japan".  At the time you just had to get one and fish it to experience what that type of rod could do.  I remember skipping tiny baits at the shore at pressured fish and pull then out when no one else could get bit.  This was a time when a weightless 5" senko was considered crazy light and for spinning tackle only.  I was getting crazy looks skipping with a baitcast reel let alone skipping wacky finesse worms and neds at the time.

 

Later when BFS rod became more popular with the masses of redditors the term evolved to meaning casting as light as weight as possible with a baitcast reel.  Now most in the US think of BFS as UL and super UL whippy trout rods casting trout magnets.  Shimano, who I think gained some legal ownership of the acronym, are the only ones putting it one their rods and reels to my knowledge.  Interestingly, some of their BFS reels (22 alde) have evolved to become super UL capable stream trout reels while their BFS rods remain true bass rods.  It's to the point that you almost don't want to put a Shimano BFS reel on their BFS rods.

 

Anyways, here is a pretty good topic from. BR user that has the same sort of impression of his Majorcraft Volkey BFS as you do of your Expride BFS.  The Volkey was a popular BFS around 2015 because it was only $150 and considred super nice for the price.  

 

 

The big takeaway with trout rods is they don't just cover smaller resident fish, but also bigger migratory fish.  I have rods that are designed for steelhead (simply called large rainbow in Japan), sea run Dolly Varden char, and cherry salmon.  The rods can go all the way to heavy power and typically are capable of a wide range of lure weights. Those rods are meant for thread line braid and have a more moderate action to better keep fish pinned.  Those that are fast, like the Major Craft offerings are meant for fast water, where the rod isn't going to flex as much in that environment.  BFS rods by comparison are meant for thicker fluorocarbon in the 6-10lb+ range and their action facilitates the use of that line.  My Smith Troutin'Spins are rated for 3-12g 0.6-1.0 and 5-16g 0.8-1.5 respectively.  One is a ML and the other a M power.  Lots of fun on the river, but definitely not the right tool for the job fishing the slop for bass.

20 minutes ago, redmeansdistortion said:

The big takeaway with trout rods is they don't just cover smaller resident fish, but also bigger migratory fish.  I have rods that are designed for steelhead (simply called large rainbow in Japan), sea run Dolly Varden char, and cherry salmon.  The rods can go all the way to heavy power and typically are capable of a wide range of lure weights. Those rods are meant for thread line braid and have a more moderate action to better keep fish pinned.  Those that are fast, like the Major Craft offerings are meant for fast water, where the rod isn't going to flex as much in that environment.  BFS rods by comparison are meant for thicker fluorocarbon in the 6-10lb+ range and their action facilitates the use of that line.  My Smith Troutin'Spins are rated for 3-12g 0.6-1.0 and 5-16g 0.8-1.5 respectively.  One is a ML and the other a M power.  Lots of fun on the river, but definitely not the right tool for the job fishing the slop for bass.

The trout rod stuff is super interesting and I'm just starting to get into it.  I'm still trying to figure out stream vs area trout rods.  From what I understand, stream rods are graphite and for mountain stream fishing and area rods are usually glass and softer for fishing managed trout ponds or managed areas hence the name.  I'm just going to go dink slaying in ponds with a glass trout rod next year and then try my hand at stream fishing later.  I don't onow anything about fishing streams and creeks.  I'm not even sure if my nearest stream that is stocked with trout even allows you to get into the water and walk down it or if you have to stay in the public access shore?  This whole thing is new to me but new fishing things are fun.

When Motoyama coined BFS to describe the reel mods in 2000, it was in his first book in a following decade on shore bass fishing (all his previous books were mountain trout).  Shore fishing BF rods take 2 approaches, long progressive tapers that load in a band moving down the rod with increasing weight and cast power (e.g. 2-hand), and fish wider lure weight range.  

Second is shorter semi-para tapers that load more of the total rod length (Smith SPX and this Kuramochi Synapse ML/L) - note the progressive taper above has much thicker butt diameter, while both cast comparable low-end.  

 

Trout rods run this way, also - 5' and over are more progressive taper, while rods under 5' are semi-para.  

The Japanese tend toward more progressive tapers, and their rods will usually fish below their rated low-end.  I've never found an Ali Express rod with a true progressive taper - from short glass to long 4-axis carbon shore rods, they're all semi-para taper, generally won't fish their rated low-end, and fish best in the middle of their rated range.  

Not a problem if that's where you want to fish, and haul a foot-shorter rod.  

Solid tip is a special case of a progressive tip (can still be added to a semi-para taper).  Solid tip rods are recommended for soft baits, tubular tip for hard baits.  

First off my apologies for asking the same questions in more than one thread. So after looking at the Daiwa site @Tackleholic the rods you’re referencing are the Tatula Bass rods which at $179.99 retail are a bit pricier than I’m looking to pay, @ghost you’re referencing the exact rod from Daiwa the Tatula XT at $99.99 retail is more in line with my budget and then of course I read about the Major Craft Volkey that I know @MiceNReets has just purchased on the used market, so much information to absorb. For reference I’m looking for one rod that will be able to cast a 1/16th ounce underspin head and say a 1-1/2”-2-1/2” plastic body to say a Strike King 1.0 square bill. I have a relatively cheap reel with a bfs spool currently and was using a old 6’-0” rod with a generous rating from 1/8 ounce to 1 ounce, I would really like a rod no shorter than 6’-8”-7’-2” able to throw both single hook baits and treble hook baits and I feel confident I can control both by setting my drag appropriately especially considering I generally fish a small set of ponds with not very large fish. Another rod I came across is a Cashion Element Z2 bfs rod that’s marked as a med-light and at $129.99 it’s perfectly priced but nobody near me carries Cashion rods currently but I’m hoping my local upcoming fishing and outdoor show will have a good selection of rods to handle. I’m really enjoying reading about this style of fishing and have learned a ton from the likes of @bulldog1935 in both posts and pm’s along with @redmeansdistortion who both  adopted this “trend” quite early and then @Bigbox99 who always brings a different perspective regarding “alternative” brands to completely keep me searching for the perfect rod reel combination and then there’s @WRB-2.0 who has recently adopted the bfs style and has caught some of the largest bass swimming so he definitely knows a thing or 2 when it comes to handling them. So much information to absorb. My apologies for the long winded post.

Aliexpress has a sale coming up on Dobyns Ultra Finsse rods $146.

Tom

10 minutes ago, WRB-2.0 said:

Aliexpress has a sale coming up on Dobyns Ultra Finsse rods $146.

Tom

If you watch Amazon, they frequently go for $100 and a bit less.

Dobyns Ultra Finesse is now $129 Aliexpress.

Tom

38 minutes ago, Eric 26 said:

First off my apologies for asking the same questions in more than one thread. So after looking at the Daiwa site @Tackleholic the rods you’re referencing are the Tatula Bass rods which at $179.99 retail are a bit pricier than I’m looking to pay, @ghost you’re referencing the exact rod from Daiwa the Tatula XT at $99.99 retail is more in line with my budget and then of course I read about the Major Craft Volkey that I know @MiceNReets has just purchased on the used market, so much information to absorb. For reference I’m looking for one rod that will be able to cast a 1/16th ounce underspin head and say a 1-1/2”-2-1/2” plastic body to say a Strike King 1.0 square bill. I have a relatively cheap reel with a bfs spool currently and was using a old 6’-0” rod with a generous rating from 1/8 ounce to 1 ounce, I would really like a rod no shorter than 6’-8”-7’-2” able to throw both single hook baits and treble hook baits and I feel confident I can control both by setting my drag appropriately especially considering I generally fish a small set of ponds with not very large fish. Another rod I came across is a Cashion Element Z2 bfs rod that’s marked as a med-light and at $129.99 it’s perfectly priced but nobody near me carries Cashion rods currently but I’m hoping my local upcoming fishing and outdoor show will have a good selection of rods to handle. I’m really enjoying reading about this style of fishing and have learned a ton from the likes of @bulldog1935 in both posts and pm’s along with @redmeansdistortion who both  adopted this “trend” quite early and then @Bigbox99 who always brings a different perspective regarding “alternative” brands to completely keep me searching for the perfect rod reel combination and then there’s @WRB-2.0 who has recently adopted the bfs style and has caught some of the largest bass swimming so he definitely knows a thing or 2 when it comes to handling them. So much information to absorb. My apologies for the long winded post.

When I still had my 65 UL Volkey BFS I used to fish the 1/16 oz BPS weedless worm hook jig head things with a BPS hellgramite a lot.  I basically kept one tied on that rod that all times.  The hellgramite is a 3 inch bait but it's mostly flat so its pretty light for its length.  If I wanted to do that today I would look at the Majocraft UL bass rods like the Benkei or Days.   I would also cross shop the Shimano UL BFS rods.  The only other advice I can give is to avoid solid tip rods.  The hyper flexible tip will rob you of some hook setting power when trying to drive hooks through plastic and into a fish.