So I’m contemplating a bfs set up for this spring. But need some advice and help. 
 

I fish mostly local ponds. Some of them get thick with vegetation though. To the point a medium spinning combo and 20 pound braid they can get stuck in and get off when I’m fishing a fluke or neko. Some are not so choked out in areas though so

i I think it will work. I’d like to try weightless plastics, and jigs and spinner baits in the 1/8-3/16 ounce range. 
 

can anyone recommend a decent entry level rod and reel to try out? 

24 minutes ago, Joedodge said:

So I’m contemplating a bfs set up for this spring. But need some advice and help. 
 

I fish mostly local ponds. Some of them get thick with vegetation though. To the point a medium spinning combo and 20 pound braid they can get stuck in and get off when I’m fishing a fluke or neko. Some are not so choked out in areas though so

i I think it will work. I’d like to try weightless plastics, and jigs and spinner baits in the 1/8-3/16 ounce range. 
 

can anyone recommend a decent entry level rod and reel to try out? 

 

Yes, Kastking Kestrel Air MFS reel and rhe Kestrel 6'9" L rod. I have this exact combo and it is fantastic for the price. The combo weighs nothing, reel casts awesome and I throw everything from weightless Dolive Sticks to 3/32oz Keitech jigs and Megabass X-70s on it. It is a fun little rod. 

Thick aquatic vegetation from shore and BFS isn’t a good mix imo.

Tom

I made my own BFS. I had an old Berkley Cherrywood medium 7ft rod that is super flimsy and an old Shimano B-200 I rebuilt years ago and has been sitting on the shelf. Spooled it up with 4lb. flouro and I'm going to try it out and see what happens. Handles an 1/8 ounce pretty good so we will see where it goes.

For what I know of your style and your waters, the answer is that it comes down to how far you want to jump in.  Your lightest rod is the MH finesse jig which will throw a true 1/4 oz on a good reel like a zillion and light line.  If I put a 1/8 oz plus the standard 3” Ned bait on mine I could fish it that way thought it wouldn’t be ideal.  If that’s the type of bait you have in mind then a true ML rod wouldn’t be out of the question.  The falcon 3 power BFS rods would be in that range and familiar in style for you.  The phenix feather ML would be about there.  I have both and both rods will do that true 1/4 oz and a bit less easily.  They will do less than that again (true 1/8 oz) depending on your expectation.  If you want to walk around a pond with a 1/32 head and a 2” twister tail (which is crazy effective at times) then that’s pushing the limit of a Cara BFS and you’ll need to drop down to a L power.  The major craft gets a lot of positive review here but I don’t know it.

 

For reels, you can go cheap, you can go mid or high end, you can go used, or you can convert a reel.  All are viable options.  I started cheap (and used) with a kastking zephyr that I bought here used for about $50.  It was perfectly serviceable and a good way to learn.  Buying used meant I could sell it a year later for roughly what I paid for it.  The whole reel cost about the same as a new spool for an old revo.  It got me into enough to know that a good reel was probable worth having. 

16 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

For what I know of your style and your waters, the answer is that it comes down to how far you want to jump in.  Your lightest rod is the MH finesse jig which will throw a true 1/4 oz on a good reel like a zillion and light line.  If I put a 1/8 oz plus the standard 3” Ned bait on mine I could fish it that way thought it wouldn’t be ideal.  If that’s the type of bait you have in mind then a true ML rod wouldn’t be out of the question.  The falcon 3 power BFS rods would be in that range and familiar in style for you.  The phenix feather ML would be about there.  I have both and both rods will do that true 1/4 oz and a bit less easily.  They will do less than that again (true 1/8 oz) depending on your expectation.  If you want to walk around a pond with a 1/32 head and a 2” twister tail (which is crazy effective at times) then that’s pushing the limit of a Cara BFS and you’ll need to drop down to a L power.  The major craft gets a lot of positive review here but I don’t know it.

 

For reels, you can go cheap, you can go mid or high end, you can go used, or you can convert a reel.  All are viable options.  I started cheap (and used) with a kastking zephyr that I bought here used for about $50.  It was perfectly serviceable and a good way to learn.  Buying used meant I could sell it a year later for roughly what I paid for it.  The whole reel cost about the same as a new spool for an old revo.  It got me into enough to know that a good reel was probable worth having. 

Thank you so much! I appreciate the help. Now I’m wondering if I should just stick with what I got and use spring gear for light stuff 

That’s just a preference choice. I will say that the 7’2” bfs is a whole lot like the 7’2” swim jig in action and feel, just two full steps down in power. If you’re throwing little sniper jigs like the siebert lil man a good bit then I think you’d love it for that. 

1 minute ago, casts_by_fly said:

That’s just a preference choice. I will say that the 7’2” bfs is a whole lot like the 7’2” swim jig in action and feel, just two full steps down in power. If you’re throwing little sniper jigs like the siebert lil man a good bit then I think you’d love it for that. 

I do throw a lot of that style of jog in 3/16 and 1/4. Hmmm I’ll have to get on falcons website and take a look

I was thinking more 1/8 sized but it will do a quarter. If you’ve found the swim jig to be just a bit heavy for them then the bfs would do it. 

I made a 6' medium spinning rod into a casting rod about 7 years ago and throw a trick of finesse worm with an 1/8 oz weight and 8 lb fluorocarbon line.  I even caught a fish with it yesterday.