Hey all,

Going to foray into Bait Finesse and am curious which reel to order. Some of the considerations are narrowed down to

• Saltist TW PE Special
• SS Air TW
• Zillion SV TW
• Alphas BF TW

 

I didn't include the Aldebaran because I'm already going to pick one up locally.

 

Money isn't a deciding factor. If I went with a Saltist for example, I might get two or maybe a nicer light action rod, but again, money isn't the deciding factor.

 

Lightest things I initially plan on throwing will be some 1/16oz t-rigs, 1/16oz jig heads with a small (<3" swimbaits), etc. Might also serve to throw a fluke or 3" Senko.

 

Saltwater use really isn't a consideration, but I live close enough (2.5hrs away) to it where I like the option (of course I have a dozen other reels that could handle the salt)

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those.  

In the case of Z-SV-TW, you'll improve it for BFS if you find aftermarket spool and swap the palm plate bearing.  

  

Though this holds true for every reel on your list.  Daiwa probably builds their spools stronger than needed, because people are going to fish mono on them, and they provide maintenance-free shielded bearings.  

The Saltist is a big reel, with 200-m PE#3 capacity.  The only place I would need a reel that big is offshore jigging.  But it would make a great Big swimbait reel.  

I stick to 34-mm spools, nominal PE#1.2, but Alphas Air has made a mark in Gulf coast inshore fishing.  

I'd check the new gekkabijin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sxdUx-_kcw&t=590s

3 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

I don't think you can go wrong with any of those.  

In the case of Z-SV-TW, you'll improve it for BFS if you find aftermarket spool and swap the palm plate bearing.  

  

Though this holds true for every reel on your list.  Daiwa probably builds their spools stronger than needed, because people are going to fish mono on them, and they provide maintenance-free shielded bearings.  

The Saltist is a big reel, with 200-m PE#3 capacity.  The only place I would need a reel that big is offshore jigging.  But it would make a great Big swimbait reel.  

I stick to 34-mm spools, nominal PE#1.2, but Alphas Air has made a mark in Gulf coast inshore fishing.  

 

Any favorite Zillion aftermarket spools?

Tough find right now, but Ray's Studio honeycomb SV keeps all the big-weight versatility of the stock spool, perfect capacity for PE#1 and #1.2.  Ray's copied the limited-run KTF Kahen spool, which invented SV and let Daiwa copy it.  Ray's improved on KTF and Daiwa with a tapered inductor, which makes SV act like SV Boost.  Ray's spool weighs 8 g, vs. 11-13 g for most Daiwa S (shallow) spools.  Ray's are the black and blue spools in my previous post.  

 

If light-lure distance is a priority, fixed inductor spools are down to 4 to 5 g, and turn MagForce braking into linear mag, giving up weights over about 3/8 oz.  The very best is AMO and Roro, but again, these are getting hard to find.  I use these in salt shore to cast 2 g past 130'.  An easy Ali Express score that I haven't tried, but others give good report is KKR.  

7 hours ago, Micro Module Police said:

I'd check the new gekkabijin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sxdUx-_kcw&t=590s

First I've seen of that, looks like the ss air frame.

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Shout out to the alphas 800 svtw, smaller profile than the zillion. I have two, one with a rays sv and one with a kkr spool, no complaints with either. SS air is great too but pairing reels, spools, and bearings is more satisfying than buying an out of the box bfs reel.

Ditto on the Alpha 800. I put the SLP shallow spool on it and upgraded the bearings. Casts light baits with ease. Still.not a true BFS due to stock levelwind. But a great way to take the bfs plunge!

@little giant Swapping spools and bearings to measure and compare distance on Steez, Zillion and Silver Wolf, 

increased level-wind pitch on Silver Wolf actually costs about 5% distance with everything else constant.  

Zillion and Steez will cast that extra distance down to PE#0.8 - below 0.14-mm braid diameter, then you need increased LW pitch to prevent line dig, but I catch redfish and snook using PE#0.8 on Steez without any line dig problems (18", hopping off the table, and went right back into the channel)

Even on Silver Wolf, decided I didn't want to mess with #0.6 any more on B/C, and fish #0.8.