Hello,

I am looking for a baitcaster that can throw 15 lbs braid and a lure range of 3/16 to 1/2 oz, and will be pairing this with a ML rod. I have a Purelure Zana right now, and even though it has a 1 piece metal frame, it feels flimsy and loose. I think that in general, BFS gear feels too weak, but smaller sized conventional gear (curado 70, tatula 80) has too much line capacity and doesn't handle small diameter braid well. I will throw lures from a Geecrack Supaku Swimmer to a Bellows Gill 2.8, so durability of BFS reel internals is also an issue. Does anyone know of a reel that can handle this? Looking at the Purelure/DMK Cheetah Metal, but I am still concerned about the loose feeling. Thanks!

What budget range? The zillion SV TW will do all of that and then some in factory form. $250-ish from JDM sites.

zillion can throw 15 lbs braid? Are there other sv reels that can do that too? Budget max is around 300

I don’t understand why a tatula 80 wouldn’t work perfectly? You say holds “too much line”. I don’t think that’s a thing. If you don’t wanna use a whole spool of braid up just run some cheap mono for backing. But it sounds like that’s what you need. Small diameter braid is always going to dig into itself but that’s inevitable. Unless you can find something with a specific shallow spool maybe?

I'm surprised your Purelure Zana feels loose. It's the perfect reel for ML-M reel, I've had zero issues with it. Though all magnesium reels do have a hollow feel and you might be happier with a full aluminum frame.

I also have the first variant of the Purelure/DMK Silver Feather MIECC (DC) reel, close to Cheetah metal and use it for ML-M, it's a pretty great reel as well, though I think the Zana is more refined and better reel.

If you want to go the big two route and think the Tatula 80 has too deep of spool. You could get Alphas Shallow Spool version. It has a full aluminum frame with aluminum gear side plate as well.

8 hours ago, alphv said:

I am looking for a baitcaster that can throw 15 lbs braid and a lure range of 3/16 to 1/2 oz, and will be pairing this with a ML rod.

I run a Daiwa Alphas SV TW 800S (shallow spool) on a 7' Muse ML rod. 165' of braid mainline to leader.

4 hours ago, alphv said:

zillion can throw 15 lbs braid? Are there other sv reels that can do that too? Budget max is around 300

I just had one loaded up with 16# PEX-8. I didn’t fish it, but it laid down great and there was no issue with the thin line getting between the spool and frame. Dig in might be a problem but that’s going to happen with that line anyway.

I throw a lot of rigs with pe .8, pe 1, and pe 1.5, and I agree with @PhishLI the diawa alphas sv tw 800s is perfect right out of the box for your weights and line. Absolutely sends them and is a very quality reel at a fair sub $200 price. The zillion is better imo but only when paired with a shallow spool, for me a roro x27, making the whole endeavor significantly more expensive. I have my 4th alphas in my digitaka cart right now to pair with a "lighter" Phenix MH, but the site went "under maintenance" earlier today.

scott

Yep, the new Alphas 800s has the right line capacity and castability. Or if you want to go old school, both the Pixy and 19 Alphas CT SV are perfect for your task as well.

5 hours ago, Swimbaitstud said:

I don’t understand why a tatula 80 wouldn’t work perfectly?

The unloaded spool of the Tat 80 weighs about 15 grams if my memory is correct. Fully loaded I think I remember mine weighing about 25 grams. That's a bit too heavy for the bottom range that the OP is looking to effectively throw.

Why not buy a Tatula 80 and get a bfs spool for it?

4 hours ago, bx.versatile said:

I'm surprised your Purelure Zana feels loose. It's the perfect reel for ML-M reel, I've had zero issues with it. Though all magnesium reels do have a hollow feel and you might be happier with a full aluminum frame.

I also have the first variant of the Purelure/DMK Silver Feather MIECC (DC) reel, close to Cheetah metal and use it for ML-M, it's a pretty great reel as well, though I think the Zana is more refined and better reel.

If you want to go the big two route and think the Tatula 80 has too deep of spool. You could get Alphas Shallow Spool version. It has a full aluminum frame with aluminum gear side plate as well.

I wouldn't say loose, just that the sideplate creaks. It's magnesium? I thought it was a metal frame. The brakes on mine also don't work very well, I need to have very high tension for it to not backlash. The thumb bar on my Zana also feels cheap and flexes a lot. Are you having the same experience on the Purelure? Finally, do you have the alphas? I've heard some reviews saying the zana is better

It's so light I may have gotten it mixed up. The description does say it's aluminum frame but carbon side plates.

7 hours ago, alphv said:

I wouldn't say loose, just that the sideplate creaks. It's magnesium? I thought it was a metal frame. The brakes on mine also don't work very well, I need to have very high tension for it to not backlash. The thumb bar on my Zana also feels cheap and flexes a lot. Are you having the same experience on the Purelure? Finally, do you have the alphas? I've heard some reviews saying the zana is better

I don't have the shallow version, Alphas 800s, but the regular SV TW is an amazing little reel. I could use it for everything, but right now it's just a pitch and skip reel for me. The Alphas platform (Alphas, Tatula 70,80, loads of BF variants) is a very compact and solid feel reel and one of my favorites.

12 hours ago, alphv said:

I wouldn't say loose, just that the sideplate creaks. It's magnesium? I thought it was a metal frame.

I thought Magnesium was a metal. A quick search turned up this confusing statement.

Magnesium is a chemical element; it has symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point, and high chemical reactivity.

So is it a chemical element or a metal?

Metanium Shallow Edition seems to meet the criteria listed.

2 hours ago, new2BC4bass said:

I thought Magnesium was a metal. A quick search turned up this confusing statement.

Magnesium is a chemical element; it has symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point, and high chemical reactivity.

So is it a chemical element or a metal?

All the things in that statement are true. Magnesium is a metal. Metals are chemicals. Magnesium is an element (aka pure chemical, not a compound). Some metals are elements. Some metals are blends of elements.

Magnesium is a metal, its just the density which makes it feel different from AL. If you want a tiny solid reel, check out the Bates BFS option. Those reels are machines from a solid block of AL, which is far more resilient than a forged reel. peace not sure than any piece of tackle has blown my mind more so than the first time I got hands on one.

On 2/16/2026 at 9:00 PM, bx.versatile said:

have the first variant of the Purelure/DMK Silver Feather

What are your thinks on this? I got the Purelure Cheetah air over the winter and only got to throw it a few times, but didn't really get a chance to really feel it out and find where it'll fit. I'm thinking my light to medium treble lures, mostly topwater.

1 hour ago, Banned User said:

What are your thinks on this? I got the Purelure Cheetah air over the winter and only got to throw it a few times, but didn't really get a chance to really feel it out and find where it'll fit. I'm thinking my light to medium treble lures, mostly topwater.

I think it depends on your rod, heard folks can cast 1g-15g no issues. I used it with a ML or M casting rod up 20g with no issues. Last year, I used it with Kingdom Wormblade M rod, it's ultra lightweight but it was faster than I thought. I've bent out stock Berkley Stunna hooks on it. I don't traditionally use these deeper spool BFS reels for throwing ultralight. I find them more for Bass BFS or "Power BFS," used to replace ML or M bass some spinning setups for more line control and casting efficiently.

Instead of grabbing those noname brands from Ali, i'd grab a quality Made in Japan reel in used condition.

For $300 you can get a very good reel if you're purchasing from Japan. If you want to spend as little as possible, get the new Tatula 100. But if you're ordering from Japan, you can get a Zillion HD sub $300, and this is the best reel you can buy, it has it all.

This has been the best for 5 years, and after 5 salty years, it's just getting warmed up.

5 hours ago, bx.versatile said:

used to replace ML or M bass some spinning setups for more line control and casting efficiently

Alright cool, thanks

How was the drag on yours? I feel like I gotta get it cranked pretty good and there isn't much room left to increase

1 hour ago, Banned User said:

Alright cool, thanks

How was the drag on yours? I feel like I gotta get it cranked pretty good and there isn't much room left to increase

It works fine, I don't max it out to set hooks for worms on medium powered rod. Though I do use braid most of time.

I believe the silver wolf is a reel made exactly for this situation. It is a zillion with a shallow spool specialized for light pe. It still has a good line capacity and is made from lures 3-28 per Daiwa I believe. I think 3g might be light for it with a stock spool but I was actually looking at getting one on eBay I saw for a good price. That or an alphas 800s should be perfect. But the silver wolf is on the zillion platform which is just amazing.

For that 3/16-1/2 window on braid, I would prioritize a shallower spool and predictable low-end braking over max line capacity. A lot of reels feel fine at 1/2 oz, but the real test is whether they stay controlled around 3/16-1/4 into light wind without having to crank brakes so high that distance dies. 15 lb braid is workable, just keep it filled correctly and watch line dig on hard hooksets around cover.