TackleTour

Title says it. Do you use BFS casting gear for trout or panfish? I know it's a pay to play game, but it is Tackle Tour....just curious who is addicted to the trout BFS stuff like me. I went back to a favorite setup. Daiwa SS Air lefty with a Daiwa Silver Creek AGS 52L-B Rod. What's your setup or wish list?

I've used my UL Jackson Super Trickster for panfish and the solid carbon tip really helps to toss tiny hard baits. If I was putting together a dedicated trout and panfish combo to keep the miles off the Trickster/Zonda I'd probably opt for an UL trout casting rod like a Teton or Finetail which I do not consider BFS.

I use a 16 Aldebaran BFS with KTF spool, 8lb Gliss, Long 6lb FC leader.

For the rod, I use an ice fishing rod. 4ft Whip R Rod Panfish Series. Perfect for bobbing and weaving through trees and such.

I've been using reels that might be described as in the BFS range for years, I always called them Ultralight Baitcasters, fishing for panfish and bass and trout, etc. with lures down to 2.0 grams - for years. Yes, there have been baitcasting reels that with special parts were able to easily cast 2.0 gram lures, before BFS. I contend and if you read the interviews with the "inventers" of BFS, it has been the rods that have made the difference (other than marketing, of course.) I thought the idea of BFS was using sucessfully using baitcasting to cast lures down to, say 1-1.5 grams.

The real problem is the rods. I'm sorry, a 4' rod never did work for me, I can't cast the range and control fish with rods that are short and whippy. Berlkley had a Lightening rod out in the 80's that was 4.5' long and it didn't sell. Daiwa and Shimano have had the same over the years. Maybe the new crop of the shorter moving water BFS rods that the Japanese will work - but when you watch the videos, the're not casting really light lures with really short rods.

I picked out maybe six rods I'll be buying over the next few months, from Majorcraft rods to the inexpensive Kunying Teton rod (that seems to have a lot of friends in Asia really liking). Unfortunately, it seems that every BFS rod is made in China, even the very expensive Japanese rods. I guess it makes sense making the rod blank and components in Japan and shipping all the stuff to China for assembly, shipping the rods back to Japan for quality control, but that may be why I'm not running a multi-national

Anyway, I've settled on rods in lengths from 5.5' to 7', oddly enough with rods in the 6' range being some of the best for tight streams such as trout, bass and panfish streams where 75% of your casts are basically pitches, not traditional casts, and maybe another 10% are sidearm casts.

I also have never fished a mainline with a lb test of 6 lb, and my biggest stream bass was a 22'' Spotted Bass, when I was using 6' line. When in coastal, blackwater streams where bowfin were often caught as bass or sunfish, I have used a 12 mono "shock" or bite leader, but it wasn't over 3' long.

Will I be buying some real BFS reels, I'm actually waiting on a couple to be delivered from Japan now.

Mountain/Area Bait Finesse thread, excellent idea. I have a feeling this will be very poisonous to some!
Reels and spools- The important stuff
Revo LTZ
Aldebaran BFS with KTF spool
KTF Aldebaran BFS

Rods- Too many to remember, length vary from 3'9" to 6'6"

LIne- 8lb gliss/braid to 2lb mono

Wish list- Glass UL rod that's not for kids or $500 OG Beams, 5ft ish solid tips, non custom single reel handles for BFS reels

The last 3 years 95% of my fishing has been "BFS trout fishing". While I have focused on searun brown trout (they get big), I have also targeted smaller rainbow and brown tout.

Without getting into a long discussion about definitions, I consider BFS fishing for trout to be the use of baitcasting tackle and lures weighing <1/4 oz (I mostly use 1/8-3/16 oz lures). To me, BFS is simply the baitcasting equivalent to UL spin fishing. Saying that a rod is a "trout rod" or "bass rod" tells me very little - although I can give you an educated guess - I much prefer talking about power, action and casting weight.

I have accumulated maybe 15-20 reels that can handle such lures (Aldebaran, Metanium w BFS spool, Alphas, Pixy 68 and SPR, ABU mørrum with avail spool and various other reels with avail/ktf spools) and love to fish different reels depending on the lures I use on a given day, wind and water conditions etc.
Similarly, I pick different rods depending on the water I intend to fish and on current conditions etc. If I can get away with it, I use short / 6-7 foot rods including some labelled as "BFS" (e.g. Major Craft Volkey or N-one). However, since I always fish from shore (stream fishing), I often need to use longer (>8 foot) rods because of vegetation/reeds, e.g. St. Croix Avid or Legend Elite medium-light rods (they handle 3/16 oz lures nicely) or an older TFO G.Loomis sign. "Steelhead rod"(9'6", L, approx 1/16-3/8 oz lures or so). I have caught many large searun trout, and when the fight is on, a longer rod makes the whole thing a lot easier. Because I mostly use moving baits, I prefer a moderate/regular to regular-fast action rod. As I have mentioned in another thread, I hope to improve my soft lure trout fishing this year and use my fast to x-fast action BFS rods some more.
That being said, when I use Mepps spinners I fish them upstream and find it very addictive to watch a 3 kg trout smash a spinner just a few feet from shore.
I LOVE BFS trout fishing :-)

Oh, wish list:
Shiamno Conquest BFS

My quest started with BFS Bass fishing. I was fascinated that I could almost eliminate my need for a spinning setup by casting light stuff on baitcasters. I have always loved UL fishing and soon found the bait finesse system for trout in Japan. To date I have owned and fished the Major Craft Fine Tail 4'10" UL , 5'4" UL, Daiwa Presso AGS 60L-B, Smith Be Sticky 5'7" UL,and Daiwa Silver Creek AGS 52L-B. Reels I have used include Shimano Aldebaran BFS limited and XG, Daiwa SS Air, and Daiwa Alphas Air. I find that for small lure fishing for trout/panfish there is no equal in accuracy and control. Just too much fun ! I hope this thread grows.

Dalleinf, are you not allowed to wade or is the water too deep?

I live in the northeastern US and here the streams are so overgrown that if you don't wade there are very few spots where you can make a cast.

Dalleinf wrote:Oh, wish list:
Shiamno Conquest BFS

Yes! Love that Shimano is bringing this to market.

Here's a list of bait finesse system trout rods I have found in my research. This is not complete so please ad any you can think of. These are designed for the Japanese market. Some are for native trout (think streams/rivers). Some are made for area trout (think stocked ponds with large fish at times). There are many manufacturers that make rods for this purpose. I won't list all the model numbers but give you an idea of what to research.
Daiwa: Silver Creek AGS, Silver Creek,Wise Stream, Presso AGS, and Area Bum.
Shimano: Cardiff NX, AX
Tenryu: search the Rayz series of rods
Smith JP: Be Sticky trout models
Megabass: Great Hunting Trout Rod
Abu Garcia:Diplomat, Troutin Marquis, Massbeat Extreme
Palms: egeria
Major Craft Fine Tail series

Reels:
Shimano :Aldebaran BFS (XG limited and XG), Calcutta Conquest BFS, Scorpion BFS,
Daiwa: SS Air, T3, Alphas Air
Abu Garcia: Revo LTX-BF8

Many reels can be modified with specialized parts to make them "BFS" reels. Those are just a few of the best out of the box BFS ready models available. Again, please ad any others you can think of or come across. I want to help anyone in their quest!

Great thread, most of you guys know I'm a bfs junky. I honestly fish for all species on bfs gear but hope to build a nice mountain trout stream combo this year. Thinking new cq bfs hg, undecided on rods. Wish some of the newer Shimano trout rods had more bc models.

Thanks for the list jrob, I am interested in the scorpion bfs when it comes out

the hooligan wrote:Great thread, most of you guys know I'm a bfs junky. I honestly fish for all species on bfs gear but hope to build a nice mountain trout stream combo this year. Thinking new cq bfs hg, undecided on rods. Wish some of the newer Shimano trout rods had more bc models.

Yeah, Shimano has few options in the trout BC game right now. Maybe since they appear all in BFS reel wise they will ad some more? The video Shimano has on their NX page shows a good size trout being landed on the B48L, Aldebaran BFS XG combo. It's towards the end of the video. I think all the BFS junkies are excited about the new Conquest BFS!

the hooligan wrote:Great thread, most of you guys know I'm a bfs junky. I honestly fish for all species on bfs gear but hope to build a nice mountain trout stream combo this year. Thinking new cq bfs hg, undecided on rods. Wish some of the newer Shimano trout rods had more bc models.

A CQ BFS would look adorable/awesome on a Finetail.