TackleTour

Some of the drags on those cheaper reels can be really sticky. I use braid with these types of reels and run my drag really loose and turn it up if needed in a fight or use my thumb. I have Sea Knight Elf spool KK Spartacus and it does cast finesse baits well for $40 but it is no UL BFS reel with a spool at 14.5 grams. It's better around 1/4 total weight. There is also the Haibo Steed 50 that come in both centrifugal and mag brake versions with 8-10 gram spools that cast really good for $60. It is also an aluminum framed reel and small but the drags are sketchy and the centrifugal brakes fall off. A lot of these out of the box cheap BFS reels cast well but have other odd problems you have to adress or live with. I think something like a workhorse Daiwa, Shimano or Abu Max with a DIY or Momo spool seems to be the ticket to UL BFS budget performance. My budget UL caster is Black Max 3 with Momo spool and Ray's Studio DIY micro spool bearings. That thing can cast down to 1/32 trout magnets and maybe lower but that is as light as I have gone. I'm all in on that reel fornlike $80.

Something I suggest for budget BFS is buying a Daiwa T3 for cheap (like 120 bucks or less) on auction sites or wherever and then selling the RCS 1016 spool it comes with for 50-55 bucks. Then slap a DIY spool in there.

It may cost slightly more but, I think the versatile spool size opens options and, you get a much better quality reel. Those Haibo and other AliExpress reels seem to fall apart or get rough pretty quick.

Well....resuscitating a bit of an old thread.

Just read on BFS tonight. Fascinating. Out here in California, a lot of the best trout 'chasers' that I know fish with 1/32nd oz minijig on 2 lbs mono or fluorocarbon line. (Maxima Ultragreen 2 lb is one of the most popular.) Casting distance matters as many cast from shore.

Questions out of curiosity:

1. With the top end BFS equipment, do you think it can cast those 1/32 minijigs the same distance as a top end spinning outfit with the 2 lbs line?

2. What type of rods are ideal for BFS? Would it be more parabolic or faster taper? For spinning rigs, all types of rod actions work well.

Thanks

ultralight wrote:Well....resuscitating a bit of an old thread.

Just read on BFS tonight. Fascinating. Out here in California, a lot of the best trout 'chasers' that I know fish with 1/32nd oz minijig on 2 lbs mono or fluorocarbon line. (Maxima Ultragreen 2 lb is one of the most popular.) Casting distance matters as many cast from shore.

Questions out of curiosity:

1. With the top end BFS equipment, do you think it can cast those 1/32 minijigs the same distance as a top end spinning outfit with the 2 lbs line?

2. What type of rods are ideal for BFS? Would it be more parabolic or faster taper? For spinning rigs, all types of rod actions work well.

Thanks

1. Top end equipment, yes. I can cast a variety of light lures with my 16 Aldebaran BFS plus Avail spool 16ALD15 spool. Other have reported casting light lures with other molded platforms.

2. I prefer to use a parabolic rod with thin superline. I use 2lb Nanofil with a leader.

What size river and what size trout? I'd use a longer rod for bigger fish/rivers. I use a 4'6 XUL rod for skinny, brushy waters with 5-8in trout being most common.

In my opinion in general it stops being a joy to use baitcasting reel if lure weight is less than something half of weight of spool in use. Because of that I prefer spinning reels if I cast lighter than 4 g. lures. (But there’s no many situation that I use that light lures.) Sometimes I have casted those 1 g lures with fly rod.

There is a point where a spinning reel will cast farther. I like the accuracy and "feathering" I have with a BFS reel over a spinning reel.

True. Control and accuracy are main factors why baitcasting reels are joy to cast. (There’s more aspects of course in addition to those.) And good baitcasting reels are also much more sensitive in retrieve than spinning reels are. That’s also very important. But there’s really point when lure is that light it’s not anymore joy to cast with baitcasting reel. Depends on person and tackle. But after all that’s also joy to find out how light it really can be casted with baitcasting reel.

ultralight wrote:Well....resuscitating a bit of an old thread.

Just read on BFS tonight. Fascinating. Out here in California, a lot of the best trout 'chasers' that I know fish with 1/32nd oz minijig on 2 lbs mono or fluorocarbon line. (Maxima Ultragreen 2 lb is one of the most popular.) Casting distance matters as many cast from shore.

Questions out of curiosity:

1. With the top end BFS equipment, do you think it can cast those 1/32 minijigs the same distance as a top end spinning outfit with the 2 lbs line?

Thanks

I'm in So Cal and unless its raining heavy I always fish bfs for trout. With a top of the line bfs set up you can cast lighter and farther than spinning. With a medium line bfs set up you can't cast as light as spinning but you can cast a true 1/32 the same distance as spinning.

Southpaw619, contacting you off PM.

But seriously, you can cast BFS FURTHER than with a spinning rig with a 1/32 minijig? Have you tested side by side? And what line are you using? I'm in So Cal too - my schedule is crazy crazy crazy but perhaps if you are fishing somewhere, I can meet up with you just to learn something. Just read about BFS less than 48 hours ago and all of this has me intrigued.

One of the thing I like about spinning is the ability to change spools of line and I assume that BFS reels can't swap in spools easily on the field or am I wrong? For example, I have spare spools with 2 lbs, 4 lbs, and 7 lbs and use the same reel. (You can tell that I have only been a spinning guy.)

Thanks again.

ultralight wrote:Southpaw619, contacting you off PM.

But seriously, you can cast BFS FURTHER than with a spinning rig with a 1/32 minijig? Have you tested side by side? And what line are you using? I'm in So Cal too - my schedule is crazy crazy crazy but perhaps if you are fishing somewhere, I can meet up with you just to learn something. Just read about BFS less than 48 hours ago and all of this has me intrigued.

One of the thing I like about spinning is the ability to change spools of line and I assume that BFS reels can't swap in spools easily on the field or am I wrong? For example, I have spare spools with 2 lbs, 4 lbs, and 7 lbs and use the same reel. (You can tell that I have only been a spinning guy.)

Thanks again.

I suck at spinning gear so that may be part of it but quality bfs gear will out cast spinning gear or at the very least be equivalent to it. I'm more of a 1 combo at a time person so I usually have spare spools on me. I will change spools when I need to, no different than spinning in that regard.

I am a big time BFS fan, I don't even use a spinning setup at all. I don't think a BFS setup can outcast a spinning setup with sheer distance. All the other pros of BFS previously mentioned is what keeps me using BFS.

Thanks everyone. I was thinking of BFS for the west coast trout chasing enthusiasts who use 1/32 minijigs. Will keep my eye out for anyone who may fish using that technique....

ultralight wrote:Thanks everyone. I was thinking of BFS for the west coast trout chasing enthusiasts who use 1/32 minijigs. Will keep my eye out for anyone who may fish using that technique....

Check out Kevin Bridge on Instagram. He's West Coast (Cali) and he has some some very High End JDM Fenwicks and KTF 16 Aldebaran BFS XG's and he uses some very lightweight lures to go after trout.

Hobie-Wan Kenobi wrote:I am a big time BFS fan, I don't even use a spinning setup at all. I don't think a BFS setup can outcast a spinning setup with sheer distance. All the other pros of BFS previously mentioned is what keeps me using BFS.

X2

For what it's worth, i did a test with my 2 lbs Sunline Sniper and 1/32nd minijig that actuall measures to exactly 1/20th ounce (1.4 grams), I cast 63-65 feet. With 2 lbs Maxima Untlragreen 2 lbs, it is probably 1 to 2 feet further.

UL