Question about BFS rods and the specifically shorter rods.

[waterone]

I have a question to those of you concerning some of the shorter BFS rods.

I have and use three JDM BFS rods, and a couple of the Kuying Teton rods that do a really good job casting in lakes, ponds rivers and even bigger streams and creeks.

I have one of the Kuying Teton 6' rods that I have used successfully for fishing these smaller, bushy waters, with various baitcasting reels. But a shorter rod seems like it might be a good option.

I've been aware that one of the "branches" of BFS fishing was trout fishing in small streams using rods in lengths of 5.0', 5' 2", and 5 1/2, even 4' and 4'8"!

Does anyone have any experience with these shorter "trout length" BFS rods?

BTW, I've been using baitcasters since I was 14-15 years old, so I've been fishing these baitcasters for nearly 45 years. Back then rods 5' and even 4 1/2' rids were common. But these were mostly pool cue in action, not ultralight baitcasters. Back in the early 80's Berkley sold one of their lightening rods that was 41/2' long - it didn't cast well for me at all.

Also, I've found that there is a Kuying Teton comes in a 5' 2" length and is available for prices less than 1/4 to 1/3 of the cost of a comparable JDM rod.

I have really been impressed with the 6 1/2' Kuying Teton rod - even more than the other Kuying rods. It casts well, plays fish well, has impressed everybody who has tri d it.

Yes I know that the Kuyings are built in China, with components from Japan but most of the JDM rods are also built in China. But the Kuyings really have impressed me in the build quality.

I think there are some people posting here that have some of the shorter Smith rods, which cost a LOT more than the Kuying, but how do you like an ultralight baitcaster in shorter lengths.

[Hobie-Wan Kenobi]

I use a 4ft ice fishing rod for stream/trout BFS. I have no problem casting and controlling fish. I'm 6ft so I can do a quick roll cast with the lure's trajectory starting next to my ankles.

[LowRange]

Kuying rods fly under mosy guy's radars and it is a shame. They are very nice rods more the money IMO. If they made true BFS sticks instead of trout and sea bass rods then I may never buy another Major Craft. There are short UL trout rods on Aliexpress OP, but they're not Kuyings so I don't know if they are any good. There is a Crony rod that looks a lot like a Majot Craft Fine Tail and it is cheap. Worth a look but I would stick to Kuyings.

[Bootytrain]

I have a Major Craft Finetail 5'4 UL that Ive paired with several BFS reels. Its an awesome rod that makes pin point accurate 1 handed casts super easy. In open water Ive handled fish up to 1lb with no issues and it was quite fun. Now If I hooked into a 5lb bass around cover I doubt I would have the power to pull it out. But keep in mind, these rods were designed to fish very small streams and creeks for trout that dont get very big. These UL bait casting trout rods are ridiculously light and will balance any reel including the super light Revo BF8 right at the spool. They make going back to even the lightest BFS bass combos feel clunky and unbalanced.


Compared to an UL BFS Bass rod setup

[CM_Stewart]

Tenryu has a 5'3" UL BFS rod, made in Japan. Very nice but not cheap.

Shimano has a 5 footer that feels like it would be a nice rod but I have not fished with it.

I have no experience with the Kuying or Major Craft rods so I can't compare them.

[Doge]

I'm only fishing with short rods. It just feels better, greater handling.
My UL Baitcaster rod is the Royal Spirit 562UL 1-6g from AE. It's a real trout stick, I'm having lots of fun with it and with that excellent build quality it's basically a steal for that price. I can post some pictures if you'd like.
Try it out if you can wait for the shipping, no fancy look but only functionality which I like alot. Put a JDM brand name on it and it'd would sell for 150/200$+ I bet.

[Bootytrain]

I'm only fishing with short rods. It just feels better, greater handling.
My UL Baitcaster rod is the Royal Spirit 562UL 1-6g from AE. It's a real trout stick, I'm having lots of fun with it and with that excellent build quality it's basically a steal for that price. I can post some pictures if you'd like.
Try it out if you can wait for the shipping, no fancy look but only functionality which I like alot. Put a JDM brand name on it and it'd would sell for 150/200$+ I bet.

I have the same rod, royal spirit dagger.. it's a good rod for the price, great build quality. It's a great buy if you want to dip your toe into short UP trout rods without committing to a $200 plus dollar JDM stick

[robsone79]

where can the crony or royal spirit be sourced? im having trouble finding them in stock.
thanks

[LowRange]

Finetail like stream rod (crony?): https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32699633041.html

Dagger Royal Spirit: https://m.aliexpress.com/s/item/3277464 ... l#autostay

UL fishing rod keyword search by numbers of orders (many orders = well liked product/seller at a good price). Click Best Match and select Number of Orders to see what everyone is buying: https://m.aliexpress.com/search.htm?sto ... ishing+rod#/

There's a LOT of UL and L casting rods on that site.

[IlliniDawg01]

I have a 7' Royal Spirit Dagger 3 piece UL as well. Great little rod for the under $40.

Dave

[robsone79]

thanks on the info on where to source these rods.

[waterone]

Well, I've had a chance to fish this 5'2" baitcasting rod and here are my impressions so far.

Sorry for the length of this report, but I wanted to provide some feedback after I asked the question in the first place.

One, as usual delivery from the Kuying store is very quick, in some cases faster than ordering a rod from the US.

Secondly, the rod is built pretty well, with good components. It has the normal micro guides which is common for all the BFS rods that I've seen or own, and I own seven from three different manufacturers as if now. I know they are considered necessary due to weight, but I've never been a fan if micro guides.

Thirdly, for 30 years I've evaluated baitcasting and spinning rods by securing the handles in a horizontal fixture, placed a reel in the reel seat, ran line through the guides, affixed a weight sufficient to allow the line to hang vertically. This tests the taper and bend of the rod, kinda of like my version of the test of the curve common to European rods, but not the same.
I have three other Kuying BFS or UL baitcasting rods, and from looking at the plotted curves, all four rods have different tapers. I wondered based upon comments from some other people on this board if the rods were all the same blanks, cut from the butts to shorten the rod. This is an old rod builders trick, to give seemingly different actions by cutting the rid from either the tip or the butt. I did it myself when I was building rods, semi-professionally when I was in college - but it doesn't affect the basic taper of the rod..

Fourth, I've had a couple smallmouth bass in excess of 2 lbs on the rod, and it handled them pretty well, the only time I felt anxious S far was when I hung a hybrid (whitebass x striped bass cross) estimated at over 10 lbs take my Mepps in pretty rough water ( I don't know how he was holding in water that skinny, but he was) the rod handled it pretty well, but the hook on the lure broke, probably due to rust, as this was a Mepps that I'm pretty sure I've had since I was 13-14 years old, so nearly 50 years old.

Fifth, I've used this rod with two reels so far, a Shiman Aldebaran BFS XG and a Daiwa SS Air. Both were rigged and fished with straight 4lb.mono line Trilene XL for now, but if I find better line I like, I'll probably switch, as this line most likley tests significantly greater than the advertised 4lb. I have a couple other BFS reels, but haven't used them on this rod yet. Both fit the reel seat securely with no wobble. I like the feel of the Aldebaran, as it's noticeably narrower, the Daiwa seems "chunkier" but as a casting tool for this rod, I think it's better. With the Aldebaran, I like to fish the reel, kinda just set it up and manner small adjustments during the cast with the thumb, you know "old school". With the locations this short little rod is best suited for use, at my age, I tend to adjust the magnetic cast control as needed. Actually, I think this rod would fish really well with my really old Ambassaduer 1500CIAR reels, but they weigh like 6 ounces ( and exaggeration, but not much), and to me would fish awkwardly.

Sixth, even though this is a limber rod, it is not just a noodle, as the checking of thentapers shows, none the less, this rod can be cast from a multiplicity of positions, overhand, backhand, underhand, forehand roll cast, back-hand roll cast, even the underhand flip cast. It has handled lure weights from heavier beadheaded nymph flys to the smaller sinking Rapala lures.

This has turned out to be an interesting rod, and has whet my appetite for maybe an additional ultralight pattern stream trout baitcasting rod. I'm not sure the genealogy of this type of rod, is it of the BFS family or what, all I know is there were not rods like this years ago.

This is not a toy rod or a whippy noodle rod with no taper, I'm sure it's not of the same caliber of the Far more expensive Smith, Shimano, Abu Garcia, Evergreen, or Majorcraft rods, but this rod is a almost a tenth of the price of some of the elite rods.

[Bootytrain]

Well, I've had a chance to fish this 5'2" baitcasting rod and here are my impressions so far.

Sorry for the length of this report, but I wanted to provide some feedback after I asked the question in the first place.

One, as usual delivery from the Kuying store is very quick, in some cases faster than ordering a rod from the US.

Secondly, the rod is built pretty well, with good components. It has the normal micro guides which is common for all the BFS rods that I've seen or own, and I own seven from three different manufacturers as if now. I know they are considered necessary due to weight, but I've never been a fan if micro guides.

Thirdly, for 30 years I've evaluated baitcasting and spinning rods by securing the handles in a horizontal fixture, placed a reel in the reel seat, ran line through the guides, affixed a weight sufficient to allow the line to hang vertically. This tests the taper and bend of the rod, kinda of like my version of the test of the curve common to European rods, but not the same.
I have three other Kuying BFS or UL baitcasting rods, and from looking at the plotted curves, all four rods have different tapers. I wondered based upon comments from some other people on this board if the rods were all the same blanks, cut from the butts to shorten the rod. This is an old rod builders trick, to give seemingly different actions by cutting the rid from either the tip or the butt. I did it myself when I was building rods, semi-professionally when I was in college - but it doesn't affect the basic taper of the rod..

Fourth, I've had a couple smallmouth bass in excess of 2 lbs on the rod, and it handled them pretty well, the only time I felt anxious S far was when I hung a hybrid (whitebass x striped bass cross) estimated at over 10 lbs take my Mepps in pretty rough water ( I don't know how he was holding in water that skinny, but he was) the rod handled it pretty well, but the hook on the lure broke, probably due to rust, as this was a Mepps that I'm pretty sure I've had since I was 13-14 years old, so nearly 50 years old.

Fifth, I've used this rod with two reels so far, a Shiman Aldebaran BFS XG and a Daiwa SS Air. Both were rigged and fished with straight 4lb.mono line Trilene XL for now, but if I find better line I like, I'll probably switch, as this line most likley tests significantly greater than the advertised 4lb. I have a couple other BFS reels, but haven't used them on this rod yet. Both fit the reel seat securely with no wobble. I like the feel of the Aldebaran, as it's noticeably narrower, the Daiwa seems "chunkier" but as a casting tool for this rod, I think it's better. With the Aldebaran, I like to fish the reel, kinda just set it up and manner small adjustments during the cast with the thumb, you know "old school". With the locations this short little rod is best suited for use, at my age, I tend to adjust the magnetic cast control as needed. Actually, I think this rod would fish really well with my really old Ambassaduer 1500CIAR reels, but they weigh like 6 ounces ( and exaggeration, but not much), and to me would fish awkwardly.

Sixth, even though this is a limber rod, it is not just a noodle, as the checking of thentapers shows, none the less, this rod can be cast from a multiplicity of positions, overhand, backhand, underhand, forehand roll cast, back-hand roll cast, even the underhand flip cast. It has handled lure weights from heavier beadheaded nymph flys to the smaller sinking Rapala lures.

This has turned out to be an interesting rod, and has whet my appetite for maybe an additional ultralight pattern stream trout baitcasting rod. I'm not sure the genealogy of this type of rod, is it of the BFS family or what, all I know is there were not rods like this years ago.

This is not a toy rod or a whippy noodle rod with no taper, I'm sure it's not of the same caliber of the Far more expensive Smith, Shimano, Abu Garcia, Evergreen, or Majorcraft rods, but this rod is a almost a tenth of the price of some of the elite rods.

Detailed reviews are great! Gives us alot more information

[wandyhee]

I'm using ROYAL SPIRIT 562UL rod for most of my whitewater fishing trip

https://youtu.be/4tPiTx0r1mY

[nctrucker]

pretty neat throwing 6Lb. line on that setup. makes me want to get in gear and get my BFS setup together.