Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

How small is your rod and how light is your line? It's not about the size of your tackle, but how you work it. Come share your Ultralight and Bait Finesse System (BFS) fishing success here!
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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by Houndfish » Sat Oct 27, 2018 5:43 am

DirtyD64 wrote: Anyone want to take a shot on what would be best for 1/16 plus crappie plastic for bass/crappie/walleye? And maybe the occasional Bitsy Minnow/1/12oz spoon???
With most "1/16oz" heads, you are going to be closer to 1/8 or 3/16oz once you add a plastic. I weighed a bunch of the small heads I use last winter and was surprised at how much they all weigh.

Image
1. Zman Head, 1/15oz, the new style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .091oz
2. Zman Head, 1/15oz, the old style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .072oz
3. Zman Head, 1/20oz, the old style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .059oz
4. Gopher Head, 1/16oz, #2 hook. It weighs in at .053oz.
5. eBay Head, 1/16oz, from the MWF Mold, #4 hook. It weighs in at .064oz.

Image
1. Owner Ultra Head, 1/16oz, #1 hook. It weighs in at .078oz
2. Decoy Nailbomb Head, 1/16, #1 hook. It weighs in at .059oz
3. Slider Pro Head, 1/16, 3/0 hook. It weighs in at .059oz.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by Bronzeye » Sat Oct 27, 2018 6:04 am

Houndfish,

Thanks for sharing this interesting data. One would have thought that in giving nonstandard weight designations (1/15, 1/20) for its heads, Z-Man was at least rounding them to the nearest reported unit of weight.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by earthworm77 » Sat Oct 27, 2018 7:46 am

Hound, great post......I am a big fan of the Decoy stuff.
Replace those Slider heads with Decoy "Violence" heads.
Better hooks, better head shape, better quality.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by earthworm77 » Sat Oct 27, 2018 7:49 am

DirtyD64 wrote:Still hunting right now. At one point, TFO made a nicer rod called the Tactical series, in a 6'3"Light casting version. I have the 6'9"ML for my SV105 but it could be a tad faster, still the 6'3"Light would have fit well enough and be bought locally (US).

I am checking Major Craft and a few others, just cannot pin point what I need. I really would prefer to not have a 2 piece rod but I could deal with it if necessary...

Anyone want to take a shot on what would be best for 1/16 plus crappie plastic for bass/crappie/walleye? And maybe the occasional Bitsy Minnow/1/12oz spoon???
I think for stuff that light you might be better off with a trout type casting rod. It would likely sling those baits easier than a light designation rod.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by DirtyD64 » Sat Oct 27, 2018 12:19 pm

Houndfish wrote:
DirtyD64 wrote: Anyone want to take a shot on what would be best for 1/16 plus crappie plastic for bass/crappie/walleye? And maybe the occasional Bitsy Minnow/1/12oz spoon???
With most "1/16oz" heads, you are going to be closer to 1/8 or 3/16oz once you add a plastic. I weighed a bunch of the small heads I use last winter and was surprised at how much they all weigh.

Image
1. Zman Head, 1/15oz, the new style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .091oz
2. Zman Head, 1/15oz, the old style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .072oz
3. Zman Head, 1/20oz, the old style. IIRC it is a #1 hook. It weighs in at .059oz
4. Gopher Head, 1/16oz, #2 hook. It weighs in at .053oz.
5. eBay Head, 1/16oz, from the MWF Mold, #4 hook. It weighs in at .064oz.

Image
1. Owner Ultra Head, 1/16oz, #1 hook. It weighs in at .078oz
2. Decoy Nailbomb Head, 1/16, #1 hook. It weighs in at .059oz
3. Slider Pro Head, 1/16, 3/0 hook. It weighs in at .059oz.
I feel like not everyone understands the advantages to weedless heads like that. We use the Owner Bullet heads like crazy for small plastics, they prevent snags where you can get in cover and still provide plenty of room for hooksets. I have used the #1 Owner Ball Heads, but their hook doesn't quite have the bite needed for me. They make an 1/8oz w/ the #1 hook that works great for small plastics but I can only find it on Owner's website (way more expensive that way). I have also used the much larger OMTD jigs shaped like that for 4.3-4.8" Keitech's with a lot of luck. If any of you could post links to the Decoy style weedless (EWG style) jig heads it would be much appreciated. I still have a few of the Decoy Violence Decibo heads that match the Owner Bullet head style I love. Have a few in a perfect size, 1/8oz w/ #1 hook and they are amazing for 2.8" Swing Impact FATS. Tacklewarehouse had the Decoy Decibo's for ridiculous cheap a few years back and I really regret not buying +$50 worth of each size...

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by LowRange » Sat Oct 27, 2018 3:00 pm

Charlie Brewer Spider heads work for me. BPS has a copy under the Perfect Worm name. The BPS ones come in short and long shank version too. I also like using them on the BPS 3'' Hellgrammite soft plastic.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by Houndfish » Sat Oct 27, 2018 7:39 pm

DirtyD64 wrote:If any of you could post links to the Decoy style weedless (EWG style) jig heads it would be much appreciated.
I was buying them off of ebay, but the seller I was using seems to be gone. There are still some of them up there though.

I know a lot of the JDM sites have had them in the past, but I have enough that I have not been looking for them lately.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by southpaw619 » Sun Oct 28, 2018 12:03 pm

DirtyD64 wrote:
Anyone want to take a shot on what would be best for 1/16 plus crappie plastic for bass/crappie/walleye? And maybe the occasional Bitsy Minnow/1/12oz spoon???
I use my Fenwick Aces 63L a lot for applications like this. When the fish are busting I often throw a 2" flash J on a 32nd crappie magnet head. The rod can cast much lighter than that as well but it also has the power to land big bass. They have the rod in their new Links series too. I haven't tried it, it's a little heavier but should be nice as well. I also have some Fenwick ULs but you lose a little casting distance compared to the longer L so I use those more for dropshot or trout.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by DirtyD64 » Wed Nov 14, 2018 5:02 am

So recently I found the Kuying Teton 6'6"Light and 6'2"UL. They seem to be fairly priced. I also liked some of the Major Craft rods, but they are sold out of the length/action I wanted, and much more expensive.

If I do order or find the correct BFS rod, next question will be what reel to obtain. I could go the cheap route and buy a Daiwa/Shimano around $150-200 and add a BFS spool, or buy an Alphas Air/Scorpion BFS straight up. Any suggestions? Hard to not just buy a 1000 spinning reel and the 6'3"ML xf St. Croix Avid I have been looking at...

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by poisonokie » Wed Nov 14, 2018 5:47 pm

It's a shame you missed out on the Volkeys. The UL bfs would've suited you well and wouldn't have cost a fortune. I have the L and 1/16 is asking a lot. I don't have a true bfs reel, though, so it may be possible. I stick to 1/8-1/4 with 8# Invizx on a T3 with an sv1000 shallow and hedgehog air ceramics. I just got a Steez sv105 spool (which is 2 grams lighter) for my SS/SV so I'll spool it up with 15# J-Braid or 6# Invizx and see how it slings the 1/16 at the bottom of its rating. Might give you some insight on the Corzzas or whatever is still available.
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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by DirtyD64 » Sun Nov 18, 2018 10:17 am

poisonokie wrote:It's a shame you missed out on the Volkeys. The UL bfs would've suited you well and wouldn't have cost a fortune. I have the L and 1/16 is asking a lot. I don't have a true bfs reel, though, so it may be possible. I stick to 1/8-1/4 with 8# Invizx on a T3 with an sv1000 shallow and hedgehog air ceramics. I just got a Steez sv105 spool (which is 2 grams lighter) for my SS/SV so I'll spool it up with 15# J-Braid or 6# Invizx and see how it slings the 1/16 at the bottom of its rating. Might give you some insight on the Corzzas or whatever is still available.
Thanks. Yeah I am not a half bad light lure caster, been using a TFO ML Dropshot casting rod (6'9") with an SV105 and 7lb Sniper for most of my finesse. Casts the 5/32 Keitech jigs with trailer a LONG ways still. My ultimate semi-BFS goal is 1/16 plus Bobby Garland Baby Shad though, yet to find the exact rod for that. The Kuying Teton series has a few, just don't know which one is right exactly and then still whether to buy a true BFS reel or add a BFS spool to a cheap reel.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by LowRange » Sun Nov 18, 2018 10:36 am

DirtyD64 wrote:
poisonokie wrote:It's a shame you missed out on the Volkeys. The UL bfs would've suited you well and wouldn't have cost a fortune. I have the L and 1/16 is asking a lot. I don't have a true bfs reel, though, so it may be possible. I stick to 1/8-1/4 with 8# Invizx on a T3 with an sv1000 shallow and hedgehog air ceramics. I just got a Steez sv105 spool (which is 2 grams lighter) for my SS/SV so I'll spool it up with 15# J-Braid or 6# Invizx and see how it slings the 1/16 at the bottom of its rating. Might give you some insight on the Corzzas or whatever is still available.
Thanks. Yeah I am not a half bad light lure caster, been using a TFO ML Dropshot casting rod (6'9") with an SV105 and 7lb Sniper for most of my finesse. Casts the 5/32 Keitech jigs with trailer a LONG ways still. My ultimate semi-BFS goal is 1/16 plus Bobby Garland Baby Shad though, yet to find the exact rod for that. The Kuying Teton series has a few, just don't know which one is right exactly and then still whether to buy a true BFS reel or add a BFS spool to a cheap reel.
One of the UL Tetons would be great for 1/16 oz head and small plastic when targeting panfish and trout. A fixed inductor linear mag brake spool like the Momo spool for Revo3/4, the Black Max 3, the Momo for 103/1016 Daiwa or Ray's with fixed inductor mod would work and cost less than a dedicated BFS reel.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by poisonokie » Sun Nov 18, 2018 5:11 pm

DirtyD64 wrote:
Thanks. Yeah I am not a half bad light lure caster, been using a TFO ML Dropshot casting rod (6'9") with an SV105 and 7lb Sniper for most of my finesse. Casts the 5/32 Keitech jigs with trailer a LONG ways still. My ultimate semi-BFS goal is 1/16 plus Bobby Garland Baby Shad though, yet to find the exact rod for that. The Kuying Teton series has a few, just don't know which one is right exactly and then still whether to buy a true BFS reel or add a BFS spool to a cheap reel.
Well, I didn't get around to testing it with the Volkey, but I can say that it would be a lot more controlled than the sv105. I use my sv105 for more mag finesse type stuff, but without a lot of braking it gets pretty wild. It will absolutely bomb a cast with 1/4 and up, though. The SS/SV with the Steez spool would definitely do better with such light weights, though a crappie jig+baby shad would be pushing it for sure. I don't know, I don't have a casting rod light enough to find out. I use spinning reels for that without issue. The things I really like about panfishing are its simplicity and its affordability.
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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by LowRange » Sun Nov 18, 2018 6:06 pm

I love my 65UL Volkey but a true UL it is not. It is a BFS rod and as such has a lot if backbone and power with the light tip being the only part that loads with light weight baits. It is fantastic at tossing 1/16 heads and 3 inch bass plastics at targets working the bank in a small watercraft. For true UL baits it does not load up deeply enough to bomb them out there. A 1/16 oz crappie jig with a baby shad looks to be considerably smaller than the type of plastics I throw on 1/16 oz heads for bass. I would think an UL Teton would be better suited for targeting panfish than the UL Volkey. This is not to say you should steer clear of the UL Volkey. If you stumble across one for a good price. They don't make then anymore and are and easy flip. I was not able to purchase one new and had to inquire about one via PM from another member who casually mentioned they were dissatisfied with it's UL performance.

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Re: Finding a "Light" BFS rod???

Post by poisonokie » Sun Nov 18, 2018 6:07 pm

I forgot to mention that the L Volkey with a T3/SV1000 shallow (which is a 12 gram spool)/Hedgehog Air/8# Invizx will cast the hell out of a Duo Rozante 63 jerkbait, which only weighs 3/16. It does respectably well with a 1/16 Keitech mono jig/2" plastic, but I don't think you'd be happy with the distance. I keep the brakes about halfway up and the 3D on maxbrake with stuff like that. I'm sure the Steez spool would outcast it, but without the benefit of 3D brakes, it might be unnerving. I should really test this out. Next Saturday should be a nice day...
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