jace

I like seeing rods and reels in a picture for scale. Too many pictures are so cropped that you don't know what you're looking at other than a fish.

I don't know the brand but all serious outdoors and hiking shops will have these watertight plastic boxs. They come in all sizes, most have a clear lid and a colored bottom. very tough. unbreakable might even be part of their sales pitch. I believe they have lifetime warranties.

But the handle, main gear, anti-reverse rollers, etc are mounted on the side plate which is plastic here. that's like having a metal transmission then use a plastic differential to transfer the power sideways to the wheels. This is why reels specs always indicate "metal frame" and "handle side plate" or similar wording. Under tension and general wear, the parts will become sloppy and flex which is why medium sized and bigger are alway, without exception, mount handles on metal handle-side plates. "graphite" = nylon which to me is just plastic like the old "graphite" body reels. holy moly talk about body flex when you fish those. I suspect the real reason they got rid of the metal side plate is to finally crack the 8 Oz weight barrier. I put big odds that the reduced weight of the new model and 7.9 Oz will be a significant focus of their marketing on this reel. Yeah, i always watch the dollar too. I've been collecting USD every time it dropped for about a year now and i'm getting ready to blow it all in a few weeks time. ahaha.

I was looking at the spec's and it doesn't look good on paper to me at all. One of the biggest things we learned about making and buying reels in the last 20 years is they have to be rigid body or things get all squirrely and out of whack when the reel's under tension. This reel is plastic on both sides for the 100 and 200's. ...for $180. that's a no thanks.

nice ideas. Is that a turned acrylic pen blank?

cool. you don't see many old Bantams still being used. You must be talking about the Daiwa "twitching bar." I bought the Viento with that a few years ago, nice reels for sure. It's one of the farthest casting, low profile reels i have. With a longer rod, that reel can cast it down to the backing. and it palms really well for all day comfort. I think you'll enjoy them enough to retire the old bantam.

something regarding this thread occured to me while i was on my home today. If you don't want Ford, you also have to avoid everything they have a major stake in as many parts and technologies are shared which includes Mazda, Jag, Land Rover, Volvo and others. I think we can all agree that volvo's has had some of the best cars on the road with one of the most consistent products over the last 30 years.

Is that an older BM50? bantam.

This is it exactly. what used to be with imports, used to be -- the past is the past. I'd like to see the american makers do well but the fact is the imports are crushing them in every market niche and they're taking over a new one every year. first the came and took over the inexpensive small cars. then the small trucks, then the small closed in trucks (pathfinder, 4runner ranger2, bronco2), then the family minivans (odessy, sierra ), and then it was the full size pickups and SUV's with the Tundra, Sequoia, etc. And now they don't even wait for a model style to become successful and release things around the same time like the ridgeline which couldn't be more direct competition for the avalanche, cadillac EXT just as the highlander and crv are here to do some damage to the jeep liberty and similar vehicles. it's just about game over for the north american makers.

I will try to keep it short as i know i can wordy on this subject. When do they kick in? That all depends on which type of casting controls your reel has. There are 2 main types regardless of the wording used to market it; there is the centrifugal system and the magnetic braking system The better magnetic brakes are considered better than the best centrifugal brakes. All large reels come with centrifugal brakes stock but many distance casters and reel tuners will install magnets. Centrifugal brakes are mechanical and work by physical rubbing like drum brakes on older cars, magnetic brakes work by a magnetic field and Lenz's law. I've read threads here where people talked about adjusting brake blocks under the cover..those are all mechanical centrifugal systems. The down side is when they get wet inside or dirty, the braking changes. Centrifugal systems include Shimano's VBS, almost all ABU Garcia round reels, Quantum's ACS braking, and most brands of casting reels in size 300 and bigger. The other downside of centrifugal controls is they can only be adjusted by opening the side cover, Quantum's ACS reels are the only exceptions i know of. There are some reel tuners who can add custom machines external controls to ABU's but that's another topic. Shimano's DC reels like my calcutta TE DC below are adjustable from the outside but these are magnetic, not standard shimano VBS. Oh yeah, when do they kick in. ahaha. Centrifugal's brake hard at the highest spool speed because that's when those blocks will rub hardest on the spool and do nothing at lower spool speeds . Magnetic systems kick in at lower and mid range spool speeds, and do less at the top end. A few reels combined both systems to try to get the best of both, for example, Pflueger tried to do it in their low profile reels. Do i get more line overruns with one or the other? I like to be fair so I get tangles with both systems equally, including the DC's. There isn't a single baitcast user who never gets them. The spool tensioner is the amount of constant spool resistance you want. it's always there at high and low spool speeds. the casting controls attempt to limit your maximum spool speed during your cast and give you a longer time with a more constant top speed. Heavier lures need less braking. Yes. Most overruns are caused by a sudden change in lure speed. This could be from a jerky cast, a wind catching the lure, the lure landing, the lure hitting the water, the line twists around a guide for just a moment. A heavy lure's speed is less affected by some of these factors so you can get away with a lower brake setting if that's what would have caused the overrun. The other scenarios will cause overruns with light and heavy lures. Spooling more or less line is a question of finding that balance that works for you. Less line can cause knots since it generates higher spool speed because the spool is lighter and smaller diameter. More line is the opposite, the spool speed goes down so less tangles, right? Maybe not because more line also means the spool is heavier which is harder to stop and spins longer. In the end, you need to learn how to thumb the spool regardless of what you have. Some reels are easier to use than others but you still need to thumb it. Set everything high at first and gradually back off as you get better. Your casting distance will suck but that's better than untangling knots every 10 casts. Eventually, on an ideal day with no headwinds, you can turn both to the lowest setting and have nearly no overruns. I even thumb my spinning reels to control some casts..actually i finger or palm the spool lip, but it's the same idea. Jedi Tips. Accelerate your lure gradually but keep the whole swing very smooth. Many knots start in the first 10 feet of a cast because of a jerky casting motion. Keep your eye the lure to look for signs that you need to thumb in mid flight. Don't watch the reel, it won't do you any good; instead LISTEN to it. When your spool starts to go faster than the speed of the lure, the slacking line will start making noise. Trust me, this becomes natural after a while, and you'll listen for the rattling of loose line without even thinking about it. This is where mono might be better for the beginner than softer gel spun lines. Close your eyes and use the force.

besides keeping bait alive especially for those who use big sucker "minnows" for bait, it's handier than a minnow bucket. for storing fish you plan to keep, it's best to bleed and ice a fish as soon as possible. When fish are stressed out, all the flopping around releases lactic acid into the meat which begins to degrade it. Have you ever seen how the japanese handle their top grade tuna? They spike the skull and run wire or mono up the spinal column. same reason. Lactic acid buildup is the main reason fish die after catch and release also which can occur days after being released. Me, i store the lawn chairs and salmon net in the fish hold. LOL I keep a cooler on deck to store fish, filled with ice and water. they're bled in the water immediately. Try it, you'll see the difference in the meat color. No more opaque, "chalky" colored meat. all translucent even after a full day. For bleeding, you can cut a few gills, but the easiet way is to push a knife right through the arch of the collar behind the last gill. There's a major artery in there and you should see heavy blood flow as soon as you hit it.

the rods are completely different. Casting rods are less flexible even for the same weight rating, the seat has a trigger so you can hang on during the cast because you swing harder than a spinning rod, the guides are smaller and most likely more of them per foot for 2 rods of the same price. In reality, the best casting rods are all one piece. there are no middle or top quality casting rods that aren't 1 piece unless it's 8' or longer and even some of those are 1 piece... If you need 2 piece, you're looking at the lower end of the scale, but maybe that's what you're looking for to start off.

what speed can you maintain when you're trolling? too slow and you get no lure action. You probably need choose lures that have an easy start up. I'm thinking many blade spinners will drag along motionless for a good part of the way.

one of everything as though you were in the great rod race with matt hayes and mick brown.

I've tried both, which one are you talking about? One of my friends bought two of the 50 size Saltists 2 years ago so i guess that's the previous generation. Almost all conventional reels are right hand only once you get up in size.

Hahah. perfect. did you see the pain an anguish in his face? that's the fate shimano owner.

what was i supposed to read there? all i saw near the top was a post about the Saltist. ..which is the classic reel head to head opponent for the Torium. almost identical pricing and target market.

http://www.japantackle.com/Daiwa_reels/Daiwa_Exist50th.htm this my favorite shimano spinning reel.

As a hardcore Daiwa guy, i must protest this post. eeewwwww. a reel that size with all plastic sides hidden the buyer by hiding them thin metal covers.

i guess there aren't settings to ignore a user?

The rules on this are different depending on where you live. Some places allow boat or party limits so some people bring young kids and grandparents out on trips. I know of some charter people affected by this because ordinarily they would allow the clients to keep their own catch as well as their deckhand's limits, but they've had to cut that out in the last year or so. Another interesting rule about possession in some areas is the fish comes off your possession the moment it reaches a certain level of processing that allows for long term storage. In such areas, the fishermen will literally can their fish right on site. roll up metal cans and pressure cook them over propane burners. Being vacuum packed and freezing is also sufficient and this type of meat hunter will have motorhomes with either a huge battery bank or run massive power inverters for home sized chest freezers. To get it straight, this is usually in areas where hunting and fishing for all your fish/meat for the year in one shot is common and no different from the ontario hunter who fills a freezer with moose and deer in the fall to last all year.

I used to catch a ton of herring on these things. what a blast. For schooling fish, you have to resist pulling in on the first taker. Usually leaving it down for a while longer allows 3 or 4 fish to get on and then you're in for some weird fighting. like dogfish fights. Like somebody said, you cna't horse these in because the hooks and traces are usually very light compared to the main line..

this got me thinking. has anybody ever tried counting their casts on an outing? I know i never have. I have friends who keep very good logs of time, date, conditions, tide series, locations, baits used, depths, fish caught, etc. And now some of them have years of data to draw on. Sorta like the guys from deadliest catch. In hindsight, I kinda wish i had done this.

I think this is the key question here since his boat is in the marina year round, it might be a good size boat. My setup is like the one you described. both engines and fish tanks are below deck under flat covers and the pumps are in with the engines. the bluewater pump is in the head but that was my own install.

If you're willing to import one yourself, there are some top quality telescopic rods/blanks in the far east. I've only seen a few in person myself, there's just no ddemand for them in north america. If you want a cool little pack rod, check out the emmrod. I saw an RV tourist fishing with one for the first time 2 years ago. strange looking thing but it did okay on the salmon.