From YMJZ Store, on Aliexpress.. 1.5m which is about 4.5ft American, ultralight for stream fishing with BFS reels.



No idea what the Chinese ideograms say, probably 'ha ha American fools will buy anything'.

This is my first pure BFS rod so it's hard for me to tell if good or not. The style of casting is quite different from my usual heave, still figuring it out. It's going to take some practice. A 2.3g spoon flies beautifully, heavier 4g Thomas Buoyant doesn't get any more distance but is easy to cast. The 1.5g spoon and 3-4g minnow lures are tricky. With those I have to set the mag brake quite high and the cast distance is reduced to barely fishable for stillwater. That's probably OK for streams though.

Tried it out at the local reservoir, not expecting much. Turned out there was a fall spawn of gizzard shad and the trout are beautifully fat, gorged on 1" shad. The fish are selective to that size and color. Bigger spoons and thin minnow lures got the odd bump. A Bellyache minnow pattern on fly rod was also ignored - thought it would be a perfect match for a little shad, no. Mine is tied with a black back that doesn't match the light olive of the naturals. The 1.5g Shimano Slim Swimmer spoon is a perfect match and got clobbered.



Hooked more trout than than my wildest dreams, didn't land many but was thoroughly entertained.







Next morning went back also carrying a spin finesse outfit with 4lb mono, to throw that Shimano spoon a bit further. That worked well. As it got lighter and brighter the shad vanished from the shallows taking the trout with them. Killed a 14" that was gill hooked, then kept a nice 18" as well to make dinner.

Compare and contrast the spoon on the big trout, with the little shad posed on the big trout in the dead fish picture. A perfect match.





Fished the spin and the BFS rods in turn. All fish on the Shimano spoon, half a dozen or more. On the BFS rod, a 2.3g spoon in silver which looked a good match to me. Just one hit briefly hooked a nice 18" which quickly shook loose. Spoon selectivity..

With graphite rods I feel that I lose more fish after hooking than with glass. The rod feels 'hard' under load so my theory is it is less forgiving than glass, gives the fish something to work against. The light wire barbless hooks don't help of course.
This BFS rod with a fish on feels more like than graphite than glass, stiff hard butt, not a good thing.
Look forward to trying it on an actual stream..

Good build. Nice grip!

Nice ! Saw your pics and ordered a batch of Smith Niagis 3g spinners off ebay from someplace in Israel.

I keep looking at those baitcasting rigs, sounds like fun. I've never learned to use a baitcasting reel, something new and interesting to try.

How light can you get a baitcasting reel ? The lightest spinning reels I've found are less than 5.5 oz.

how much money do you have ?
;-)
as always - light, cheap and durable, pick any two..

there's a new Shimano made for US market, the Curado BFS, weighs in at 6.2oz and under $200. With the improved braking systems it will be easy to cast, too.
That's what I'd get if I wasn't an ornery old vintage gear enthusiast. Instead I now have a Abu 4600C re-fitted with an ultralight spool, which casts 2g surprisingly well. I was able to toss a 2g Pin's Minnow easily, nearly caught a trout in between the ice floes in December..



Otherwise the specialty BFS reels will be an ounce or two lighter. Daiwa Alphas Air TW 20 is 160g which is about 5.6oz, at about twice the price from Japan or elsewhere in the Asian markets. It's rated down to 1g lures, would also be a fine pick.

Thanks guys. Silly me, I took a closer look at the Bait Finesse Empire site, and noticed that they are selling a few reels in the 5 oz neighborhood.

I see there are a few four-piece trout rods on the BFE site, as well. Probably the tip of the iceberg for the JDM market ... I suspect that a builder like Graywolf could make short work of this and build something really nice.

I really only use conventional tackle on high country trout lakes, so casting distance with light lures is what I'm after. On my spinning reels I typically use 4# nanofil, but have read this is unsuitable for baitcasters. I see on another thread that Sufix 832 is a recommended line, but it looks like it is only available down to 6#. What do you recommend for beginners ?

Thanks again !

ok, thanks, friend - what species? It sure looks like a brown

ok, I chased it down - I've only seen photos of chrome Atlantic salmon - that's how they look with a kype.

Thanks again for the tips, guys.

I spent a bit of time digesting all this, looking up specs, prices, checking out who has what in stock, lead times, etc. Wow, this is one particularly expensive and exclusive hobby, even by fly fishing standards

Still looks like fun though, and I plan to keep an open mind.

I looked around for spools for my old 4600C (83-84) but came up with nothing available. It was my go to for Spanish mackerel and sea trout back in the day ( until I got a Calcutta) It would be cool to rehab the old girl for mountain trout.

This is for 4500/4600C3 and later with Ultracast design
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001140002917.html

OS Avail spools sell on ebay for outrageous prices - I think there was one listed last week with fixed spindle for older 4500/4600C
Keep your eyes peeled, they may get around to a new batch - here's the Avail part number you want: AMB4530R-CB


Here's the AMO spool on my 4600 (Royal Express - Ultracast equiv to C3).


This reel also has Valleyhill BB worm gear and rider with ceramic line guide for braid, Mike's zirconia pawl and BB spur gear, Avail mag, and Kagawa dual-BB idler gear.
It's noteworthy how much inertia Mike's zirconia pawl removes on the LW - the Abu brass pawl is a little anchor (Mike's pawl doesn't work on 1500/2500).

The reel will cast 3 g, though my goal is to fish 2-5-times that (1/8 to 5/8 oz)
The result is nice enough to look for a reel that you can find parts.
These reels are so easy to work on, bearings easy to swap, etc.
Many guys, including Don Iovino, simply port and polish the idler gear and worm-gear bushings to slick up the LW - you can combine that with a low-mass spool, alloy rider, zirconia pawl, and have a nice result.

Something on my to-do list is build a NLW 4500 CT - buy a complete brake plate and stainless drive from Rocket Reel Co; ZZeta frame, side plates, and trim from Surfcast Pro Shop; AMO spool; a spindle and sundries from E-replacement parts. Next to it is my 5500 with Avail microcast spool.

You can always call Don Iovino and see if he has anything newly tuned for sale.

Casters were mostly all righty for a long time, get what you want. Look at the line retrieval in inches per crank rotation of your reels vs the different BC to get an idea of what you like. The BC might be 8:1 and have the same inches per crank as your spinners. The lower rates are mainly for big baits where you need power over speed. I generally stay in the 6/7 range. But some bfs are higher for the retrieval on a smaller spool. The Curado BFS is 8:1 I believe.

Thanks again !