I bought a $70 amazon BFS reel a few days ago and strung it up with 10# 8-strand braid. Using a 7ft BFS rod i was impressed how well it cast with a 3" curly tail (unweighted). Maybe not quite as good as my $200 Diawa but certainly worth the money I spent on it and it seems to cast very well. Since everything is frozen I decided to try some ice fishing at a nearby lake. The ice was only 2-2.5" thick so i deployed a safety rope as I heard some eery cracking ever once in a while and did not stray far from shore. The rod I used was a Jason Mitchell Meat Stick that is a hybrid fiberglass/graphite ice fishing rod with an incredibly sensitive tip. I deployed an underwater camera and identified mainly perch and a few bluegill on the bottom in 15ft of water. I fished for approximately 1.5 hrs until i had enough for a small on-the-ice meal which was my primary interest. The reel functioned impeccably as the weight of a tiny swedish pimple was adequate for weight and a dropper hook was suspended a foot above the lure tipped with a piece of worm. All the fish were taken on the dropper. Im definitely going back when the ice is thicker and i can drill holes in deeper water as this time open water was only 100 yards from where i drilled.

Thanks for looking!

Mike

YUM!

Odonata,

Yes its a Zephyr!

Ron I originally put the 1500c on the ice rod and it felt heavy for the little rod so i put on the cheap reel as it felt much lighter.