You gotta get a conquest bfs.. almost feels like a low profile reel in hand.. its so small...if anyone is thinkin of gettin a tender shot.. save some more cash and go conquest.. tender feels twice as big and sits up twice as high on the rod..it feels like a old school round reel conquest doesn't.but has the look.. It's worth the$
Hey brewtank! Yea, unfortunately I skipped the cq bfs as so many other folks got one to share. I figured the performance would be nearly identical to the Aldebaran. That being said, people have said nothing but good things about it so I’m sure it’s well worth it to those that pick one up! Thanks for sharing that tidbit my friend and cheers brewtank!
Wow, this was another proof of your hard efforts to bring value to the community. Your Excel sheet is outstanding and if I could make a suggestion…..it would be perfect if you include a casting weight range. This will be more information as the statement, wether the reel casts below 1g or not. But even without this, the amount of information to be obtained by your content is unique. Well done!
Hey Arne! Thank you so much for the amazingly kind words… I am glad that the list is proving to be useful to people and appreciate the suggestion you made! I will consider adding reported by manufacturer lure weight ranges for the reels but I do have a column that denotes whether the reel is capable of casting under 1g. A few reels are a “MAYBE” because it depends highly on your setup. Technically all reels depend on their full setup but the “MAYBE” reels depend a bit more on their setups and can potentially cast under 1g but not as well as some of the others. Again, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to leave such a complimentary comment. I hope you have a wonderful day my friend and cheers!
Hey Frank! Thanks mate! If it does help get some folks sorted then I will be one happy camper. I always appreciate the support and our chats my friend! Cheers to you!
Very impressive comprehensive review of CDM reels and a couple upper end JDM reels. Looking forward for 2024 and what will be new and improved. I do own the Shimano Aldebaran BFS XG and Conquest BFS XG. Incredible reels! I would love to get the Daiwa SS Air but from what I can tell, it is similar to the Daiwa Tatula SV TW 70 I have with aftermarket shallow spool. The Tatula SV TW 70 will weight a bit more than the SS Air, but not by much. Thank you for taking the time and doing an all around review!
Hey Joe! Thanks so much for the kind words! I think I gravitate towards the lower end of the spectrum because those reels offer so much performance for so little money. It gives many folks the opportunity to get their foot in the door so to speak and it’s been very awesome to see how CDM offerings have really improved by leaps and bounds in the last two years. Very exciting stuff and I hope to be able to share more in the future. As far as the upper end jdm offerings go I really do feel like that’s where you get the best of the best return for your dollar. The lower end Japanese reels just don’t have the same value proposition that a lot of CDM reels have anymore but the CDM reels have yet to touch the higher end jdm reels in terms of refinement and feel. They’re close-ish but not quite there. Anywho as far as the tatula 70 with spool goes I’m sure the performance is quite good out of that but the main differences that set these two apart is that the SS air has a 28mm spool that uses the next evolution of daiwas inductor cup braking system. There’s something about it that makes it very easy to cast while getting some of the farthest distances I’ve seen out of any bfs reel. Mind you it’s not huge improvements over say an Aldebaran or an arise air but you see consistent gains that say something about the braking system. Also, the spool is a short shaft compared to the tatula and so reduces the weight and increases the strength of the spool shaft. There are a few more differences like bearing count and frame material but I think the ones I mentioned earlier are the big stand outs to me. I gotta say while I love the Aldebaran… if I were made to choose between the SS air tw and the alde I would go with the SS air tw. It’s not quite as smooth as the alde but it’s also not temperamental like the alde and consistently outcasts it in my hands. Anywho, if you’ve got the alde and conquest there’s no doubt that you have two very awesome reels! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and for your insight! Cheers my friend!
Man I really enjoy watching your stuff I’ve been in love with fishing for 50 years I absolutely love being on the water enjoying Gods creation I do worship the creator more than the created tho but one of my loves in this life is catching fish on light tackle so I’m excited to get started in BFS I catch lots on ultra lights but never been a fan of spinning reels so bfs is gonna make my world more complete lol starting with the solo king Acura pro have 2 on order now thanks for your help god bless
Hey Donnie! That’s so awesome to hear! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave such wonderful comments and for being so kind as to sharing your story as well. Much appreciated my friend and cheers! Tight lines!
I wish I found this channel before I went in on bfs. Out of the full backpack of bfs lures and three bfs setups that I’ve bought. I only have a few lures and one setup that I like and use.
Hey tree! Thanks so much for the kind words my friend… it really means a lot to hear that. I hope that the channel continues to bring you value in the future. Cheers my friend!
@@ryandoll3684 hey tree! If money is no issue then the daiwa SS air tw is my favorite for this year. If money is an issue then… the Soloking Acura pro becomes my pick. There are a few new reels that I just acquired which kind of throw a wrench in things though… can’t give too much away but one really surprised me and I have yet to dive deeper into the others. Cheers my friend!
@@ryandoll3684 I actually kinda like all three of my bfs reels. They are the Aldebaran, SLX BFS, and Arise Air. The rods is what I wish I did more research on. I’ve got one only because the lure rating said 1/32oz but that was a lie. The other one is very very whippy, I probably just need to put the time in to learn it. My favorite is the Triza Aello, it feels very well rounded and goes well with either my Arise Air or Aldebaran.
Hey Steve! Those are awesome reels no doubt and an equally if not more awesome reel you’ve got coming to ya! Would love to know your thoughts and whether they are similar to what I’ve experienced with my SS air tw. Cheers my friend!
Its been 30 years since i used a baitcaster, it seems the only improvements they have made is they got a lot lighter,cast lighter and stronger drag. I am referbing my shimano bantam magcast from the mid 80's for nostalgic reasons to give it a new life again. The soloking gka200 hits a amazing price point for its usability and 9kg of drag. I will keep it in mind if my bantam goes well.
Hey side! Yea things got lighter and smaller and seem to be continuing that trend lol. However, now we’re starting to crossover into digital reels with two CDM brands creating their own versions of Shimano’s DC tech. Fairly interesting with only one seeming to be a “mature-ish” offering. Anywho, would love to know how your bantam rebuild goes! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and insights, happy new year and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL either the arise air or ark bfs. the braking system seems to be pretty legit and price is hard to beat. i feel like the reel technology hasnt advance much at all in the last decade and its nice to see a new company step it up against "daiwass and shitmano" lol.
@@IronMikeyT hey Mikey! Haha I hear you for sure. It definitely is cool to see other companies step up and innovate and bring us more products to choose from for sure. I will say that daiwa and Shimano have long been considered the “gold” standard but it is good to see more competition from other brands in this space. I am super excited to see what 2024 brings and hopefully we get to see even more innovation and new and exciting products. Thanks for sharing your choices! Both sound like good ones. They perform identically but the gravity will be slightly smoother feeling due to the updated main gear and pinion. The arise air should also have that but I am not sure the ones available on aliexpress have the updated gear set just yet. Thanks again for sharing and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL both are the gold standard but have their own special little flaws. i was a hardcore daiwa groupie but imo daiwa hasnt been the same post 2016. its all gone down hill since then. but i too am excited for 2024. the future of bfs is looking great. glad its not just a fad for dorks like me anymore. again. i want to thank you for the info. without that i wouldnt know about the whole gear situation with the arise air. if i do go that route im gonna make sure its the updated model.
@@IronMikeyT hey Mikey! Yea the big two/three haven’t been doing all that much in terms of innovating rather just small iterative upgrades. Not terrible but not amazing either. Hoping they change that soon as the competition is growing! Good to hear that you’ll be checking on the arise airs gear set! Cheers my friend!
I have 3 of the reels you presented here. Soloking , Haibo Arise and Aldebaran (2016 and 2020). By far my favorite is Haibo Arise, followed by Aldebaran and finally Soloking (with the deep spool. with the shallow spool i can not fish it). I also have the Dark wolf which is a decent reel imo. But Haibo is well above some well known reels. I also have Haibo Arise Elite and Pro+. Both are exceptional reels. I don't mind changing the settings internally which I do very rare. I am tempted to try iFishband, but I am not sure that it will have a plus over Arise Air. Thank you for the good review.
Hey Alin! That’s so awesome to hear! I do agree that the arise air is a great reel for sure. I would say for the most part bfs reels have a come a long way in terms of performance and refinement and that’s great news for us consumers. As far as the ifishband goes I don’t think you’re going to see much of a difference in terms of performance so it’s really more of a question of do you want a round traditional style reel or if you like the low profile of the arise air. Hope that helps and thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and insight! Cheers my friend!
@@AlinAmbrosie hey alin! Haha yea… feels a bit like you’re grasping for nothing 😅. I really like the 85mm Gomexus handle but there are great budget options as well. Will link them below. Some will be affiliate links and the channel does earn a small commission if you use them! Cheers my friend! Gomexus(make sure you select the 85mm length and you need a 5x8 size) s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_mLMZOK4 Decent carbon budget option s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_mqSGaz2 Decent carbon handle with rubber knob option a.aliexpress.com/_mPa9cKy
Hey Vince! Right on! The Aldebaran is a solid reel no doubt and so if you want to double up then that is pretty sweet! If you like the aldebarans performance you could also consider the conquest bfs since the two reels are basically the same reels internally with some tiny improvement to the conquest. Thanks so much for sharing and chiming in! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Mostly 3.5g surface lures and divers up to about 5g, so nothing super light. Occasionally I do throw Zman Frogz 2.5” which are lighter, around 2-3g mark. I fish for Australian bass in Australia.
@@vin18m hey Vince! Ah ok yea the Aldebaran will cast those weights perfectly in stock form. I was going to say if you want to go a bit lighter that you might want to look into the KKR spools as they are a shaftless design and very lightweight. Been able to make my 1g casts much more consistent and less finnicky. Anywho, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and opinions with me mate! Cheers Vince!
Hey dallis! Thanks so much for the kind words! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave an encouraging and thoughtful comment. I hope the videos continue to bring you value and education and I hope you have a wonderful day my friend! Cheers!!!
Hey Adrian! My pleasure! Love pointing people to great channels as it helps us grow the hobby and share the passion we have. Looking forward to what 2024 has to bring and cheers my friend!
@@house530 hey house! Right on! Glad to hear that it’s performing well for you. It’s quite a versatile reel and will go well under 1g with the right rod so there’s always that challenge if you ever want to try. I hope you get lots of good use and enjoyment out of the reel and cheers my friend!
Your video's aren't long because they are informative. I have 2 of the reels you mentioned. The first one is bmc100 I was blown away by it for 30 it was a value. I have 3 soloking acura's, the consistency of all 3 is impressive. I have 2 Daiwa svtw 80 one of the reel has a knock in it when you spin the handle with no load. For 3 $41 reels to feel the same, says good things about Soloking' quality control process. I am waiting on that purelure reel, you mentioned before it had a kastking vibe? I have misgivings or doubts about that information after our last talk.
Hey Ucl! I greatly appreciate your kind words and vote of confidence my friend! I still feel like they’re a bit on the long side haha but it really is hard to pack so much information into the videos without completely losing folks lol. I could easily make the videos longer 😅😅😅. Anywho, I did give in and picked up a purelure reel to check out as well as another reel that looked very interesting. Thank you again for the chat and cheers my friend!
Do you have a way to find out the bearing size for the spool for the PureLure reel. I would order some Roro for it. Thank you for the kind words you are providing so much information i have nothingbutrespect. Don't worry about the negative folks because the opposite of love isn't hate. It's indifference.There 0:23 0:23 is a thin line between love and hate, haters probably love you and they just don't know it.😅😂
@@MrUCL hey ucl! Haha much appreciated my friend! Yea I don’t quite agree with negativity, especially in an educational/recreational space. This is a hobby we all love and there’s not much need to spread negativity and hate. We all start somewhere and no one knows everything so why not share information and help others who might not know as much. That’s my philosophy at least… also, I’ve always enjoyed hunting for killer deals haha 😆. Anywho, would you believe it but purelure included a bunch of bearing sizes which I don’t think I’ve ever seen another brand do. Here they are as they were listed by them. Bearing Size: Knob:4x7x2.5 mm Vice Side Cover:3x7×3mm Spool:5x8×2.5mm Fine Adjustment:5x8x2.5mm I’m not quite sure what Vice side cover means… and it does look like roro has that size but it’s not a bfs st bearing sadly… Roro bearings are still SiC though so that’s good but it’s likely to be quite a bit noisier. I will take a look at the bearings when I receive my silver feather and see how they are. Thanks again for the words of encouragement my friend! Cheers ucl!!!
What about the daiwa salamdura air tw. I picked it up for under 150 on the 11-11 sale. Also the kastking valiant eagle 2. It casts very light lures and newbie friendly for around 70. Awesome video's, thanks alot putting them out.
Hey David! Thanks for sharing your pick ups! Very solid reels for sure but let me explain a bit as to why they didn’t quite make my picks this year. The VE2 did last year but I haven’t seen any changes and it’s a bit harder to find now but mainly the ve2 didn’t make my list because it still has the same issue that I pointed out when I first reviewed it in that it is overbraked. It makes for a great beginners and “don’t want to backlash” reel for sure but it really limits the performance you can get out of it unless you do a bit of modding. So… for those reasons I don’t really include it this year. As far as the salamandura air goes, I am not the biggest fan of the lower tier Japanese reels like this, the tatula, the slx/curado, etc simply because I feel like they typically don’t offer as much value for money as the others reels I mentioned in this list. This is just my personal opinion and everyone is definitely going to be a bit different so I completely see where you’re coming from and why you went with it. Also, $150 is a great price to pick a SA up for! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and insights and cheers my friend!
Don't like the plain Jane uninspired looks, Hate the skeleton type handle knobs. To many options in order to fine tune the brakes. Don't like the straight pull off design of the magnet side plate. Possible uneven spool line lay. Possible line getting in between the spool and side plate. So I just went ahead and ordered a Haibo Arise Air. Why? Well it is on sale but mainly so you can earn your $1.50 from the Affiliate Link. No need to thank me.
Hey Eric! Hahaha love it! Thank you for your support my friend. Jokes aside, did you pick one up? If so, what price? Another commenter said they were able to get one for $79? I’m wonder if that’s with the new aliexpress member discount on top of the Black Friday price? Let me know haha and if you actually did and you also used the affiliate link you have my thanks my friend! Cheers Eric! Always appreciate the chuckles 😆
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I did buy the Arise Air (and the Acura Pro at the 11.11 sale) using your links. The price I got for the Air was $89 plus tax which is not bad. I actually want to play with all the brake adjustments just to keep myself amused. Just one tip for you my friend. Take your affiliated commissions in U.S. Dollars instead of some Chinese run Cryptocurrency. Don't ask me how I know lol.
@@zankyou101 hey Eric! Right on! That’s a pretty solid price for the Arise Air and I gotta say it’s a pretty fun reel to use. As far as affiliate income goes I think aliexpress only sends funds in USD? I don’t think I’ll ever dabble in cryptocurrency ever haha. If you mean something different I’m all ears though! Cheers my friend!
@@zankyou101 hey Eric! Whew… haha for a second there you had me thinking I was doing something wrong for the channel 😅. I am pretty blown away by the support the channel got for the 11.11 sale and overall to be quite honest… very humbling and hugely inspiring. You guys are all awesome for helping to keep this thing going. Thanks again my friend and cheers to you!!!
Stinks that the BMC100 went up in price. I got one last year and it's been a pretty solid reel for me. I like it much more than my Zephyr, and it was probably half the price.
Hey brunnen! Yea the prices have seemed to fluctuate a lot more lately. I guess the bigger sales are going to be a bit more important to look out for… will try to keep you guys posted on good deals moving forward. Cheers my friend!
Hey remora! Haha in a sense yes! Go join the BFS BUDGET FINESSE FISHING Facebook group and you’ll see me post for sale posts every so often. I have a couple of reels I do need to let go of soon so keep your eyes peeled! Cheers my friend!
Hey earl! Thanks for watching the video! I’m not sure about maintenance but I did do a teardown and a few upgrade videos! The playlist should be in the description. Cheers my friend!
Hey piercel! After taking a look I did notice that the reel is not quite a bfs reel because of this it does not fit with this channel unfortunately. If the reel was a bfs reel I would definitely consider doing so. My apologies and cheers my friend!
8:50 I am interested to see the reel internals in your video. Based on your cast testing from a broad perspective it looks very nice. Performance over long-term use in the real world is more indicative of quality. I have the generation 1 clamber and it has been a fantastic performer for years now. I have never opened it up cause there has been no need but if the insides are similar to the generation 2 then I see no reason to be concerned whatsoever. I guess the proof will be in the pudding as people get more time with the Clamber 2. My bet is we won't see many issues.
Hey rocky! I will have a video on that coming out this week. Unfortunately… I wasn’t super enthralled with the internals of the C2… feels like many corners were cut and some odd choices were made regarding some of the components. The reel will work and performs very well but I just don’t see why these choices were made especially when compared to all the other reels on the market. The clamber 1 may have different internals to the clamber 2 but I unfortunately don’t have a clamber 1 to compare to. I wish I did but I don’t think it’s a reel that I’d really go out of my way to pick up since it’s a bit older now. That being said, I completely understand your viewpoint and greatly appreciate you sharing your thoughts and insight on the channel! Keep a look out for the teardown as I hope it’ll help explain why I didn’t quite choose it to make this list. Thanks again for commenting and cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I probably won't tear my clamber 1 down (I usually dont open a reel unless i have to) but I will watch your clamber 2 tear down and compare with the schematics for the 1. Obviously that doesn't tell the whole but it should be interesting from an engineering perspective. Too bad you can't find the schematics easily online for some of these CDM reels
@@RockyPondProductions hey rocky! No worries! There is definitely worth to the “if it ain’t broke” quote! In any case, I appreciate your time and you saying that you’ll watch the video. I am constantly humbled by the fact that people take precious time out of their lives to watch me bumble on about fishing reels haha. Anywho, I hope you do get some value out of it, when it is published, and that it’ll help you understand where my choice to not include the c2 in this list is coming from. If not, no worries and I’d love to discuss it more with you! Thanks so much again and cheers my friend!
Hey Donnie! I’ll have to check that out! More and more I’ve become somewhat of a soft plastics aficionado and trout magnet lures were some of the first micro plastics I used. Thanks so much for the suggestion and cheers my friend!
Just managed to snag a cheap rod from a test production. Not exactly a bfs rod. But it’s a m40x + t1100g 46T with seaguide resolution titanium guides. I got it for around 45-50$, though pricing in my country is usually double of US pricing (so us pricing would have been 30-35$) From what I see I got a decent deal, should be similar to Shimano poison ultima, but I don’t know enough about rods. Hoping someone can provide some input.
Hey Mathies! Wow that sounds like a good deal on a pretty decent rod. Unfortunately, I have no experience with the Shimano poison ultima but @themultispeciesangler does if I’m not mistaken. Might consider heading over to his channel and asking him? It does sound like you got a really good deal on that rod though! Thanks for stopping by and cheers my friend!
Hey focus! I definitely think that casting performance is getting to a plateau of sorts but there is always room for innovation in terms of that. Hopefully we will see some innovative developments in 2024! My fingers are crossed for that. As far as build quality and materials, that is definitely an area that can always see improvements in and I really hope to see leaps and bounds made in the CDM arena. I think we have seen marked improvements this year and I look forward to seeing more boundaries pushed while still maintaining affordable prices as that is the biggest strength of CDM products imho. Thanks so much for commenting and your question and cheers my friend!
Sorry, im a confused by what you mean when you say they are variants? Like are they the same frame and internals or something? Are soloking, darkwolf, and doviello all the same company? Thanks and great video!
Hey miles! You are pretty much on the money! Basically an OEM company manufactures the reels and various brands can purchase orders from them and customize them slightly to how they want ie color, handle, type of brakes, etc. In essence what you see is somewhat of a family or group of reels that are all very similar to each other. Let me know if you have any more questions and I’d be happy to try and do my best to explain more! Cheers my friend!
That makes sense! What would be your reccomendation to buy in the under $50 range. I was looking at getting the Acura pro but they were sold out. Should I wait till theyre in stock again or try the cast-x, commando, or gka200. Thanks again for the response!@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL
@MilesFortes hey miles! I think the questions to ask you are what lure weights do you plan on using, what types of waters do you fish, what types of fish are you targeting and finally what is your budget. Let me know and I’ll do my best to help you pick something out! Cheers my friend!
Im mostly planning on fishing for stocked trout at a lake. I will be throwing 3.5-5 g spoons mostly. My budget would be under $50. Thanks@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL
@@MilesFortes hey miles! Right on! I think at that point really any of the dark wolf ultra 50 sized variants will treat you well. IMHO, in order of preference from best to worst also keeping price in mind would be Acura Pro, then Bearking Zeus, followed by the Kingdom Micromonster. The Acura Pro will let you get under 1g if that’s something you’re interested so long as you have the right rod and setup. The BKZ will likely be the smoothest as it has 8 bearings in the reel but you’ll probably want to swap the handle to one that has 4 bearings in the knobs or just swap out the existing bushings to bearings. The KMM is nice because it’s actually the cheapest of the bunch currently and has the double spool option as well as two gear ratios available. While I would go with the AP all of the will do well for you and be under $50. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Hey brewtank! I do have a playlist dedicated to the Aldebaran. I should have a teardown and two(?) upgrade videos in that playlist. I believe you can find the list in the description or from the channel itself. Cheers and thank you so much for the support my friend!
Hey Antin! Haha yea I somewhat agree with you there. While these reels have been good they all perform about the same and no huge improvements have been made. That being said, the fact that these reels all perform well, more or less, is a pretty big advancement in and of itself. It’s a good time to be in the bfs space for newcomers in my opinion. Thanks for commenting as always and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL My personal dream now is Loongze round reel for lite game but 270$is to much i think)) But on the Alibaba is more tasty price..about 170-180 + % for the service of special man who will deliver it to you.
thanks for putting so much time and effort into this years buying guides. do you think the seasir cast - x would be a good first casting reel to get a stocking stuffers for my three grandchildren aged 9,11 and 13? i you have time you might be interested in watching jacob wheeler at wheeler fishing share the hottest fishing technique in the world. - eric
Hey Eric! Hmmm that’s a good question! My only concern would be whether or not your grandkids know their way around a baitcast reel? I’m not saying they can’t learn but I would say that the learning curve to using a baitcast reel is still a good bit higher than say a spinning setup. The other thing is that these reels are fairly heavy being made of abs and having a brass main gear. For a first bfs reel I would say they’re going to be decent but… I wonder if they might be better off with a simpler spinning setup until they get the fishing but and will actively put time and effort into learning how to cast a bc reel. Just some things to consider! If they’re super into fishing then I’d say go for it! Will take a look at the wheel fishing channel you suggested as well! Thanks so much and cheers my friend!
Hey Donnie! No sorry but here’s what I suggest, if you want to cast under 1g or need some salt resistance then go for the Acura pro, if you’ll only be casting above 2g then the Zeus is a pretty good option to consider. I think either way you should be fairly happy though. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Hey Denny! Yep! I have one coming in any day now. I did not purchase from dankung but direct from loongze and at a bit of a discount in order to review it. Keep checking back as it should be here soonish. Now I just gotta get over being sick for a week 😅😅😅. Thanks for asking and stopping by and cheers my friend!
The google docs spreadsheet is great for someone like myself who has been contemplating BFS for almost 2 years, but been apprehensive on not knowing where to start and not wanting to just throw money into endless combos just to end up disappointed at times. I notice in the spreadsheet there is a column, within the reels, that denotes ability to cast 1g… Do you think there will be a column in the future that would have “Practical” casting min and Max weights?
Hey Wes! Thanks for the awesome feedback! I really do appreciate the request for the SS but I’m not sure that that would be so easy to accommodate. Primarily because I don’t often test the upper range of these reels. I look more at the lower end. I’ll take a look again but I could probably add the manufacturers suggested lure weight range if those values are included. I thought I had but maybe not? Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I think you did a really good job in the video of doing so as I continued to watch. You made mention of it for a few of the reels. I probably could discern for myself, if I continued watching specific content you’ve made to date.
Hey yep! Yea… it’s a good thing I filmed this when I did haha. Lost my voice over thanksgiving likely due to laryngitis or something along those lines… Almost have my voice back now but I’ve been wiped out this thanksgiving holiday. Gotta love having kids bring home stuff from school 😅. Feel like I could’ve done a bit more for this video but at least I was able to convey and explain my choices a bit. Hoping it helps people more than confuses 😆. Thanks as always for chiming in and sharing your thoughts and cheers my friend!!!
@@yep.fishing hey yep! Haha yea… I mean it’s never a good time to get sick but this I lost my voice completely a felt pretty crummy for a few days. Still a bit out of it but slowly regaining my voice and starting to feel more normal. Anyways, onwards and upwards! Haha cheers mate!
Hey Josh! Hahahaha well played! Currently still in queue but on the back burner unfortunately. That last video comes in at over 1 hour lol. Would be kind of cool to revisit it though as it’s been a good while since I made that video. Anywho, thanks for stopping by and letting me know you want the abu build video! Cheers my friend!
Hey man, new sub, good stuff! I'm new to BFS, just got a KK Zephyr on sale for $54. Would it be worth 28 bucks to put in Roro bearings or should I just get a different reel. I'm excited about getting into BFS, I'm building rods now and can really refine the rod I want, so I'm thinking BFS can keep line twist and wind knots away. What do you think, Zephyr+upgrade bearings or another reel around 100 bucks (and I'm stretching my budget a bit there haha) thanks bro!
Hey bass! Right on and thank you so much for the support and kind words! Imho, it depends on what lure weights you are looking to cast. If you aren’t going below 3g or so then upgrading your zephyr might not be a bad idea but what I would likely recommend is just getting a new reel to try out. The zephyr is not a bad way to get into bfs but there are much better reels on the market for not much more money. If you are ok with spending up to $100 there are a few reels that I would highly recommend. For around $50-60 I would say the Soloking, or Doviello on Amazon, Acura Pro is a solid carbon framed reel that is gonna cast from 0.5g-10g but also has a deep spool option that can allow you cast lures a bit heavier. I have not tried out the deep spool yet but it is nice to have that flexibility. If you want to look at something a bit more expensive with better build quality(not that the Acura pro is bad) then the Haibo arise air, when on sale, can be found right under $100. It is the sister reel to the Ark gravity bfs reel. To touch on your question of the gka200, with the shallow spool, this is a great budget but imho. If you are looking for something that covers a similar weight range to your zephyr then I think it’s hard to pass up a gka200 with shallow spool for around $30-35. I would steer you to an Acura pro over the gka200 but the gka200 is not a bad reel as well. So… it kind of depends on what lure weights you want to cast and whether you are looking for long distance casting or if you are looking for short distance accuracy with light weights. Lmk what you think! Cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Really appreciate the thoughtful response! My goal is to replace my finesse spinning with BFS for 1/16 Ned rig. I'll explode some nore finesse stuff, but that's pretty much bread and butter right there. Fishing small ponds/lakes from kayak, I think distance is higher priority than short (accuracy will come with practice to a degree I'm sure). I did cast the Zephyr for a couple hours, I was pleasantly surprised I'll admit. Iy casted about as well as my finesse spinning, which I now suspect has a little too big of a reel so maybe not a fair comparison. But like I said, I need to be very intentional with my budget. If it's worth spending more I'll wait until after Christmas to spend on myself. What about buying a BFS spool for a Daiwa Tatula CT/Fuego or Tat sv103? Does the arise air perform noticeably better than the acura and zephyr? Would it perform better than a BFS spool in one of my Daiwas?
@bassandtreblefishing hey bass! Ok I think I understand your situation and it’s my pleasure to help folks out! So, 1/16 oz convert to grams is about 1.8g or we can call it 2g. So at these weights your zephyr will be ok but I think it really excels at a bit higher weights. I think I’d recommend a couple of options; the aftermarket spool for your tatula, the Acura pro, or just stick with the zephyr for now. As far as the aftermarket spool goes I am not quite sure what options are out there but you should be able to find something for around $50-60. I wouldn’t recommend investing much more than that into an aftermarket spool because for the same money you can just pick up an Acura pro reel. Obviously the cheapest route would be just to stick with the zephyr for now until you know for sure what you want to go with in the future. To answer your last question I would say that the arise air and the Acura pro are about the same in terms of casting performance and both are going to be better at 2g casting than the zephyr. That being said, the zephyr isn’t bad at all but I have not distance tested the zephyr as I have not used mine in a good long time. Also, let’s not forget that the rod used is a huge component of casting distance and what lure weights you can actually cast. Haha I’m sorry I’m probably giving you more questions than answering yours but let me know if you do have more questions! Hope this helps and cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Okay cool, that being the case I'm gonna get the Doviello HICC50 from amazon (that's the one that's the acura pro right?) If it's close enough in performance to the arise air/ark gravity. 2 day shipping and free returns worth the extra 10bucks on Amazon over AE. I'll compare it to the zephyr and see what happens, then return the one I think doesn't outshine the other. I'm assuming the difference between the acura/air/gravity is something like tighter tolerances? I'll eventually build my own rod for this, but for now grabbed a couple (returnable) rods that seem like 2 ends of the bfs spectrum. One being 7'6 ML moderate fast, which I now see is rated 6 - 18 g and might be a little too stiff (definitelynot a moderate fast), and a 6ft light moderate fast (not yet here) rated 5/64-23/64 (both Handing rods). The HICC50 was $66 on Amazon, is there a discernable difference getting into the $100+ range or does it take a jump closer to $200 to notice an improvement in performance? Many thanks again for taking the time to talk to me!
Hey jay! Out of curiosity what kind of budget do you have to work with? That said, of the reels I mentioned in this video that vast majority actually only really work for around the 1-10g weight range. A few of the cheaper reels I mentioned at the beginning of the video can go up to around 20g but they might not be what you’re looking for. Once you let me know what you budget is I think I’ll be able to make some better recommendations. Cheers my friend!
Hey jay! Honestly… if you plan on using a reel in a salt environment I’d just look at trying out one of the budget options around the 100 to 200 size. I don’t know if you have the miselure fox available where you are but that would be a good budget option. If you wanted to spend a bit more I was looking and saw that the Haibo pro and pro+ reels kind of fit what you’re looking for. I have no experience with that particular reel though but will say that my Haibo arise air was a great reel and had great build quality. Let me know if you might be interested and I’d be happy to share some affiliate links if you don’t mind. The only caveat is that I am not sure if my links will work for your country. In any case let me know and let me know if you have anymore questions as well! Cheers jay!
Hey thomas! Thanks for the comment and question! However, it’s quite a broad question so it’s not something that I can just a straight answer to? I would say in general that the reels that are on this buyers guide all perform well respective of their prices and each has its pros and cons. I believe I should have individual reviews for most, if not all, of the reels as I have owned and tested them. If you wanted to give me a bit more of a focused question I’d be more than happy to answer to the best of my ability. Anywho, thanks again for your time and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL fantastic response. I suppose I was watching this video and it was mainly focused on Price points and performance was not really a focus. I am looking to buy a first BFS reel and use it for ultralight fishing. The flight feather is the one I want but the price is a bit expensive to test the waters of BFS. What would you recommend for a BFS reel that will cast very small Crappie type jigs 1/24 oz , that will cast far and has a good braking system so I don’t have to always thumb it to avoid over-run/backlashes
@@ThomasShue hey Thomas! So, since this video was released there have been some newer entries that have really impressed me. If the FF01 isn’t quite the right price for you then id suggest taking a look at the Purelure Silver Feather reel. I don’t believe it’s available on Amazon but can be found on aliexpress. It clocks in somewhere around the $90-110 price point. I do have a review video talking about the reel a bit and showing some of its casting potential. I have to admit that I wasn’t very impressed when I first got the reel but once I started using it I was quite pleased. It will cast down to around the 0.56g mark, I cast this weight regularly, with the right rod about 28-32 ft measured. It casts very conveniently and will give you a much lower frequency of backlashes. I won’t say it’ll get rid of backlashes completely as that would be a bit of a white lie but I will say that it is a very convenient casting reel with an extremely reduced backlash rate. Anywho, if you have more questions about the silver feather feel free to let me know and I’ll do my best to help you out. Cheers my friend!
Hey Tom! Hands down yes! If you can get it for $79 it’s definitely a worthwhile buy! Consider picking up a handle as well because the knobs leave something to be desired lol… Cheers my friend!
Hello, i am planning on getting a handing magic casting 2,13m ml 5-15g for small cranks, twitchbaits and chatterbaits. Would you recommend the gka200 over the acura for this usecase? Or perhaps any other reel in that peice region? Thanks for the comprehensive overview
Hey there! Sorry UA-cam isn’t giving me a handle for you oddly… Anywho, I would say yes the Seasir Commando or the Soloking GKA200 with shallow spool would be a fairly good match for the lure weight range you’re quoting. I would say that the biggest differences between these 100/200 size reels and the Acura Pro(50 size reel) is the size and line capacity. You should be able to get a good amount more line on the larger reels but you will be holding a heavier and larger reel. What kind of distances do you need to cast ooc, and what kind of waters are you fishing? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks for the quick answer. UA-cam is acting strange deleted my comment once... I am from Germany and am mostly fishing harbours, smaller streams and feom the float tube. My thought is that the acura could potentially cast a 5g twitch a bit further but might be limited when holding up against the Strong vibrations of a chatter or crankbait. A bit more casting distance is always welcome but not necessary since i have light spinning combos as well.
@@youtubejlnson hey! Hmmm judging by the fact that you will fish harbors I would maybe say that the Acura Pro might be a better choice then. The AP has 5 salt resistant bearings so it may last a bit longer than the other two reels will. Also, it will be more suited to smaller streams as well. Just remember to give the reel a very thorough rinse after salt use! Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL sorry for the confusion i mean fresh water harbours. I am nowhere near saltwater. But if you say the acura can handle the mentioned baits ill go for the acura. What would you say is the upper weightlimit for casting with the acura ? And thanks again for all the info
@user-zd1zc1vv8t hey JL! Yea I think the Acura will still be able to handle what you are doing. The upper range of the Acura pro is 15g so you’ll be right at the limit. I think it will be ok though and likely handle lower weights better. The alternative would be to get both reels as they’re not too expensive currently. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Hey Sean! Yep! I just gotta get over being sick so I can film the video… thought I was on the mend but then got hit hard last night with a whole slew of nasty symptoms. Sorry this fall seasons been a bit rough as the kids been bringing home stuff from school nonstop haha. Sigh… Keep an eye out. In the meantime, I’ll hopefully get the clamber 2 teardown up soon and if that loongze reel comes in and I feel better I’ll try to check that out as well. I haven’t forgotten about the Acura though! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks, you're the man. Tbh it's probably not even worth the time/effort to make that upgrade.. think I bought it for like $28 off one of your links a while back. Probably just going to pick up one of the shiny new Daiwa's for my trout magnets
@@seanhung14982 hey Sean! Haha fair enough. It’s nice to have budget gear that performs but it’s also nice to have nicer gear as well. What daiwa reel are you looking at ooc? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL prob the gekkabijin to toss sub 1g. Seems like Sillver Creek model was designed for slightly higher weights. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
@seanhung14982 hey Sean! Yea I think you might be right in that that’s how the reels were designed. Do me a favor and go check out @themultispeciesangler ‘s UA-cam page. He just got a silver creek that he’s been modifying and he seems to be really enjoying it for ultralight casting. Cheers my friend!
Hey Ricky! While I would love to do something similar I find it way too hard to be objective about rods and how they behave/perform. I do however have an older video on bfs rods under $50 iirc. You’ll have to do a bit of digging through the channel as it’s a bit of an older video. If I start doing rod reviews I want a really objective and quantitative way of letting people know how the rod I am reviewing performs. That being said… even rod manufacturers can’t get their ratings straight. Sadly, there is no set standard for rod ratings… just shows how hard it is to put a rod’s performance into terms I suppose… I’ll think over it some more and try to figure something out. In the meantime though what are you looking for? What’s your price range, fish species you’re targeting, types of water you want to fish, and lure weights? Thanks for the question and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL yea I can totally understand, I tried to do some research on my own but it’s hard to see how good these rods are and how that might actually perform without actually buying the rod aha. But I mainly fish off a kayak in mid size lakes, fishing mostly for trout and crappie. My price range would be around the $120 and I normally fish with 1/16 or 1/32 jigs. Thanks!
Hey Ricky! Hm.. take a look at the BFSFISHINGLIST video I made a month or so ago. I started a Google spreadsheet that has a few rods listed and all of their specifications in the sheets document. It’s free and was made to help people start getting an idea of what they can look for. Let me know if you have questions about it! Cheers my friend!
Hey perfect! Thanks so much for your kind words, for the support, and most of all for your time… Means a lot to see someone taking time out of their busy day to leave a positive comment. Hope you have a great day my friend and cheers!
Hey peppita! Thanks so much for the suggestion! I am very humbled that you would request that I review other reels that are outside of the channel’s little niche =). Unfortunately, I think I am at the point where there is so much BFS material and only so much time that I would really be overextending myself a bit too much I think. Also, larger reels and gear aren’t really my passion and interest. That said, I am slowly picking up slightly heavier duty gear such as the 23’ metanium but I brought it back down to bfs levels by “tuning” it with a bfs spool and line guide 😅. I just can’t seem to get bfs off my mind unfortunately lol. I will keep your consideration and request in the back of my mind though and if/when I have more bandwidth I may take you up on that offer. Thank you so much again for your request! I really appreciate your vote of confidence in the channel. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL it will open you up to a bigger market. They are interested outside of BFS and I can see you have a lot of technical know how. I mean, I saw the other day how you took a part a Reel and then put it back together and I’m like this guy knows what he’s doing and if he could get out of that zone, a lot more people will start watching there’s not much channels out there that do what you did with that BFS real if you start doing that with other reels are more affordable people that don’t know much about them would help a lot of people make decisions
@@peppitachips1764 hey peppita! I appreciate the sentiment and also the suggestion! Maybe in the future I can expand into other reels but for the time being my passion and interest lies with bfs tackle =). I feel like I would be doing a bit of a disservice if I weee to just look at other gear simply to gain a bigger following. The goals of the channel and main reason I started it was to help people learn about their bfs gear but also to help people find great deals and the right tools for what they need. My main aim is to be an educator and not an advertiser. If and when my free time opens up and other fishing tackle calls to me I will definitely look into it. Again, I am extremely thankful and humbled by your suggestion and recommendation. It really means quite a bit to hear someone like yourself say that I should expand the genre of the channel. I really appreciate that. Cheers my friend!
Hey fether! Love the kingfisher icon 👍! Anywho, imho, and I mean this in a purely unbiased/honest way but I don’t really see any of the lower tier/budget Japanese reels as having a good value to dollar ratio. Sure, they’re built well and they bear the name of a Japanese brand but consider what you get out of them. Especially, moreso, now that reels like the Aldebaran, which is a mid to upper tier reel, are much more reasonable in price from Japanese retailers. I think the last time I checked the Aldebaran was going for around $255 usd on digitaka and I’m sure the other Japanese etailers are right around that price. Now let’s look at the specs/parts. The salamandura is essentially a tatula with an “air” spool but it is a long shaft spool and not very light at all… the bearing count is also low at only 7+1. So… it’s not much reel for the money imho. I guess you could pick one up from aliexpress since it is a SEA or southeastasia reel for around $177 usd but I would just wait for a sale on the silver creek or Gekkabijin at $200 or bump up to the Aldebaran at $255. Or if you want to spend much less consider a CDM option. The arise air or gravity bfs is much less and performs very well. So, for these reasons I am not a big fan of reels like the salamandura air, tatula, slx bfs, and Curado bfs. IMHO, you can do better by going CDM or by spending a bit more and going to a higher tier Japanese reel. Anywho, I hope that helps explain why the SA did not make this list and my point of view. Let me know what you think! Thanks again for commenting and cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I really needed to see this video as I have just got into bfs fishing and have made some decent purchases. I started with the Daiwa Crossfire UL rod paired with the Tsurinoya Hurricane, I tested it for a bit and it has its place in my lineup. I then thought what the heck and purchased a like new Kastking Zephyr on ebay for like 40 bucks an it's okay. My next purchase was the Tsurinoya Dragon 6'6 L and paired it with the Genius which I love that setup all the way around. Now my most recent purchase was the St.croix Mojo Bass BFS rod which is a 6'10" but I haven't yet bought a reel for it because I feel it deserves a reel that matches the 180 dollar price point of the rod. With all that being said I've always thrown Daiwa or Shimano reels so I'm considering one of those for it. Although I have had thoughts on the ARK Gravity bfs because what Ark products I have used have been remarkably well made for the price! Your information and knowledge is greatly appreciated an thank you for your help!! Let me know what you think would be a good purchase reel for the St.Croix.
@@Fether_outdoors hey fether! Ok so I looked up specs on your st croix rod and it looks like its lure weight rating is right around 3.5-12.5g so it appears that you won’t necessarily need to go all the way down to the SUL side of bfs. That being said, I appreciate reels that can still reach those SUL weights as it gives you flexibility with the reel. If you can possibly stretch your budget a bit I would recommend looking at the Shimano Aldebaran bfs. You can pick up a JDM reel for right around $255 on digitaka or any of the other Japanese vendors. Let me know if you would like those other vendor names. The Aldebaran is made in Japan, very high quality, mag frame so very light, 10+1 bearings and if you ever wanted to can cast down to 1g if you match it with the right rod. It is an extremely smooth reel to boot. If you want to save a bit of coin though then I’d say consider the Ark or the Haibo as they are also great reels but they do have some growing pains in the brake system and also have carbon frames. Let me know a bit more about what you’re looking for and we can go from there! Cheers my friend!
Hey nicholas! Are you referring to the slx 70 mgl? If so, I am not quite familiar with the reel but after a quick search I did find that avail makes a spool for that particular reel. While it doesn’t appear that you can cast SUL lures around 1g they seem to say that 4-5g is possible with this spool. Here is a link below I was able to find it on hedgehogstudios. www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/phone/product/5036 Cheers my friend!
@@nicholasmaiers4221 hey nicholas! From my limited understanding of the DC system you actually have quite a bit of the computer controlled braking system integrated into the spool itself. I don’t think they’re going to have a shallow spool for that reel sadly… I could be wrong though but it would require some reverse engineering perhaps and and or licensing from Shimano to make something like that or an official shallow spool from Shimano themselves. I don’t quite see that happening as it would get rid of a potential product for Shimano and also require more engineering and design from them. Glad to hear that the dc70 is working out for you though! Out of curiosity, what lure weights do you normally cast? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL makes sense I totally forgot about how the spool is part of the dc system. I’m probably still gonna throw it on my BFS Rod build just to give it a try. I appreciate your quick response. I’ve been really enjoying your videos.
@nicholasmaiers4221 hey nicholas! Sounds good! Nothing like a little testing to see what the limits are of your gear. Let us know how things go! Cheers my friend!
Hey Jimon! My apologies but I’ve never actually heard of that reel before! Any chance you might have a link? I wonder if the reel might be region specific? Cheers my friend!
I have taken a very serious look at buying the kingfisher reel. I see one big reason why I will not buy this unless they modify the reel. where the handle is, the inside is open to the weather, any dirt and debris might get inside and damage the reel.
Hey Richard! Thanks so much for commenting and sharing your thoughts! I am a bit confused as to what you might be referring to? Is there any chance you can elaborate a bit more? I’m not aware of any openings along the handle side of the kingfisher? Are you possibly referring to the star drag? If so, this does not open to the internal gearbox at all. Would love to understand what you’re referring to! Thanks so much and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL hold the handles in your hand and look on the bottom backside of the reel, you can see there is no plate there protecting the gears. Look at other reels that area is covered with a plate.
@@richardgibson899 hey Richard! Ohhh I think you’re referring to the maintenance access point? It’s actually a see through plastic window that can be removed to allow for easy greasing of the main gear. This was a design feature and an interesting characteristic of the reel. Definitely not an oversight but wow great eye! Hope that helps explain the oddity but let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks for commenting and cheers my friend!
@@richardgibson899 hey Richard! No problems at all and thanks for taking the time to comment and ask a question! Purely out of curiosity, would you still consider the flight feather? Cheers my friend!
@@samsmith5816 hey sam! Which reel did you take apart? Did you by any chance either put the anti reverse bearing or the anti reverse ratchet gear in backwards? Those might cause your handle not to turn. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL ahhh I meant to comment on the tender shoot tear down video. My apologies. I believe they are both in correctly. When I click the thumb bar the ratchet gear fits in nicely and I put the anti reverse bearing in with the white part facing down like you said in the video. I can turn it and get the thumb bar to disengage. Once I put the plate back on, it will no longer turn.
@@samsmith5816 hey sam! Hm… can you check to see if maybe the spool magnetic induction plate is attached correctly? I have heard of issues with that being adhered incorrectly… it might be causing some sort of clearance issue and not allowing the handle to turn. Is it completely frozen or does it turn a little? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I believe the plate is fine because the problems start before before I put brake plate back on. I can turn it in reverse and can turn it the correct way until I put the main gear housing back on. then it will not turn in the correct direction.
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I think I figured it out. I flipped the anti reverse bearing. The white plastic looking ring on the sleeve goes the opposite way as yours on my reel and it works. Mine also did not pair the flat washers and the opposing washers and instead paired one flat with one opposing in each pair. Kind of frustrating.
Nice, thx. Real bummer to see the Clamber 2 fall short like this. Hope the Pure Lure Silver Feather fills that hole, as I like the looks and stats of that one a lot.
Hey oxy! I was quite bummed as well… I should have the teardown video up in the next week that explains a bit as to why I did not include it in this list. I hope you’ll be happy to hear that I did give in and I picked up a silver feather for review but I do believe Paul Gaskell at Fishing Discoveries picked one up as well! Will share his review when it is up and live. Thanks for commenting and sharing your thoughts and cheers my friend!
Hey Christopher! You are absolutely correct. My apologies for that but I did add an infographic at the top of the screen that did show the number. For the Seasir Cast-X the reel comes in with a total of 6+1 bearings. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL oh ok well it was small to read and didn't stay on longer to read it but thanks for letting me know. I seen on u tube about kastking baitcasting reel are good reviews about it and also the new piscifun carbon xcs bait casting reel, I actually bought it two days, I heard good reviews about can someone use it on u tube and tested the only thing is small not really big, I haven't had a chance to test it out. Oh and I bought the kastking black hawk 2 telescopic fishing rod, I saw reviews about it on UA-cam and it's 50 bucks on Amazon and the quality of the rod is actually really good it's not cheap looking
@@christopherromina5445 hey Christopher! My apologies about the small text. It’s difficult to find ways to cram a lot of informations and specs about a reel onto a screen 😅. I do have a google spreadsheet document that has tons more info on many bfs reels that I’ve reviewed or are reels that are well known. Please check the video description for THEBFSFISHINGLIST for that. As far as kastking reels go, I would say that there are other reels out there that will probably give you more value for your money. Which reel did you go with out of curiosity? Also, from my understanding the piscifun xcs isn’t quite a bfs reel but I have been told it is good. I have not personally looked at this reel as I believe it does look like a bfs reel after doing a brief inspection. If piscifun ever make a shallow spool reel I’d be more than happy to take a look at that though! As far as kastking rods go I feel the same way in that there are other rods and brands that give you a lot more for your money. Please don’t misunderstand me in that I am in no way saying that kastking products are bad. What I am saying is that I do not think that they offer the best value for your money now. This is part of the reason for me making this video. The idea behind it was to help people maximize their value with their purchase. Seeing UA-cam reviews is great in that you are proactively researching products you are interested in but not all “reviews” are actually “reviews” and also many folks out there have a bias one way or another. On this channel, I do my best to be as unbiased as possible so as not to color opinions or thoughts shared by myself. However, there is no way for me to be 100% unbiased and people do come to seek recommendations so o try to keep my reviews of the products unbiased and then share my thoughts on the products. My recommendation is that when you are searching for a product to watch multiple reviews and find as much information as you can so you can find out the pros and any cons for those products. Hopefully, there will be reviews that share both. Anywho, I greatly appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences and thoughts! If you have any more questions for me I’d be more than happy to try and answer them and cheers my friend!
Hey teeping! Thanks for sharing your thoughts my friend! So… this is where my philosophy will differ a bit from yours I think. While they are great reels in their own right I just don’t feel that the lower priced Japanese reels offer as much value as some other reels. Consider the Curado bfs, the list price is $200 USD and for that the specs are quite low. I did review that reel and did not really see a reel that was worth $200 usd imho. The slx is a bit different in that it’s ~$50 cheaper and so a better value but still the reel’s specifications are not as good as some of the reels listed in this guide. I guess I should have said something along the lines of the reels in this guide are the best values, imho, for their price range. I am not knocking Shimano in the least as the Curado and slx do what they are supposed to do well and they’re Shimano products so you can’t really go wrong with them but again I think that these other products do a bit more for your money and hence it is why they are on this guide and not those. I do hope that Shimano updates and gives us more value for money with the slx and Curado line soon though! Would love to revisit those reels and see a refresh but I’m not sure that will happen anytime soon. I hope that helps explain my thought processes behind the choices I made for this list. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL don’t get me wrong what u are doing here is really great for the community haahah. In fact ur point of view on this is great in terms of what u pay for and what you are getting. This will help a lot people make great purchase decisions! For 200usd the curado is consider to be less value compared to the other offers I agree on that. I am just saying this on the SEA region we don’t have much good and reliable reels to use.. unless we bump up the price to about 300usd.. in our currency 300usd is kinda expensive and that the starting price for a Aldebaran bfs and above.. so naturally for us the curado has great performance for its value other than the Chinese reels that can be hit or miss sometimes.. I do have tsurinoya genius and dark wolf in my rotation and they are great reels but they don’t last that long😅
@@teepingooi2064 hey teeping! I totally hear you and can definitely see where you are coming from my friend. As an individual it is impossible for me to see and consider everyone’s point of view when making these videos and is the main reason why I put the disclaimer at the beginning that these choices are my personal choices. So, I totally understand that everyone’s situation is different. In your shoes I would probably pick the same as your choices because choices are limited. It is unfortunate that that is the case… I wonder what type of fishing you’re doing if you’re running through reels like the DWU? It must be very intense! Anywho, I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and insight and also sharing your perspective with the channel. Thanks so much my friend and cheers!!!
Hey 01! Thanks so much for the suggestion! I will do a bit of research and also add this to the BFSFISHINGLIST spreadsheet. Many thanks again for the recommendation! Cheers my friend!
Hey Donald! Haha sorry the price brackets are set and etched in cold hard stone lol. Jk they’re not but maybe this year I’ll do 1-51, 52-100(?), and 101-201? A bit confusing but I guess I can give you guys a poll to choose the brackets. That being said, I don’t do buyers guides at the beginning of the year as the new reels of that year aren’t even out yet? It’s a bit odd to do so imho… Anywho, thanks for the interesting suggestion and cheers my friend!
Thank you for sharing your experience with the reels on this video. Looking forward for more content from you
Hey Gus! Thanks so much for the support! I greatly appreciate your time and kind word. Cheers my friend!
You gotta get a conquest bfs.. almost feels like a low profile reel in hand.. its so small...if anyone is thinkin of gettin a tender shot.. save some more cash and go conquest.. tender feels twice as big and sits up twice as high on the rod..it feels like a old school round reel conquest doesn't.but has the look.. It's worth the$
Hey brewtank! Yea, unfortunately I skipped the cq bfs as so many other folks got one to share. I figured the performance would be nearly identical to the Aldebaran. That being said, people have said nothing but good things about it so I’m sure it’s well worth it to those that pick one up! Thanks for sharing that tidbit my friend and cheers brewtank!
Wow, this was another proof of your hard efforts to bring value to the community. Your Excel sheet is outstanding and if I could make a suggestion…..it would be perfect if you include a casting weight range. This will be more information as the statement, wether the reel casts below 1g or not. But even without this, the amount of information to be obtained by your content is unique. Well done!
Hey Arne! Thank you so much for the amazingly kind words… I am glad that the list is proving to be useful to people and appreciate the suggestion you made! I will consider adding reported by manufacturer lure weight ranges for the reels but I do have a column that denotes whether the reel is capable of casting under 1g. A few reels are a “MAYBE” because it depends highly on your setup. Technically all reels depend on their full setup but the “MAYBE” reels depend a bit more on their setups and can potentially cast under 1g but not as well as some of the others. Again, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to leave such a complimentary comment. I hope you have a wonderful day my friend and cheers!
This is a fantastic little video Peter. This is going to help a lot of people
Hey Frank! Thanks mate! If it does help get some folks sorted then I will be one happy camper. I always appreciate the support and our chats my friend! Cheers to you!
Very impressive comprehensive review of CDM reels and a couple upper end JDM reels. Looking forward for 2024 and what will be new and improved. I do own the Shimano Aldebaran BFS XG and Conquest BFS XG. Incredible reels! I would love to get the Daiwa SS Air but from what I can tell, it is similar to the Daiwa Tatula SV TW 70 I have with aftermarket shallow spool. The Tatula SV TW 70 will weight a bit more than the SS Air, but not by much. Thank you for taking the time and doing an all around review!
Hey Joe! Thanks so much for the kind words! I think I gravitate towards the lower end of the spectrum because those reels offer so much performance for so little money. It gives many folks the opportunity to get their foot in the door so to speak and it’s been very awesome to see how CDM offerings have really improved by leaps and bounds in the last two years. Very exciting stuff and I hope to be able to share more in the future. As far as the upper end jdm offerings go I really do feel like that’s where you get the best of the best return for your dollar. The lower end Japanese reels just don’t have the same value proposition that a lot of CDM reels have anymore but the CDM reels have yet to touch the higher end jdm reels in terms of refinement and feel. They’re close-ish but not quite there. Anywho as far as the tatula 70 with spool goes I’m sure the performance is quite good out of that but the main differences that set these two apart is that the SS air has a 28mm spool that uses the next evolution of daiwas inductor cup braking system. There’s something about it that makes it very easy to cast while getting some of the farthest distances I’ve seen out of any bfs reel. Mind you it’s not huge improvements over say an Aldebaran or an arise air but you see consistent gains that say something about the braking system. Also, the spool is a short shaft compared to the tatula and so reduces the weight and increases the strength of the spool shaft. There are a few more differences like bearing count and frame material but I think the ones I mentioned earlier are the big stand outs to me. I gotta say while I love the Aldebaran… if I were made to choose between the SS air tw and the alde I would go with the SS air tw. It’s not quite as smooth as the alde but it’s also not temperamental like the alde and consistently outcasts it in my hands. Anywho, if you’ve got the alde and conquest there’s no doubt that you have two very awesome reels! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and for your insight! Cheers my friend!
Another good clip. The right choices save money. I compensated for my not the best purchase micromonster2 with second hicc50/pro ;)
Hey sepa! Haha wow that is awesome to hear! Out of curiosity why did you not like the micromonster reel? Cheers my friend!
Man I really enjoy watching your stuff I’ve been in love with fishing for 50 years I absolutely love being on the water enjoying Gods creation I do worship the creator more than the created tho but one of my loves in this life is catching fish on light tackle so I’m excited to get started in BFS I catch lots on ultra lights but never been a fan of spinning reels so bfs is gonna make my world more complete lol starting with the solo king Acura pro have 2 on order now thanks for your help god bless
Hey Donnie! That’s so awesome to hear! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave such wonderful comments and for being so kind as to sharing your story as well. Much appreciated my friend and cheers! Tight lines!
I wish I found this channel before I went in on bfs. Out of the full backpack of bfs lures and three bfs setups that I’ve bought. I only have a few lures and one setup that I like and use.
Hey tree! Thanks so much for the kind words my friend… it really means a lot to hear that. I hope that the channel continues to bring you value in the future. Cheers my friend!
@treehunter1 what reel is your favorite
@@ryandoll3684 hey tree! If money is no issue then the daiwa SS air tw is my favorite for this year. If money is an issue then… the Soloking Acura pro becomes my pick. There are a few new reels that I just acquired which kind of throw a wrench in things though… can’t give too much away but one really surprised me and I have yet to dive deeper into the others. Cheers my friend!
@@ryandoll3684 I actually kinda like all three of my bfs reels. They are the Aldebaran, SLX BFS, and Arise Air. The rods is what I wish I did more research on. I’ve got one only because the lure rating said 1/32oz but that was a lie. The other one is very very whippy, I probably just need to put the time in to learn it. My favorite is the Triza Aello, it feels very well rounded and goes well with either my Arise Air or Aldebaran.
I own a Aldebaran and the Conquest BFS, both as can be, really been looking forward to pickup the Daiwa SS Air TW! Great Video!
Hey Steve! Those are awesome reels no doubt and an equally if not more awesome reel you’ve got coming to ya! Would love to know your thoughts and whether they are similar to what I’ve experienced with my SS air tw. Cheers my friend!
Its been 30 years since i used a baitcaster, it seems the only improvements they have made is they got a lot lighter,cast lighter and stronger drag. I am referbing my shimano bantam magcast from the mid 80's for nostalgic reasons to give it a new life again.
The soloking gka200 hits a amazing price point for its usability and 9kg of drag. I will keep it in mind if my bantam goes well.
Hey side! Yea things got lighter and smaller and seem to be continuing that trend lol. However, now we’re starting to crossover into digital reels with two CDM brands creating their own versions of Shimano’s DC tech. Fairly interesting with only one seeming to be a “mature-ish” offering. Anywho, would love to know how your bantam rebuild goes! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and insights, happy new year and cheers my friend!
thanks for the guide. gonna finally buy a new bfs reel after 10 years so this video came just in time.
Hey ironMike! Right on! Glad the video was able to help you out! What are you going to go with out of curiosity! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL either the arise air or ark bfs. the braking system seems to be pretty legit and price is hard to beat. i feel like the reel technology hasnt advance much at all in the last decade and its nice to see a new company step it up against "daiwass and shitmano" lol.
@@IronMikeyT hey Mikey! Haha I hear you for sure. It definitely is cool to see other companies step up and innovate and bring us more products to choose from for sure. I will say that daiwa and Shimano have long been considered the “gold” standard but it is good to see more competition from other brands in this space. I am super excited to see what 2024 brings and hopefully we get to see even more innovation and new and exciting products. Thanks for sharing your choices! Both sound like good ones. They perform identically but the gravity will be slightly smoother feeling due to the updated main gear and pinion. The arise air should also have that but I am not sure the ones available on aliexpress have the updated gear set just yet. Thanks again for sharing and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL both are the gold standard but have their own special little flaws. i was a hardcore daiwa groupie but imo daiwa hasnt been the same post 2016. its all gone down hill since then. but i too am excited for 2024. the future of bfs is looking great. glad its not just a fad for dorks like me anymore.
again. i want to thank you for the info. without that i wouldnt know about the whole gear situation with the arise air. if i do go that route im gonna make sure its the updated model.
@@IronMikeyT hey Mikey! Yea the big two/three haven’t been doing all that much in terms of innovating rather just small iterative upgrades. Not terrible but not amazing either. Hoping they change that soon as the competition is growing! Good to hear that you’ll be checking on the arise airs gear set! Cheers my friend!
I have 3 of the reels you presented here. Soloking , Haibo Arise and Aldebaran (2016 and 2020). By far my favorite is Haibo Arise, followed by Aldebaran and finally Soloking (with the deep spool. with the shallow spool i can not fish it). I also have the Dark wolf which is a decent reel imo. But Haibo is well above some well known reels. I also have Haibo Arise Elite and Pro+. Both are exceptional reels. I don't mind changing the settings internally which I do very rare. I am tempted to try iFishband, but I am not sure that it will have a plus over Arise Air. Thank you for the good review.
Hey Alin! That’s so awesome to hear! I do agree that the arise air is a great reel for sure. I would say for the most part bfs reels have a come a long way in terms of performance and refinement and that’s great news for us consumers. As far as the ifishband goes I don’t think you’re going to see much of a difference in terms of performance so it’s really more of a question of do you want a round traditional style reel or if you like the low profile of the arise air. Hope that helps and thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and insight! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL and you are right about the small handle knobs. I don't like them either. Could you recommend some good handle knobs for Haibo?
@@AlinAmbrosie hey alin! Haha yea… feels a bit like you’re grasping for nothing 😅. I really like the 85mm Gomexus handle but there are great budget options as well. Will link them below. Some will be affiliate links and the channel does earn a small commission if you use them! Cheers my friend!
Gomexus(make sure you select the 85mm length and you need a 5x8 size)
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_mLMZOK4
Decent carbon budget option
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_mqSGaz2
Decent carbon handle with rubber knob option
a.aliexpress.com/_mPa9cKy
Thank you! I will go for the Gomexus
@@AlinAmbrosie hey alin! I think it’s a good choice. The knobs are a silicone material and still retain their grippiness when wet. Cheers my friend!
I just bought my second 22 Aldebaran BFS. I just couldn’t go backwards and get something else. So it’s HG and XG for me 😆
Hey Vince! Right on! The Aldebaran is a solid reel no doubt and so if you want to double up then that is pretty sweet! If you like the aldebarans performance you could also consider the conquest bfs since the two reels are basically the same reels internally with some tiny improvement to the conquest. Thanks so much for sharing and chiming in! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I'd considered the Conquest, it's a beautiful reel but I just love the weightlessness of the Aldebaran.
@@vin18m hey Vince! The Aldebaran is def a solid reel. Out of curiosity, what weight lures are you casting? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Mostly 3.5g surface lures and divers up to about 5g, so nothing super light. Occasionally I do throw Zman Frogz 2.5” which are lighter, around 2-3g mark.
I fish for Australian bass in Australia.
@@vin18m hey Vince! Ah ok yea the Aldebaran will cast those weights perfectly in stock form. I was going to say if you want to go a bit lighter that you might want to look into the KKR spools as they are a shaftless design and very lightweight. Been able to make my 1g casts much more consistent and less finnicky. Anywho, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and opinions with me mate! Cheers Vince!
Great comprehensive review of the BFS reels! Thanks for sharing!
Hey dallis! Thanks so much for the kind words! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave an encouraging and thoughtful comment. I hope the videos continue to bring you value and education and I hope you have a wonderful day my friend! Cheers!!!
Greg video Pete. Thanks for the shout out.
Hey Adrian! My pleasure! Love pointing people to great channels as it helps us grow the hobby and share the passion we have. Looking forward to what 2024 has to bring and cheers my friend!
Awesome video, your the reason I got the soloking pro and it’s awesome even with stock bearings
Hey house! That’s so awesome to hear! How do you like the reel? Hopefully, it’s treating you well my friend! Cheers and thanks so much for sharing!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL as my first bfs reel it casts very well, I was cast 2.6grams like a charm
@@house530 hey house! Right on! Glad to hear that it’s performing well for you. It’s quite a versatile reel and will go well under 1g with the right rod so there’s always that challenge if you ever want to try. I hope you get lots of good use and enjoyment out of the reel and cheers my friend!
Your video's aren't long because they are informative. I have 2 of the reels you mentioned. The first one is bmc100 I was blown away by it for 30 it was a value. I have 3 soloking acura's, the consistency of all 3 is impressive. I have 2 Daiwa svtw 80 one of the reel has a knock in it when you spin the handle with no load. For 3 $41 reels to feel the same, says good things about Soloking' quality control process. I am waiting on that purelure reel, you mentioned before it had a kastking vibe? I have misgivings or doubts about that information after our last talk.
Hey Ucl! I greatly appreciate your kind words and vote of confidence my friend! I still feel like they’re a bit on the long side haha but it really is hard to pack so much information into the videos without completely losing folks lol. I could easily make the videos longer 😅😅😅. Anywho, I did give in and picked up a purelure reel to check out as well as another reel that looked very interesting. Thank you again for the chat and cheers my friend!
Do you have a way to find out the bearing size for the spool for the PureLure reel. I would order some Roro for it.
Thank you for the kind words you are providing so much information i have nothingbutrespect. Don't worry about the negative folks because the opposite of love isn't hate. It's indifference.There 0:23 0:23 is a thin line between love and hate, haters probably love you and they just don't know it.😅😂
@@MrUCL hey ucl! Haha much appreciated my friend! Yea I don’t quite agree with negativity, especially in an educational/recreational space. This is a hobby we all love and there’s not much need to spread negativity and hate. We all start somewhere and no one knows everything so why not share information and help others who might not know as much. That’s my philosophy at least… also, I’ve always enjoyed hunting for killer deals haha 😆. Anywho, would you believe it but purelure included a bunch of bearing sizes which I don’t think I’ve ever seen another brand do. Here they are as they were listed by them.
Bearing Size:
Knob:4x7x2.5 mm
Vice Side Cover:3x7×3mm
Spool:5x8×2.5mm
Fine Adjustment:5x8x2.5mm
I’m not quite sure what Vice side cover means… and it does look like roro has that size but it’s not a bfs st bearing sadly… Roro bearings are still SiC though so that’s good but it’s likely to be quite a bit noisier. I will take a look at the bearings when I receive my silver feather and see how they are. Thanks again for the words of encouragement my friend! Cheers ucl!!!
What about the daiwa salamdura air tw. I picked it up for under 150 on the 11-11 sale. Also the kastking valiant eagle 2. It casts very light lures and newbie friendly for around 70. Awesome video's, thanks alot putting them out.
Hey David! Thanks for sharing your pick ups! Very solid reels for sure but let me explain a bit as to why they didn’t quite make my picks this year. The VE2 did last year but I haven’t seen any changes and it’s a bit harder to find now but mainly the ve2 didn’t make my list because it still has the same issue that I pointed out when I first reviewed it in that it is overbraked. It makes for a great beginners and “don’t want to backlash” reel for sure but it really limits the performance you can get out of it unless you do a bit of modding. So… for those reasons I don’t really include it this year. As far as the salamandura air goes, I am not the biggest fan of the lower tier Japanese reels like this, the tatula, the slx/curado, etc simply because I feel like they typically don’t offer as much value for money as the others reels I mentioned in this list. This is just my personal opinion and everyone is definitely going to be a bit different so I completely see where you’re coming from and why you went with it. Also, $150 is a great price to pick a SA up for! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and insights and cheers my friend!
Don't like the plain Jane uninspired looks, Hate the skeleton type handle knobs. To many options in order to fine tune the brakes. Don't like the straight pull off design of the magnet side plate. Possible uneven spool line lay. Possible line getting in between the spool and side plate. So I just went ahead and ordered a Haibo Arise Air. Why? Well it is on sale but mainly so you can earn your $1.50 from the Affiliate Link. No need to thank me.
Hey Eric! Hahaha love it! Thank you for your support my friend. Jokes aside, did you pick one up? If so, what price? Another commenter said they were able to get one for $79? I’m wonder if that’s with the new aliexpress member discount on top of the Black Friday price? Let me know haha and if you actually did and you also used the affiliate link you have my thanks my friend! Cheers Eric! Always appreciate the chuckles 😆
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I did buy the Arise Air (and the Acura Pro at the 11.11 sale) using your links. The price I got for the Air was $89 plus tax which is not bad. I actually want to play with all the brake adjustments just to keep myself amused. Just one tip for you my friend. Take your affiliated commissions in U.S. Dollars instead of some Chinese run Cryptocurrency. Don't ask me how I know lol.
@@zankyou101 hey Eric! Right on! That’s a pretty solid price for the Arise Air and I gotta say it’s a pretty fun reel to use. As far as affiliate income goes I think aliexpress only sends funds in USD? I don’t think I’ll ever dabble in cryptocurrency ever haha. If you mean something different I’m all ears though! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL No, you got it right. USD is the way to go. Keep up the great BFS content.
@@zankyou101 hey Eric! Whew… haha for a second there you had me thinking I was doing something wrong for the channel 😅. I am pretty blown away by the support the channel got for the 11.11 sale and overall to be quite honest… very humbling and hugely inspiring. You guys are all awesome for helping to keep this thing going. Thanks again my friend and cheers to you!!!
Stinks that the BMC100 went up in price. I got one last year and it's been a pretty solid reel for me. I like it much more than my Zephyr, and it was probably half the price.
Hey brunnen! Yea the prices have seemed to fluctuate a lot more lately. I guess the bigger sales are going to be a bit more important to look out for… will try to keep you guys posted on good deals moving forward. Cheers my friend!
amazing collection man. Thank you for the through breakdown Will there be a end of year garage sale 😂?
Hey remora! Haha in a sense yes! Go join the BFS BUDGET FINESSE FISHING Facebook group and you’ll see me post for sale posts every so often. I have a couple of reels I do need to let go of soon so keep your eyes peeled! Cheers my friend!
Happy holidays watching now did you do a reel maintenance on the Aldebaran 22?
Hey earl! Thanks for watching the video! I’m not sure about maintenance but I did do a teardown and a few upgrade videos! The playlist should be in the description. Cheers my friend!
Nice to see all the baitcast reels comparison. Can you do one for Banax Lexima ? Thanks
Hey piercel! After taking a look I did notice that the reel is not quite a bfs reel because of this it does not fit with this channel unfortunately. If the reel was a bfs reel I would definitely consider doing so. My apologies and cheers my friend!
REEEL TIME BABY
Hey kaban! Haha heck yes!!! 🙌🙌🙌 what did you think of the picks out of curiosity? Cheers my friend!
Great info and thanks for sharing!!!
Hey wirin! Thank you so much for the kind words! Hope the video helps you out in some way and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Cheers Dude!!!
8:50 I am interested to see the reel internals in your video. Based on your cast testing from a broad perspective it looks very nice. Performance over long-term use in the real world is more indicative of quality.
I have the generation 1 clamber and it has been a fantastic performer for years now. I have never opened it up cause there has been no need but if the insides are similar to the generation 2 then I see no reason to be concerned whatsoever.
I guess the proof will be in the pudding as people get more time with the Clamber 2. My bet is we won't see many issues.
Hey rocky! I will have a video on that coming out this week. Unfortunately… I wasn’t super enthralled with the internals of the C2… feels like many corners were cut and some odd choices were made regarding some of the components. The reel will work and performs very well but I just don’t see why these choices were made especially when compared to all the other reels on the market. The clamber 1 may have different internals to the clamber 2 but I unfortunately don’t have a clamber 1 to compare to. I wish I did but I don’t think it’s a reel that I’d really go out of my way to pick up since it’s a bit older now. That being said, I completely understand your viewpoint and greatly appreciate you sharing your thoughts and insight on the channel! Keep a look out for the teardown as I hope it’ll help explain why I didn’t quite choose it to make this list. Thanks again for commenting and cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I probably won't tear my clamber 1 down (I usually dont open a reel unless i have to) but I will watch your clamber 2 tear down and compare with the schematics for the 1. Obviously that doesn't tell the whole but it should be interesting from an engineering perspective. Too bad you can't find the schematics easily online for some of these CDM reels
@@RockyPondProductions hey rocky! No worries! There is definitely worth to the “if it ain’t broke” quote! In any case, I appreciate your time and you saying that you’ll watch the video. I am constantly humbled by the fact that people take precious time out of their lives to watch me bumble on about fishing reels haha. Anywho, I hope you do get some value out of it, when it is published, and that it’ll help you understand where my choice to not include the c2 in this list is coming from. If not, no worries and I’d love to discuss it more with you! Thanks so much again and cheers my friend!
Trout magnet make a little grub called a tiny dancer it’s a great trailer for small lures and spinnerbaits
Hey Donnie! I’ll have to check that out! More and more I’ve become somewhat of a soft plastics aficionado and trout magnet lures were some of the first micro plastics I used. Thanks so much for the suggestion and cheers my friend!
Just managed to snag a cheap rod from a test production. Not exactly a bfs rod. But it’s a m40x + t1100g 46T with seaguide resolution titanium guides. I got it for around 45-50$, though pricing in my country is usually double of US pricing (so us pricing would have been 30-35$)
From what I see I got a decent deal, should be similar to Shimano poison ultima, but I don’t know enough about rods.
Hoping someone can provide some input.
Hey Mathies! Wow that sounds like a good deal on a pretty decent rod. Unfortunately, I have no experience with the Shimano poison ultima but @themultispeciesangler does if I’m not mistaken. Might consider heading over to his channel and asking him? It does sound like you got a really good deal on that rod though! Thanks for stopping by and cheers my friend!
do you think the BFS reel industry has almost reached its peak? I mean there is little room to improve the BFS reel.
Hey focus! I definitely think that casting performance is getting to a plateau of sorts but there is always room for innovation in terms of that. Hopefully we will see some innovative developments in 2024! My fingers are crossed for that. As far as build quality and materials, that is definitely an area that can always see improvements in and I really hope to see leaps and bounds made in the CDM arena. I think we have seen marked improvements this year and I look forward to seeing more boundaries pushed while still maintaining affordable prices as that is the biggest strength of CDM products imho. Thanks so much for commenting and your question and cheers my friend!
Thanks for sharing 👌💖
Hey bungkoko! My pleasure and thanks so much for commenting! Cheers my friend!
Sorry, im a confused by what you mean when you say they are variants? Like are they the same frame and internals or something? Are soloking, darkwolf, and doviello all the same company? Thanks and great video!
Hey miles! You are pretty much on the money! Basically an OEM company manufactures the reels and various brands can purchase orders from them and customize them slightly to how they want ie color, handle, type of brakes, etc. In essence what you see is somewhat of a family or group of reels that are all very similar to each other. Let me know if you have any more questions and I’d be happy to try and do my best to explain more! Cheers my friend!
That makes sense! What would be your reccomendation to buy in the under $50 range. I was looking at getting the Acura pro but they were sold out. Should I wait till theyre in stock again or try the cast-x, commando, or gka200. Thanks again for the response!@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL
@MilesFortes hey miles! I think the questions to ask you are what lure weights do you plan on using, what types of waters do you fish, what types of fish are you targeting and finally what is your budget. Let me know and I’ll do my best to help you pick something out! Cheers my friend!
Im mostly planning on fishing for stocked trout at a lake. I will be throwing 3.5-5 g spoons mostly. My budget would be under $50. Thanks@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL
@@MilesFortes hey miles! Right on! I think at that point really any of the dark wolf ultra 50 sized variants will treat you well. IMHO, in order of preference from best to worst also keeping price in mind would be Acura Pro, then Bearking Zeus, followed by the Kingdom Micromonster. The Acura Pro will let you get under 1g if that’s something you’re interested so long as you have the right rod and setup. The BKZ will likely be the smoothest as it has 8 bearings in the reel but you’ll probably want to swap the handle to one that has 4 bearings in the knobs or just swap out the existing bushings to bearings. The KMM is nice because it’s actually the cheapest of the bunch currently and has the double spool option as well as two gear ratios available. While I would go with the AP all of the will do well for you and be under $50. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Wow tht aldebaran looks sic..do u hve a vid on pimpin tht out
Hey brewtank! I do have a playlist dedicated to the Aldebaran. I should have a teardown and two(?) upgrade videos in that playlist. I believe you can find the list in the description or from the channel itself. Cheers and thank you so much for the support my friend!
Thanks! I think the best guide for 2023 is to wait for 2024)))))
Hey Antin! Haha yea I somewhat agree with you there. While these reels have been good they all perform about the same and no huge improvements have been made. That being said, the fact that these reels all perform well, more or less, is a pretty big advancement in and of itself. It’s a good time to be in the bfs space for newcomers in my opinion. Thanks for commenting as always and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL My personal dream now is Loongze round reel for lite game but 270$is to much i think)) But on the Alibaba is more tasty price..about 170-180 + % for the service of special man who will deliver it to you.
Hey Antin! I have a copy coming in for review. Expensive… am excited to see what it’s like and share with you all! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL wow! It nice 👍, grats!
@@MrAntinsk8 hey Antin! We will definitely take a close look and see what we find! Cheers my friend!
thanks for putting so much time and effort into this years buying guides. do you think the seasir cast - x would be a good first casting reel to get a stocking stuffers for my three grandchildren aged 9,11 and 13? i you have time you might be interested in watching jacob wheeler at wheeler fishing share the hottest fishing technique in the world. - eric
Hey Eric! Hmmm that’s a good question! My only concern would be whether or not your grandkids know their way around a baitcast reel? I’m not saying they can’t learn but I would say that the learning curve to using a baitcast reel is still a good bit higher than say a spinning setup. The other thing is that these reels are fairly heavy being made of abs and having a brass main gear. For a first bfs reel I would say they’re going to be decent but… I wonder if they might be better off with a simpler spinning setup until they get the fishing but and will actively put time and effort into learning how to cast a bc reel. Just some things to consider! If they’re super into fishing then I’d say go for it! Will take a look at the wheel fishing channel you suggested as well! Thanks so much and cheers my friend!
Did you ever get your hands on the bearking Zeus? I’m about to get the soloking Acura pro but was just wondering about the Zeus
Hey Donnie! No sorry but here’s what I suggest, if you want to cast under 1g or need some salt resistance then go for the Acura pro, if you’ll only be casting above 2g then the Zeus is a pretty good option to consider. I think either way you should be fairly happy though. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
Thanks mostly it’ll be 1/8 lures and 1/16 I’ll add a grub or something for a little extra weight thanks
@@donniefoster7713 hey Donnie! Hm in that care I think either of the two reels should do well for you. Cheers my friend!
Peter have you been keeping an eye on the new Loongze round reel on Dankung?
Hey Denny! Yep! I have one coming in any day now. I did not purchase from dankung but direct from loongze and at a bit of a discount in order to review it. Keep checking back as it should be here soonish. Now I just gotta get over being sick for a week 😅😅😅. Thanks for asking and stopping by and cheers my friend!
The google docs spreadsheet is great for someone like myself who has been contemplating BFS for almost 2 years, but been apprehensive on not knowing where to start and not wanting to just throw money into endless combos just to end up disappointed at times.
I notice in the spreadsheet there is a column, within the reels, that denotes ability to cast 1g… Do you think there will be a column in the future that would have “Practical” casting min and Max weights?
Hey Wes! Thanks for the awesome feedback! I really do appreciate the request for the SS but I’m not sure that that would be so easy to accommodate. Primarily because I don’t often test the upper range of these reels. I look more at the lower end. I’ll take a look again but I could probably add the manufacturers suggested lure weight range if those values are included. I thought I had but maybe not? Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I think you did a really good job in the video of doing so as I continued to watch. You made mention of it for a few of the reels. I probably could discern for myself, if I continued watching specific content you’ve made to date.
Wow, didnt take you long to do an update video after you recently mentioned doing one.
Hey yep! Yea… it’s a good thing I filmed this when I did haha. Lost my voice over thanksgiving likely due to laryngitis or something along those lines… Almost have my voice back now but I’ve been wiped out this thanksgiving holiday. Gotta love having kids bring home stuff from school 😅. Feel like I could’ve done a bit more for this video but at least I was able to convey and explain my choices a bit. Hoping it helps people more than confuses 😆. Thanks as always for chiming in and sharing your thoughts and cheers my friend!!!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL damn not a good time to get sick
@@yep.fishing hey yep! Haha yea… I mean it’s never a good time to get sick but this I lost my voice completely a felt pretty crummy for a few days. Still a bit out of it but slowly regaining my voice and starting to feel more normal. Anyways, onwards and upwards! Haha cheers mate!
Bro I might sub if I see the abu finale😂jk
Hey Josh! Hahahaha well played! Currently still in queue but on the back burner unfortunately. That last video comes in at over 1 hour lol. Would be kind of cool to revisit it though as it’s been a good while since I made that video. Anywho, thanks for stopping by and letting me know you want the abu build video! Cheers my friend!
Hey man, new sub, good stuff! I'm new to BFS, just got a KK Zephyr on sale for $54. Would it be worth 28 bucks to put in Roro bearings or should I just get a different reel.
I'm excited about getting into BFS, I'm building rods now and can really refine the rod I want, so I'm thinking BFS can keep line twist and wind knots away.
What do you think, Zephyr+upgrade bearings or another reel around 100 bucks (and I'm stretching my budget a bit there haha) thanks bro!
Also, any thoughts on the Doviello GKA200?
Hey bass! Right on and thank you so much for the support and kind words! Imho, it depends on what lure weights you are looking to cast. If you aren’t going below 3g or so then upgrading your zephyr might not be a bad idea but what I would likely recommend is just getting a new reel to try out. The zephyr is not a bad way to get into bfs but there are much better reels on the market for not much more money. If you are ok with spending up to $100 there are a few reels that I would highly recommend. For around $50-60 I would say the Soloking, or Doviello on Amazon, Acura Pro is a solid carbon framed reel that is gonna cast from 0.5g-10g but also has a deep spool option that can allow you cast lures a bit heavier. I have not tried out the deep spool yet but it is nice to have that flexibility. If you want to look at something a bit more expensive with better build quality(not that the Acura pro is bad) then the Haibo arise air, when on sale, can be found right under $100. It is the sister reel to the Ark gravity bfs reel. To touch on your question of the gka200, with the shallow spool, this is a great budget but imho. If you are looking for something that covers a similar weight range to your zephyr then I think it’s hard to pass up a gka200 with shallow spool for around $30-35. I would steer you to an Acura pro over the gka200 but the gka200 is not a bad reel as well. So… it kind of depends on what lure weights you want to cast and whether you are looking for long distance casting or if you are looking for short distance accuracy with light weights. Lmk what you think! Cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Really appreciate the thoughtful response!
My goal is to replace my finesse spinning with BFS for 1/16 Ned rig. I'll explode some nore finesse stuff, but that's pretty much bread and butter right there.
Fishing small ponds/lakes from kayak, I think distance is higher priority than short (accuracy will come with practice to a degree I'm sure).
I did cast the Zephyr for a couple hours, I was pleasantly surprised I'll admit. Iy casted about as well as my finesse spinning, which I now suspect has a little too big of a reel so maybe not a fair comparison.
But like I said, I need to be very intentional with my budget. If it's worth spending more I'll wait until after Christmas to spend on myself.
What about buying a BFS spool for a Daiwa Tatula CT/Fuego or Tat sv103?
Does the arise air perform noticeably better than the acura and zephyr? Would it perform better than a BFS spool in one of my Daiwas?
@bassandtreblefishing hey bass! Ok I think I understand your situation and it’s my pleasure to help folks out! So, 1/16 oz convert to grams is about 1.8g or we can call it 2g. So at these weights your zephyr will be ok but I think it really excels at a bit higher weights. I think I’d recommend a couple of options; the aftermarket spool for your tatula, the Acura pro, or just stick with the zephyr for now. As far as the aftermarket spool goes I am not quite sure what options are out there but you should be able to find something for around $50-60. I wouldn’t recommend investing much more than that into an aftermarket spool because for the same money you can just pick up an Acura pro reel. Obviously the cheapest route would be just to stick with the zephyr for now until you know for sure what you want to go with in the future. To answer your last question I would say that the arise air and the Acura pro are about the same in terms of casting performance and both are going to be better at 2g casting than the zephyr. That being said, the zephyr isn’t bad at all but I have not distance tested the zephyr as I have not used mine in a good long time. Also, let’s not forget that the rod used is a huge component of casting distance and what lure weights you can actually cast. Haha I’m sorry I’m probably giving you more questions than answering yours but let me know if you do have more questions! Hope this helps and cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Okay cool, that being the case I'm gonna get the Doviello HICC50 from amazon (that's the one that's the acura pro right?) If it's close enough in performance to the arise air/ark gravity. 2 day shipping and free returns worth the extra 10bucks on Amazon over AE.
I'll compare it to the zephyr and see what happens, then return the one I think doesn't outshine the other.
I'm assuming the difference between the acura/air/gravity is something like tighter tolerances?
I'll eventually build my own rod for this, but for now grabbed a couple (returnable) rods that seem like 2 ends of the bfs spectrum. One being 7'6 ML moderate fast, which I now see is rated 6 - 18 g and might be a little too stiff (definitelynot a moderate fast), and a 6ft light moderate fast (not yet here) rated 5/64-23/64 (both Handing rods).
The HICC50 was $66 on Amazon, is there a discernable difference getting into the $100+ range or does it take a jump closer to $200 to notice an improvement in performance?
Many thanks again for taking the time to talk to me!
for salt water fishing what do you recommend for 5 g to 20g lures.
Hey jay! Out of curiosity what kind of budget do you have to work with? That said, of the reels I mentioned in this video that vast majority actually only really work for around the 1-10g weight range. A few of the cheaper reels I mentioned at the beginning of the video can go up to around 20g but they might not be what you’re looking for. Once you let me know what you budget is I think I’ll be able to make some better recommendations. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL around 150 €
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL im living in denmark wanna use baitcaster for seatrout /shorefishing. Bait we use here is spoon around 10-20 g.
Hey jay! Honestly… if you plan on using a reel in a salt environment I’d just look at trying out one of the budget options around the 100 to 200 size. I don’t know if you have the miselure fox available where you are but that would be a good budget option. If you wanted to spend a bit more I was looking and saw that the Haibo pro and pro+ reels kind of fit what you’re looking for. I have no experience with that particular reel though but will say that my Haibo arise air was a great reel and had great build quality. Let me know if you might be interested and I’d be happy to share some affiliate links if you don’t mind. The only caveat is that I am not sure if my links will work for your country. In any case let me know and let me know if you have anymore questions as well! Cheers jay!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL i would like a link to those reels:)
So you know the prices, but how do they perform?
Hey thomas! Thanks for the comment and question! However, it’s quite a broad question so it’s not something that I can just a straight answer to? I would say in general that the reels that are on this buyers guide all perform well respective of their prices and each has its pros and cons. I believe I should have individual reviews for most, if not all, of the reels as I have owned and tested them. If you wanted to give me a bit more of a focused question I’d be more than happy to answer to the best of my ability. Anywho, thanks again for your time and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL fantastic response. I suppose I was watching this video and it was mainly focused on Price points and performance was not really a focus. I am looking to buy a first BFS reel and use it for ultralight fishing. The flight feather is the one I want but the price is a bit expensive to test the waters of BFS. What would you recommend for a BFS reel that will cast very small Crappie type jigs 1/24 oz , that will cast far and has a good braking system so I don’t have to always thumb it to avoid over-run/backlashes
@@ThomasShue hey Thomas! So, since this video was released there have been some newer entries that have really impressed me. If the FF01 isn’t quite the right price for you then id suggest taking a look at the Purelure Silver Feather reel. I don’t believe it’s available on Amazon but can be found on aliexpress. It clocks in somewhere around the $90-110 price point. I do have a review video talking about the reel a bit and showing some of its casting potential. I have to admit that I wasn’t very impressed when I first got the reel but once I started using it I was quite pleased. It will cast down to around the 0.56g mark, I cast this weight regularly, with the right rod about 28-32 ft measured. It casts very conveniently and will give you a much lower frequency of backlashes. I won’t say it’ll get rid of backlashes completely as that would be a bit of a white lie but I will say that it is a very convenient casting reel with an extremely reduced backlash rate. Anywho, if you have more questions about the silver feather feel free to let me know and I’ll do my best to help you out. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL subbed
@@ThomasShue hey Thomas! Much appreciated! Let me know if/when you need help with that purchase. Cheers my friend!
H arise air for $79 is that worth it? Black Friday sale
Hey Tom! Hands down yes! If you can get it for $79 it’s definitely a worthwhile buy! Consider picking up a handle as well because the knobs leave something to be desired lol… Cheers my friend!
Hello, i am planning on getting a handing magic casting 2,13m ml 5-15g for small cranks, twitchbaits and chatterbaits. Would you recommend the gka200 over the acura for this usecase? Or perhaps any other reel in that peice region?
Thanks for the comprehensive overview
Hey there! Sorry UA-cam isn’t giving me a handle for you oddly… Anywho, I would say yes the Seasir Commando or the Soloking GKA200 with shallow spool would be a fairly good match for the lure weight range you’re quoting. I would say that the biggest differences between these 100/200 size reels and the Acura Pro(50 size reel) is the size and line capacity. You should be able to get a good amount more line on the larger reels but you will be holding a heavier and larger reel. What kind of distances do you need to cast ooc, and what kind of waters are you fishing? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks for the quick answer. UA-cam is acting strange deleted my comment once... I am from Germany and am mostly fishing harbours, smaller streams and feom the float tube. My thought is that the acura could potentially cast a 5g twitch a bit further but might be limited when holding up against the Strong vibrations of a chatter or crankbait. A bit more casting distance is always welcome but not necessary since i have light spinning combos as well.
@@youtubejlnson hey! Hmmm judging by the fact that you will fish harbors I would maybe say that the Acura Pro might be a better choice then. The AP has 5 salt resistant bearings so it may last a bit longer than the other two reels will. Also, it will be more suited to smaller streams as well. Just remember to give the reel a very thorough rinse after salt use! Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL sorry for the confusion i mean fresh water harbours. I am nowhere near saltwater. But if you say the acura can handle the mentioned baits ill go for the acura. What would you say is the upper weightlimit for casting with the acura ?
And thanks again for all the info
@user-zd1zc1vv8t hey JL! Yea I think the Acura will still be able to handle what you are doing. The upper range of the Acura pro is 15g so you’ll be right at the limit. I think it will be ok though and likely handle lower weights better. The alternative would be to get both reels as they’re not too expensive currently. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
You ever figure out if you could retrofit the old Acura with the new spool?
Hey Sean! Yep! I just gotta get over being sick so I can film the video… thought I was on the mend but then got hit hard last night with a whole slew of nasty symptoms. Sorry this fall seasons been a bit rough as the kids been bringing home stuff from school nonstop haha. Sigh… Keep an eye out. In the meantime, I’ll hopefully get the clamber 2 teardown up soon and if that loongze reel comes in and I feel better I’ll try to check that out as well. I haven’t forgotten about the Acura though! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks, you're the man. Tbh it's probably not even worth the time/effort to make that upgrade.. think I bought it for like $28 off one of your links a while back. Probably just going to pick up one of the shiny new Daiwa's for my trout magnets
@@seanhung14982 hey Sean! Haha fair enough. It’s nice to have budget gear that performs but it’s also nice to have nicer gear as well. What daiwa reel are you looking at ooc? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL prob the gekkabijin to toss sub 1g. Seems like Sillver Creek model was designed for slightly higher weights. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong
@seanhung14982 hey Sean! Yea I think you might be right in that that’s how the reels were designed. Do me a favor and go check out @themultispeciesangler ‘s UA-cam page. He just got a silver creek that he’s been modifying and he seems to be really enjoying it for ultralight casting. Cheers my friend!
Are you going to do the similar video for bfs rods?
Hey Ricky! While I would love to do something similar I find it way too hard to be objective about rods and how they behave/perform. I do however have an older video on bfs rods under $50 iirc. You’ll have to do a bit of digging through the channel as it’s a bit of an older video. If I start doing rod reviews I want a really objective and quantitative way of letting people know how the rod I am reviewing performs. That being said… even rod manufacturers can’t get their ratings straight. Sadly, there is no set standard for rod ratings… just shows how hard it is to put a rod’s performance into terms I suppose… I’ll think over it some more and try to figure something out. In the meantime though what are you looking for? What’s your price range, fish species you’re targeting, types of water you want to fish, and lure weights? Thanks for the question and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL yea I can totally understand, I tried to do some research on my own but it’s hard to see how good these rods are and how that might actually perform without actually buying the rod aha. But I mainly fish off a kayak in mid size lakes, fishing mostly for trout and crappie. My price range would be around the $120 and I normally fish with 1/16 or 1/32 jigs. Thanks!
Hey Ricky! Hm.. take a look at the BFSFISHINGLIST video I made a month or so ago. I started a Google spreadsheet that has a few rods listed and all of their specifications in the sheets document. It’s free and was made to help people start getting an idea of what they can look for. Let me know if you have questions about it! Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL thanks!
My pleasure! Cheers Ricky!
NewSUb. good info
Hey perfect! Thanks so much for your kind words, for the support, and most of all for your time… Means a lot to see someone taking time out of their busy day to leave a positive comment. Hope you have a great day my friend and cheers!
How about a video regular fishing reels are not BFS like hour in the Calcutta B series type category
Hey peppita! Thanks so much for the suggestion! I am very humbled that you would request that I review other reels that are outside of the channel’s little niche =). Unfortunately, I think I am at the point where there is so much BFS material and only so much time that I would really be overextending myself a bit too much I think. Also, larger reels and gear aren’t really my passion and interest. That said, I am slowly picking up slightly heavier duty gear such as the 23’ metanium but I brought it back down to bfs levels by “tuning” it with a bfs spool and line guide 😅. I just can’t seem to get bfs off my mind unfortunately lol. I will keep your consideration and request in the back of my mind though and if/when I have more bandwidth I may take you up on that offer. Thank you so much again for your request! I really appreciate your vote of confidence in the channel. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL it will open you up to a bigger market. They are interested outside of BFS and I can see you have a lot of technical know how. I mean, I saw the other day how you took a part a Reel and then put it back together and I’m like this guy knows what he’s doing and if he could get out of that zone, a lot more people will start watching there’s not much channels out there that do what you did with that BFS real if you start doing that with other reels are more affordable people that don’t know much about them would help a lot of people make decisions
@@peppitachips1764 hey peppita! I appreciate the sentiment and also the suggestion! Maybe in the future I can expand into other reels but for the time being my passion and interest lies with bfs tackle =). I feel like I would be doing a bit of a disservice if I weee to just look at other gear simply to gain a bigger following. The goals of the channel and main reason I started it was to help people learn about their bfs gear but also to help people find great deals and the right tools for what they need. My main aim is to be an educator and not an advertiser. If and when my free time opens up and other fishing tackle calls to me I will definitely look into it. Again, I am extremely thankful and humbled by your suggestion and recommendation. It really means quite a bit to hear someone like yourself say that I should expand the genre of the channel. I really appreciate that. Cheers my friend!
What about the Daiwa Salamandura?
Hey fether! Love the kingfisher icon 👍! Anywho, imho, and I mean this in a purely unbiased/honest way but I don’t really see any of the lower tier/budget Japanese reels as having a good value to dollar ratio. Sure, they’re built well and they bear the name of a Japanese brand but consider what you get out of them. Especially, moreso, now that reels like the Aldebaran, which is a mid to upper tier reel, are much more reasonable in price from Japanese retailers. I think the last time I checked the Aldebaran was going for around $255 usd on digitaka and I’m sure the other Japanese etailers are right around that price. Now let’s look at the specs/parts. The salamandura is essentially a tatula with an “air” spool but it is a long shaft spool and not very light at all… the bearing count is also low at only 7+1. So… it’s not much reel for the money imho. I guess you could pick one up from aliexpress since it is a SEA or southeastasia reel for around $177 usd but I would just wait for a sale on the silver creek or Gekkabijin at $200 or bump up to the Aldebaran at $255. Or if you want to spend much less consider a CDM option. The arise air or gravity bfs is much less and performs very well. So, for these reasons I am not a big fan of reels like the salamandura air, tatula, slx bfs, and Curado bfs. IMHO, you can do better by going CDM or by spending a bit more and going to a higher tier Japanese reel. Anywho, I hope that helps explain why the SA did not make this list and my point of view. Let me know what you think! Thanks again for commenting and cheers my friend!
@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I really needed to see this video as I have just got into bfs fishing and have made some decent purchases. I started with the Daiwa Crossfire UL rod paired with the Tsurinoya Hurricane, I tested it for a bit and it has its place in my lineup. I then thought what the heck and purchased a like new Kastking Zephyr on ebay for like 40 bucks an it's okay. My next purchase was the Tsurinoya Dragon 6'6 L and paired it with the Genius which I love that setup all the way around. Now my most recent purchase was the St.croix Mojo Bass BFS rod which is a 6'10" but I haven't yet bought a reel for it because I feel it deserves a reel that matches the 180 dollar price point of the rod. With all that being said I've always thrown Daiwa or Shimano reels so I'm considering one of those for it. Although I have had thoughts on the ARK Gravity bfs because what Ark products I have used have been remarkably well made for the price! Your information and knowledge is greatly appreciated an thank you for your help!! Let me know what you think would be a good purchase reel for the St.Croix.
@@Fether_outdoors hey fether! Ok so I looked up specs on your st croix rod and it looks like its lure weight rating is right around 3.5-12.5g so it appears that you won’t necessarily need to go all the way down to the SUL side of bfs. That being said, I appreciate reels that can still reach those SUL weights as it gives you flexibility with the reel. If you can possibly stretch your budget a bit I would recommend looking at the Shimano Aldebaran bfs. You can pick up a JDM reel for right around $255 on digitaka or any of the other Japanese vendors. Let me know if you would like those other vendor names. The Aldebaran is made in Japan, very high quality, mag frame so very light, 10+1 bearings and if you ever wanted to can cast down to 1g if you match it with the right rod. It is an extremely smooth reel to boot. If you want to save a bit of coin though then I’d say consider the Ark or the Haibo as they are also great reels but they do have some growing pains in the brake system and also have carbon frames. Let me know a bit more about what you’re looking for and we can go from there! Cheers my friend!
Do they make a shallow spool for SLXXT 70 JDM
Hey nicholas! Are you referring to the slx 70 mgl? If so, I am not quite familiar with the reel but after a quick search I did find that avail makes a spool for that particular reel. While it doesn’t appear that you can cast SUL lures around 1g they seem to say that 4-5g is possible with this spool. Here is a link below I was able to find it on hedgehogstudios.
www.hedgehog-studio.co.jp/phone/product/5036
Cheers my friend!
It is a jdm slx xt dc reel that is in a 70 size it’s a really really awesome real. I was just curious because it cast really really well.
@@nicholasmaiers4221 hey nicholas! From my limited understanding of the DC system you actually have quite a bit of the computer controlled braking system integrated into the spool itself. I don’t think they’re going to have a shallow spool for that reel sadly… I could be wrong though but it would require some reverse engineering perhaps and and or licensing from Shimano to make something like that or an official shallow spool from Shimano themselves. I don’t quite see that happening as it would get rid of a potential product for Shimano and also require more engineering and design from them. Glad to hear that the dc70 is working out for you though! Out of curiosity, what lure weights do you normally cast? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL makes sense I totally forgot about how the spool is part of the dc system. I’m probably still gonna throw it on my BFS Rod build just to give it a try. I appreciate your quick response. I’ve been really enjoying your videos.
@nicholasmaiers4221 hey nicholas! Sounds good! Nothing like a little testing to see what the limits are of your gear. Let us know how things go! Cheers my friend!
No atd navion200?
Hey Jimon! My apologies but I’ve never actually heard of that reel before! Any chance you might have a link? I wonder if the reel might be region specific? Cheers my friend!
Sorry but on second thought, maybe the reel should'nt be in this reel buyers guide video😂, and it was navion atd200
@@jimonisjimi hey jimon! Haha why do you say that? Is the reel not that great? Also, is it a 200 size like the name says? Cheers my friend!
I have taken a very serious look at buying the kingfisher reel. I see one big reason why I will not buy this unless they modify the reel. where the handle is, the inside is open to the weather, any dirt and debris might get inside and damage the reel.
Hey Richard! Thanks so much for commenting and sharing your thoughts! I am a bit confused as to what you might be referring to? Is there any chance you can elaborate a bit more? I’m not aware of any openings along the handle side of the kingfisher? Are you possibly referring to the star drag? If so, this does not open to the internal gearbox at all. Would love to understand what you’re referring to! Thanks so much and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL hold the handles in your hand and look on the bottom backside of the reel, you can see there is no plate there protecting the gears. Look at other reels that area is covered with a plate.
@@richardgibson899 hey Richard! Ohhh I think you’re referring to the maintenance access point? It’s actually a see through plastic window that can be removed to allow for easy greasing of the main gear. This was a design feature and an interesting characteristic of the reel. Definitely not an oversight but wow great eye! Hope that helps explain the oddity but let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks for commenting and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL Thanks for the insight. I thought I saw an opening where dirt gets in. Glad you cleared that up.
@@richardgibson899 hey Richard! No problems at all and thanks for taking the time to comment and ask a question! Purely out of curiosity, would you still consider the flight feather? Cheers my friend!
I took mine apart and now the handle wont spin. its like it is jammed. any suggestions?
@@samsmith5816 hey sam! Which reel did you take apart? Did you by any chance either put the anti reverse bearing or the anti reverse ratchet gear in backwards? Those might cause your handle not to turn. Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL ahhh I meant to comment on the tender shoot tear down video. My apologies. I believe they are both in correctly. When I click the thumb bar the ratchet gear fits in nicely and I put the anti reverse bearing in with the white part facing down like you said in the video. I can turn it and get the thumb bar to disengage. Once I put the plate back on, it will no longer turn.
@@samsmith5816 hey sam! Hm… can you check to see if maybe the spool magnetic induction plate is attached correctly? I have heard of issues with that being adhered incorrectly… it might be causing some sort of clearance issue and not allowing the handle to turn. Is it completely frozen or does it turn a little? Cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I believe the plate is fine because the problems start before before I put brake plate back on. I can turn it in reverse and can turn it the correct way until I put the main gear housing back on. then it will not turn in the correct direction.
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL I think I figured it out. I flipped the anti reverse bearing. The white plastic looking ring on the sleeve goes the opposite way as yours on my reel and it works. Mine also did not pair the flat washers and the opposing washers and instead paired one flat with one opposing in each pair. Kind of frustrating.
Nice, thx. Real bummer to see the Clamber 2 fall short like this. Hope the Pure Lure Silver Feather fills that hole, as I like the looks and stats of that one a lot.
Hey oxy! I was quite bummed as well… I should have the teardown video up in the next week that explains a bit as to why I did not include it in this list. I hope you’ll be happy to hear that I did give in and I picked up a silver feather for review but I do believe Paul Gaskell at Fishing Discoveries picked one up as well! Will share his review when it is up and live. Thanks for commenting and sharing your thoughts and cheers my friend!
First reel, u didn't say how many bearings
Hey Christopher! You are absolutely correct. My apologies for that but I did add an infographic at the top of the screen that did show the number. For the Seasir Cast-X the reel comes in with a total of 6+1 bearings. Hope that helps and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL oh ok well it was small to read and didn't stay on longer to read it but thanks for letting me know. I seen on u tube about kastking baitcasting reel are good reviews about it and also the new piscifun carbon xcs bait casting reel, I actually bought it two days, I heard good reviews about can someone use it on u tube and tested the only thing is small not really big, I haven't had a chance to test it out. Oh and I bought the kastking black hawk 2 telescopic fishing rod, I saw reviews about it on UA-cam and it's 50 bucks on Amazon and the quality of the rod is actually really good it's not cheap looking
@@christopherromina5445 hey Christopher! My apologies about the small text. It’s difficult to find ways to cram a lot of informations and specs about a reel onto a screen 😅. I do have a google spreadsheet document that has tons more info on many bfs reels that I’ve reviewed or are reels that are well known. Please check the video description for THEBFSFISHINGLIST for that. As far as kastking reels go, I would say that there are other reels out there that will probably give you more value for your money. Which reel did you go with out of curiosity? Also, from my understanding the piscifun xcs isn’t quite a bfs reel but I have been told it is good. I have not personally looked at this reel as I believe it does look like a bfs reel after doing a brief inspection. If piscifun ever make a shallow spool reel I’d be more than happy to take a look at that though! As far as kastking rods go I feel the same way in that there are other rods and brands that give you a lot more for your money. Please don’t misunderstand me in that I am in no way saying that kastking products are bad. What I am saying is that I do not think that they offer the best value for your money now. This is part of the reason for me making this video. The idea behind it was to help people maximize their value with their purchase. Seeing UA-cam reviews is great in that you are proactively researching products you are interested in but not all “reviews” are actually “reviews” and also many folks out there have a bias one way or another. On this channel, I do my best to be as unbiased as possible so as not to color opinions or thoughts shared by myself. However, there is no way for me to be 100% unbiased and people do come to seek recommendations so o try to keep my reviews of the products unbiased and then share my thoughts on the products. My recommendation is that when you are searching for a product to watch multiple reviews and find as much information as you can so you can find out the pros and any cons for those products. Hopefully, there will be reviews that share both. Anywho, I greatly appreciate you taking the time to share your experiences and thoughts! If you have any more questions for me I’d be more than happy to try and answer them and cheers my friend!
Shimano curado bfs/slx bfs should be mention they are great reels for their price
Hey teeping! Thanks for sharing your thoughts my friend! So… this is where my philosophy will differ a bit from yours I think. While they are great reels in their own right I just don’t feel that the lower priced Japanese reels offer as much value as some other reels. Consider the Curado bfs, the list price is $200 USD and for that the specs are quite low. I did review that reel and did not really see a reel that was worth $200 usd imho. The slx is a bit different in that it’s ~$50 cheaper and so a better value but still the reel’s specifications are not as good as some of the reels listed in this guide. I guess I should have said something along the lines of the reels in this guide are the best values, imho, for their price range. I am not knocking Shimano in the least as the Curado and slx do what they are supposed to do well and they’re Shimano products so you can’t really go wrong with them but again I think that these other products do a bit more for your money and hence it is why they are on this guide and not those. I do hope that Shimano updates and gives us more value for money with the slx and Curado line soon though! Would love to revisit those reels and see a refresh but I’m not sure that will happen anytime soon. I hope that helps explain my thought processes behind the choices I made for this list. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me and cheers my friend!
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL don’t get me wrong what u are doing here is really great for the community haahah. In fact ur point of view on this is great in terms of what u pay for and what you are getting. This will help a lot people make great purchase decisions! For 200usd the curado is consider to be less value compared to the other offers I agree on that. I am just saying this on the SEA region we don’t have much good and reliable reels to use.. unless we bump up the price to about 300usd.. in our currency 300usd is kinda expensive and that the starting price for a Aldebaran bfs and above.. so naturally for us the curado has great performance for its value other than the Chinese reels that can be hit or miss sometimes.. I do have tsurinoya genius and dark wolf in my rotation and they are great reels but they don’t last that long😅
@@BFSFISHINGCHANNEL not the mention the curado bfs here we get for less than 150usd after conversion 😬
@@teepingooi2064 hey teeping! I totally hear you and can definitely see where you are coming from my friend. As an individual it is impossible for me to see and consider everyone’s point of view when making these videos and is the main reason why I put the disclaimer at the beginning that these choices are my personal choices. So, I totally understand that everyone’s situation is different. In your shoes I would probably pick the same as your choices because choices are limited. It is unfortunate that that is the case… I wonder what type of fishing you’re doing if you’re running through reels like the DWU? It must be very intense! Anywho, I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and insight and also sharing your perspective with the channel. Thanks so much my friend and cheers!!!
@@teepingooi2064 wow that’s a pretty decent price for the Curado haha! Gotta love currency exchange rates sometimes! 😆🙌🙌🙌 cheers teeping!
Abu Garcia ltz
Hey 01! Thanks so much for the suggestion! I will do a bit of research and also add this to the BFSFISHINGLIST spreadsheet. Many thanks again for the recommendation! Cheers my friend!
cmon..no 1 to 51.or 101 to... 201
Hey Donald! Haha sorry the price brackets are set and etched in cold hard stone lol. Jk they’re not but maybe this year I’ll do 1-51, 52-100(?), and 101-201? A bit confusing but I guess I can give you guys a poll to choose the brackets. That being said, I don’t do buyers guides at the beginning of the year as the new reels of that year aren’t even out yet? It’s a bit odd to do so imho… Anywho, thanks for the interesting suggestion and cheers my friend!
I hope your hearing ok because you're going to have to change your name to BEETHOVEN.
Hey Joseph! Hahaha love the joke my friend! 😆🙌🙌🙌 hope you are doing well and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. Cheers my friend!!!