I travel a fair bit with my wife teaching overseas. Going on a trip where there will be rivers and ponds near where we are serving. I hope to bring two UL rods and spinning reels. Question - assuming that you only know that there will be bodies of waters where you are, but have no clue what type of ...

Nice! Bang for the buck in made in Japan JDM, Cortos are superb values. Nice vid.

Thanks.

Does Palomar work well?

Allsorst, I hold you in high regards as you have much experience with JDM rods - and I think you also have helped Alphahawk with rod comments in the past. Anyways, I think Fuji claims that more guides actually makes both the rod and the line less likely to break under load. Not sure where i read tha...

U are talking about backbone - and that's not necessarily an ajing issue. You can have trout rods that has strong backbone. What lbs test are you using?

Quick observations. Love to hear thoughts from the rest of you. Obviously there is some subjectivity as observations are personal, but I also try to be as objective as possible. As I've been posting, and some of you know, I've been picking up JDM UL SPINNING rods to examine and measure to get a sens...

Beautiful! Thanks for posting. This season, I'm tending more towards SUL than UL, realizing that I prefer rods that are loaded on the upper range of their capability. They cast more accurately and are more fun to engage the fish, and I've landed up to 5+ lbs trout (weighed) with 2 lbs line at the li...

I'm curious too. At this point, I think you may need to go custom on a UL blank with solid tip?

Yes, absolutely. Please be very careful with carbon dust - especially about getting it in your eyes. I always wet sand and wash constantly in the sink so that there is no powder.

I should ask you 'pros'....:) I see that the 8.0 is more popular than the 6.5 and also more widely available. I believe that I would do better with slower ratios as I sometimes am very slow in the retrieve. Is there a compeling reason why I should keep the 8.0 instead of going for the 6.5? Figure I'...

Thanks everyone. Appreciate all the info and suggestions....

I think 6.5 is what I want. Unfortunately I already ordered a 8.0. May keep that still - will see but I actually want lower ratios for very slow finesse. Good to find out about it today.

Great forum as always!!

Apparently, there are two versions of 16 Aldebaran BFS - one that is regular and one with 'XG' after the title. Is the ONLY difference between the two the gear ratio - 6.5 vs 8.0? Are all other parts and spools interchangeable? Or is there additional internal differences? Finally, what is the cost o...

A bit curious as a spinning reel guy. All o my spinning reels have a handle that extends only one side with one knob. Virtually all baitcaster reels have handles that are balanced dual knob. Why? I realize that a 'balanced' two knob handle should theoretically be smoother as it is balanced, and also...

Wondering if anyone here has weighed the 16 Aldebaran BFS handle and knob? I'd love to know how many grams.

Thanks.