Josh-G wrote:

southpaw619 wrote: Ok, thanks for the info. Very interesting reels. I wish they would "tune" a Daiwa

If looking for Daiwa you should take a look at the Alphas Air Stream Custom being released soon.

However, be very careful as it's a slippery slope going down this road but if you do I would suggest a complete tuned reel as it is an exceptional value compared to just upgrading spool or tuning on your own. What do you mean by a "clompelte tuned reel"? KTF, ZPI, SLPW and some others sell reels lo...

I have a handful of 16 Aldebaran BFS. The Alpha Air is nice but the Aldebaran is a big step up due to spool not having braking system attached and overall weight of reel. I agree with others that there is a significant performance upgrade with KTF spool over stock particularly with low weights. I ha...

What is the lowest weight baitcasting makes sense? It depends on many circumstances such as quality of BFS tackle, type of fishing, one's ability with spin gear, and etc. For me personally I'd say around .6 grams. Every time I take my spin gear out when weather is inclement I immediately miss the p...

In general, I am not loving the Teton for micro jigs and plastics. I feel like even with a wacky rigged trout worm, I am not getting consistent hooksets with it as compared to the very respectable ratio I am getting with spinners, spoons, and micro cranks. I had the same poor hook up issue with sin...

Alphas AIR is a great BFS reel out of the box. Can be found a tad over $200. I have used many BFS reels and I feel the Alphas AIR can hang in with the best of them. I really like the Aldebaran BFS (16) with a KTF spool but, after its all said and done, it's a lot more money for not too much more pe...

Ahh! Now that you mentioned it, I made a mistake and saw the Avail spool for the 15 Aldebaran instead. My bad! thanks for the insight on the upgraded parts. Have you changed any parts on your aldebaran? If so which aftermarket parts did you go for. Also, what made you not want to get the BFS reels ...

I would grab the 16 Aldebaran BFS. I have four of them and love them to death. They bring so much joy to my fishing. I did not know Avail made a spool for one, please link? Upgraded parts may bring a little extra distance at the same lure weight. However, the upgrades you mention mainly bring ease t...

I had some trout rods that pushed my lightest set up sub 7 ounces but sold those as I like bass taper rods better. My lightest set up now is 203 grams or 7.1 ounces. It's a KTF Aldebaran BFS on a Fenwick GoldenWing UL.

After seeing Bryan's positive remarks on reel I purchased one to test as kids always ask me at the lakes for cheap BFS options. Besides the drag I liked every thing else about this reel particularly the side plate design. The spool weighed 13.5g with 50yds of 8lb Gliss. It was extremely easy to over...

You can switch to braid and that will solve that right away, I like 8lb White Gliss. Tightening the spool tension knob will fix this issue using non PE lines but it isn't a fun way to cast. Stretching the line out will help with this issue as well.

Definitely the aldebaran will be the best. It has the lightest spool of the three. Also the lighter weight of the reel itself will make for smoother casts strokes and will pair better with lighter rod. The Conquest is as heavy or heavier than my complete set ups and that's with me using bass taper r...

Would depend on line, reel, spool, rod etc. With the right gear it's very doable if you don't have to cast far. I spent a lot of time throwing sub 1 gram baits but distance isn't important. I have a lot of friends who I BFS trout fish with and it seems around 1.5 grams is the weight where things sta...

Trout season started locally last week. The fish were close, in the skinny, and finicky so I stuck to small plastics on trout magnet heads and hand ties.

[/quote] This thread lacks southpaw619 pics. I know you've got some nice ones on the STC-63UL. Post pics. All my STC-63UL has under it's belt are dink bass and bluegill.[/quote] I'm terrible saving pics lol, found one. Finished last season mainly with my Fenwick Aces 63CL J. This season I plan to us...