Aldebaran Tough to Dial In?

[JewFish61]

I’ve read on a few boards that dialing in the Aldebaran bfs model can be a bit of a finicky process. I don’t mind having to spend a bit of time dialing in a reel… to a point.

Can anyone who fishes with this reel comment? I’m thinking of getting one for a ML bfs rod I just purchased.

I think this issue was limited to the bfs model but I guess I’d ask the same question about the MGL 50.

Thanks!

[bronzebacks]

My Aldebaran mgl 30 was I had to turn on all of the breaks to get it tame and it still casts good

[LowRange]

Modern BFS reels are heavily orientated for stream use with little UL rods. For a ML BFS rod I would use an alde 30, any of the shallower MGL spool reels or shallower spool Air Brake Daiwas. I use a 2015 Alphas SV and a 2018 Engetsu on my ML BFS rods.

[Aquaftm45]

Traded my 50 after 2 weeks of frustration. Never had a problem with any other reel and I have had a lot of different ones.

[JewFish61]

Traded my 50 after 2 weeks of frustration. Never had a problem with any other reel and I have had a lot of different ones.

Yup that’s the type of feedback I’ve been seeing on a few forums. Weird. Have Curado 70 and SLX 70
and both easy peasy to dial in.

The search for a sub 6-ounce reel continues. The SLX 70 isn’t a bad fit with the ML rod. Isn’t 100% balanced but close enough for now.

[Mike son]

My Ald 22 BFS reels like between 4.5-5 on the dial from a soft cast to a hard cast. I've got a few 30mgls and a 50mgl and they like four internal brakes and a dial around 3. Never really finicky once they're dialed in. I think it's whatever tech Shimano calls the o-ring on the spool shaft bearing. Makes it tough to gauge whether or not there is any side to side play in the spool

[Mike son]

For that BFS rod, what size line will you be using? Anything larger than 8lb fluoro, ~0.24mm dia, I'd opt for the 30. Ald BFS holds about 50m of 8lb sniper/shooter. I've spooled to the halfway mark on 100m shooter spools.

[JewFish61]

For that BFS rod, what size line will you be using? Anything larger than 8lb fluoro, ~0.24mm dia, I'd opt for the 30. Ald BFS holds about 50m of 8lb sniper/shooter. I've spooled to the halfway mark on 100m shooter spools.

8 lb Fluoro is what I was thinking, max. Maybe 6 lb. Not sure exactly. Sunline FC prolly.

[DirtyD64]

For that BFS rod, what size line will you be using? Anything larger than 8lb fluoro, ~0.24mm dia, I'd opt for the 30. Ald BFS holds about 50m of 8lb sniper/shooter. I've spooled to the halfway mark on 100m shooter spools.

8 lb Fluoro is what I was thinking, max. Maybe 6 lb. Not sure exactly. Sunline FC prolly.

I use my Aldebaran BFS with 8lb InvizX on a 6'9"ML rod. I agree with most and eventually will step down to a true Light or UL. That being said, mine works great. I do have to run 4-6 on the brake setting, this little reel will bomb with regular sized finesse lures. I normally throw a 3" Easy Shiner on a 3.5g head and it slings like a lipless crank. I have also taken the same reel trout fishing on a Proflex 2 (Aliexpress UL/BFS rod) and had fine luck, throwing stuff down to 1/16 or 3/32.

[HellaBread]

I’ve read on a few boards that dialing in the Aldebaran bfs model can be a bit of a finicky process. I don’t mind having to spend a bit of time dialing in a reel… to a point.

Can anyone who fishes with this reel comment? I’m thinking of getting one for a ML bfs rod I just purchased.

I think this issue was limited to the bfs model but I guess I’d ask the same question about the MGL 50.

Thanks!

Depends what alde bfs you’re talking about. The 16 and 22 models are essentially 2 different reels for 2 different purposes. 16 as it came out of the box excels in bass bfs ranges 3-7g-ish, the 22 model is much more suited for stream bfs and excels under 3g. Kenshi Kuroda even says on his blog you shouldn’t think of the 22 as an updated better version of the 16 you should treat them like they’re 2 completely separate models that serve different purposes. I personally don’t throw anything over 4-5g max on my 22 aldebaran bfs and on my medium light setup i’m using an alphas sv tw with a ktf versatile spool which i imagine an equivalent to the aldebaran mgl. I think the curado 70 should do fine in this range as well

[LowRange]

^excelent post. I think another issue is people new to BFS especially from the US where a 3/8 oz 5" senko is considered a light bait gravitate towards a ML rod and then think they need a modern BFS reel because they are special reels for casting light weight baits. What they haven't realized that most bog standard reels these days have 32 to 34 mm spools that weigh under 15 grams while modern BFS reels, having gone down the trout magnet rabbit hole, are now basically stream orientated and will not pair well to a ML rod. Partially this is Shimano's fault for calling the 22 alde a BFS reel and not a steam reel while having BFS all over their bass rods. The current alde BFS is better paired to their trout rods than to any of their BFS bass rods. I think Daiwa does it better with their Silver Creek and Air Stream Custom reels. Those always evoked images of stream fishing instead of skipping a senko to a dock on 10# sniper.

[HellaBread]

^excelent post. I think another of people new to BFS especially from the US where a 3/8 oz 5" senko is considered a light bait gravitate towards a ML rod and then think they need a modern BFS reel because they are special reels for casting light weight baits. What they haven't realized that most bog standard reels these days have 32 to 34 mm spools that weigh under 15 grams while modern BFS reels, having gone down the trout magnet rabbit hole, are now basically stream orientated and will not pair well to a ML rod.

People would be surprised how low an even the 21 zillion or 1016 steez sv tw can comfortably go out of the box with the right rod and light braid.