Casting reel for light duty SmallMouth fishing

Reels are the hottest topic for TackleTour. Everyone wants to know what the latest and greatest is and how they compare to the old guard. What's the best for light stuff, or what's your suggestion for heavy cover. Do we really need different retrieve ratios? It's all in here.
tincanary
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Re: Casting reel for light duty SmallMouth fishing

Post by tincanary » Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:25 pm

d510addict wrote:
Sun Jun 26, 2022 4:34 pm
If I could get a lefty at this price, I would consider it.
Have a look at a proxy service for buying items on Japanese auction sites. I use Buyee to buy stuff via Yahoo Auctions out of Japan. I have seen Alphas CTs with buyout prices from $100 on up depending on condition. Shipping should run $25 to $35. Often times you will see identical items listed there that you would on eBay from the same seller but a lot cheaper. I think this is because the Japanese auctions charge a flat fee per item instead of a percentage of the sale like eBay. My latest score on there was a 2016 Alphas Air 7.2R mint with the box for $130 after shipping. They also ship via DHL and Fedex.

smalliesteve
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Re: Casting reel for light duty SmallMouth fishing

Post by smalliesteve » Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:53 am

As you can see there are lots of options :). Grew up fishing small creeks for smallmouth, and you can't go wrong with either a pixy platform or Alphas platform. For what you're describing, I might avoid the older alphas/sol platform with the V-shaped spool, but anything newer than those will work great. Any Alphas with an SV spool, and then you can buy a Rays or DIY super shallow spool for <$70 if you want to go really finesse. I haven't fished the T-wing alphas yet, but that one is on my list. Should be a fantastic performer. I expect it to throw a little lighter weights than the SV non-T alphas, but IDK.

I've had nothing but good experiences purchasing from Japan Tackle, Plat, or Japan Angler. Japan Tackle is a board sponsor and has the XHL listed for 193 right now, HL is out of stock.

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bronzebacks
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Re: Casting reel for light duty SmallMouth fishing

Post by bronzebacks » Fri Jul 01, 2022 7:05 pm

I fish this way and have many reels for this my favorites are jdm metanium b and steez sv tw. But I also have a curaeo 70 mgl, alphas tw sv, antries70 , alphas sv and alde mgl 30 all work with the right rods and 8 or 10lb fluro. I'd suggest the alphas sv tw for the best value. I can bomb cast keitech 2.8 and a 1/8 oz jig head with 10lb fluro so you wouldn't need a shallow spool version

DirtyD64
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Re: Casting reel for light duty SmallMouth fishing

Post by DirtyD64 » Sat Jul 09, 2022 9:59 am

bronzebacks wrote:
Fri Jul 01, 2022 7:05 pm
I fish this way and have many reels for this my favorites are jdm metanium b and steez sv tw. But I also have a curaeo 70 mgl, alphas tw sv, antries70 , alphas sv and alde mgl 30 all work with the right rods and 8 or 10lb fluro. I'd suggest the alphas sv tw for the best value. I can bomb cast keitech 2.8 and a 1/8 oz jig head with 10lb fluro so you wouldn't need a shallow spool version
This is what I am starting to think. For my larger finesse fishing, a 2.8 or 3.3 Keitech will bomb with a 1/8-3/16 head on a "regular" light spool reel. This includes a Metanium, new Zillion, Zillion SVTW, Conquest 100, Alphas SVTW, etc. I have 12lb Tatsu on my Alphas SVTW and a small swimbait cast on a ML or M rod will get close to the backing. The only advantage a shallow spool would give me would keep me from using backing (and better casting if it is actually lighter).

I have found the limits of some of my regular capacity reels, tried the Conquest with an unweighted 3" Senko today and that was it. Could maybe get 15M or so and it was braked heavily, might be the overly thick HiSeas fluoro, who knows. I have still never figured out how well the Millionaire does with superlight lures, or if it gets choked off on classic light lures like the aforementioned small swimbaits. Really hope Shimano makes some semi-BFS reels other than the shallow Metanium coming up.

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