Cheap local BFS rod alternatives

How small is your rod and how light is your line? It's not about the size of your tackle, but how you work it. Come share your Ultralight and Bait Finesse System (BFS) fishing success here!
gillchaser
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Re: Cheap local BFS rod alternatives

Post by gillchaser » Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:42 am

Houndfish wrote:I have a few bfs combos already, my quest is for the ideal “hiking with non-fisherman” combo. I am looking to spend the minimum amount of time between taking my pack off and making my first cast. Right now I have a telescoping rod (a Daiwa BBB) and it takes around 1min from pack drop to cast. If I use a paint pen to mark the rod to make lining the guides up faster I bet I can cut the time in half. A 3’ rod would let me keep it rigged and ready. And at $30 I will not be too sad when I slip and fall on it. We do a lot of scrambling and bushwhacking so it’s just a question of when, not if, I fall on my rod when it’s stored in my pack.
Let us know how it fishes when you get one . I’d like to pick one up before they’re all gone . Daiwa lists it as being available in 2018 , but most dealers have sold out of them . Gillchaser

Houndfish
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Re: Cheap local BFS rod alternatives

Post by Houndfish » Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:55 am

gillchaser wrote:
Houndfish wrote:I have a few bfs combos already, my quest is for the ideal “hiking with non-fisherman” combo. I am looking to spend the minimum amount of time between taking my pack off and making my first cast. Right now I have a telescoping rod (a Daiwa BBB) and it takes around 1min from pack drop to cast. If I use a paint pen to mark the rod to make lining the guides up faster I bet I can cut the time in half. A 3’ rod would let me keep it rigged and ready. And at $30 I will not be too sad when I slip and fall on it. We do a lot of scrambling and bushwhacking so it’s just a question of when, not if, I fall on my rod when it’s stored in my pack.
Let us know how it fishes when you get one . I’d like to pick one up before they’re all gone . Daiwa lists it as being available in 2018 , but most dealers have sold out of them . Gillchaser
Well, that has lit a fire under me, I’m going to hunt one up and order it tonight.

Bxn7-62
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Re: Cheap local BFS rod alternatives

Post by Bxn7-62 » Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:07 am

Houndfish wrote:Man, getting into baitcasting reels by way of BFS is a no joke.

The inexpensive rod I have been eyeing is the Daiwa Triforce Shorty.
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The low end is only 1/8oz, but for it looks like a hoot of a rod. Right now Amazon has them for ~$30 but I have seen them in the low $20 range. I keep telling myself that I will pick one up the next time I see it for around $25 shipped.
I think the micro series 4"8" rod would work a lot better for you than this rod,being it will handle very light lures. There may be 2 piece similar length rods out there,from other brands,that could be more compact for you.

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Re: Cheap local BFS rod alternatives

Post by Bxn7-62 » Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:27 am

waterone wrote:I’m afraid that casting with that 3’, fairly stif rod will disappoint you, even with one of the really high dollar and high tech reels. Almost all 3’ - 4’ rods are either ice fishing rods or “Crappie rods” with the idea you can “shoot docks” with a spincast reel.
Generally, the nicer rods (which the Daiwa seems to be) are ice fishing rods.

The cheapest real BFS rod are a Japanese pattern Stream Trout BFS rods made in China, as almost all rods less than $150. One of the best is a 5’2” Kuying Teton rod sold by AliExpress. Although there are others, you can often find the Teton on sale for less than $50 via the AliExpress web app.

If you’re anticipating pairing a budget rod with a budget reel, unless your reel is a older model Daiwa Pixy with an aftermarket spool, you’re probably going to be a little disappointed casting below lure less than 1/8 oz.

Sorry, it’s pretty tough to get into BFS for less than $200.
You could easily get into BFS for slightly under 100$ nowadays,thanks to the Chinese market :big grin: ! The Tsurinoya xf50 reel can be had for around 66$ on amazon,and the micro series 5'6" light rod can be found for 20$ on amazon as well. I ordered that 5'6" rod some weeks ago,and been having a blast using it with an xf50 on it. I liked the xf50 so much,that I got another. There are some nicer rods than that micro series 5'6 you can find on amazon,like the Rosewood ultra light king,which is around 50$.

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Re: Cheap local BFS rod alternatives

Post by Bxn7-62 » Tue Jul 03, 2018 12:58 pm

nctrucker wrote:Bxn7-62 i don't mean to hijack thread but show us some pics of the little baits you make. balsa?
Sure,I do some balsa baits. I am very fond of spinners,spoons,jigs,and topwater baits. I do plan on using a type of casting foam,which has the same density as balsa wood,to pour baits, with homemade silicon molds. It is very fun to shape balsa into a bait though. Here's some of my stuff.

These are 2 small balsa poppers I made. I've landed bass,brim,and at least 1 pickerel on them.
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Some spinner baits
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Decent bass with the Tatula CT + diy spool,on a Johncoo glory 5'6 UL. The fish hammered a 1/8 oz Rat L trap
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One of my inline spinners I built
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Some pixy + diy spool/micro series 4'6" UL , crappie action
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Here's a small spoon I made out of a spoon handle
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Here are some homemade 1/16oz chatter baits,I don't recall testing them out yet,but I made one on a 1/32oz jighead that works,and made another 1/16 oz one,that works as well.
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2 xf50s,one on micro series 5'6" light,and other is on a red zebco 5'6" slingshot ML
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A small spoon made out of a few ripple spinner blades
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I do have some more pics I could share. If anyone wants to see the them,just say so,and I'll post the rest in another post.

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Re: Cheap local BFS rod alternatives

Post by LowRange » Tue Jul 03, 2018 3:25 pm

How do the XF50s compare to the Tatula with DIY spool? I would think the DIY spools would be faster and cast further with their Air Brake knock off and the XF50 would be slower and more controlled with the linear mag brake making some of the hard to cast baits easier to control. Genuinely curious as to how they compare.

Bxn7-62
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Re: Cheap local BFS rod alternatives

Post by Bxn7-62 » Wed Jul 04, 2018 3:14 pm

LowRange wrote:How do the XF50s compare to the Tatula with DIY spool? I would think the DIY spools would be faster and cast further with their Air Brake knock off and the XF50 would be slower and more controlled with the linear mag brake making some of the hard to cast baits easier to control. Genuinely curious as to how they compare.
The Tatula CT + diy spool does cast way more smoother than the xf50,and kind of requires more gentle casting, or flick of the wrist casts,without too much force,or it will blow up the spool,just as with the pixy + diy spool. The spool surely does spin faster it seems as well,the diy spools are lighter than the xf50's 12.5 gram spool. I haven't really done any actual distance casting comparisons between the reels as of yet. I know I can get more distance with my 6' rosewood ultra light king rod,with it being longer than my other mostly 5'6" rods. The Tatula CT out of the box is slick casting,smoother reel,than the xf50,even without the diy spool. Before the diy spool arrived for the Tatula CT,I was still able to cast 1/8 oz,and 4.4 gram lures with a small amount of 30 pound braid,on the stock spool,with the reel on an UL rod. The xf50 handles more like a normal bait casting reel,you'd throw heavier baits with,but handles lighter stuff too. I don't really use flick of the wrist casts on the xf50. You can use more force to cast,and it struggles a bit when casting lures under 1.8 grams. I tested out a light inline spinner around 1.6 grams, on an xf50,with a little breeze,and had plenty of overruns,even though I was still able to cast it. I kind of had to readjust how I cast the lure to get it in the right spot,differently than throwing something a little heavier. The blade on that spinner was catching the wind a bit,in midair. I was able to throw a small homemade spoon weighing around 1.9 grams much easier. The other 2 reels don't seem to do really well with the lighter weights either. I would say,I think the xf50 seems a bit more controlled than the other 2 reels. Hope this helps your curiosity,it's a bit jumbled together.

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LowRange
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Re: Cheap local BFS rod alternatives

Post by LowRange » Wed Jul 04, 2018 4:38 pm

Thanks, that was the info I was curious about. I ended up fixing the inductor into the extended position on a DIY I use with UL baits to gain more control with a spool I was struggling with. Stock Daiwa UL BFS spools come with fixed inductors for a reason after all.

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