Subscriber contributions to the cause 2: 4 of some of the most requested reels 

I need to add I’m fishing the 4500 size, and have had them for a year. Got them mid December last year.

Also things to note, the metal side of the bail assembly will corrode very quickly if not cared for. It seems to be to my eye a cast aluminum/ zinc alloy with a gunmetal coating and will begin to form white bubbly corrosion if not cared for. The line roller, will gum up quickly if not kept clean. One of my reels has a completely seized roller in which the braided line has begun to cut a groove into and isn’t really fishable because of it unless I wanted to replace my line every other day. Keep in mind I was intentionally neglecting and beating on these reels for an entire year. Minus the time off due to hurricane Irma these have been on the water, splashed and soaked 6-7 days a week and just absolutely tortured them just to see what they’re made of.

Thanks a ton Kevin!!!! Do you spend your time in the salty stuff or fresh?

Salty! Just commented about the bg.

I have the new Spinfisher 6 long cast...and I was hoping to see it lay line just like the overseas models right out of the box..but it had a gradual slope from about half an inch from the lip....and there was about an 1/8th to 3/16ths of a gap at the top when the bottom was flush with the spool... that was with 30lb braid so that may have been partially the cause...but i had to remove and re add the shim part way to get even line lay....(it's a pre retail reel so it may not be perfect....it's missing the hydrophobic coating at the ar clutch which penn says it should have soooooo....it may not be a prime time example....

Slammer III having fished with both of them...

Lex Cooper I believe the Steez A has a clicking drag mechanism so it should be normal

valzerna I assume you're fishing for pike with those swimbaits. Unless you plan on trolling or bombing super long casts, get the 300 size. I have a Tranx 300 on a Dobyns Champion XP swimbait rod and it handles 6 oz baits and 20-40lb fish easily

Hey thanks for your take on the Tsunami Shield I am thinking about getting one but cant seem to find many honest reviews on it. Most seem to be people trying to sell it or paid reviews. How is the bail on it, does it snap down on casts a lot?

Ryan R I own 2 shields 5-6000 and the bail on them never closed while surf casting

How do you like them?

You're welcome! It has a hex keyed handle shaft vs thread in which today's me is a big step down

BG are so good

Skyler Jeddore Otto's tackleworld is very popular here in Sydney Australia, highly recommend them 👍👍

That seems to be the consensus opinion. After reading lots of reviews on these reels, I decided to go with the BG4000. It's supposed to arrive today. Can't wait to try it tonight.

Porque jamas dicen precios y como comprar, dicho esto todo pierde motivacion

The price is raising considerably, no longer 100 bucks beauty :( try to grab a 3000 size, but not with current price, any alternatives? Thx in advance

Heyyy what's up buddy! Thanks again!! It was a tad raspy...sounded like it was in the ar clutch....which happens to 99% of the non sealed spinners around the salt. Thanks for the heads up...Gonna pop the rotor off now and add a drop of corrosion x in the clutch so it's not sitting around and possibly getting worse. Gonna be a few days before I even look at em again. :)

I did a review on the cabo 50 ptsd when it came out. Had high hopes for it. But I hated that dang ti bail wire and the bail trip ramp. I'd open the bail...on the trip ramp...and wouldn't notice since the bail was so flexible ...lol And the handle on it sucked...between the knob and the handle flex...i sold it off rather quickly. I haven't touched the new ones since. I compared it to the old saragosa since the SW wasn't out yet. And liked the old gosa a bit better. It's not a bad reel. Just wasn't for me...again I do understand there were some revisions on the newer version. I coordinated with Alan hawk on the sizes that way we covered the bigguns and the smaller ones www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjDtI_rt9vXAhUDleAKHQPYDNAQFggvMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stripersonline.com%2Fsurftalk%2Ftopic%2F537342-2013-cabo-50-ptscould-it-replace-my-saragosa-6000-cabo-vs-gosa-fightwell-kinda%2F&usg=AOvVaw3avDRlOhfyu2ehoIeEUz6M

That's right. I forgot that you covered the smaller sizes, way back during the initial release. Thanks for the link.

BG

Thanks Mark! The Shield is a rebadged Catking...not to be confused with Kastking. I think there is another company out there as well but the name escapes me. But Tsunami does offer spectacular customer service. And isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Honestly regarding the azores I have never even seen one in person.

Thanks man.

I have never heard of Catking reels.

Per Alan hawk "Balzer Metallica Salza and Catking Ace"

Hey will. You talking about the Star drag? I'll see if I can get one from Fishermensource.com who supplied me with a Maxel platinum jigging rod earlier in the year. I used a friends for a bit toggin and found it to be a very sturdy reel. Maxel makes some spectacular stuff. I used their Jigging reels a TON along with some jigging master variants over the years. I was using their twin drag lever drag before Accurate put the kabosh on em :)

Tackle Advisors ok can you do the review soon because mine makes a funky noise and I don’t know if I’d supposed to

Hey Ronald......Yeah...that was an ancient daiwa.

Tackle Advisors any idea what it's name was ?

Man that conquer was an oddball....That had to be one of the worst spinning reel designs of all time! LOL...Penns in generall don't lay line very well. SHimano and daiwa are at the top of that list. I've seen more than my fair share of penns which have to be underspooled to prevent wind knots. What is weird is the new nasci...that lays line in an hourglass shape which is something not often seen in a shimano reel

I don't cover anything kastking after the way their pompous doooosh treated me and the gent filming at their booth... I also don't believe their origin story regarding bringing affordable Bla Bla Bla... Look up their staff and their origins on LinkedIn .. Look up who owns their trademarks... Then watch the podcast with Elias v and me where Elias said he needed 18 replacements in 1 year.

Damn....Well that's a good excuse as any to buy more gear! LMAO

Tackle Advisors call me low brow but I actually like the purist haha. I don't finesse fish often and am looking to replace my small setup with a aldabaran bfs. Any experience with it?

Low brow then straight to JDM aldee bfs....LOVE IT!! Very limited. Enough that I want one lolol

Tackle Advisors yea I like my high end casting reels but low-mid grade spinning is fine with me.

Tackle Advisors and btw, digitaka has em in stock. Though I got a antares dc a couple weeks ago and if I buy another reel this year the ole lady will kill me in my sleep and sell all my fishing gear....for what I said it cost lol

LOL...thanks brotha!!!! SO now I can officially say I cause people loss of sleep along with loss of wallet mass :)

Lol ah not too bad, I picked up the Mach Crush combo so I'm just one of the Lews guys right now. Plus it was just an extra 20 min. Lol.

Freshwater Bass and cats though so should be ok, lol.

If you absolutely need them. I've gone to this guy goo.gl/6XP1C2 over boca. They're greased out of the box so ya gotta purge them. But I can't find a difference between them and boca orange seals. I assume they are using the same supplier as boca and the one I've used. I stopped buying boca a while ago. I've used hedghog airs and they are nice. But only really noticed slight differences in ultra light baits. I'm a believer that if you have a good set f stock bearings in a reel. ANd they are lubed properly...upgrades won't gain you much.....Especially "upgrading" to chinese bocas

hahaha i know what you mean, i just purchased a reel off some guy and i took the whole thing apart to clean it and lube and grease everything and noticed its never been done, so i just feel like putting some fresh bearings in. Heres a question for you, i greased the drag washer to where you can barely see a finger print in the grease when the washer is touched, after a week of it sitting, the drag feels like it wants to stick for a split second when the drag is cranked. Should i grease it a bit more or let it work into the washer more? Let me remind you that it was neglected for some time so this was the first real service the reel has seen.

Gotcha.....If the reel sat without the drag backed off it'll be tight no matter what the material. Once backed off all the way it should go back to normal. When I do full services on my reels I'll hit the drag washers with some denatured alcohol and really give em a good wipe down. Never grease shimano dartanium fwiw.

ya i always store my reels with the drag backed off, it was left sitting for a week with it backed off and it just help a little choppy at max drag and when id thumb the spool and crank the handle. Its like a blue plastic drag washer? Not to sure of the material but im not to concerned with it, just wanted your opinion haha Cant wait for the reviews buddy!!

Is it an abu? I call that silly piece of whatever under the main gear....Tyvek...for some reason it reminds me of what carpenters put under siding...That stuff gets sticky and jumpy....I kinda prefer it....I like that little extra stick at the hookset. For bass silky smooth drag isn't needed imho. One a few of my reels the carbontex upgrade came with a washer that replaces that "tyvek" washer......And i went back to it. :) Thanks Bro!

stay away from the japan market. Yes.

Tackle Advisors I guess the best way to tell is the handles. ? Thanks for the heads up once again. Your videos are supper informative

Tackle Advisors any suggestions on where to buy a daiwa bg other than ebay or amazon. ? I don't shop online much so those are my goto places to shop. Also I see a lot of "import" in the descriptions of the reel.

+Kennedy Catfishing I'd check out fishermen's source or j and h. Both great shops who have great staff. If you buy from them drop a tackle advisors and Elias v reference at check out if possible. Trying to do a little research lol. (not for commission purposes)

+Kennedy Catfishing I'd check out fishermen's source or j and h. Both great shops who have great staff. If you buy from them drop a tackle advisors and Elias v reference at check out if possible. Trying to do a little research lol. (not for commission purposes)

No doubt the slammer is the better of the two reels. Better materials used in a gear set, seals where they count, bigger drag stack, But it's street price is 2x - 3x the BG. What makes the bg special is that it comes in at 100 bucks. Comparing it to the battle 2 is a bit more reasonable. And the bg is a better reel than the battle.

More than likely its just the line roller bushing that makes the daiwa bg feel rough when cranking on a big fish (slammer III has a line roller bearing). From what i understand the 4500 and up series daiwa bg can have the bushing replaced with a bearing.

Well....there is only one way I'm aware of sight unseen....It will say japan import. If you do end up with one. The most obvious identifier is the lack of the handle shaft that threads into the main gear. The JDM variants have a handle shaft that is hexagonal shaped. And a screw on the opposite side holds it in place. There were a bunch of JDM BG's on amazon. Now there are only spheoros. They were like 65 to 75$......I should have written down the sellers to make sure they didn't just remove the JDM note on the product listing.

So as usual i am still confused. I just bought one online. It doesn't say import and I'm not sure if JDM is good or bad and do i need to open it up to check the shaft... Thanks

LOL...Ok which reel did you get? Easiest way to tell. When you attach the handle. Does it just screw on. Or do you need to push the hexogonal shaped shaft through the body of the reel then tighten a bold from the other side. If it's the latter. It's the crappy import

Duh 🙄

Some reels can be shaped by adding or removing shims. Some reels don't use shims at the spool and you have to shim the shaft where it mounts to the oscillation slider. Some reels need shims removed or a thinner shim. (and it gets tricky when they only use one shim) Penn is well known for not laying line very well. Tons of guys have issues from the fierce all the way up to the torque. (same can be said for most reels under the pure fishing umbrella) That darn gap at the top...which can translate to non user caused wind knots. Daiwa and shimano (shimano especially) Nail the line lay.

I was told my order will ship out on monday (been waiting a month but quite a bit was backordered) (much of my gear I order direct from distributors the company or friends at the companies) Otherwise the cost would be rediculous (it still is...but it's less painful that way)

I can say though.....without question..the Spheros and Saragosa are the better choice in that price range. The saltist in my opinion should be a 150$ reel not a 230$ reel. Had they upgraded the main gear and gave it a body seal...then it'd be worthy of that price point.

The saltist is nearly the same as the bg. Just a different color scheme and a mag seal bearing or two. Alan Hawk has a little blurb about it on his site.

Saltist will be in the mail on the 28th....only took 28 days from time of order to delivery..lol

Both great....I like the fuego for lighter fw fishing due to weight..But the BG is definitely more solid.

BG is a tank it will handle some big ass fish

Not really a full fledged "business" running this as an individual at the moment. Been debating if I should start doing more reel servicing. To increase volume I'd have to start stocking parts. But for maintenance and super tunes I can do any reel. Shoot me an email at TackleAdvisorsInitiative@gmail.com Problem I've seen and heard through most service guys is that they take shortcuts....Throw the main and pinion in an ultrasonic cleaner....blow out the rest and add a drop of oil and call it a day....2 months later it's worse off than when it went in. And guys are gunkin up their reels with wd40 trying to get her speedy again.

DOH!!!! I though the last L was silent...I was goin for the fleur de lis type pronunciation :) Thanks a ton man!!

Tackle Advisors no problem! Also the reel was in the bubble wrap when I shipped it 🤔

LOL :) Yeah I put it back in the box when I got the other shipment in the mail today. I wanted to make sure I included yours in the vid as well! And the world runs on unboxings :)

There are two different versions of the BG and Spheros.....USDM (United states market) and JDM (japanese domestic market) In the past. JDM reels snuck in some better components...And they also offered some better products...so the Japanese Import models carried a justifiable demand over the USDM variants..... With the bg and SPheros....THe JDM models are of a lower grade. Different gear material, lacking the thread in handle etc.. So buyer beware because there were plenty of JDM reels on amazon and ebay so it could be confusing.

Well I just bought my first penn battle 2, 4000 from Amazon but so far it has worked great. Now I’m considering buying a BG after this video. It would be awesome if you could upload a video of a disassembly/assembly of these reels. I really liked all of info on the line roller and how it effects braid and stuff. Keep up the good tips! I have a 2 speed spinning reel that I would like to send to you. I took a look inside of it and it was pretty different than any other reels I’ve seen. I hope one day you could be making a video about 2 speed reels.

Tackle Advisors yo

Nothing.....In the vid i said...it's not always a bad thing.....just look at lews. But they don't manufacture any of their equipment.....never have never will

+Tackle Advisors this is only semi related, but has Lews started designing the reels for Bass Pro? They seem to similar designs now.

I doubt that chicken came before that egg...lol...I'm just willing to bet they share the same OEM. IF you look at kastking, Pissyfun, Shishamo, 6gill...thats another example of OEM or sourced reels. You could start your own brand tomorrow....called I'm amazing at lacrosse 24 fishing.....and sell a virtually identical reel to the lews.....ya just gotta find the oem and place an order meeting their minimum order requirements

Ssvi is great. Ssv had tons of gear failures. Not worth the price in my opinion. I like Penn. Caught my pb tuna on one. You have some vintage reels that stood the test of time. But that was before the k2 buy out before pure fishing when even the employees of the company admitted to having to win back customers for years of garbage... Their words not mine.

70DMac the new pens apart from the slammer are Chinese rubbish. Jmo

LOL....wait until you see the next unboxing....Went wild from the exceler to the saltiga :)

Then they should get rid of the dang C lolol Their pro staff even pronounces it wrong........I'm gonna call it NascL from now on..........just because lol