re: Let's talk high-end bass rods ($150+)

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Nah, although I do tend to fish lighter gear than most. My main bass rigs are 6.6' medium fast

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I'm right there with you. I kayak fish small rivers as much as I can and smaller, lighter gear tends to get broken less in tight quarters and is more applicable to river fish and river fishing techniques. I own at least 10 rods from 6'6" to 6'10" Med light-Med power and mod fast-xfast action.

I'm intrigued by BFS because a lot of my casts are trying to hit a target the size of a coffee cup and that's tough with spinning gear when I have to go that light. I think a BFS reel on that Halo or on the 610 ML/XF abu veracity may become my finesse setup this year.

ETA: especially with the use of braided lines, I feel like it's pretty easy to step down in rod power vs more traditional setups. There are certainly specific applications that call for heavier, longer rods, but for the vast majority of fishing I do I can very comfortably fish medium power rods under 6'10" and lighter.

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There are certainly specific applications that call for heavier, longer rods, but for the vast majority of fishing I do I can very comfortably fish medium power rods under 6'10" and lighter.

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I'm 99% lakes/ponds and inshore. I've caught two 10lb plus bass on 6'6" medium fast rods and several between 8 and 10. If I was a tournament fisherman who just wanted to get them in the boat as fast as possible I might go heavier but reeling them in on a broomstick just isn't fun for me.

I've tried lighter weight braid but it's just harder to see, harder to tie knots with and it digs in on hooksets. I'm pretty standardized now with 30 lb on baitcasters and 20 lb on spinning rigs. I don't need that strength but I like those handling characteristics the best.

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don't need that strength

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But it sure is nice to have!

I've gone to 30 or 40lb Suffix 832 across the board for baitcasters and 8-12lb nanofil for spinning reels. Nanofil jumps off the spool so much better than any braid I've tried it's unreal. Granted I'm bass fishing, not inshore. I think nanofil goes up to 17lb which is probably what I'll try for an inshore spinning setup once I move back to BR.

I do have curado 70mgl I've spooled with 20lb suffix 832 that i haven't tried yet. Probably going to set the drag pretty loose to prevent bad line dig.

The BFS reels are usually fishing with 8lb or less fluoro or 12-15lb braid. Their drags have an audible click unlike most baitcasters so the intent is to play a fish on them like on spinning tackle.

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The JDM Zillion has one and I’d wondered if that was a Japanese thing. I don’t know if the US model does or not but I’ve never run across one on a baitcaster before.

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Other than the curado bfs and a couple budget bfs offerings, I am not aware of a US market reel that has an audible clicker (could be wrong though). I know its far more common on JDM and KDM reels as they tend to use lighter lines so the audible clicker is a nice indicator when the fish is pulling drag. Most bass fishermen in the US hope to never use their drag I would imagine.

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US Zillion does have the drag clicker too. I forgot it had it til I hooked my first red on mine.

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That's awesome. I like that feature. Hopefully other manufacturers start adding it to their reels.

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Most bass fishermen in the US hope to never use their drag I would imagine.

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I use 20 or 30 lb power pro on almost everything and almost everything has the drag ultra tight. Slickback pulled a 6' bullshark to the boat on 30lb powerpro, Calcutta 200b and a medium heavy abu Garcia somekindarod. Outside of really huge shite, my drag doesn't get used anymore compared to when I fished flimsy rods and 17lb stren

Powell had a great rod in the inferno series. Their frog / jig rod had the right tip while having a nice backbone.
For $129 and under rod market that was a good rod.

BFS reels.
Tried Diawa Indonesia market Tatula and changed the spool to BFS spool. I can throw 4 lb test and control it well. Bad the line gets between the spool and body. It cast like a dream when the line does not get tangled behind the spool.

Diawa pixy- had three and they were so so and had to repair a lot.

Favorite 2011 Lews Walley Marshall reel $49. Graphite frame but that was a good BFS reel.

Modification
- polished the shafts on the spool
- went with ceramic bearings

Brec ponds, Amite River, Atchafalya spillway.
- caught some nice rainbow trout
- caught some nice bass one 8lbs in the brec ponds.
- Amite River caught alot of little bass, nice bream, scaliat on bubbles and bream poppers.
- marsh caught alot of speckled trout on bass poppers.
- old river & Toledo Bend it a hoot casting bream poppers on a plastic clear bubble.
Just fun to go out and catch fish on flies especially in the wind when using a fly rod a pain.

All of my freshwater setups have Castaway Skeletons. I’m a big fan of their rods, never let me down. My inshore rods are Falcon Coastal. Again, never let me down. I have a MH 7’ on my Stradic 3000 and that thing has caught more specks and reds than I can count. Some big ones too.