Craziestozzy

The boss had a bitch fit when she tried out the alvey. She ended up with the Daiwa Emcast 6000. Good price and spool designed for holding a long length line and long casting. Especially like the strong shaft the spool sits on. Very little flex when fully extended during winding.The pic is the Penn Senator 114H 6/0 reel and looks rather small against my tall lanky body. The fish is 50cm Mangrove Jack, renouned for fighting like Pig Dogs and this one did not disappoint. Fished a small estuary surrounded by a mangrove swamp the other night, with the 15 foot "surf rod", 100lb line and a size 10 Ga

I have decided.......the missus gets the 650 Alvey reel and I get the Penn Senator 114H 6/0...now where is the competition :evil: Will keep you updated on the results in a few weeks time with some pics.Should be interesting fishing Hawaiian-surf-style with a fifteen foot rod and the ol' Senator game reel

I would toss the Level Wind and replace with a support rod.But only do so if you have some room to move with respect to the distance between first guide and reel. You have to have room to manually feed the line onto the spool on retrieve and do it in comfort without slicing your fingers on braid.Using standard diameter braid will chuck your gear out further as opposed to mono.Loosen completely the cast tension button and get used to using your thumbs to control backlash....that's my take

Thanks for the input.Guess I was thinking old school (large stripper guide) and will try various size high mount guides to get the optimum stripper guide for the Alvey.

It would seem in my hunt for a decent set of guides for rod building, everyone points to Fuji.I basically am not happy with Fuji's "New Guide Concept" that recommends using the smallest ring size that "will accomplish the task at hand". Great idea for threadline and overhead reels attached to rods using Fuji Guides, but not a great concept for side caster reels such as the Alvey. Even a much worse concept with respect to the Stripper Guide.I also belive that there are better companies that make rod guides which are not into the marketing spam Fuji employs for whatever reason.The stripper guide

If budget is what you are after without the "you get what you pay for" slogan thrown at you, the Shimano Beastmaster 153 (15 footer) is a good rod with a wood pike. Great taper and doesn't oscillate like jelly. Guides are spaced correctly for casting on a threadline reel. Costs around 90 to 110 bucks. I have just brought two of them, with a view to modifying them at a later date as I like the fibreglass work. I think the guides are zircon mix (SeaGuides brand) and the reel seat is plastic which may prove sloppy after use on a heavy reel and need re-tightening on occasion...hence my future upgr