San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I would kill it in mission bay also w that exact setup bitsy bug beaver tail tiny spinner 50 size reel 10 braid 20 leader caught a 15 pound bat ray once bitsy bug is top class anywhere

My gunfish inspired by u Dan

That the battle, having something that small that you can use effectively. Back before these small topwaters you had to throw a small fluke or spoon at the breakers. They would rarely hit a full size topwater.

I think I need to open an AliExpress account..... It looks like we all could be saving a ...

Got all my fish on my Chinese 2pc magicl rod and covello 50 reel bfs setup again lol whatever gets it done got good feel so I bring it reel works great also for Chinese engineering I got rod and reel for 60$ each so not bottom line i have never trusted a 2pc rod especially a Chinese one but it has ...

That Sammy is one of my fav. I don’t throw it on bfs as it casts really well on a “big” rod. Definitely a producer.

Coming in at $100 is this Histar Aurora Air reel paired with a Handing Magic L two piece rod. If the names don't sound familiar, it's because they are straight from AliExpress. After roughly 15 trips to san diego bay, every thing has surprisingly held up very well. Can easily cast ting baits such as ...

It won’t be long before you only own one half of that little glide bait. Ask my son. Most of the time, the differences between the quality baits and knock offs will in weight transfer systems/weighting, materials/construction, and the hardware used. They might copy the mold and put a nice paint job ...

I remember when 6th sense baits were blatant jdm knock-offs with bada$$ custom paint jobs, and were only available on EBay

My BFS rods had short handles and after fishing the opener at Barrett I added extensions to the butts. Worked great my second trip and on vaca.

I have a few rods where I wouldn't mind some extra handle length for longer casting from a float tube. What materials did you use and where did you get them?

I would have expected the rod blank would have extended almost to the end of the handle. How far from the end does it typically extend?

I ...

I used quadcopter carbon fiber tubes and the ends were small fishing rod end caps all from Amazon. I looked at other rods i have and cut to size.
Rod extended to around 1/2" from end of grip. I added wood shish cabob sticks inside with epoxy for strength. There are some good you tube videos on do it.

Thanks for the post, I could’ve used that lure last time I was at Murray the bass were chasing super small bait fish they didn’t like any of my offerings ( small soft swim baits ) A guy across from me was nailing them on a small megabass arachie, seems similar.

Hey Dannicus, since adding BFS to my arsenal thanks to you, I almost never take this smaller lighter swim bait off of it. I have caught fish throwing at boils just about everywhere but especially at the Barrett busters. It isn’t as purty as these newer jointed swimbaits but seems as effective. Have ...

Thanks for sharing, I’m shore bound but I have a chance to go Friday so it looks like I’ll be packing some bluegill baits, cranks have been troublesome from shore but I’ll pack some soft bluegill baits along with some cranks.
Thanks again for being so open with your posts it really helps.

My BFS combos:
IMG_20250418_171533856_HDR.jpg

From top to bottom. All rods are 7 foot single piece.

1) Rod: Dobyns sierra ultra finesse 701c Reel: Ark Gravity BFS
2) Rod: Trika 6x light/fast Reel: Bates Hundo 100 LTS
3) Rod: Cashion Icon light/fast Reel: Ark Gravity BFS
4) Rod: Cashion Element ...

Congrats Jwall! I have to say I use my 3 BFS's all the time now and only use my broom stick models on the big baits. Rat, plopper, spinner bait, chatter bait, frog.
The lighter stuff is easy to throw all day.

Congrats Jwall! I have to say I use my 3 BFS's all the time now and only use my broom stick models on the big baits. Rat, plopper, spinner bait, chatter bait, frog.
The lighter stuff is easy to throw all day.


Boy you’re not kidding. Every time I switched to my other setups it felt like I was ...

Now that I have been fishing with BFS I fight myself to use my normal rods that work curtain baits better. When using my regular stuff, it's like is this rod even going to bend on a hookup (They do). The BFS stuff has helped my tired hands and the fights are so much more fun. It's my new norm.

I started using BFS and wanted something less expensive to see if I liked it. I went to aliexpress and fell in love with the handling magic l rods I have now a few and the price is less than 50 bucks. I paired them with A Dark Wolf ultra bfs baitcaster and they are around %0 also. Cant be happier ...

So the tariffs have made the aurora air reel simply not worth it any more. Sure it casts really lightweight lures but it’s still a very cheaply made plastic reel.

Half of the plastic on the thumb bar exploded away randomly in the sun at Barrett. Still works, just less place to rest your thumb.

I ...