$10 Bait caster

[Little grey men]

My Father found this reel at a garage sale and thought I might be able to use it.
He paid $10 for it.
I was thinking of putting it on a drop shot or similar priced Shimano rod.
Might be good for out on the Condamine, as our gear usually cops a thrashing out there.
Can anyone give me any info on this reel, I'm guessing it's maybe @ ten years old. It winds nice and smooth and feels solid. Were they good reels or just elcheapo's.
I just want to know what quality of rod to match it up with.
Shimano Super Speed Master. Ultra Light Special. 5 ball bearings. Fighting Star
BSS-2000ULS ( They sure crammed a lot of words on it )

[B_E_N]

have a look on ebay, do a search for shimano bantum, i think there alright reels

by the way mate i just send you an email with those locations on it for ya!

[Little grey men]

G'day B_E_N, e bay was the first place I looked. being older gear I thought someone would be selling one. Came up empty handed though.
Thanks again for the info . Had a bit of a giggle when I read the bit about avoiding the hippies twirling fire sticks. Top stuff mate

[B_E_N]

lol yeh the more experienced hippies arent the ones youve gotta watch out for, its the new ones that cant twirl well that youve got to watch, im sure flying sticks are not an uncommon thing!

i saw some bantum reels for sale on ebay a little while ago, if i can remember correctly they wer getting a fairly good price much more than $10 so i think you got a fair deal with the reel.

[Little grey men]

Yeah mate, I had a peak on e bay and the closest I could find was a Bantam Beast Master, looked very similar. The seller had listed all the features , sounded OK.
I'll have to get it serviced before I use it.

[WHALEOIL]

Hardyhead. I have one of those and it is an excellent reel. I think I paid about $170 for it about 10 or so years ago (when first on the market).

I use it for Mac Tuna, Bonito, striped Tuna and also off the beach.
I have never had a problem with it apart from having to replace the guide pin in the worm drive for the line leveller.

[Little grey men]

Thanks Whaleoil
Sounds like they're a half decent little reel. I may have to go for a slightly better rod than what I first thought.

[cammac]

Nice little reel and great price - well done! match it to a half decent rod would be good!

[wamjam]

Gday
I bought a BKM 100 bantom which is a smaller reel when I started my apprenticeship in 1989 ,still remember the price $129.00 .Top reel.
wamjam

[Cast-Away]

The 2000 Uls were state of the art when they were first released. The fighting star drag is set to the middle of its range then the inner ring is adjusted to your normal drag setting. In the heat of battle you can adjust the drag up or down a safe amount by using the outer control rather than fool around with a star drag. The idea never caught on but it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. The whole system makes the reel a little unbalanced to the drag side. I would suggest pulling the reel down and giving it a good clean out of old lubricants and relube with a sparing amount of light oil. They are sweet little reels and although mine has been retired for years I don't want to part with it brcause of the memories it brings back. Like the 10kg jew in the Bellingen river on 3kg mono. The reel was smooth as and I was down to the backing shot before we could fire up the motor. A bag of soft plastics sets you back nearly $10 so I reckon you scored yourself a bargain

[Little grey men]

Thanks for the feedback guy's.
I'll definitley give it a good going over before I attach it to a rod.
I'm thinking of loading it up with fairly heavy line (10 -12lb)and using it to chase Bass in North Pine and big fat yellowbelly and cod in the Condamine.

Castaway: I was unsure about the drag set up, knew what the star was for , but the other little other dial had me a bit confused. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Now I'll just have to learn how to cast the thing.