Fishband GH100 BFS Reel Upgrade with Spool Hi-Speed Bearings

[@gizmocarr3093]

I bought two GH-100 reels for the same reasons you did. I bought a third one because of finding a defective brake wheel. The seller was helpful in sending me all the parts that I needed to repair the faulty reel. The same seller also order two extra spools and some other parts I asked for. Having a spare spool is worth having if you fish for trout with just one rod miles from your vehicle. Because I noticed the excessive grease as you did. I disassembled all the reels and cleaned them. I chose not to clean the bearing with Acetone because acetone does melt many types of plastics. Instead I used dishwashing soap and hot water and canned air to clean them. Then I soaked the bearing in reel oil for day. Using the dusting air used for computers I blew all the excess oil from the bearings. The results improved the bearing and made the drag perform much smoother than when I first bought the reels. The GH-100 is much lighter than the XF-50 and other reels. The difference in fishing them is very much the same. However, the ruggedness of heavy reels is something to consider. Both the XF-50 and Spirit Fox are reels made into BFS class reels from 150 class reels. The GH-100 was designed as a BFS reel only. That doesn’t make them bad reels. But, if made to do things other than their intended use may cause a shorter useful life.

[@rawrfishing]

3? nice man! i was gonna get that purple wanna be GH100, but i am glad TheReelTest got it first and reviewed it. it seems as that one the drag system is not as good! I'll be likely getting one of these for a spare. after this upgrade, it's a win! That's a nice way to clean the anti-reverse roller. i think i'll give that a shot for the SpiritFox now that I got a reliable reel to play with. Yeah i get what you mean. Many companies just taking shells of bigger reels because cheaper to just take them and try to fit a smaller spool and call it a day. To make a smaller form reel for bfs fishing means they have to invest a lot more money via R&D. not every company got that, which is why some companies steal stuff... like the GH100 LOL

[@gizmocarr3093]

@@rawrfishing The idea of using other inventions and designs is common. If you take one lure or reel design and add to it could be consider stealing by some. Shimano made the first casting reels for Lew Children in 1973 and soon afterwards made reels based on his design. Before that in 1939 American made Casting reels were counterfeited by Japanese manufactures and imported to America and put American manufactures out of business. Is it stealing to make a reel or lures for less than more expensive ones that work as well as the costly ones? The fact is; who is stealing more the ones selling reels at extreme prices or the ones selling at lower prices?

[@brentwalker7212]

I’ve never tried a bait caster set up and have watched most of your review and casting videos on this. Great stuff. I would have had no idea about all the modifications and tweaks that can be done to improve the performance. Great stuff. And congrats on 50K on the IG!

[@rawrfishing]

Thanks man! Baitcasting reels can be fun and effective. More importantly. It is highly efficient when it comes to repetitive casts as it takes less steps compared to spinning reel. That is what I like most about it! If you ever have an opportunity, give it a shot! I think i might take the time to make a video on how to setup a Baitcasting reel for far casting!

[@sgtpavlov]

Yep, those ceramic bearings will turn the gh100 into a smooth reel! Like a day ago I went out, landed 3 bass, some bluegills, pumpkinseeds, and crappies. Landed all the bass with the Scorpion BFS XG, on a Shakespeare micro series 5'6" Light rod, throwing a t-rigged weightless 4" elaztech finesse worm, draggin it over pads. Biggest bass was around 2 pounds. Landed the panfish with the Calcutta conquest BFS + Majocraft Troutino 4'10" UL, throwin a trout magnet! That reel is so sexy!

[@rawrfishing]

SMOOOTH as butter! i would love to find them micro bearings for this reel. That would probably make this thing shoot across the sky! nice! i carry one bfs setup a time atm, but now that i did this upgrade, i can carry two!

[@markr543]

Ordered the GH-100 upgrade kit on AliExpress a few days ago. Kit included ceramic bearings and the spool for $16 so your video is very timely for me. Checked and the kit appears to be sold out btw. Glad to hear how much it has helped the casting distance. I have no idea if this is going to help though since my current reel is doing well with the regular bearings. I de-greased the bearings and reduced the amount of line as you recommended and both of these helped a lot. My Gh-100 is smooth and feels very solid. Mine does have an issue with line getting into the spool shaft on a backlash. I found removing excess line and increasing the diameter of the line has helped eliminate it mostly. From watching your video I also think the brakes are stronger on the GH-100 than the Spirit Fox brakes. I came to this conclusion by watching how high you had the brakes set on each reel. Seemed like you used higher brake settings on the Fox to keep it from back lashing. Is there a difference between ceramic and ceramic hybrid?

[@rawrfishing]

that's a good price! Can't wait for you to try it out. the performance was night and day compared to the stock bearings! Yeah that size isn't that popular for many reels other than a few, so it can run out easily. Perhaps even more now this video is out LOL. I wanted to do this after my first cast test video, but when I saw the spirifox coming out, i put the money aside for that instead of this. Since then i neglected this reel, which i regret. This reel does have tendency of getting line into the spool shaft. I use 4lb test line mono and it still happens. So it is a bit of a hassle, but the spiritfox also happens too, but not as frequent. The way I tune my reels is that I try to not use spool tension. So the tension knob is light as possible and must have no wiggle when it is seated. From there, I utilize the brakes. The day here was super windy, so I use a lot more brakes than usual. i normally utilize my thumb. I have been informed that I uses the least amount of brakes from some of my videos LOL. but now that the lures come out faster, It is important to use higher braking power. so keep that in mind when you first cast your upgraded reel! My spiritfox have Ceramic Hybrid Bearings as well and now it have micro bfs bearings! the brakes so imagine how fast the lure is coming off the the spool now LOL. I don't see much difference from a 100% ceramic vs a hybrid other than total weight when it comes to performance. Ceramic just allows it to heat up higher without seizing up. This does not apply to fishing reels. Of course it's good for saltwater stuff, but it' will be noisy as hell!

[@markr543]

@@rawrfishing I went back and looked at the picture of the upgrade spool and bearings and it looks like the races are steel so the bearing are hybrids as well.

[@rawrfishing]

Gotcha! wait until you see my next video about those micro bearings. Then you'll go out and get another set of bearings for your GH100 LOL

[@markr543]

@@rawrfishing Bet they're not cheap. Got a link to those micro bearings?

[@rawrfishing]

@@markr543 yeah almost 30 but let me test it for the gh100 first. The ones I gotten for spiritfox is at least known. The ones I'm testing soon isnt.. don't wanna share bad stuff to my viewers without letting them know how I feel first!

[@jasonyoung1999]

Please do a video on how to swap the bearings.

[@rawrfishing]

I can consider once I settle down with other reels. I got some micro bearings so it would be cool to test this reel aftet the upgrade

[@dbbfishing2528]

What was the name of the tackle box you were talking about

[@rawrfishing]

buzbe colony 28

[@dbbfishing2528]

@@rawrfishing is that on AliExpress

[@rawrfishing]

buzbe.com/collections/all-products

[@johnhanes3450]

Ok ready to change the gh100 bearings. How do I get to the one down in the magnet part?

[@rawrfishing]

i took long needle nose pliers, get the Hex spring clip out, then shake the bearing out. then put the new bearing in, then use my fingers and finesse the hex pin back in. if you need to.. use a screw driver and remmove the brake system. i'd advise recording yourself do it in case you forget the steps and part placements.

[@darrenrodd.]

I have bearings coming for mine, can you tell me when you take off the side plate how did you get the bearing out thats sat inside the brake tube, do you take off the brakes or just reach inside of them to release the clip, many thanks

[@rawrfishing]

I used a wire I normally use to make wire baits and popped it out. My bearing then luckily came off by shaking it out. Then I install the bearing and use two chopsticks to push the retainer spring clip back on. If you can't do this... then u gotta disassemble the braking system

[@darrenrodd.]

@@rawrfishing is it the 2 little screws on top to release the top part that holds the magnets? Could it be that simple ?

[@rawrfishing]

Watch out for the springs. They may shoot out and u will never find it again! Lol

[@jplee3]

Researching BFS and trying to figure out the best budget reel to get. At first I was looking at the XF50 and Hurricane. I actually ordered the XF50 but am trying to cancel after seeing more KZbin videos on BFS reels and finding out about the GH100, PW100, Zephyr and Spirit Fox lol. I'm new to BFS but not to fishing and the finesse stuff intrigues me. That said, what's your recommendation on which BFS reel to go with at this point particularly for a noob? I was thinking maybe to just go with the GH100 but not sure... also, is there a particular seller (or "official" seller) of the Fishband GH100? Or is it the same reel and QC regardless of who you order from (so basically just try to find the seller selling it for the lowest price? LOL)?

[@rawrfishing]

Nay to the gh100 and xf50. Yay to Zephyr ! The gh100 isn't that great even with all the bearing upgrades and it sure doesn't cast all that well. Some folks have found theirs work better than my experience, which just shows how terrible their QC is. I have not tried the pw100 nor the upgraded version... so no comments on that one

[@jplee3]

@@rawrfishing Thanks! For a while it seemed like the GH100 was the best of the bunch. Sounds like the Zephyr it is... whenever it becomes available on Amazon again lol. Thoughts on the Spirit Fox? I didn't realize at first but it sounds like that's an upgraded version of the XF50. I actually jumped the gun and ordered an XF50 of Ali but am trying to see if I can cancel it.... if not, I guess I'll have something to play around with LOL

[@rawrfishing]

@@jplee3 it was an over hyped reel since it was the first to copy the FTB braking system, but it is actually a flawed copy. Many other folks who jumped into the bandwagon also screwed up and made it even worse. The spiritfox us actually pretty good. Definitely better than xf50. I do not recommend xf50

[@jplee3]

@@rawrfishing Good to know! Order has been canceled. LOL. So Zephyr is pretty much top of the line (for budget) at this rate? Or are there other alternatives you'd suggest (such as getting an Abu Garcia Black Max and then getting a spare shallow spool)?

[@jplee3]

@@rawrfishing Good to know. What would you say the best budget BFS rod would be particularly to pair with the Zephyr?

[@JP-ic2ze]

I tried finding an upload where you clean and upgraded the GH100. Did you get the chance to make one? Sorry total noob here.

[@rawrfishing]

I don't believe I have ever published that video. I only talked about it as the cleaning of the bearings and relubrication of the factory bearings wasn't that great of an improvement, unlike the XF50. Your only option for an acceptable use of the GH100 is swapping out bearings as shown here. You can use Ceramic Hybrids or Micro bearings from Roro (either stainless steel or Ceramic hybrids as well)

[@JP-ic2ze]

@@rawrfishing I will give it a try. I've held both and just didn't like the cheaper feel of the XF50. I know it cast better ultra lures, but hated the shorter handle. Also two other channels suggested the Gh100 the better of the two (without upgrades) for 3g plus weights. I would mainly be using it for 3g to 6g range (Ned rigs especially). I know I'll eventually end up with both, but have set my heart on the GH100 as my first purchase (probably because it feels more to what I'm used to). Thanks for having answered, you're one of the few who answers followers on older uploads. I really appreciate the effort you put in.

[@rawrfishing]

The xf50 is a legacy reel now. The sf50 is the successor.. full name spiritfox. Its light and casts smoothly. I have used that reel more than any other CDM BFS at the moment. I rate it higher than the gh100!

[@rawrfishing]

As long as I get notifications, I will answer any questions. A benefit of supporting a small channel is that there is less comments flooding the system. I have watched my friend 1r1r spend 2 hours to do comments... when he hit refresh... the comments doubled... can't keep up

[@MrStylemed]

My experience with the GH100 is that the magnetic brakes don't work. The magnets are powerful but the spool is aluminum so there is no effect. I'd be interested to know your opinion on this.

[@rawrfishing]

It works perfectly fine even tho the spool is Aluminum. Anything that can conduct electricity can be impacted by magnetic fields. Aluminum sucks at conducting electricity and it's not magnetic during normal circumstances, but the brakes will work! Put your spool at zero tension and set it to zero brakes, spin it and you will see it will spin fast. then jack it up to max 5, you will see it stops pretty darn fast!

[@markr543]

So you think Ray's Studio micro bearings are better than all ceramic bearings?

[@rawrfishing]

Hmmm, i think you will need to rephrase your question in a bit. These are Ceramic Hybrid Micro Bearings from Ray's Studio. Perhaps your question is are Micro Bearings better than regular sized bearings?

[@markr543]

@@rawrfishing If I understand correctly the micro bearings are ceramic and the races are stainless steel. Full ceramic bearings have both bearing and race made of ceramic. Of these two options, which do you think would be better?

[@markr543]

@@rawrfishing Here's a link to all ceramic bearings: www.aliexpress.com/item/33029739295.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.88f67756KDLDss&algo_pvid=596988c8-e8c9-43ff-a477-cb597d155ed4&algo_expid=596988c8-e8c9-43ff-a477-cb597d155ed4-0&btsid=0ab6fa8115911433481473923e80b8&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

[@rawrfishing]

So let's not look at Micro Bearings for a second. Right now micro bearings are the best for BFS, period! not only they use ceramic balls, they are super tiny, which means it's light and small, allowing the start up to be insanely fast. Micro bearings are it's own class. If we are too look at standard size bearings for standard reels, the spinning performance of ceramic hybrid and full ceramic isn't that much of a difference. On the other hand, it's 100% corrosion resistant for full ceramic but extremely noisy. So now if you are asking me if you are intending to upgrade bearings for a BFS reel for light lures, micro bearings will win against full ceramic If you are upgrading a standard size reel, full ceramic and/or hybrid will beat micro bearing.

[@dontcare3161]

Can i use gh100 for saltwater?

[@rawrfishing]

I would never recommend it unless you can do reel maintenance. Out of the box my reel was dry and had lack of oil. I had to lubricated it myself.

[@Rafaelhech]

I have both, gh100 and spirit (red) stock mode, i love!

[@rawrfishing]

They both are good reels for the price but not perfect. I am one of the unfortunates who got a bad tsurinoya reel

[@Rafaelhech]

raWr Fishing i waiting kastking zephyr, goods expects.

[@rawrfishing]

Me too man! I will get the rod too. Looks good together lol

[@kobyinkorea]

@@Rafaelhech the Zephyr is a nice rod. I had no problem casting 2.5-5 gram lures with it and will try lighter next time

[@Rafaelhech]

chris kobylinski i talk about zephyr reel, not rod, in pre order on shopee!

[@markr543]

TSURINOYA seems to have it's own version of the GH-100 called the Dark-Wolf. Guess they are trying to cover all the bases with canine named reels. : )

[@rawrfishing]

yeah looks like they doing that! Their spinning reel, they have a Jaguar and a Flying Shark and they have a Dinosaur for another BC reel lol

[@dbbfishing2528]

If you know anyone that wants GH100 left hand let me know the seller sent me two both left handed when I requested right hand and wouldn't send a return label. I'll each for 50+ shipping

[@rawrfishing]

i dunno if you would get hits from trying to sell it here. There is a BFS group on facebook that you can try tho!

[@dbbfishing2528]

@@rawrfishing yeah I have them listed on the BFS group