Richard Isaacs
Senior Member & Supporter
I’ve only just bought this reel and took it out on the river today caught loads of fish mostly under a pound and I have enough insight now to give an honest opinion on it.
It doesn’t have much said about it online and a good 50% of what is said certainly isn’t that positive.
It’s a fox bob James 5 inch pin.
I’ve wanted one for a while but have held off really because I was waiting for a new unused one which is what I have now bought.
paid probably too much for it but to be fair I was happy to pay extra to get new/mint/unused.
So out of the box it was almost there. A little less free running than I wanted but a two second tweak on the end float and it was 100% there.
It’s a bearing pin and there are two sealed bearings that operate very smoothly and quietly. (I’ve read them to behave like coffee grinders in other threads but this particular one is far from that case)
If you grip the back plate tight with the palm of your hand while flinging it at a million miles an hour you can feel the bearings ever so slightly through the plate but you can’t feel or hear anything on the rod.
Why did i want this one?
Firstly I love the bob James young pin. It is exactly how I want a pin with the check lever on the rim, vented construction and really just a great pin for trotting. I use my youngs bj for barbel float work and it’s brilliant.
I wanted something near on identical but bigger for general trotting to return more line on the bat. I wanted something light to be used on 13-15ft well balanced light rods like normarks and acolytes
This is essentially a bigger, slightly lighter, bj youngs pin so it is ideal and it’s put my old leeds into retirement now.
Where are they made? No idea…… I have read comments from people suggesting youngs built them but I’m 100% sure that’s not the case.
Yes it’s design is exactly the same as bj young super lightweight but there are manufacturing differences between this and a youngs and there wouldn’t be if they were built in the same factory.
This has a thicker check spring, the pins holding the ratchet mechanism are a lot tighter and don’t move as freely as the youngs, the handles are not as nicely turned and don’t feel as well fitted as the youngs and the edges on every slot and surface on this are a little sharper than the youngs. Not sharp as in cut yourself but sharp as in not rounded off like the youngs edges.
We are talking the very finest of details but the youngs is fractionally better quality. ….
On the reverse side of that however the fox is actually machined to tighter tolerances than the youngs especially where the bearings fit over the pin. The fox is a better snugger fit and there is significantly less rock or side play in the fox because of that so there really isn’t much in it at all
So I took it out today to a small local river for a bit of bit bashing and the chance of a chub or 2.
Armed it up to a 13ft Titan 2000 and it felt a pretty good combo.
2 hours I sat here on the outside of this bend just feeding maggots every put through and getting bites every put through too.
I probably caught 100 fish from 2-12 inches long and the pin was just fantastic in every way. One thing I did notice that my other pins have never done and that is the line when batting for a return stays very centered and doesn’t stack in the inside corner.
The extra half inch on the diameter equates to 1.6 inch of extra line going on the spool per rotation. Doesn’t sound a lot but my god it is when batting that spool you return your tackle much quicker. I don’t think I’d ever want to trott with less than 4.5 inch tbh.
Great afternoon bit bashing made much more enjoyable with this great little reel
So inclusion my review is very different to some of the things I’ve read about them.….. did I get a good one? Did some people get bad ones?
If youngs did a 5 inch bj super lightweight I wouldn’t of even considered getting this however they don’t and 5 inch pins aren’t particularly common anyway for some bizarre reason. If I have just one criticism it would be the handles. They feel loose and plasticy and they’ll be replaced with something nicer very shortly
If like me you really want a bigger lightweight pin, I highly recommend trying to find a fox bj5 and yes they are worth throwing good money at a mint one.
It doesn’t have much said about it online and a good 50% of what is said certainly isn’t that positive.
It’s a fox bob James 5 inch pin.
I’ve wanted one for a while but have held off really because I was waiting for a new unused one which is what I have now bought.
paid probably too much for it but to be fair I was happy to pay extra to get new/mint/unused.
So out of the box it was almost there. A little less free running than I wanted but a two second tweak on the end float and it was 100% there.
It’s a bearing pin and there are two sealed bearings that operate very smoothly and quietly. (I’ve read them to behave like coffee grinders in other threads but this particular one is far from that case)
If you grip the back plate tight with the palm of your hand while flinging it at a million miles an hour you can feel the bearings ever so slightly through the plate but you can’t feel or hear anything on the rod.
Why did i want this one?
Firstly I love the bob James young pin. It is exactly how I want a pin with the check lever on the rim, vented construction and really just a great pin for trotting. I use my youngs bj for barbel float work and it’s brilliant.
I wanted something near on identical but bigger for general trotting to return more line on the bat. I wanted something light to be used on 13-15ft well balanced light rods like normarks and acolytes
This is essentially a bigger, slightly lighter, bj youngs pin so it is ideal and it’s put my old leeds into retirement now.
Where are they made? No idea…… I have read comments from people suggesting youngs built them but I’m 100% sure that’s not the case.
Yes it’s design is exactly the same as bj young super lightweight but there are manufacturing differences between this and a youngs and there wouldn’t be if they were built in the same factory.
This has a thicker check spring, the pins holding the ratchet mechanism are a lot tighter and don’t move as freely as the youngs, the handles are not as nicely turned and don’t feel as well fitted as the youngs and the edges on every slot and surface on this are a little sharper than the youngs. Not sharp as in cut yourself but sharp as in not rounded off like the youngs edges.
We are talking the very finest of details but the youngs is fractionally better quality. ….
On the reverse side of that however the fox is actually machined to tighter tolerances than the youngs especially where the bearings fit over the pin. The fox is a better snugger fit and there is significantly less rock or side play in the fox because of that so there really isn’t much in it at all
So I took it out today to a small local river for a bit of bit bashing and the chance of a chub or 2.
Armed it up to a 13ft Titan 2000 and it felt a pretty good combo.
2 hours I sat here on the outside of this bend just feeding maggots every put through and getting bites every put through too.
I probably caught 100 fish from 2-12 inches long and the pin was just fantastic in every way. One thing I did notice that my other pins have never done and that is the line when batting for a return stays very centered and doesn’t stack in the inside corner.
The extra half inch on the diameter equates to 1.6 inch of extra line going on the spool per rotation. Doesn’t sound a lot but my god it is when batting that spool you return your tackle much quicker. I don’t think I’d ever want to trott with less than 4.5 inch tbh.
Great afternoon bit bashing made much more enjoyable with this great little reel
So inclusion my review is very different to some of the things I’ve read about them.….. did I get a good one? Did some people get bad ones?
If youngs did a 5 inch bj super lightweight I wouldn’t of even considered getting this however they don’t and 5 inch pins aren’t particularly common anyway for some bizarre reason. If I have just one criticism it would be the handles. They feel loose and plasticy and they’ll be replaced with something nicer very shortly
If like me you really want a bigger lightweight pin, I highly recommend trying to find a fox bj5 and yes they are worth throwing good money at a mint one.
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