We opened the doors with caution and listened for any sounds. It was silent which made me more confident as we moved forward. There was carnage in the road but it looked as if most of the solid flesh had either been devoured or had gotten up and walked away.
We walked around the truck and I was pleased to see that there was nothing on the other side.
"Do you think we can move it?" I asked.
"It is worth a try at least."
My dad and I put our hands on the frame of the truck bed and on the count of three gave it a shove. I was horrified by the squishing sound as it did indeed move and then we heard an inhuman squeal. I looked down and saw a head sticking out from beneath the wheel. I jumped back in terror but my father took his fishing scissors and brought them down into the soft flesh of the monster's temple with s sickening suction noise that made me nauseous. The thing didn't move after that but I was careful not to get my leg too close to it as we continued to push the truck enough that we could get the Yukon past it. I hoped that the truck was sliding because it was in some kind of mud. I hated the idea that it might be decaying human fats and juices that were creating the slick film allowing the truck to move.
I was glad when we got back into the car and even more glad when we approached the quiet neighborhood where my parents in law lived; that is, until I turned the corner and Jenny's parent’s house came into sight. The door was smashed in two and the window was shards of bloody glass. Before I could stop her, Jenny let out a blood curdling scream. My mother clamped her hand over Jenny's mouth but I knew the damage had been done.
Zombies seemed to come from nowhere. My mother pointed her gun out of the window and started shooting into the zombie crowd. I pushed my foot down on the gas and started back towards the road. The water wasn't far. If we could just get to the boat we might just make it.
I sit in the darkness of the night, listening to the crickets sing outside. I do not know what to do or what to think. How will I be compensated for sacrificing myself and becoming a half-human half-fish, a guardian? It must be just past the magical hour of night, but I cannot sit here and ponder upon my fate without answers. I gather my fishing gear and head to Casterly Rock, with the full moon as my only guidance through the darkness.
As if the guardian knew I was on my way To Casterly Rock, I see him leaning against a tree in the distance, waiting for me.
“Evening,” he says.
“Hi. How did you know I was coming?”
“Brad, you must learn quickly now. We know all these things. We know what you think and feel even before you think it.”
I shift my Piscifun shoulder bag to my other arm and stand beside the guardian. His slimy hand is curling around something round, like a Piscifun braided fishing line.
“Come with me. Let me show you what you want to know.”
The guardian leads me to an opening in the forest, near Casterly Rock. In the middle of the opening, sprouting from the earth is a small sapling. Its leaves are the color of blood and a whitish liquid pulsates through its veins.
“This, Brad, it the tree of life. There is no other tree in the world like this one. The roots of this tree grow right into the water of Casterly Rock. In return for using Casterly Rock’s water, the tree gives life to the content of the water. The trout of Casterly Rock, thus flourishes because of the life they receive from this tree. The fish will never die, they will never grow extinct and they will never stop reproducing. But that is not all. Anyone who eats has the benefit of eating trout from Casterly Rock, will receive that same gift, the gift of life.”
It takes a few minutes for me to process all this information. “So, by giving the poor trout to eat from Casterly Rock, I am actually giving them life?”
“Exactly. They may not have money to dwell in, but they have a greater gift. They have the gift of life. That, Brad, no money in the world will ever be able to buy.”
“But why would you want to give only poor people the gift of life?”
“People that has come to know money and the riches thereof, is corrupted. Corrupted minds do not receive the gift of life very well. People that do not know riches that well, will embrace the gift of life much easier and use it in a more efficient way.”
“Efficient how?” Slowly, things began to make sense.
“If a person that does not have money, realize that they have the gift of life, and with the gift of life I mean immortality, they will not use money to exploit it. They will use this gift to do good onto the world. That is the way the gift works. It makes your heart pure, leaving the corruption of money out of the equation.”
“I understand much better now. So, protecting Casterly Rock means protecting the world and having control over the gift of life?”
“Yes, Brad, but first, you must sacrifice yourself…”
Long story short: Comparing with Abu Garcia Pro Max II (shortened as Abu) which is in the same price range, Piscifun Thunder baitcasting reel (shortened as Piscifun) is made with better material. As a fisherman with engineering PhD, a couple of smooth castings cannot satisfy me completely. I need to understand the reel inside and out: how it is designed mechanically, what material is used, whether the reel is going to be durable... When I get this Piscifun reel, I compared it with my Abu which I bought three years ago. Both are ranged in $60~$70 interval, the market section targeting the amateur fishermen using baitcaster. Like a research report, all photos attached are numbered. Both reels are about 8Ozs, while the Piscifun is a quarter ounce heavier (Fig 1). Lighter is better, but this tiny bit additional weight does both bother me. The metal frame is well worth the additional weight.
Piscifun's spool is wider (Fig2), the width is very close to Daiwa Tatula and Shimano Curado. One theory about the spool width is that wider spool helps longer casting: pulling line from spool near outer surface takes less effort. Actually, the new Abu Garcia Pro max III, just announced in ICast 2015, also features a wider spool. Seems this is the trend for reel design. To my surprise, the weight of the Piscifun spool is a gram less than Abu's, even with a larger size. Lighter spool helps casting control of lighter lures, since less kinetic energy is stolen by spool during casting, at the moment you release your thumb. Other than the metallic frame, you can find a lot more metal on Piscifun (Fig 4): worm gear sheath, worm gear paw nut, star drag, thumb screw and end plug on knobs.
A larger spool increases the overall width of the reel (Fig 5). When mounted on a rod, I can definitely feel Piscifun is bulkier than Abu. The feeling of Piscifun in palm is similar to Daiwa Tatula: fingers need to reach further to grab the rod, but still manageable.
Cranking takes less effort on Piscifun: gear ratio is lower than Abu, and the handle is longer (Fig 3), giving you more toque on the handle shaft.
On the handle shaft, a proper design should use three bearings: an instant-anti-reverse bearing (IAR) and two ball bearings (BB) on each side of IAR. IAR allows the handle rotating in only one direction, but it is weak: the plastic parts in IAR cannot tolerate too much load in radial direction. And this is the reason we need two other BB to support IAR. In the mechanical schematic diagram of both Abu and Piscifun, I can see the 3 bearing; however in real product, Abu skipped one BB which pissed me off (if not designed in due to cost, it's OK I can understand. But fooling customer using schematic is dishonest. IAR of my Abu failed and was replaced after 2 years use, and I believe it's related with the missing bearing). All the 3 bearings can be found in Piscifun (Fig6 & Fig 10)
Other than Shimano reels, the thumb bar designs of many mainstream brands like Daiwa and Abu are pretty much the same: the thumb bar is rubbing against the frame whenever pressed down or coming back. In Abu's Max reels, the friction between thumb bar and the frame is mitigated using grease, a lot of grease, even on new reels (you can check the new Abu reels in Walmart). Each time after use, I need to apply grease on to my Abu, between the thumb bar and the frame to extend the life span of the reel. On Piscifun, there are plastic pads made of slicker material between the thumb bar and frame, and this is the common practice of reels over $100 (Fig 7). The result is longer life span, easier maintenance and smoother button action than Abu. The drag in Abu is paperbased material, works OK and I have no complaints. In Piscifun, the drag is using multidisk cross carbon fiber, a lot better construction and material (Fig 8). I really need to land some big fish to tell how much better Piscifun's drag is. Another observation is the drive gear (the big gear in Fig 8, rotating around handle shaft): When turning the handle of Abu, I can hear gear grinding sound, only occurs around a certain angle of the handle. This is cause by the offset error between the center of the gear and the rotation axis. On Piscifun, the grinding sound is much less, which means the concentricity accuracy is better.
Abu's spool tension knob is better than Piscifun (Fig 9): it has the clicking sound for more accurate and "quantitative feeling" of the adjustment. Piscifun's spool tension is similar to Shimano Curado and Daiwa Lexa/Tatula, no clicking, but it is OK. BTW, in so many Youtube videos, even some professional anglers call it "centripetal something". This is just spool tension, applying pressure on spool axis to generate a constant braking torque, has nothing to do with centripetal force. A centripetal brake is the one used in Abu Revo S or Shimano Curado.
Bearings, bearings, bearings... engineers' favorite topic. I cannot comment on the "two Japanese high speed NMB bearings", since NMB has plants all over the world, and I cannot see any marking on spool bearing saying they are NMB. However I can confidently say that Piscifun used the number of bearings they promised in the right places (Fig 10): two on worm gear; two on spool axis, two on pinion gear (a great feature I like, see the difference in the attached video; other companies give such design fancier names, e.g. "Shimano Super Free Spool"); three bearings on handle shaft. Abu's design has one less bearing comparing with Piscifun, Abu's product cheated by using one less bearing comparing with their own design; Abu puts two BB in handle knobs, which make the gear box (where bearings are most desired) have much less bearings than Piscifun.
Another nice feature on Piscifun, especially for geeks like me, is the little cover on the handle-side. Without the need to pull the reel apart completely, I can lubricate the drive gear and pinion gear through this little cover (Fig 11 left).
Nothing is perfect, and I do have three comments on the reel which may have the room for improvement, just my personal opinions
1. Logo: When I open the box, it says "Haibo Overlord", not Piscifun Thunder. Although the reel is exactly the same as described other than logo, it surprised me a little bit.
2. Magnetic brake: to cast properly I need to use about 90% of the brake. This may be caused by the way I cast or the techniques I use, so maybe you do not need such amount of braking. When casting against the wind, the mag brake will be maxed out and still not enough. A stronger brake (i.e. more magnetic bits in side plate) will be beneficial.
3. Reel seat: Unlike metal frame reels from mainstream brands, such as Abu, Shimano or Daiwa, the Piscifun's seat is a separate piece of metal, riveted onto the reel frame (Fig 11, right). Between the two is a piece of plastic sheet, like a washer to provide compression stress in the rivet (Fig 7 right). The reel seat is good and firm so far, but it may be questionable for long term durability, when the plastic washer dries out and flakes apart. If the frame is one piece, I will feel much more confident in the rigidity and durability.
Many bass anglers have a low-profile baitcasting reel. Baitcasting reels can also be used for larger fish like redfish and pike, or small panfish like crappie and bluegill. They are lighter and allow for easier wrist action, letting you place lures precisely where they need to be. They have ergonomic design, giving you a comfortable feel, which can pay off after hours of fishing. However, not every experienced fisherman knows how a baitcasting reel is built and how the mechanics works. Here I will show you how to choose a baitcaster based on the design, quality and construction of the reel. This is Piscifun Thunder series low-profile baitcasting reel.
In the following image, the reel is disassembled to show all the parts in the reel.
You might be surprised by all these little pieces in the picture. Well, there are many other small parts I have not disassembled; in totally the reel consists of more than 100 parts. Ok, here we go!
Frames Made of either aluminum or graphite. Graphite generally less expensive and lighter in weight but won't withstand much abuse as aluminum.
Braking System Most of the basitcasting reels in the market today are using either centrifugal braking or magnetic braking. Both techniques are proven to be effective in controlling birdnest during casting, and this Piscifun Thunder baitcasting reel uses magnetic braking.
Spool
Aluminum spool with drilled holes dominates the market. The key is making it lighter. This Piscifun Thunder baitcasting reel spool features a wider and sealed spool, which is precisely machined from a whole piece of forged aluminum and weighs only 0.7oz/20g (even lighter than narrower spools in other brands). The sealed spool can prevent dust, sand, and saltwater getting into the bearing and make this reel more durable when used in saltwater fishing.
Ball Bearing Well, quality over quantity, as many professional guys agreed. Piscifun Thunder baitcasting reel uses Japanese sealed stainless steel NMB ball bearings. The corrosion resistant bearing also contribute to the long life span of the reel , even if used for saltwater fishing.
Line Guide The easiest part to get corrosion, they are made from either titanium or ceramic,with the latter being less expensive but can crack or break from alleviated abuse.This reel definitely uses titanium line guide, the more expensive and more durable option, to accommodate saltwater fishing.
Gearing The main gear, gear shaft and pinion gear of this reel are made of brass which is light and corrosion resist. Under the pinion gear there is a clutch ring made of metal in order to support the spool. Together with the two ball bearings that support the spool, they make the spool sit and spin precisely, during casting and retrieving. Most of the others baitcasting reels don’t have this metal clutch ring.
Drag washer The material of the drag washer is often the bottleneck of the reel’s life span. Common drag washer are made of asbestos, plastic and carbon. The most costly option, carbon drag washer, is way better than other two. It could provide High corrosion resistance (acid and salt), High temperature prevention, Strong friction, Excellent drag performance and Water-proof. To achieve long service life span, this Piscifun Thunder baitcasting reel generously uses 3 carbon drag washers.
One more thing you need to pay attention to is maintenance. Unlike many baitcasting reels which require disassembling at least the handle and the side-plates, this reel Has a small opening for easy access and lubrication of the gears by just removing one screw.
To get a better understanding and deeper insight of how a reel works, I would strongly recommend you dissembling a reel by yourself. Remember to keep the schematic for reference and take as many photos during the dissembling process as possible, so that you can put it back together. I am sure you will appreciate the high quality material and well-thought-out design, A well-built reel with a low price tag, why not give it a try?
