Fishband GH100 BFS Reel: Buyer’s Guide & How to Upgrade the Bearings

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by Paul G

November 19, 2020

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Fishband GH100 Left Hand Wind Reel

What is the Fishband GH100 Like to Own?
(including video below) 

The Fishband GH100 broke onto the BFS reels market in 2019 – and caused a bit of a splash. A lot of credit for this belongs to the YouTube review on The Reel Test channel. In fact, I bought one soon after seeing the video to see if it was a case of “too good to be true”. Now that I’ve owned it for almost a year (as you can see from the photo below and our BFS content it's getting plenty of use!

I’ve had the chance to compare it to probably the best “out of the box” high-end Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) BFS reel for casting ultralight lures (the Diawa Alphas Air TW 20); as well as a range of other reels...So what's the verdict??

Top view of GH100 reel

As you can see by the ingrained river mud on the handles - my Left Hand GH100 gets plenty of use

The quick TLDR version of this page should probably read:

 “Astonishing performance at this price-point” 

  • I haven’t regretted anything about buying this reel – particularly after the addition of extremely affordable ceramic hybrid bearings (SEE STEP BY STEP GUIDE BELOW). 
  • Yes, the drag is a tiny bit “grabby” out of the box and there is more potential to have the line get round the back of the spool – but those manufacturing tolerances are what puts the very best reels into the $300 to $600 territory.

The first Fishband GH100 I bought cost me $48…delivered. It’s still an incredible buy at its Sub-$100 Price Bracket given what it can do.

If you are happy to pay a little more, both the Kyorim Black Knight 2 and Tsurinoya Dark Wolf Ultra provide phenomenal performance at a still affordable price point.

While I have mixed feelings on what seems like a very direct copying of Shimano’s FTB braking system – there is no doubt that this system of dynamic magnetic brakes (below) is significant to the GH100's success within the budget BFS realm.

Fishband compared to Shimano FTB brakes

I do also think, by removing a cost barrier to entry, there will be MORE folks buying high-end reels once they get hooked on bait finesse system fishing. Hopefully the innovators and risk-takers pushing the boundaries at the top end of the market may actually gain more business this way. Without those R&D dollars from the big guns in the market, none of those features can trickle down to entry-level priced reels.

One thing is for sure – the customer certainly wins with the choice of gear currently available across the board.

Specifications of the Fishband GH100

Fishband GH100 spool without bearing

Spool weight WITHOUT bearing or bearing pin

  • 7.2:1 gear ratio
  • Left hand or Right Hand Wind models available 
  • Shallow, ported spool (9.3g including stock bearing, 8.2g without bearing) taking 100m of 0.165mm line 
  • 11 ball bearings +1 “roller” bearing for the anti-reverse 
  • 160g total weight
  • Frame is stated as “carbon” (i.e. an organic polymer) whereas the crank handle is recognisably “graphite”/carbon-fibre 
  • 4.5kg of drag 
  • Braking system – Dynamic magnetic system in the FTB format 
  • NOTE: THESE SPECS REFER TO THE GH100 and NOT the GH150 WHICH IS OFTEN SOLD ALONGSIDE (the 150 has a much heavier spool and is not a BFS Specialist Reel). Make sure you check the box for the reel you're expecting folks!

Sourcing a GH100

Although on the market for a while now, it is still possible to pick up this reel at amazingly affordable prices. My Aliexpress affiliate link earns Fishing Discoveries affiliate commission on qualifying sales. This doesn't alter the price you pay for items on those links - but does provide vital support to help me continue creating content with my huge thanks:

Fishband GH100 BFS reel
 Check Price & Availability (Global)
Spool and brakes for the Fishband GH100 bfs reel

Light, shallow and ported-out spool (top) and upgraded ABEC 7 (orange seal) bearings on the spool and side-plate (bottom)

The main difference you’ll feel in a dynamic braking system is that, where STATIC magnetic brakes continue to act at the same level as the cast slows down towards the end…a dynamic system will “back off” a bit to enable extra distance and accuracy. The stronger the braking, the more a side-cast will pull to the opposite side. With static brakes, you'll feel a kind of "parachuting" effect as the lure goes towards the end of the cast (which might be a good thing for presentation, while it does reduce maximum casting distance).

Ceramic Bearings for Fishband GH100

One of the easiest and most effective performance boosts for the GH100 is to switch out the bearings on the SPOOL shaft and also on the SIDE PLATE. These are the two points that are directly involved in casting performance.

On Aliexpress there are some incredibly affordable ABEC 7 rated ceramic hybrid bearings.

In "Hybrid" bearings the race is stainless steel and the bearing spheres are ceramic

Of course, you are free to choose full ceramic bearings – or even dedicated BFS micro-bearings (where the spheres are smaller and have less inertia to overcome.

Although they start with less force, micro-bearings are likely to not spin as long as bearings containing larger spheres. Once in motion, the larger spheres will have greater momentum.

Whatever bearings you choose you will need these sizes:

Side plate: 3 x 10 x 4 mm
Spool Shaft: 5 x 10 x 4 mm

You can see that these bearings only differ in one measurement - and that is the internal diameter (i.e. the diameter of the rod that each bearing will sit on). They both have external diameters of 10 mm and measure 4mm from flat face to flat face (width).

There are links to potential bearing choices at the end of this blog article...

How to Upgrade the bearings on the Fishband GH100

As I say above, there’s only two bearings you’ll need to change to improve casting performance. The best way to show this is in a step by step video:

Changing Bearings on the Fishband GH100: Side Plate Bearing

  • Flip the “open/close” catch on the side plate to “Open”
  • Twist off the side plate and gently pull out the spool
  • To change the side-plate bearing, use a pointed tool to compress and pop-out the retaining spring from its grooved channel in front of the flat face of the bearing
Side plate bearing retaining spring

Retaining "spring" wire for the side-plate bearing

  • Remember to cover the opening to the side plate with your thumb to stop you losing that spring!
  • Check you’ve got the 3 x 10 x 4 mm bearing (measure the central hole against the one you just took out – or fit it onto a bearing tool - to make sure) and drop it into the recess. Bearing tools are available with measurements marked on each "step" (link at end of this article)
  • Use some forceps/hemostats or even eyebrow tweezers to push the spring past the bank of magnets – and poke one of the “corners” into the grooved track
  • Compress the spring and lever it down – working your way around each corner in turn until you feel it suddenly snap into place

Changing the Spool Shaft Bearing

  • Use a Shaft Pin Removing Tool (link at the end of this blog article) to carefully push the retaining pin out from the shaft. Remember to push from the narrow end!
Baitcasting reel spool shaft pin removing tool

Shaft pin removing tool slotted over the spool shaft and lined up with the narrow end of the pin

Spool shaft pin and removal tool

Removed pin sitting in the recess designed to "catch" the pin when it comes out of the shaft

  • Slip off the old bearing and slot the new one in place
  • Push the retaining pin back into the spool shaft using the pin removing tool (push from the THICK end of the pin this time) and try to make sure it has an equal length of pin showing on both sides of the shaft
  • Slide the spool back into place – making sure that the bearing and retaining pin slide all the way “home” into the handle-plate recess
  • While doing this, feed any loose end of line from the spool so it sits inside the reel – and isn’t trapped in the gap between the edge of the spool and the reel body
  • Place the side plate back on (in the “open ¼ turn” position – then twist fully closed 

Remember to switch the “open/closed” catch into the closed position!

  • All Done!

Casting with the Fishband GH100

Out of the box

The Fishband GH100 feels pretty good out of the box as an introduction to the idea of Bait Finesse System reels. It palms nicely, spool tension is easily adjusted and the 7.2 : 1 gear ratio gives a great retrieve rate. It’s light in the hand too. However, a lot of the quiet and smooth sensation when winding in comes from the way the spool bearings are packed with grease. Here's a video trip diary of a session using the factory-greased stock bearings as supplied:

The grease in the bearings when the reel is fresh out of the factory means that there is quite a lot of inertia to overcome to get the spool spinning when casting lighter lures. In fact, to be really comfortable (at least with the GH100 reels I’ve tried right out of the box), you probably need to stick to lures over 3g in weight. On the scale of general baitcasting, that’s still pretty light of course. The brakes are very effective and, if needed, plenty strong enough.

Total Lure weight of jig head and soft plastic lure

For GH100 reels as they arrive in the box, 3-g total lure weights are very comfortable to cast and fish with


With that said, because this is a reel designed for BFS, there’s a good chance you’ll want to be using more of the style of casting where the rod is flexed to load it up and then allowed to straighten to propel the cast.

In other words, you are not relying on very much “arm” in the cast – it is mainly “wrist”

The casting hand is held fairly static (at least when generating power, you might move it to control/cushion the path of the line and lure in flight). 

In that situation, over-greased bearings make life quite frustrating – especially as you go lighter with the lure-weights.


I’ll get more into the change in performance that’s possible by stripping the bearings of all grease – and replacing it with a micro droplet of very fine oil in future content. Before getting to that, another simple option is upgrading to ceramic/ceramic-hybrid bearings...

Casting the Fishband GH100 with ceramic hybrid bearing upgrade

Even putting the very affordable ABEC 7 ceramic hybrid bearings makes a BIG and instant difference to the casting experience with the GH100. Not only are things like flip-casting a lot more manageable with a range of lures, but the ease of casting with micro lures down to around 1.8g becomes a realistic fishing activity for most BFS anglers.

Don't get me wrong, the Fishband GH100 won't quite match something like the Daiwa Alphas Air TW 20 for those lightweight lures, but then it is a fraction of the cost, so you need to weigh up your own needs and priorities pretty carefully!

1.8 g total lure weight of jig head and soft plastic lure

Here's a trip where I end up using much lighter lures (down to 1.8g) on the Fishband GH100:

Dynamic brakes and ceramic hybrid bearings: casting experience

Again, the braking system in the GH100 performs incredibly well; particularly at this price point. With light spools, light lures and squeezing every bit of performance out of these rigs; a truly dynamic braking system is a huge bonus. 

Unlike some other budget BFS reels, the braking system on the GH100 seems to be good on both left hand and right hand wind options. I own a left hand wind GH100. On my reel (spool below) you can see that the spool “porting pattern” on left hand wind reels puts the maximum available metal on the spool over the bank of magnets. 

The picture below shows that the spool-bearing side of the shaft (right of picture) is OPPOSITE the non-ported section of the spool (where the writing is). That means that the area of spool under the writing fits over the magnets - where it should be!

Spool weight with pin and bearing

Full weight of spool plus pin and factory bearing - note that this should work correctly with left-hand wind reels as well as right

That’s worth keeping in mind – since most original versions of baitcasters are created as right hand wind; with the left hand wind being a subsequent modification. It has been said that some manufacturers in the budget BFS space have got that conversion wrong – resulting in braking that is too weak in the left hand wind version reels.

Casting Noise

Going back to bearings for a moment…Maybe I am slightly unusual – but I actually quite like the sound of dry ceramic bearings when casting (OK, it’s not as cool as the sound of a DC reel!). For me it gives a bit of extra feedback on spool-speed – on top of any “fluffing up” of line loops you can feel under your thumb) as the lure flies out.

Factory fitted bearing for Fishband reel

Factory-fitted bearing from GH100 (quiet, but packed with grease)

 I do realise that a lot of people prefer quiet bearings while casting though.

If that’s you it might be worth going for specialist BFS microbearings in stainless steel...

Roro lure do these and the model number/specifications are 1054, Red 1-15g and 1034, Red 1-10g on this page https://rorolure.com/products/roro-stainless-steel-ball-bearings-for-baitcasting-reel-spool.

Using a pin-drop of ultra light reel bearing oil is a good idea for both performance and quietness with these bearings.

Suggested “Sweet Spot” lure weights for upgraded Fishband GH100

With upgraded or cleaned bearings, any relatively streamlined lures of 2.5g and above are easy to cast well. I’ve found that, at my current skill level, I get comfortable “fishing performance” out of lures down to about 1.8 g – which is actually a very practical weight for many of the small trout streams I fish.

Where to Buy a GH100 (still super affordable):

Fishband GH100 BFS reel
 Check Price & Availability (Global)

Limitations/Downsides of the Fishband GH100

Ultralight Casting Performance

Things are moving pretty fast in the affordable Bait Finesse System market and while the 9.3g (with bearing)/8.2g (without bearing) spool weight is pretty good there are several affordable reels with lighter stock spools. These include the KastKing Zephyr as well as Fishband's own upgraded PW100 Plus. 

You might be interested to know that the latest version of the PW100 has a drag-clicker - whereas the GH100 has a silent drag.

Of course, there are many high-end JDM reels that either have stock or after-market custom spools that are lighter (and with exceptional bearings right out of the box). Currently, there don't seem to be custom reel studios making after-market spools for the GH100...

Baitcaster brakes and bfs spool

If you want to flip cast lighter lures (and you have the rod to do it) and/or you’d genuinely benefit from fishing 1g lures - the more expensive, Japanese reels will be where you’ll want to invest your money. By the way, here's a LOT more guidance on bait finesse casting skills to help you get the best out of your reel. 

Manufacturing Tolerances

Compared to top end Japanese reels, there is more chance of line getting between the spool and the reel body/getting tangled in the braking system of the Fishband GH100. This comes down to the manufacturing tolerances possible at this price-point.

I realise this word “tolerance” is thrown around a lot, so at the risk of stating the obvious I still think it might be worth making sure we’re on the same page.

In engineering/manufacturing, tolerance is the size range that is accepted/tolerated for each part that comes out of the factory. 

So, let’s say a machine can produce parts with a diameter of 20mm, they might have a tolerance of plus or minus 0.1mm. That means the smallest examples would be 19.9mm and the biggest 20.1.

When the different parts of a reel are put together, depending on the tolerance of each separate piece, the gap between them after they’re fitted together will tend to be bigger in lower-cost manufacturing.

High end Japanese manufacturing facilities have famously small tolerance ranges and that performance comes at an easily justifiable price.

Affordable BFS & Dynamic Braking: Fishband GH100 Summary

  • Here is a very good place to step back and remember that to be paying prices in the $50 to $100 range for such specialist ultralight/BFS performance with ported spools and dynamic braking is pretty much unbelievable. 
  • The ability to try out this style of fishing with this level of performance for such a low outlay of cash will allow a lot more anglers to get into BFS. 
  • A simple and affordable upgrade to the bearings opens up really amazing performance 

↓↓↓ Links for tools and components mentioned in this article ↓↓↓

Tools for changing bearings on bfs and baitcasting reels

ABEC 7 Ceramic Hybrid Bearings (orange seal): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000829896062.html

Bearing/Shaft-Pin Remover Tool: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32861171573.html

Bearing Internal Diameter Measurement/Testing Tool: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000025551501.html

Spare Spool For GH100 (plus other spool options): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000636792058.html

Each of these links are the ones that I've used to obtain my own tools. While my experience with ordering from those sellers, obviously your own experience may differ as I have no formal relationship with those vendors. The above links are also NOT affiliate links, they are provided only as a way of showing where I found my own kit.


OK, I hope you found some/most/all of that useful and interesting! Let me know in the comments if you think I missed stuff out - and also if you'd like to see similar content in future,


Paul

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About the author 

Paul G

Angler, Author, Blogger & Biologist

Dr Paul Gaskell

  • Thanks for the guide, I’ve been using the GH100 with the bearings you suggested and I can cast 2.5gr lures and if they are aerodynamic also 1.4gr lures. I can flip cast and it’s really nice to use but I really miss the clicking drag and the building tolerances of the GH100 are not very good but for the price it’s ok. I’d like to upgrade to an Aldebaran BFS or a Calcutta BFS. Will I be able to have the same performance out of the box with the Shimanos as the GH100 with ceramic bearings casting lures down to 1.4gr? Thanks in advance for your answer.

    Reply

    • Hi Al – I think I need to give my answer a few different layers.
      First of all, the bearings quality in either the Aldebaran BFS or the Conquest BFS are great right out of the box. Now, the spools in each may be just a slight amount heavier than is absolutely ideal for 1.4g – however if you’re managing that with a GH100 spool; I think you’ll enjoy the performance at that weight (particularly with the Aldebaran).
      However, to get the best out of either of those reels, I reckon that going for an aftermarket, ultralight spool (maybe with extra brake magnets where needed) would be a fairly expensive, but very enjoyable option…

      BUT – my final answer would really be that what you would probably enjoy most of all (at least from a casting experience perspective) would be to buy a Daiwa Alphas Air TW 20 PLUS one of the latest Ryan Sagisi Clicking Drag kit. The cost of both reel and drag kit still be about the same as (or even less than) the price of a new Calcutta.

      Good luck with your choices and your fishing!

      Paul

      Reply

      • Paul, thanks for your answer. I checked the spool weights with bearings and: GH100: 9.3gr Aldebaran: 7.7gr Calcutta: 7.9gr . So I think that they’ll be better spool wise, I didn’t know if the shimanos bearings were better than the ceramic bearing you put in the GH100 but you answered that.

        I really like your “BUT” and I think it could be the perfect solution, Sagisi recently did a cheaper clicking drag kit also!

        My last doubt is, I really love the form factor of the Calcutta BFS, I also have the Calcutta 101dc and I really love using it. So tough decision between the Calcutta BFS and Daiwa + Sagisi Kit.

        Reply

  • Dear Paul, you should make a video where you exactly explain how the whole tuning process was made.
    I mean, where you get the bfs spool , the line retriver etc.
    Will be a great help for all lovers of Abu Ambassadeur 2500 ish.
    I had the idea to buy one, but I havn’t had a clue where to get the spool, retriver + the costs.

    Reply

  • Hi First of all great review I’ve just ordered one and the bearings and can’t wait for it to arrive thanks for the links I just wondered if you knew what size the hole is for the handle? as I prefer a bigger handle on a bait caster and would like to order one so it arrives around the same time thanks james

    Reply

    • Hi James, sorry to be a bit slow spotting your comment, I’ll try to measure it as soon as I get chance and then drop another reply on this thread…

      Paul

      Reply
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