Tsurinoya Genius 50H & Elf: Next Generation Affordable BFS Reels

Do the latest Tsurinoya Genius and Tsurinoya Elf reels deliver on their promise to take over the baton from the phased-out DWU?

Tsurinoya Genius 50H: Specifications & Tale of the Tape

Before listing out the vital statistics, here's a heads up that the product links in this article will be affiliate links which - while they don't increase the ticket price for you, do offer vital support to Fishing Discoveries with my great thanks.

Gear Ratio: 8:1 (Genius) or 6.4:1 (Elf)

Line Retrieved per Handle Turn: 62.5cm or 24.6 inches (Genius) 50cm or 19.7 inches (Elf)

Spool Inner Diameter: 24mm

Spool Weight: 5.6g (without bearing) 6.5g (with bearing)

Line Capacity: 140m of #0.8 PE (0.148mm) diameter

Casting Brakes: Magnetic, static, adjustable in the "MagTrax" style with 30 steps (clicks) between "0" and "5"

Audible Drag?: Yes - subtle clicker when line is paid out

Max Drag Force: 4kg (8.8lb)

Line Guide: Conical Ceramic

Reel Body Material: Carbon

Bearing Number: 10 ball bearings plus one anti-reverse bearing

Casting Bearing (spool and side-plate) Sizes: A pair of 834 size bearings (8mm outer diameter, 3mm internal diameter and 4mm wide)

First Impressions of the Left Hand Wind Tsurinoya Genius 50HL

Picking the reel out of the box, you find it is supplied with a soft but padded neoprene protective case which is a nice touch. The finish is good quality and is a smooth glossy texture over a sparkling, very dark grey with a blue/green tint. The handle design and feel is familiar from the Dark Wolf Ultra (DWU) and both reels have the exact same 135g quoted weight.

After the first few handle turns to spread the (fairly generous) grease throughout the workings of the reel, it feels surprisingly smooth and possibly a little more "solid" than the Dark Wolf Ultra. There's just a very small amount of play when you rock the handle away/towards the body of the reel but nothing to write home about - especially at this price point.

The handle knobs of the Tsurinoya Genius are mounted over bearings - and this supports the overall smooth feeling while not spinning particularly freely due to the grease applied to protect against corrosion. The thumb bar has no "slop" and it snaps easily and cleanly when pressed to disengage the spool for casting.

Re-engaging the spool by turning the crank possibly feels a little more positive and reassuring than on the DWU. It's difficult to explain (since I never had a major problem with the DWU clutch re-engaging) but for whatever reason I feel a little more confident in the mechanism in the Genius 50H. 

The gap between the spool and the reel frame is small which suggests the manufacturing tolerances are pretty tight. 

With the clicking drag star loosened all the way, turning the crank while using my thumb to trap the spool reveals quite a subtle audible clicking drag. The drag pressure at the minimum setting still needs a little force to pull line off the spool (for instance when threading through the guides on your rod). However, as long as you pull the line straight up (and don't rely on pulling the rod tip round and back on itself) this won't be a problem. 

The zero setting on the drag is certainly way too little pressure to fish with if you have any hope of a hook-set or if you want the ability to reel even the smallest fish in towards you! So, when it comes to setting the drag for fishing, you actually have plenty of turns to take drag pressure from zero up to what you'll need to land fish.

The drag itself in use gives a nice even pressure and doesn't feel too grabby at all - even straight out of the box.

Here's a really nice unboxing video and tour of the reel by Peter Kim at the BFS Fishing Channel on YouTube:

Need a Quick Check for Best Prices & Stock?

While delivery times from the Tsurinoya official store on Aliexpress tend to be a couple of weeks or more, it can be a great way to get the very best pricing. You aren't confined to just looking on the official store though - once you click through on the image or button below, you are still free to navigate the rest of Aliexpress to see if other sellers have a better offer.

BUT, as with any seller online, it's definitely worth having a look at their review and feedback scores before spending money with whoever you decide to go with and I've chosen the Tsurinoya Official store here based on best price at the time of writing and the most extensive feedback - plus the reputational "skin in the game" of being the store that represents their brand directly.

If England is closer for you than China - there should be faster shipping from a UK-based store since Needham's Specialist Tackle also carry the Genius (you can check availability on the Needham's button above or by clicking the image below).

Casting Performance

Let's be honest - this is where any BFS reel sinks or swims. For a budget-friendly reel like the Tsurinoya Genius, having the ability to produce amazing casts with incredibly light lures right out of the box would be a kind of super-power. It's what opens up great BFS experiences to everyone without having the price barrier of some of the wonderful top-end reel (often with high-ticket aftermarket tuning components).

Now, obviously, the cost savings have to come from somewhere - otherwise you're automatically driven into the position of manufacturing a premium-price reel and all the tiny details and complexities that drive up production costs. So - the question is; does the Tsurinoya Genius 50H manage to pull the rabbit out of the hat and create exceptional ultralight lure casting performance with budget components?

Having fished and also pretty savagely cast-tested this reel - I have to say, yes it absolutely does deliver remarkable casting performance.

Trout Magnet Cast Testing with the Genius: Head to Head with the Dark Wolf Ultra...

For this test I loaded both reels with just 30m of 4lb Berkley Trilene Fluorocarbon. I didn't want any differences in the age or surface condition of braid to interfere with a head to head comparison under the weather conditions of the day.

The rod for each test was also kept the same (Tsurinoya C472 Ares)

The lure was that classic "But can I really leave my spinning reel at home?" benchmark test.. The 1-g Trout Magnet

Here are the different configurations I cast against the tape measure:

• Dark Wolf Ultra with Roro BFS ST Bearings and Magnet Upgrade
• Genius Stock Bearings (as supplied with no cleaning or aftermarket oil/lubrication)
• Genius Roro BFS ST Bearings

Here's what they did on the field against the tape in the same casting session:

Now, apart from the remarkably close performance between the brake-modified/Roro Bearings DWU and the Genius/Roro Bearings - notice also what the Genius did right out of the box...

Comparing those distances with test casts carried out on separate days almost a year apart with the DWU - there does seem to be a combined effect of using 50-m of braid (compared to 30m of fluorocarbon and possibly (cross) wind conditions. The Roro bearing/magnet upgrade best cast on the braid setup/conditions on the day maxed out at 13.0m.

• So it seems that combination of factors is good for an increased distance of around 1m in the most recent cast test for the fully tuned DWU rig.
• But when you compare that to the DWU with stock, uncleaned bearings (and upgraded magnets) - the max cast distance was 11.75m (results here)
• Even allowing a full extra 1.0m for the conditions and fluorocarbon - The Genius "stock" with zero modifications taken fresh out of the box hit 13.75m (45' 1") - (basically a metre further than should have been possible).

Over that short range - an extra metre is a big difference in performance. 

You can also see some "zero-wind" conditions casting on a level (outdoor) basketball court with the same rod, line and lure for the Genius in my comparison to the Soloking Acura here (which matches closely to that ~12.75 m mark for the uncleaned, stock bearings in the Genius.

It's Not All About Maximum Casting Distance

Even with tiny lures that, by rights, should require a spinning reel to cast - performance isn't only about maximum distance.

With that said, when testing with very light lures, distance is often a pretty good stand-in for several different characteristics. That's because you will be throwing that light lure fairly hard to get it to go out there. That immediately tests whether the brakes can control your spool during the crazy initial acceleration from zero to max rpm. If the brakes are too weak or the spool and bearings have too much inertia for a light lure to be cast easily a long way - it is likely that both accuracy and also the flat trajectory of a flip cast with those lures will also suffer.

The other very important factor is you don't want a reel that's quick to punish you with a back lash - even if it would cast a long way when you get everything perfect. 

With the Genius, I find that I can consistently hit good, accurate casts without worrying if the reel is going to backlash - and that is true of the reel when it is fresh out of the box.

Flip Casting

The reel allowed me to flip cast well directly out of the box too. However, this is one area (along with any of the flatter trajectory casts) that having the Roro BFS bearings installed gave an added layer of performance and consistency. Yes, the bearings added a bit of extra distance too - but if that extra foot or so is the only reason to consider BFS bearings it may not make a big enough impact for you to feel it's worth it.

If you did want to install the Roro ST BFS bearings then my affiliate link is below - and I've also linked to their bearing-puller tool since the "O" rings on the ST (Silent-Tune) bearings make them very difficult to remove otherwise.

NOTE: The option to choose from the Drop Down menu is SiC834BFS ST Red You need a pair of these bearings to upgrade your Genius or Elf - so make sure to update the contents of your basket so that the quantity is "2".

On Stream Experience with the Tsurinoya Genius 50H L

Since I often find myself casting upstream and retrieving lures back down towards me with the current, a reel with a high gear ratio is a definite advantage. In fact for keeping the line tension up so fish don't throw the hook when they run downstream straight towards you, it is pretty much essential. This is the main reason I would choose the Tsurinoya Genius ahead of the Tsurinoya Elf - which will be favoured by anglers wanting to work baits at a slower pace (perhaps on stillwater venues).

On my first trip out I threw a range of lures ranging from 1g Trout magnets, through 3g and 4g hard minnows as well as various cheb-rigged soft baits weighing in at up to 4.8g.

The reel handled them all extremely well with hardly any adjustment of the brakes necessary (I put it up one click to handle the Trout Magnet). The fishing on this first day was tough - on a rising river with coloured floodwater in and I only managed one fish (a small chub which jumped free of the net while I was trying to decide if it was worth a trip to the shallows to photograph or not!).

In hindsight, I would have liked a photo of that little fish because it was so pale - which seems to be an adaptation to coloured flood water.

Overall Round up of the Tsurinoya Genius 50H L

Again, it seems that the budget-conscious BFS angler is blessed with another great reel that will offer a high quality experience of Bait Finesse without breaking the bank. I was very relieved that the side-plate "MagTrax" style magnetic brakes worked really well and allowed me to throw such a range of lures - while really comfortably controlling all of them; right down to 1g. 

Because of the way this braking system works, it's impossible for the Tsurinoya Genius to have different braking performance between Left Hand and Right Hand wind reels. This is very reassuring.

What I still can't get my head around is the way this reel seems to handle the addition of Roro BFS bearings very well compared to other "static" braked reels I've used. In reels like the Clamber Hyper Micro and KastKing Zephyr, adding those bearings doesn't seem to add any distance (and actually feels like they make backlashes more likely if you're not extra careful).

My only theory on this at the moment would be to wonder if a combination of a much lighter spool AND the smaller diameter could change the braking profile of the Genius and Elf reels compared to those other examples? Could it be, for instance, that having the smaller diameter spool (and an associated increase in the rpm of that spool during casting) may make the change in strength of induced magnetic current more prominent? In other words, having a higher rpm might induce a more powerful braking at the maximum spool speed - while dropping off more at the end of the cast...

That's still a mystery to me - but what is clear is the great casting performance and the ability for the brakes to handle a variety of lures. I don't see it having any problems with lures in the 9 to 10g range if that's what you're throwing (just be careful not to spool yourself and fish with more line for that more "power BFS" style).

The bottom line is I'd be confident to recommend this reel to anyone looking for great, cost-effective performance straight out of the box. While I was testing the 1-g casting ability to the maximum I pushed the limits and experienced several back lashes (as is to be expected when trying to find where the limits lie). My 4lb fluorocarbon never got behind the spool into the side-plate - though once or twice it began to "pinch" in the gap. 

That level of tolerance is actually very good for a carbon-bodied reel in this price bracket.

The only other area that you might want to consider is that the audible drag clicker isn't as loud as something you'd find on a Shimano reel (for instance). However, it doesn't judder the spool as the line is paying out and it definitely gives you more clue than a silent drag that a fish is taking line from you!

All that remains for me to say is. to experience this reel for yourself, you can...

Check out the Pricing and Seller reputation score for the official Tsurinoya Store here: