Northwest Fishing Reports

I recently acquired a Shimano Bantam Mark Plus SpeedMaster BMP-250 SM at an estate sale on a Cabela's Fish Eagle 9' Rod. It had some monofilament line on it so I cast it a few times iin the yard and it worked great. I could not even make it get a backlash. I decided I better put some new line on it before I use it. I put on 17 lb Berkley Nanofil which I had . Now I can't hardly cast this rig at all. Seems like that line should work on this reel?? Which brings me to my question.

What is the maximum wt. line I should put on this real, and how much line or do you just fill to the edge of the spool.

I can not find an owner's manual on line for this reel either. Does anyone know where I could get an owners manual for this reel? I was able to fiind the Exploded Part View for this reel.

I would like to try this rig on steelhead so I would like to put fairly heavy line one it, but maybe it cant handle and I will just have to use for Kokanee and trout.

Any help would be appreciated..

part of the problem might be that nanofil was specifically designed for spinning reels. that reel should hold plenty of 12lb mono to fish steel. only time a person needs braid for steelhead is float fishing to help with mending. I usually run 8-10lb mono on my drift rods and 12-15lb mono on my spoon rods.

I love my old Bantam Mag reel, out of my three bait casters it dominates the other two in casting distance and backlash control (all same length rods). Only thing is it doesn't retrieve very fast, but with the right lures that's OK.

I use 8lb diameter braid on it. I do not spool it to the edge, if I recall correctly it wouldn't spool freely if it's too full. If using mono 10-12 pound should still cast well enough. 17lb seems awfully heavy, then again I've never had a 9' rod to aid in casting. All of mine are short 5'6" for bass fishing.

Thanks Spokey9 and dwh4784.. I had forgotten that the nanofil was more for spinning reels. My bad, I just grabbed what I saw first in my junk. I think I will spool up some new 14 lb mono that I found in my stuff and see how that works. I was pretty impressed the way this rig cast just home from the estate sale. The line was obviously pretty old though, so I stripped it off, after playing a little.. I still didn't find an owners manual anywhere, even on eBay or the Shimano web site. I did find the exploded parts view and an owners manual for the 100, 200, and 100ex...... not mine though.

I did find out that this reel was discontinued in the late 80s so it is very rare!!! (and valuable.....!! ha) That is why there is not a PDF of the owners manual available.

The exploded part view is hard to see, I need to experiment with zooming on the pdf as I cant seem to figure out how to get the Retractor Spring on the push button back in, side plate on, and reel back together after cleaning..... ha, ha.

Before I took it apart, I played a little bit more with the 17# Nanofil and it turns oout that it worked fair.... although not nearly as well as the estimated 8 to 10 lb mono that I took off.

If I can get it back together, I will load up with some 12 to 14 lb mono and see how it works.

Does anyone know if this reel is similar enough to other Bantams to where I could get most of what of what I need from a manual for a similar model...... maybe 250X ??? Thanks for your help.

Thanks to all who commented.

I managed to get this reel cleaned up thoroughly and re-lubed and re assembled. I loaded the reel up with 14 lb. mono and after a little tweaking it casts very well both good distance and almost never any backlash. I think I will try it out the next time I go fishing. I did find out that this reel was originally designed to be used with 10 to 18 lb monofiliment line.

I still would still like a scan of the owners manual, if anyone has one they would be willing to scan. Thanks again

Hi bea413, I have collected pre 1990 Shimano Bantam reels for about 10 years and according to the number you gave for your reel is a Bantam Mark Plus 250 SM. It has a 6:1 gear ratio and will hold about 140 Yds.. 12 lb. mono. It was only sold for 1 year from 1990 to 1991 because it was replaced by the Curado and the Chronarch. The book says it was a no bells and whistles reel with a real slick appearing no nonsense low profile. In Ex. to mint condition it is worth 40.00 to 50.00 that is with the box with paper work and all the other goodies, oil bottle, wrench, bottle with extra screws and casting control washers. Let me know if you ever find a Bantam 100 EX SG they are pretty easy to spot because they are the only Bantam that was silver/blue in color it was made from 1972 to 1989. This is the one reel that I need to top off my collection. And yes I use most of the reels in my collection.
By the way the book I got this information from is called Shimano Bantams the First 15 Years by Phil White

Thanks for the info fishing bear! My reel definitely is not Ex or mint condition as all I have is the reel. I knew it was only made for a short time, making it a little less common. It has a few scratches in it, but it works very well, looks fair, and I will be using it on the rivers. I have one other reel sort of in this class which is the Quantum1420 MG. I like the Quantum also, a lot, but I believe I can cast the Bantam better. I will keep an eye out for a Bantam 100 EX SG. It sounds like I need to find two of them....... one for you and one for me. Good book tip too on the Shimano Bantams by Phil White! Thanks!

fishingbear wrote:Hi bea413, I have collected pre 1990 Shimano Bantam reels for about 10 years and according to the number you gave for your reel is a Bantam Mark Plus 250 SM. It has a 6:1 gear ratio and will hold about 140 Yds.. 12 lb. mono. It was only sold for 1 year from 1990 to 1991 because it was replaced by the Curado and the Chronarch. The book says it was a no bells and whistles reel with a real slick appearing no nonsense low profile. In Ex. to mint condition it is worth 40.00 to 50.00 that is with the box with paper work and all the other goodies, oil bottle, wrench, bottle with extra screws and casting control washers. Let me know if you ever find a Bantam 100 EX SG they are pretty easy to spot because they are the only Bantam that was silver/blue in color it was made from 1972 to 1989. This is the one reel that I need to top off my collection. And yes I use most of the reels in my collection.
By the way the book I got this information from is called Shimano Bantams the First 15 Years by Phil White

What can you tell me about a Bantam Crestfire Cr-100? Vintage? It has the black, graphite housing. I like the durability of the housing, and that it does not seem to scratch, nor is reel rash an issue. Cast's as well as my Daiwa Advantage 153HSTA Super-Tuned. But the Bantam is much less sensitive to backlash. Even the slightest, mi-neut adjustment of the Daiwa will cause the nastiest of backlashes...........ummmmm..........professional overrun.

Oh one thing I forgot to tell you bea413 about the 100 EX SG the last time I bid on one on eBay that was in Ex. condition it went for $600.00 so bring your check book.

MotoBoat, Your Crestfire 100 was built from 1991 until 1993. It was the third generation of Bantam casting reals to reach the U.S. market. Gear ratio is 5:1 and spool capacity is 110 yds. of 12 lb. Starting that year all products were marked with dates of production and all boxes and reels were marked with model codes. Someone decided that they now needed to name all their casting reels with names beginning with the letter C. And spinning reals with names beginning with the letter S. This practice continues today. In Ex. to Mint condition they go for around $30.00 but don't be miss lead by this . Use it and enjoy the power of the Bantam line like I do and don't worry about what it is worth.

Tight Lines fishingbear

fishingbear wrote:MotoBoat, Your Crestfire 100 was built from 1991 until 1993. It was the third generation of Bantam casting reals to reach the U.S. market. Gear ratio is 5:1 and spool capacity is 110 yds. of 12 lb. Starting that year all products were marked with dates of production and all boxes and reels were marked with model codes. Someone decided that they now needed to name all their casting reels with names beginning with the letter C. And spinning reals with names beginning with the letter S. This practice continues today. In Ex. to Mint condition they go for around $30.00 but don't be miss lead by this . Use it and enjoy the power of the Bantam line like I do and don't worry about what it is worth.

Tight Lines fishingbear

That seems the time frame that I bought the reel. I bought that Bantam along with a Shimano mooching, Salmon reel. The kind that is one to one and reel it upside down like a fly reel. Seems like both reels purchased together, used, at a pawn shop in the early 90's was 30.00 for both.