Larry Lunker

that's what I'm saying..."thanks for the suggestion, but I'll take it from here" lol

Thanks, exactly…must be me casting too hard or something. Will experiment once I finally get out on water with them. You want to feel the tiniest bit of side to side play in spool when it’s filled with line already right? And when feeling for the side to side play, can a lure be hanging off the end of rod or should there be no lure tension at all when checking for spool play?

Actually...for my first Steez A that I mentioned used with 1/2oz jig, I took 17lb tatsu fluoro off of one reel that I had used last season only and put it on the Steez. I had just set my old reel down, pressed its thumb bar and loosened spool all the way before stringing it onto my Steez like I normally would have. I was a little hesitant to do so but went for it after posing the question here of transferring fluoro from reel to reel. I did notice the line had some strong memory and wasn't ideal, but hit it with a few treatments of kvd throughout the day and it got a little better. (Wouldn't recommend it if you can help it) So part of me was thinking it was the recycled line giving me the issues. But on the swimbait Steez setup, that's where I used fresh 18lb sniper fluoro and spooled it up as described above with my daughters help.

In all of my past reels (shimano, Lews and abu garcia), I never even considered side to side play of spool.. i would always just go for the slow "elevator" free fall of lure and make the tension as loose as it go could without the spool fluffing up a bit upon lure hitting the ground on free fall. I did put line over that bar between twing and spool. After initially stringing the line through all guides, I tied a little uni knot to spool, stuck a pencil through the spool of line and had my daughter hold it up for me as I reeled. Line came off the topside of spool when she held it so it could curve back onto the top of the reel's spool.. believe thats the right way, no? I even used a microfiber cloth sprayed with KVD line and lure conditioner on the line as I reeled.

it would fluff up mid-cast though... and was conscious of spooling the line properly onto reel (no different than spool any of my shimanos). Having a hard time identifying what I'm doing wrong thanks, i'll give the factory settings a chance and hope for the best!

I'm new to Daiwa and just bought my first Steez A II (JDM) and it's my first time working with Daiwa's "zero adjust" spool tension knob. My first Daiwa was the new 24Steez SV which has the true zero adjust spool tension where you can't adjust and it is sweet/works beautifully but knew the Steez A II was a different animal. I read not to touch the spool tension knob and to let the external mag-brake dial do all of the work. Coming from Shimanos I was a little skeptical but I tied on a 1/2oz jig, walked out to back yard and tried a cast. Set the brake dial to 10 and got a backlash first cast, then another. Bumped the brakes up more and more and still backlashed. I backlashed until I tightened the spool tension knob by a very good amount, until there was a noticeably slower rate of free fall of my lure. Once I got all of that sorted, it was smooth casting from there, but didn't expect all of that fine tuning given the whole "zero adjust" knob... anyone else experience this? I bought a second one (also JDM) for a small/medium size swimbait rod, tied on a 6" magdraft, stepped back out to the yard for a cast without touching the spool tension knob and again a backlash on first cast. So happened with both reels with both lures. I know about the tightening it fully then backing off until there's a tiny bit of side to side play, but that method has not worked for me with both a 1/2oz jig and 1.25oz swimbait... to find the sweet spot for each reel, I just set the external to 10, tightened spool and continued to cast, loosening the spool between each cast until I was at the cusp of backlashing. Now I can just adjust the externals up or down depending on wind. I hate to be a cliche Shimano guy but is the 'zero adjust' knob bogus and its really more like a traditional spool tension knob? I have a Zillion coming soon and wondering if I'll encounter the same thing.

Thanks, I definitely prefer a traditional fast over an extra fast too although wacky weightless senko is my rig of choice on spinning 95% of the time so I'm a bit torn.

I have $300 in trade-in value to burn and can stack it on top of a 20% discount so I feel it's a great opportunity to swing for the fences and upgrade my spinning rod. I have a few NRX+ casting models and thinking about scooping up the 852s, but wondering if it's worth forking over another $100 or so for the Conquest 842. I plan on using it mostly for wacky rig senkos, maybe a little drop shot and ned rig mixed in there too. Anyone have experience with both? Which one do you think is better for wacky rigs and to also serve as my lone, general purpose, spinning rod?

FINAL UPDATE: I'm compelled to share the final verdict to help others with same issue down the road... I replaced the main gear and pinion with a new set and it's back to buttery smooth again. Had nothing to do with bearings apparently. New gears fixed the "geary" feeling...who would've thunk it! Thanks to all

Does anyone know if the new 24 Steez SV TW has brass gears in either the US or JDM models? I bought one from Japan and wondering what I’m sacrificing from the US model outside of warranty. There isn’t much content out there about it yet. What first jumped out at me was a very small handle (I think it’s 85mm). I don’t want to crack it open quite yet to check for myself so putting this out there to see if anyone knows!

Thanks so much for laying that all out for me. You’re the man

thanks man, having a hell of a time trying to find the proper replacements for the bearings. Could you drop me a link to particular set that would gel with the 151 XG model? I'm also checking out the Plat site but can't tell if the gears are brass or not. Definitely want brass

Always willing to put in a little work to save myself some money! I sort of find cleaning reels to be fun... cathartic to an extent.

Appreciate the input although I kicked off this thread by stating I bought it used sight-unseen, in "excellent condition" per the vendor. Saved nearly $200 but kind of kicking myself now. But if a $50 bearing replacement kit solves it I still win

Nice man - I currently have 4 Metaniums and love them (2 on NRX+ rods: 873 & 844, 1 on an Expride B 72MHG and another on an Orochi XX Braillist). Also grabbed an Aldebaran this winter for an NRX+ 853 but haven't fished the reel yet. I recently ordered a Bantam/Destroyer P5 Mark-56 combo and that new Metanium DC 70 for an Orochi XX Flatside Special but both reels and Mark-56 are backordered right now from the shop I bought from. Recently picked up a Destroyer P5 Dark Sleeper rod and wanted to pair it with this new Steez to give the Megabass/Daiwa combo a try. I traded in 7 of my older/cheaper combos which were all fairly technique specific so trying to backfill with some bougie gear in the cheapest way possible (waiting for used gear in mint condition go on sale for additional discount and most recently ordering right from Japan). Pumped for all this sweet new gear - makes me want to throw a punch rig through the ice just typing this out!