14 hours ago, NorcalBassin said:

The hook up tackle's surprise two day 22% off Christmas sale made a 3 piece PB Rat too hard to pass up. Pink 2 piece was great for me this year, and allegedly the 3 piece is even better for the open deep water I generally fish.

 

12 hours ago, NorthernBasser said:

 

Some impressive baits, for sure. Love how they're made of resin. I got these two at the beginning of last year. For whatever reason, I only threw them a few times. Didn't get anything on them yet, but did have one monster blowup on the 3 piece, but missed it. And if you ever need to replace the tail and wanna keep that same color, Creme Lures makes some.

 

 

You guys are killing me. Just ordered a 2 piece. 

13 minutes ago, Jrob78 said:

 

You guys are killing me. Just ordered a 2 piece. 

Hey, that's what friends are for! 

16 minutes ago, Jrob78 said:

Just ordered a 2 piece.

Hopefully it shows up in only 2 pieces too.

24 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Hopefully it shows up in only 2 pieces too.

What do you mean? Do they have breakage issues?

2 minutes ago, Jrob78 said:

What do you mean? Do they have breakage issues?

Buyer beware.

10 minutes ago, Jrob78 said:

What do you mean? Do they have breakage issues?

I certainly can't speak on it since I have used mine much, but I have never heard of any issues. They're built like a tank. Unless people have issues with the hinges/hardware or something?

14 minutes ago, Jrob78 said:

What do you mean? Do they have breakage issues?

I'm sure it will show up as you expected it to.

I'm not finding anything negative with a quick google search, I guess we'll find out. ?‍♂️

8 hours ago, Johnbt said:

"We will see how it performs when spring comes."

 

Could you try it today, while I'm at lunch, so I can order a couple of Steez A2's while they have lefthanded ones in stock? And while my wife is out of the house? 

 

It's been 50+ degrees the past few days and the lakes by me are still 75% covered in ice. I am hoping to try it out on Sunday.  The water temps will probably be in the upper 30's but at least I will be able to cast a lure with it. 

Bait Monkey Season is in full effect!

 

My main focus this year was to outfit my vessel, Wilderness Systems Recon 120 HD to be more tournament ready. I debated adding a Newport Sports NK-180 motor but I wasn't ready to spend the dough when I had other areas to address first, like a Blackpak Pro, better rudder, more rod holders and some other creature comforts.

 

Part #1: Garmin Echomap 95sv with GT54 transducer. Picked that up Christmas night $750 off at Cabela's. Still debating which battery and mount to get. The unit should arrive later next week, goal is to win a tournament this year and add a 75sv and LiveScope. Thinking a 12v 18-25ah will be in order.

 

Part #2: My order from PTBO Pro Tackle here in Ontario arrived earlier today. The focus was more combos and to round out my arsenal after selling/swap gear at the beginning of this season. I picked up x3 2022 Daiwa Tatula XT rods, which are much lighter than I anticipated and lookers. Think of the last gen Shimano Zodias but with black/carbon accents.

 

I grabbed a 7' 3" Med Fast Spinning + 2500 Fuego LT for bottom contact duty, ned rig, SMH rig and neko. Canadian fishing legend Bob Izumi praised long spinning rods for fighting brown bass and letting the parabolic bend to do most of the work. Gonna need some 10lb braid and an extra SLP spool.

 

I sorely missed a dedicated cranking rod this past season, especially for dual duty as a topwater and smaller glides or chatterbaits. Insert a 7' Med Regular Glass Daiwa Tatula XT casting + 6.3.1 Fuego CT. Getting 10 or 12lb Seaguar Invisx.

 

My MHMF jig rod wasn't cutting it for frogging or flipping tactics, insert a 7' 3" Hvy Fast Daiwa Tatula XT + an existing 7.3.1 Daiwa 100 off my Topwater rod which is getting a new 6.3.1 Fuego CT (I prefer the slower retrieve for my fav two baits: MB Dog-X & EG 125 Showerblows) With the Hvy rod, I can finally start using an A-Rig, Frog and 6" Magdraft without moving a reel around.

 

Also grabbed 1/2oz & 1oz Dark Sleepers in Donko (goby), Haze (perch) and Clear Pink for smallies. A 3600 Plano one compartment for my big swimbaits, wakes and topwaters and scored a Daiwa Needle nose pliers for blowing too much dough.

 

Next up is more gear from Yak Hobby and Yak Attack to finish outfitting my rig.

 

Edited December 31, 20223 yr by Dangerfield
Space/spelling

6 minutes ago, Dangerfield said:

Thinking a 12v 18-25ah will be in order.

If you're looking to add another sonar later - go with the 25ah.

And the monkey wins again. 

The beating was rather severe this morning, and there are two Zillion HD's and two Ark Invoker 7'9" HF on the way. 

I really thought I had escaped the clutches of the bait monkey for the rest of December. But The Hook Up Tackle's sale got me good. 

 

Got the Evergreen Combat Stick Jackhammer rod. 7'3 Heavy Glass, Mod-slow. The finish on this series of rods is ridiculous, they look so much nicer than their price at 200$. I was never a huge fan of the camo grips online, but in person they look pretty cool. The range on this rod is 1/2-2oz and you really can feel that, a 1/2oz jackhammer with trailer feels like when you throw a 1/4oz spinnerbait on a 1/4-1oz medium heavy rod. I have a couple of plans to use this for, but main duty will most likely be jackhammers & magnum crankbaits. KVD 4.0 & 8.0 are the current plan, but I have not explored the oversized crank world too much yet. I expect a Big Blade chatterbait to feel at home on this thing too, which will be nice because I was pushing my cranking rod throwing it on that rod. I might mess around with some lighter swimbaits on this, but I am not sure yet. I do know I will try putting braid on and throwing big topwaters like the SB125, Ima Big Stick, big spooks.  

It's not tackle per say, 

but this will make my tackle perform even better I hope.

Ended back up in Cabela's looking for mounting solutions, nothing but ice fishing gear out now.

 

Managed to walk out with 2 clearance items which are kinda head scratchers: Jackall Rerange 100 in Perch and a Shimano World Popper in Pink. I couldn't resist another one compartment case considering how neatly it carries the Dark Sleepers in their clamshells, plus a big bonus was the Plano KVD 3600 bag. Fits x3 3600 and than some, probably enough space to add a phone, pliers and a handful of soft plastic zips or a couple of clamshells. Perfect for beating the bank.

Edited January 3, 20233 yr by Dangerfield
Typo

Happy new year to me

I know @gimruis will be relieved to know my PB Rat arrived safe and sound, in an appropriate number of pieces and feeling nice and solid.  Got a 6” Rafa Pumpkin Seed Wake Gill also. 
 

4 minutes ago, Jrob78 said:

I know @gimruis will be relieved to know my PB Rat arrived safe and sound, in an appropriate number of pieces and feeling nice and solid.

Good to hear.

TW got me for a little over $200 today mostly taking advantage of their holiday sale.  10% off GC so I got a $100 one for future spending.  Nothing really sexy just line, hooks, weights, some Sleepers, and some hair jigs.

Welp. I bought crankbaits after all. And jerkbaits before that! What’s next? Chatterbaits??!! The bait monkey is patient I guess. Anywho, nobody told me that the rapala color “Big Shad” is a sexy beast. 

1 hour ago, Junk Fisherman said:

TW got me for a little over $200 today mostly taking advantage of their holiday sale.   Nothing really sexy just line, hooks, weights

May not be sexy, but getting terminal tackle is like being an adult and getting socks and underwear for Christmas. Not real exciting, but it's something you definitely need. 

11 minutes ago, NorthernBasser said:

May not be sexy, but getting terminal tackle is like being an adult and getting socks and underwear for Christmas. Not real exciting, but it's something you definitely need. 

I did not show it, but on TW’s Black Friday sale I got oodles of hooks. Mostly KVD triple grips and my most used worm hooks. And glad I did. I am well stocked up. 

Well I got spinnerbait rod number 2 and I went with the same Kaden 714 I have been using. It accurately casts the 1/4 to 1/2 ounce baits I toss and I know it has the power to keep them from wrapping me around a reed. The avid I was using was inaccurate with a sidearm cast with 1/4 ounce spins, so if I need a third spinnerbait rod that will get the nod for the heavier baits. 
 

Yes, I to have a spinnerbait problem. A few years ago I would likely only carry 3 rods in the boat, and now it’s 3 for just spinnerbaits plus the other rods. 

On 12/30/2022 at 10:49 AM, Johnbt said:

"We will see how it performs when spring comes."

 

Could you try it today, while I'm at lunch, so I can order a couple of Steez A2's while they have lefthanded ones in stock? And while my wife is out of the house? 

 

Took it out today for about an hour. It was about 65 degrees, go figure. All the ice at my local pond was melted. I caught a couple of large mouth and one crappie.

 

The reel was awesome. It is slightly better than the new Zillion. Is it $150 more better? As usual, probably not but it can cast further than any of the Daiwa reels I have used. It's smoother than the previous Steez A and close to the smoothness of the Steez CT. Casting this reel is something special though. It just seems to keep going. I tried pitching the crankbait I had on just for the fun of it and it blew me away how far it went. I currently have it on a G. Loomis IMX Pro 865 CBR Deep Flex. I might be waisting it's potential by using it for crankbaits but one thing is for sure, Daiwa hit it out of the park again with this reel. I can't imagine what a new Steez SV might feel like. 

1 hour ago, FishTank said:

 

Took it out today for about an hour. It was about 65 degrees, go figure. All the ice at my local pond was melted. I caught a couple of large mouth and one crappie.

 

The reel was awesome. It is slightly better than the new Zillion. Is it $150 more better? As usual, probably not but it can cast further than any of the Daiwa reels I have used. It's smoother than the previous Steez A and close to the smoothness of the Steez CT. Casting this reel is something special though. It just seems to keep going. I tried pitching the crankbait I had on just for the fun of it and it blew me away how far it went. I currently have it on a G. Loomis IMX Pro 865 CBR Deep Flex. I might be waisting it's potential by using for crankbaits but one thing is for sure, Daiwa hit it out of the park again with this reel. I can't imagine what a new Steez SV might feel like. 

Finally.....we've been waiting patiently ?

 

Seriously, that was a very informative post....I award you some special token or emotion if I could lol.

 

You answered the one major question I had at the end......you can't because there isn't a new Steez SV...hopefully TW yet.    To me it seems that the SV TW reels are just brilliant do it all reels whereas the other models slowly delve into the niche/technique specific realms.  

 

This was the one Steez I wanted besides the 16? SV TW.....barring we don't get an updated SV TW.

 

What reel b/t all the JDM Zillions and Steez models would you recommend for general purpose bottom contact stuff from 3/8th-1/2 jigs, to 1/8th-3/16th T-Rigged 8" Mag Zoom lizards or 7" Roboworms?

 

Something tells me I can't beat the Zillion SV TW in a higher gear ratio, but dang want another Steez.  They are just the coolest reels made imho, and obviously the performance/craftsmanship/and weight are unrivaled again imho as Daiwa reel fanboy.   I still like the flagship Shimano reels, but they just don't offer anything close to the Zillions at the price point.