hoohoorjoo wrote:Be forewarned-no one has ever returned from the darkside.

Especially when you get that Steez with a Megabass Finesse spool... speaking of which, when is Megabass going to make a spool for the Pixy?

Why not the Zillion Type R? I use mine for frogs and heavy T-rigs and love it. Sure it's a little on the heavy side but solid as it gets for high speed reels. If you're looking to spend $500 + have you considered the Calais DC (heavy) or a Metanium MG7?

dragon1 - Yup, .315 thick D2 baby One of these days I should have him make me a blade with .38 stock. You should check him out on Bladeforums, he's in the hosted knifemakers section. If you end up getting a blade from him tell him Kaleb sent you.

I bought the Prop Runner and thought it was a waste of $16. Hope you like them more than I did.

After fishing only conventional wraps until I built a rod with spiral wrapped micros I can tell you I won't build a rod with conventional wrap or guides. It literally transforms the feeling of a rod into something comfortable and crisp. I believe it also casts smoother, but that might just be my ima...

Steez 103HLA with RCS 1016 spool, made in Japan, on sale at TW. For JDM I would say either the J-dream, HLC (if casting 1/2oz baits predominantly), Any of the Alphas varients especially the Zonda as it holds the most line in the small frame Alphas line. For gear ratio I would say anything over 5:1 a...

^ I almost pulled the trigger on one of those, but got the Megabass finesse spool for my Steez instead.

Well after posting the above I said "doh, why don't I try it myself as I have both of the reels". I found that the RCS 1016 spool works in the Steez 103 (as Bronzefly stated) but found oddly enough that the Steez 103 spool does not fit in the Ryoga. after measuring all the crucial dimensions I found...

These rods are certainly not low end. Who here is going around calling the Daiwa Zillion rods low end and junk (not saying anybody is about the XX)? $200 and over is still more than most people are willing to spend as REW said. I for one have never spent over $250 on a rod (reels are a different sto...

The Type R is a beast, and for the price I don't think it can be beat for a frogging or heavy T-rig reel. I also used to use mine for larger spooks and the casts you can achieve with this reel is pretty impressive right out of the box. The only upgrades I have on mine is new knobs. I do plan on upgr...

Although I am please with the performance of all of my reels even the ones that are upgraded, the T# Ballistic just doesn't seem to need any further upgrades to me. Will the bearing and spool make that much difference? Jeff Hi Jeff - While I do think the T3 1016 RCS spool makes the T3B a better per...

Daiwa Steez 103. Second place with one upgrade would be the Ryoga 1016 with 90mm carbon handle.

Abu is certainly starting to win some points with me. I remember my Revo S that I bought years ago before I got into the higher end Japanese stuff and remember how impressed I was with it for a $100 reel. If they can produce a reel made in Japan for the US market in LH that weighs the same or less t...

If you want to go custom I would highly recommend the St. Croix 5C70MHF-G-10 that is on clearance at Mudhole. I built mine for jigs (which it does very well) but found out that it makes a fantastic spinnerbait rod when I had to use it in a pinch. The blank has a really nice tip but once that tip loa...

I really don't see this as any different than Daiwa coming out with a reel that was previously only available in Japan for $100 less with lower grade components and so forth. In fact, if Daiwa came out with a US version of the 1016 Ryoga or Pixy SPR at around $450 I would be thrilled. There is somet...