kickerfish1

That's a great fish. Kudos to your wife!

Fished water yesterday with similar temps but clarity was the complete opposite. Jigs and drop shot rigs out fished every other bait. Best advice would be to rig as many rods as you can that way so when you snag one up you can grab another without losing time or where the brush pile is.

Other than a Lexa I would look for a used reel. Your options and quality of reels will be very good going this route. The following should be within your range or close to it. Alphas/Sol- these reels will offer a similar profile than the pixy you used. They will be just a slight bit heavier but not by much. Also these reels are highly upgradeable with lots of tuning options. TDZ- these reels were the predecessor to the steeze. Also very light. Slightly different profile but still very light and palmable. Fuego- not too expensive and pretty cool looking and solid reel. Zillions- on the heavier side of Daiwa reels but a more bulletproof workhouse reel. This would be the order I would put them in as far as what reel you will probably enjoy the most compared to the pixy you played with. Take a look on Japantackle for a rundown of the reels under "discontinued reels". That will at least help familiarize yourself with the features and such that you may want. All of the above reels can be had for under $200 depending upon condition. If it was me I would get the Alphas or Sol from eBay or wherever you can find one. Fish it for a bit, then upgrade anything that you want to.

I would say that would be a pretty fair summation of the bait.

I have 2 Lews reels. I like both of them though they don't see as much time as other reels due to the fact they are on less used technique specific rigs. Had them for about a year with no complaints. For what I paid I couldn't be more happy but there are other reels I have that I like more.

Yea that! Same line and I would go with 12# personally. Trilene XL is a good line. I can't speak on the armor coated Trilene that is out nowadays but the older stuff is great.

I love my core 50. For versatility the 50 size is the weigh to go. The 100mg7 is supposed to be a great reel for heavier applications. Baits that offer more resistance would be better suited on a 100mg7. I believe the reel utilizes brass gears and a few other other features to help it with "power" techniques. I have a curado 50e, chronarch 50e, and core 50. I like them all. The reasons that you way consider the core 50 over the other 50 sized reels would be IMO... -lighter in weight... one of the lightest reels in the US market -faster gear ratio -smoother retrieve -Anti rust bearings... also a grade above the curado from what I have been told - the above leads leads to a faster spinning spool and better distance in my hands -awesome color scheme for stellar looks on high end foam handle rods! The curado and chronarch are no slouches especially if upgraded and tuned and just a bit heavier in weight.

Received a package of them yesterday. The baits have a great scent to them. Also the "shell" or ribbed body section, is extremely dense. I am guessing it is even denser than a Gary Yamamoto plastic. The craw legs are thinner in diameter and remind me a bit of the rage craws. They kick up a lot of water due to mini paddles for lack of a better word to give it a nice kicking action as it moves. I am also going to try to use one weightless, as I would bet the bait probably weighs around 1/4 oz +/- by itself. The quality seems to be what would expect from a bait with a price tag as such.

Looking slick!

The TDZ 100m spools generally are around $70-75. The tackletrap has them in stock.

You wouldn't be losing any sensitivity if you went with a higher end floro. For me tatsu or shooter are excellent for bottom contact baits likes jigs. They are both on the pricier side of floro but to me well worth the investment. Here in the Midwest 12-15# is usually all you need but if you need more strength you can go higher. While I think highly of invisix, abrisix, sniper, and p-line 100% floro, they just aren't as sensitive as shooter or tatsu.

Good stuff. You will like the TDZ, the predecessor to the Steeze. I have 100m and it is stellar reel. Your arsenal has been going bananas lately. Congrats on the cool gear! Should be an enjoyable year on the water even if the bite is tough.

Outstanding! Nothing better than a young angler being out fishing and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. Kudos to pops for getting him out!

I may not be the best to ask on this, but I use a 3700 series box. Unfortunately I have 9 of them packed pretty full. The boxes are organized by color and style primarily. Since you have a small amount of jigs I would say a 3700 or 3600 series box would be perfect. Another tip would be to utilize a few compartments in the box to store a few jig trailers. This will be handy and eliminate the need to take additional soft plastic trailers with you in a separate storage system. Just select a dozen or so plastic trailers and put them in an empty compartment or two. As you start using them up or they get worn out, just add a few more to the box.

Nice grab! Looks like someone has been bitten by the jdm bug. Dare I ask what reel you got rid of to make room for the new addition?

Unless the reel you are wanting repainted is pretty nice or special to you, it may be better just to buy a new reel. Casting reels typically cost $75-$125 to paint from most quality reputable painters. I would venture to guess a spinning reel would price out similarly. If you aren't reel savy than you will have to have the reel disassembled and have the parts needing paint sent off to be painted and then reassembled and lubed/greased upon completion. Just something to think about...

Have been using an Okuma Komodo for the past year or so. Purchased the reel new for $145.00. As others have noted the reel is a solid buy for the money especially for what I paid for it. It has a host of nice features and has that sort of "blinged out" look to it. It is pretty lightweight for a reel in its price point has abec5 level bearings stock. Once dialed in the reel is a great caster. Mike, at DVT recently worked on it recently and I am anxiuos to try it out again!

I think we share the same brain. Very well said!

Ditto... though on the caffeine shad though I prefer the full size. The d-shad is great in sparse cover and deeper water. Flukes to me are good when the fish are aggressive and caffeine shads shine when they are more sluggish.

There are a decent amount of reputable places out there that can do it. Some will only work on one brand of reel and other places will work on any. I have seen prices on a supertune range from - included in the cleaning/oil/re-lube cleaning and some as much as $20 per reel. Mike at DVT does it for under $10 a reel and would be a great choice.

Really digging picture #1. Good stuff!

Are there any plans to produce colored cork knobs at the point in time? Or just the end caps as pictured above. As far as colors go really any color would likely sell. Red, blue, gold, silver, orange, and purple would all look nice on most reels. I will likely be adding a few in the near future after the positives I have heard. Keep up the good work, the good folks at hawgtech!

I was kind of thinking the same about the dx 703. The only other rod I would think would be close is the cumulus 6'10 mh I am pretty fond of. The fact that I don't go over a 1/2 oz very often and like to finesse fish in the spring and fall would make it tough for the 703. I just don't think I would ever like a situation where I couldn't have at least 3 rods

Have over 20 outfits in the rotation. Probably could get by with 4 or less when a pattern or two has been established.

I once spooled a Sponge Bob reel!