Daiwa SS SV

[Jmp_37]

I recently picked up a Daiwa SS SV 103SH, I got it for 200$ on eBay because it was a pretty good deal being that it’s MSRP is around 350$. But after looking at reviews I feel like I made a mistake. I’m going to be using it for jerkbaits and finnese swimbaits... etc. should I keep this reel or return it and get a diffrent one? If so which should I get.

[PhishLI]

1 hour ago, Jmp_37 said:

I recently picked up a Daiwa SS SV 103SH, I got it for 200$ on eBay because it was a pretty good deal being that it’s MSRP is around 350$. But after looking at reviews I feel like I made a mistake. I’m going to be using it for jerkbaits and finnese swimbaits... etc. should I keep this reel or return it and get a diffrent one? If so which should I get.

Why not just use it and find out for yourself? If I listened to reviews or opinions I wouldn't have half the reels I now own and like quite a bit. People tend to be hyperbolic. I'm cautious regarding recent products that have particular known parts failures, but subjective opinions? Fooey. I've had different and opposite opinions once I've actually fished with something myself.  You have no idea what the preferences of other people even mean or add up to by reading what they say, including myself. There're just too many variables ranging from the ancillary equipment they used in conjunction with a reel to their casting style. Try it, you might like it.

[Jmp_37]

Should I do that or return it and get the SV light LTD for 300$ on tackle warehouse?

[RichF]

I use my SS SV for jerkbaits.  But, I rarely fish jerkbaits, so I haven't used it all that much.  It's a nice little reel but idk if I'd pay $200 for it (got mine for $150 on TW a couple years ago).  I just order new carbontex drag washers for it so maybe that will change my mind but...

 

Pros - super light, very comfortable to palm, pretty smooth, almost no backlashing

Cons - feels a little cheap because it's so light, tiny 80mm handle, WEAK drag, brake dial protrudes a bit so I end up

           accidentally changing settings without knowing

 

Take my opinions with a grain of salt though.  Like I said, I haven't put hardly any miles on the thing in the 2-3 years I've owned it.  It could probably make a nice finesse/bfs reel if you're into that sort of thing (I'm not).

 

 

[MountainMan83]

32 minutes ago, Jmp_37 said:

Should I do that or return it and get the SV light LTD for 300$ on tackle warehouse?

If that is what you decide to do and you're a righty, you can get it cheaper at tackle trap.

[NOC 1]

I like mine. It is essentially a Steez with a few less bearings, but there are a couple of significant differences.

 

Most people, including myself find the stock spool to be over braked. Not a big deal to me I replaced that with a Zillion SV TW G1 spool ($90 from The Tackle Trap)which works very well in the SS SV.. The original spool works pretty well in the OG Steez and TD-Z reels so I put it into one of those.

 

I added the "missing" bearings and brought the count back up to 11 and upgraded the spool bearings to ceramic.

 

The last thing is the drag. Many don't care for it, but as of yet I've had no problems with it. I'm sure that there is a way to change out the drag to the Steez stack, but haven't needed to look into it at this point.

 

The reason it is so light isn't because it is cheap. it is because the frame is made from Titanium. That sort of hollow feeling is normal for a Ti framed reel. To me the reel as I modded it is now much like a Steez, which are listed at around $500. To some people I guess the Steez feels cheap too.

 

I have mine on a 6'1" Megabass Speed Tip Special (XF with a solid stinger tip) and use it for small jerks, topwater baits and Ned rigs etc when fishing in and behind brush and flooded scrub.

[MountainMan83]

*Magnesium frame, zaion side plates.

[Jmp_37]

9 minutes ago, NOC 1 said:

I like mine. It is essentially a Steez with a few less bearings, but there are a couple of significant differences.

 

Most people, including myself find the stock spool to be over braked. Not a big deal to me I replaced that with a Zillion SV TW G1 spool ($90 from The Tackle Trap)which works very well in the SS SV.. The original spool works pretty well in the OG Steez and TD-Z reels so I put it into one of those.

 

I added the "missing" bearings and brought the count back up to 11 and upgraded the spool bearings to ceramic.

 

The last thing is the drag. Many don't care for it, but as of yet I've had no problems with it. I'm sure that there is a way to change out the drag to the Steez stack, but haven't needed to look into it at this point.

 

The reason it is so light isn't because it is cheap. it is because the frame is made from Titanium. That sort of hollow feeling is normal for a Ti framed reel. To me the reel as I modded it is now much like a Steez, which are listed at around $500. To some people I guess the Steez feels cheap too.

 

I have mine on a 6'1" Megabass Speed Tip Special (XF with a solid stinger tip) and use it for small jerks, topwater baits and Ned rigs etc when fishing in and behind brush and flooded scrub.

But after spending that much money is the SV light LTD going to already have these upgrades? How does that one compare to the SS SV? I don’t know if I want to spend another 100 something bucks on something I can have already perform good for around 300$.

[Jmp_37]

12 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

The SV light has a very shallow spool and is a dedicated finesse reel.  The spool cannot be swapped out due to it being an odd size too.  

Alright think I’m probably going to just get a new spool for it, what spool should I pick up for it?

[Jmp_37]

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

One of these two depending on what you want to do with the reel.  You might as well grap a cheap carbon fiber handel off the site too while you're there to get rid of the stock short one.

https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/32807561187.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.7c961937SCSLjN&algo_pvid=99342792-88ab-4ea3-ad82-c3c0bc26a7b3&algo_expid=99342792-88ab-4ea3-ad82-c3c0bc26a7b3-1&btsid=0be3743b15894183125817178e9d61&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

 

Alright thanks man! Thanks everyone else too for the experiences/ input.

[CrankFate]

It’s a great reel, especially fishing over 1oz or as modded like @NOC 1 mentioned.

 

Please never knock a reel because it’s not a Steez. 

[Basseditor]

I tried a ZPI “M” spool but it was little wild to my taste. So I put the M in a Zillion and the Zillion SV spool in the SS SV. Now I have two great reels. 

 

The SS is a semi finesse reel now. I could go all finesse with it if needed but I have two other reels that are better BFS. It’s on a Kistler light rod. 

[NOC 1]

On 5/13/2020 at 6:18 PM, Jmp_37 said:

But after spending that much money is the SV light LTD going to already have these upgrades? How does that one compare to the SS SV? I don’t know if I want to spend another 100 something bucks on something I can have already perform good for around 300$.

I guess it depends on what you are looking for. As BaitFinesse pointed out, the SV Light is a reel specially set up for bait Finesse fishing. The problem is that if you buy it and find out that it isn't working like you figured it would for what you are doing, you are stuck because there really aren't any spools to change it into something different.

 

The Zillion SV, Steez, TD-z, SS SV, SV103/105 and maybe a few others can pretty much be turned into what ever you want it to be, from a Long casting crank bait reel for 1-2oz lures to a Finesse reel down to around 3/16 oz.

 

The SV light is a good high quality reel, but the way I do it to stick mostly with the reels I just listed and have a stash of spools that I can swap around as my needs change.

 

[NOC 1]

On 5/13/2020 at 11:55 PM, basseditor said:

I tried a ZPI “M” spool but it was little wild to my taste. So I put the M in a Zillion and the Zillion SV spool in the SS SV. Now I have two great reels. 

 

The SS is a semi finesse reel now. I could go all finesse with it if needed but I have two other reels that are better BFS. It’s on a Kistler light rod. 

The only thing I've found that I like the M in at all is a TD-Z. But even then it's plenty touchy. The last thing I tried was that TD-Z on an OG Black Label 6'10" ML-R. Kind of OK, but anything lighter than 3/8 or so I can;t get any distance and if I loosen it up enough to get the distance, it is very wild (at least for my abilities).

 

I think it will be good on a M power rod.

 

I think if I had a chance to, I'd trade it for something else. Someone who is a better caster than I might find it more versatile.

 

P.S...I love that Zillion SV G1 spool in the SS SV too. It will do just about anything except the really light BFS stuff and it is probably not ideal for the big baits. Otherwise it has it covered.

[NOC 1]

39 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

With some of the super light weight spools out ther guys are casting down to 1/16 oz total weight with trout magnets.  Some of these spools are under $60

I don't doubt it a bit. I have one of the Chinesium BFS spools on one of my PX68's, so I just never had a need to go there on any of the bigger reels.

 

Re-reading what I wrote I guess I did say that they would only go to 3/16. What I should have said was that I have MINE set up to go down to about 3/16. Lighter than that I go to the PX's with either a Finesse Special spool or a Ray's BFS.

 

That Ray's spool on Hedgehog BFS ceramic bearings will 100% go under 1/8 oz.

[NOC 1]

1 hour ago, BaitFinesse said:

There are also new ones from Roro that go way lighter and are fixed inductor.  The old Ray's style with the air brake can be had for as little as $22 now.  Insane.  I have one of the early Ray's spools in a Pixy and an Alphas and they both do better with 1/8 oz to 1/4 oz total weight.  The air brake isn't well suited for UL IMO.  There is insufficient energy to get to operate the air brake with the really light stuff and fixed inductor is better in these UL applications.  I actually fixed the inductor on an old Ray's 103 sized spool with superglue. 

 

I'll give the Ray's spools credit though.  They absolutely launch baits but are so shallow that you end up spooling them easily.  I wish they made more deep finesse spools like the Tatula long cast but for other platforms.  The other long cast spools they have are fixed inductor and don't have the thin tapered inductor and air brake. 

 

You can alsl just buy the inductor from a Ray's spool individualy and it does fit the SV spools.  Guys will do this to the SS SV spool to wake it up but it is not an easy task unless you frequently work with small snap rings.

 

 

Good stuff Thanks. I really haven't gone lower than about 1/8 oz. i know that I have no problem with that on the Ray's spool (usually). Just never needed to go lower except crappie fishing and for that I have a whole other set of gear...

[Lead Head]

Do you guys think this reel could be used for pitching/skipping 1/2 oz jigs on braid? I would love to have a sv spooled reel for skipping (I can do it, but need all the help I can get) but the t-wing and I don't play well together. I just didn't know if the drag and gears can handle jig + braid hooksets.

[RichF]

3 hours ago, BaitFinesse said:

You might be able to get enough drag pressure with stock gears and just an $8 carbontex drag washer but I doubt it.

I just did this a couple days ago.  The cabontex made the drag feel a little beefier, but not much.  

[RichF]

2 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

Still only enough for treble hook baits and finesse baits I imagine?  Anything beefier and a gear swap/drag kit is needed I guess.  That is what I gather from reading up on the reels.

I could see using it for light T-rigs or finesse jigs but mine will stick to treble duty.

[Lead Head]

Well crap... thanks for the input guys. The search for a SV spooled skipping reel without a t-wing continues. 

[Lead Head]

18 minutes ago, BaitFinesse said:

SV103.  Fish stock.  Alternatively there is the Alphas SV/SV105 .  Upgrade drag and change out the handle.

 

So now I'm confused. Are you saying the sv103 should be fine stock? I've seen them for $199 new and was considering that. 

[MountainMan83]

28 minutes ago, Lead Head said:

So now I'm confused. Are you saying the sv103 should be fine stock? I've seen them for $199 new and was considering that. 

He's talking about the reel based off the OG Zillion that uses 34mm spools. I know, Daiwas naming system can be very confusing.

 

[Lead Head]

Ahhh... thanks. 

[Lead Head]

Thanks! Makes much more sense now.

[fishwizzard]

On 5/20/2020 at 1:08 PM, BaitFinesse said:

Still only enough for treble hook baits and finesse baits I imagine?  Anything beefier and a gear swap/drag kit is needed I guess.  That is what I gather from reading up on the reels.

How do you hold the combo when fishing bottom contact?  The way I palm results in my thumb resting on the spool, so just tightening my hand on the hookset adds enough "drag" to get a solid set.  

 

Also, what does the SS SV share a frame with any other reel?