Team Daiwa Steez Review

[Ca_Bass]

Ok I got my 7ft med hvy steez svf casting rod yesterday. Initial impressions, it is beautiful! Probably the prettiest rod I've seen in person. Once I got it out of the packaging (and there was a lot of it, I guess cabellas really doesn't want to replace one of those rods because it broke shipping), I thought it would be lighter, but I reminded myself its a 7ft med hvy jig rod...it's not gonna be that light. I have a 7ft med hvy prodigy I use for jigs that I did my comparisons with. First thing I did was weight the two on my wifes digital cooking scale(same type people use for weighing drugs in the movies). The steez was 4.5oz pretty good for a beefy rod, the prodigy was 5oz. Weight wise it's only slightly noticeable but after a full day of fishing jigs it should really cut down on fatigue that might cause me to lose a fish or two. Next step was to move to the carpet, I gently held the butt of each rod with my finger tips so I could see the flex under a light load and then I bounced it a little to see how fast the tip reacts and also to see how far down it starts its initial curve, I like to do this when I'm purchasing a rod, it really helps me in picking the right rod for the job. The steez rods tip is considerably thinner than the prodigy but it is much more crisp and bounces back a heck of a lot faster. The steez is also slightly thicker at the base which will increase the overall power and fish moving ability of the rod. The taper of the steez is extremely fast, and it also doesn't seem to have cost it any power. Then I went to the grass with both rods and started pitching, I'm kind of a rookie at pitching (mostly I have been a flipper). With the prodigy my acurate pitching range is about 12ft or so (about as far as my flipping range). My first pitch with the steez rocketed about 18 or 20ft and I also had more control of my jig. I'm sure with some more practice I can pitch to about 25ft and keep my presentation soft and acurate using my steez. My next test comparison I did was to actually bump, pop and shake my jig with both rods. This is what I found was most incredible. When I was "working" the jig with the steez, the jigs rattles were extremely louder than with the prodigy. On both rods I had identical strike king denny brauer pro model jigs (my favorite jig at the moment). Initially I thought that maybe the jigs rattles on the prodigy just weren't as loud, so I took both of them in my hand and started shaking them. And they sounded the same...the ability of the steez to transmit every thing I did to my jig was amazing and should really help me catch more fish. Another thing I noticed during this portion of my initial test was how well I could feel what the jig was in contact with. There was in difference in the way the jig felt from grass, wood, dirt, concrete, roots. I have gotten pretty good at noticing these differences with my prodigy, but they are definitely more pronounced with the steez. Although, I haven't actually fished with the steez yet hopefully I can get out Thursday, but I can already tell it should help me catch a few more fish. The sensitivity will help me feel a few more bites or feel them quicker, and its power should help me get a few fish out of heavy cover. When you are fishing for big money, 2 or 3 more landed fish can be the difference between 1st or 21st.

There will be more to follow Thursday or Friday with my review.

Although I really enjoy fishing Wilson I can't wait to get back to the mainland and start fishing big money tournaments again. I love going to the weigh in knowing you have caught what it takes to win.

[skunked]

Thanks for the review. I hope to be able to check it out someday. Should be a pretty awesome combo with your Core reel. There are so many excellent rods to choose from in all price ranges nowadays! That's good news for everyone. You should get a G-Loomis NRX and compare it to the Steez! My most expensive rods are a Loomis GLX and a Dobyns Champion Extreme, but they are still way less $$$ than your Steez. The Dobyns is the "prettiest" rod that I've seen, but I don't own a Steez. The best balance of price and performance that I have is a Shimano Cumara. I think I have to stop spending money on gear so that I can scrounge up a down payment on a car. We'll see if I can stick to that resolution! Keep those reviews and helpful tips coming. Very informative.

[nuki]

I fished with Steez M rod last Sat. It is very light yet strong enough to reel in 22 inch LMB. Steez rod and reel combination works best for me.

[Ca_Bass]

I would love to have a rod locker full of steez and loomis NRX rods! I will probably get a steez reel after I get to the mainland to go with my rod. I couldn't pass up on the core, maybe the nice lady at roys could get me a steez at a good price too! If so I might get it sooner than later.

I read a little about the abu garcia veritas last night, they seem like a great rod for the $. I've also noticed that A LOT of the bass pros are using the Duckett and Veritas. But it's hard for me to say just because the pros use it means it is good or the best. For A LOT/MOST of them it comes down to sponsorship contract money. They're not gonna fish with garbage (although KVD did for a long, but it seems quantam has gotten a lot better). Every quantum I've had was a huge pile of you know what.

My next purchases will be a team daiwa zillion 6'3" medium action for topwater/jerkbaits paired with a zillion type r or a coastal. I need a new topwater rod, I broke my allstar rod a few year ago and had just used my team daiwa td-x because I wasn't fishing for largemouth back than (to focused on tucs). Over the past year I got the bass itch back and remembered I'm much better at catching bass than tucs. I've read a few reviews saying the zillion rods are actually more sensitive than the steez, just not as light.

Then I'm gonna get my wife a casting rod and teach her to use it so she has a better chance for next years fish off. She said she wanted a purple rod, I hadn't seen a purple rod that I could remember until last night when I checked out the damiki rods. Those rods are PRETTY and a deeep dark purple! I would use one. The one I saw initially, the damiki angel blade is $360 and way more rod than she knows what to do with they also have the angel ex which is only $80 but I can't tell if its blue or purple, I'm color blind and blue and purple are the colors I can't tell apart most of the time. I'd probably just give her one of my curados for it and won't feel bad about it.

Skunked,
You are difinitely right about the quality of rods nowadays. Much better than 10 years ago. Back then the only companies I can recall that made nice sticks at a decent price were allstar, shimano and fenwick. Daiwa had/still(maybe) has the light and tough which are/were nice too for about $100. A 6'6" light and tough was my first quality bass rod I bought, the first tournament I fished when I was 14 we took 7th place out of 66 boats/teams and we won about $740. We had 3 bass limit (it was a night tournament and they always did 3 bass limits for those) 14lbs and change if I remember correctly. I caught one just under 7lbs on a 6" black zipper worm with a glowtail and one that was about 2.5lbs, my friend/partener had one just under 5 . Well we split the money and I bought my light and tough rod and a shimano symemtre(still a great reel for $99 and a guitar. I was so thrilled to be fishing a tournament in a champion bassboat, it was amazing!

So much to choose from now! I guess as the sport of bass fishing grows so does the quality of the gear. Like in Mike Iaconelli talked about in his book, since ESPN bought BASS, the sport has really started to blow up. Unfortunately for me so has the price of bassboats. I can't wait to get my dream rig, but it's not gonna be my dream rig quite yet (gonna have to win some big money first)........my dream rig now is about $65k. Probably gonna have to compromise and get a nitro z-8 or z-9...but I will not have less 225hp outboard because I'm sure I would not be 100 percent happy, and one thing I've learned about myself is to just get what I actually wanted in the first place if I can afford it, because it won't be long until I will upgrade and being frugal with things I REALLY WANT is muchmore expensive than getting what I want initially...my RC car hobby/compulsion really helped me learn that lesson. I had to tone that hobby down, it gets you no where..and all the nice stuff you get IS going to break, probably not long after you buy as well..it's a vicous cycle.

[BASSTRACKER]

good lawd! thems some expensive toys! and i thought i was spending with my carrot stix and ducket rods! guess if money was being made or sponserships were offered id have no problem partaking of the goodies. its nice to get some gear info anyways as to how those upper price items work, makes it more desirable knowing something bout them and not looking at the price blind. i think you and skunked need to start a tackle addict group hahahaha course that may be more dangerous with a room filled with guys comparing notes on tackle!!! my wife would kill me in my sleep no doubt! think ill stick with my quiver for now and dream ahhhhhhhhh.

[Ca_Bass]

I plan on being a fulltime profisherman when I retire from the Navy, luckily my wife supports me and my NEED for quality gear. And she is the most frugal person I've met so that means more toys for ME!

I figure it will be much less risky to comit to being a bass pro if I have a monthly retirment check to pay the mortgage/bills with, full medical/dental coverage plus I will only be 39 so I won't be too old. So glad I'm transferring to Ga this year, should be able to start getting a return on my investments as well as a great location for honing my skills asnd get back into higher level tournaments. My wife is in the Airforce...and they don't transfer as much as the other services (stay put for 6 to 8 years) and the military keeps us co-located, so I should be able to live in bass fishing heaven for almost the remainder of my career!

Fishing tmw with roadwarrior, plan on using my steez most the day. Should be able to give a more informed review of the actaul performance side of the rod.

[BASSTRACKER]

dont think i could do the pro thing, after reading and hearing all the stories about what its like till you make it. i think it would just be too much work doing something i do for fun and relaxation. as for military retirement well it aint what it used to be, but a steady check is better than nothing these days. dont forget us when you make the classic! and good luck tommarow sounds like its been tuff, the wind must be killer on the trolling motor!what model steez you got again?