Naturally we have a review already in the works on the new Velvick 3D by Rago Baits, but with the buzz surrounding Velvick’s Golden State Shootout Win on Clear Lake yesterday, I thought I’d put up some sneak peak looks at this bait designed especially for Clear Lake by both Jerry Rago and Byron Velvick. They’ve been at this for several years and finally all their hard work paid off. This bait features a line through design with an exposed treble, but when rigged correctly is virtually weedless. Here’s a closer look at the bait together with a closer look of the very bait Velvick was throwing during the tournament.

Looks like the swimbait revolution just received some serious reinforcements as it does every year when a big organization like BASSMASTERS comes out west. Who said swimbaits have to be a trout? Match the hatch with large baitfish in your area and you could very well experience some of the same success as Byron Velvick.

Better yet, want to get your hands on some? Try here:

MonsterFishing Tackle

and here:

TackleWarehouse

At about 4:15pm Pacific Daylight Time, a little over six hours ago, what most people anywhere near Clear Lake already knew became official: Byron Velvick had won the 2010 Golden State Shootout on Clear Lake. The California Native brought the trophy home in exciting wire-to-wire fashion. Of course, what our readers care about most may not necessarily be the fact that Velvick took home the prize, but rather, what new and yet to be released tackle was he using?

Already reported last night on TackleTour.com was the bait Velvick was using to build on his lead, the brand new Rago BV (Byron Velvick) 3D hitch bait designed specifically for Clear Lake by Velvick and Jerry Rago. In fact, we previewed this bait back in October of 2009: http://www.tackletour.com/previewragobassjam.html

Today, we caught up with Velvick after he signed his last autograph and the crowds had cleared for an up close look at his new rods, the Duckett Fishing Micro Magic sticks. Here now is an exclusive first peak at what’s brewing over at Duckett Fishing!

Introducing Duckett Fishing's Micro Magic Sticks

Each stick will feature an exposed blank reel seat, no foregrip, and split rear grip

Speculation was for a split reel seat similar to Duckett's former rod sponsor, e21, but instead, Duckett's new sticks will feature a standard, exposed blank seat

Cork is the material of choice for the split rear grip

Custom accent rings adorn the rod as well

But of course the big news comes in a very small package ...

Micro Guides

Congratulations Byron Velvick on an incredible job swinging for the fences and delivering!

The talk of the weigh-in by all the pros was the swimbait bite, but what will interest our readers the most is what we just showed you, Velvick’s new magic wand built by Boyd Duckett and Ken Whiting, founders of Duckett Fishing. He may not have been using these sticks exclusively, afterall, the new Micro Magic swimbait sticks are still in prototype stages, but Velvick tells us the rods are very close to completion.

This is the last of the eye candy, enjoy!

No details are overlooked in the Vagabond camp.

great lookin’ crawdad bait and an even better looking dog bait!

the big 10″ & 12″ King Hustlers are looking extra chewy

can never have enough hollow bodied baits to choose from

I bet these baits cast a mile..

some interesting paddle tails coming out of France

It’s great to see the double paddle on the Stella. I remember when the Spirex came out with this feature.

The New Revo Elite fitting right in on the big island

the Revo Salty sportin’ a sharp lookin’ handle/grip combo

some interesting UV colored finesse baits

I’d like to thank David Mery of Reins Pro Staff and French Touch Fishing for the pictures and insight. David lives in Paris,France and is a die hard multi species fisherman who also fishes tournaments. He was fortunate enough to fly over to the Osaka show and fish Biwa with fellow staffers. Merci beaucoup copain!

For those of you who haven’t followed my posts on the HBC this big fish tournament is already in it’s sixth installment. The event started in January of  ‘08 with 50 big fish anglers fishing for one big bite on the legendary Lake Casitas in southern California. The trail has since bounced around to trophy haunts such as Clear Lake, Lake Don Pedro,and the CA Delta. The current setting Diamond Valley Lake has been on everyone’s radar as a new up and coming fishery that has yet to see it’s prime. The first generation of Florida strain bass were planted in ‘99 and in only 8 years kicked out a 16lb lake record! With a growth rate like that there is obviously something going on within this 4500 acre fishery.  Since it’s closure to ramp construction over the last year many are hoping that the fish are a little less weary and are ready to chew in the super clear 260′ deep reservoir come Friday March 19th,2010.

This round of anglers shows no shortage of talent and experience, but if I were to put down a quick wager for the event it would be on Butch Brown. This hardcore trophy fisherman has buckled up for every HBC event, sits in fourth place in point standings, and has consistently done well in the prefish days leading up to each event. It’s only a matter of time before his skills show through on game day.

update: John Wick wins HBC with a 6.13

http://www.heavyweightbassclassic.com/default.aspx

We confirmed that G.Loomis is developing a new Construction Process. This new Construction uses a higher modulus Graphite as well as a new proprietary resin system. The result is a rod that is both 20% lighter and 20% more impact resistant and 20% more sensitive than GLX. Overall the new material is designed to be 25% stronger then GLX and because it will eliminate cracking and is better able to resist further damage from nicks and scratches. This is not some fancy coating, the Special Resin will be infused throughout the graphite fibers within the blank. 

G.Loomis’s own website and print ads say something big is coming out on August 13th. 2010

Because the new series blanks exhibit these performance and weight attributes G.Loomis states they will be able to deliver the same action and feel of an 845 (for example) at 2 powers lighter. While we haven’t had a look at the new material we were able to confirm that it will be employed on spinning, casting and fly rods and will make up a new series that is positioned above GLX. For the casting models G.Loomis also dropped a bombshell on me when they stated the rods would finally make use of a split grip. With the new lighter material they felt that it was finally time that they could employ a split grip design and still maintain proper balance. The rods will make use of what we are told to be the best performing most weight efficient guide train ever assembled as well as custom reel seats, no other details on the reel seat were provided but we are guessing G.Loomis will make use of some of the design elements that have become popular in the top end Shimano rods.

G.Loomis confirmed that the rods will feature a color that would not be expected in a G. Loomis blank and each will ship complete with a rod sock. We are estimating that pricing will be close to 500 dollars based on what we have heard so far but did substantiate that the rods will be rolled out sometime in the August timeframe with the launch of around 30 initial models. At the end of our conversation I asked about the origin of the rods and confirmed that all G.Loomis rods are still made in the U.S.A. and nothing will change with the introduction of this new flagship offering, they will continue to be built right here. We are looking forward to the new rods and as the company gets closer to the hard launch we hope to get more details to share with everyone.

I headed to Weber Point Park today to check out day 3 of the Trokar Duel on the Delta and it was truly a day full of excitement as the leader board really got shaken up. The previous day the clouds had come out and the rain actually helped the bite and helped propel Ike up into contention and Stephen Browning jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a second day with a 20 pound plus bags. Browning was looking really good coming into day three but the wind was blowing hard today and never got on the bite he experienced on the previous two days. Browning fell from first to fifth and other heavy hitters including Greg Hackney were there to capitalize.

Greg Hackney boats a 8.10oz. kicker and heads to the top of the leader board

Stephen Browning had two excellent days but today he only got one 13oz. fish and dropped from first to fifth but don’t count him out just yet

Skeet continued to be consistent and weighed in another 18+ pound limit which moved him up to third place, right behind him is John Crews. Each of these top four anglers has now weighed in over 50lbs in total weight and though Stephen Browning has dropped into fifth position with 46-1 don’t count him out just yet, if he can just have another day like his first two he will be right in it.

The Delta has proven to be a challenge at this event and the weather has mixed this up with a combination of wind and rain but when the remaining anglers blast off in just a few hours they should have the best conditions of the event thus far. It’s going to be a wild day on the water. Skeet drew cheers from the crowd when he asked if fans wanted to see a winner come from the West. With Hackney, Ike and Skeet in the top three positions it is going to be fight to the finish for sure.

The remaining field of pros to fish in the final day just six hours from now

Duel spared no expense for the show with their massive displays

good lookin’ trout and ghost patterns from the Zip Baits camp

some beautiful patterns from Combat Lures!

looks like Combat has introduced a new Royalflash Jr….such a great name for a bait

this lure looks like an interesting concept….possibly similar to the Greg Silks Z-Plug?

interesting big bait from NorthCraft wondering if this is a floater or sinker?

some tasty lookin’ jigs..

tungsten making its rounds

the Crankin’ Frog sounds very interesting!

stay tuned there’s more to come!

A lanky, laconic Texan from Jasper, Sebile pro staffer Todd Faircloth shares much with us in a concise manner, wasting nary a word to explain exactly how he achieved his formidable third place finish in the 2010 Bassmaster Classic.

“I caught probably 75% of my fish at the 2010 Bassmaster Classic on Lay Lake in Alabama on the Sebile Flatt Shad. I was throwing it in coontail grass that was growing in water depths up to the five foot range and just fishing flats and anywhere that the grass was a little bit thicker, it seemed like it was better for me,” explains Todd.

“One of the differences between a Sebile Flatt Shad and a lot of other lipless crankbaits is you can fish the Flatt Shad a lot, lot slower in the grass as opposed to a traditional lipless crankbait. I think that slowness was one of the real keys for me in the Classic, especially the last two days when the intense angling pressure really got to those fish.”

“I was fishing the Flatt Shad real slow. I was almost pumping it like you would work a worm through the grass. I’d pump it out of the grass, let it sink back down, and that thing has a little swerving action when it starts to nose down again that triggered all the bites for me whenever I would pump it out of the grass and let it fall. That’s when I caught all my fish.”

“The Flatt Shad was definitely a difference-maker for me. I was fishing behind a bunch of different people, some of the best anglers in the world, and that Sebile bait is not near as noisy as other conventional lipless baits. It has got a tight sound (vibration) to it, and I think that was another thing that helped me is the fact that, number one, I could fish it so slow and two, it has a more natural sound to it as well.”

“I used two colors, the Holo Greenie (D9) which is a shad with a green back. The blue-backed Sea Chrome (SC) color seemed to work best for me on the final day of the Classic,” recalls Todd.

“Red is also definitely a really good color in the south region of the country in the springtime, particularly if the water is a stained to off-colored clarity. In practice I was catching them on a red color, but it just seemed like I had better luck on the shad colors as the water cleared day by day. There were a lot of shad present in Beeswax Creek during the Classic. Besides, I like to use a more natural color in clear or clearing water as opposed to stained, murky or darkening water.”
“I caught all my fish on 16 lb fluorocarbon line, a 7′2″ medium action rod and a fast 7:1 gear ratio reel. What’s real important for using a lipless bait is using a real fast reel. That way when you get bogged down in the grass, you have that quick reel where you may pick up line real quick and free your bait from that grass.”

“The best advice I can give anglers for ripping the grass with a lipless Flatt Shad is to use a fast reel, and use at least a 7′ rod or even go up as far as a 7′6″ rod. I like to use a long rod, a fast reel and just hold your rod at about the ten o’clock position. Just reel the bait, in the Flatt Shad’s case that can be very slowly such as I found best in the Classic or it may be moderate to fast in other situations. Just reel until you come into contact with the grass, and whenever you tick the grass, you simultaneously kind of lift your rod tip as you crank the reel. What you want to do is you want to come into contact with the grass, but you want to keep your bait right on top of that grass. The fish usually aren’t down in the grass, but sitting right on top of it. You just want to make contact with the grass but pop your lure free whenever and as soon as you hit the grass, and a longer rod and fast reel both help you do that so you keep from getting bogged down in the grass.”

“I was using the 1/2 ounce model Flatt Shad 66 SK during the Classic, and I was just fishing grass. It seemed like the thicker grass that I found out the further off the bank, the better. These were pre-spawn fish just staging and coming up and I was fishing next to a big spawning cove, and it was just a textbook pre-spawn type situation,” describes Faircloth.

“They were out on the flats, and there were small, subtle points every so often, which was where I caught them. The little points were really just built-up bank, no special bottom composition or cover on them. The biggest key deal for me was just the coontail grass. There was not a whole lot of coontail on Lay Lake at this time except in Beeswax Creek. The one particular area I was in had a bunch of it, and I think that was the biggest reason why there were so many fish in there. Coontail is not found all over the country, mainly in the south is where you find it. It’s kind of like milfoil yet a little different in that coontail normally doesn’t grow real deep like hydrilla does or milfoil can. Coontail tends to be a shallower-growing grass. Most of my fish were between 2 to 5 foot of water depth, and the coontail the fish were in ranged from a 1/2 to a foot off the bottom, it wasn’t very tall. Some places it may have been as tall as two feet, and the taller the better it seemed like. It was just patches of grass. It wasn’t like I was following a defined grass line, it was just patches of grass,” reveals Todd.

“I had this one other thing also, and that was a natural drain coming down off the land. It was just like where a little spring branch would come in, and that held some fish for the duration of the Classic. That’s pretty much it in terms of the areas where I was catching them.”

“If you are fishing real thick grass, and you find that you’re having a hard time from keeping the bait from bogging down, the only other thing I would suggest, would be a braided line. A braided line will definitely help you keep the bait on top of the grass, and it will also help you rip free of the grass a lot easier. You need to go to a little bit softer action rod whenever you go to a braided line because you have no stretch there and you’ll tend to lose a few more fish if you don’t go to a softer action rod using braid. The grass wasn’t real, real thick at the Classic, and that was the reason why I used fluorocarbon there as I was deliberately trying to keep my bait down in the sparse patches, and fluorocarbon helped me do that because the grass wasn’t so tall and fluorocarbon sinks. Braid has a floating quality to it. In the summer when the grass gets much thicker, you bet I’ll be using braid then.”

“To sum things up for you, I think a lipless crankbait such as the Flatt Shad is one of the most productive baits you can fish in a pre-spawn situation, given that there is grass present. It is a great bait for covering water, and a lot of times when the fish are cold and sluggish like the ones I caught during the Classic, it takes a reaction bait to provoke a strike, and that’s exactly what I was doing at the Classic with the Flatt Shad.”

“The trebles that come on the Flatt Shad from the factory are the highest quality hook, second to none. So you don’t have to change them out. They’re the perfect size. I may have lost one fish total is all in the Classic, and I’m not even sure it was a bass, I didn’t get to see it. As long as you stay with a soft action rod and keep the fish down so it doesn’t jump, you’re good.”

And there you have it, a Classic explanation of how to rip the grass with Sebile’s lipless Flatt Shad from Todd Faircloth, third place in the world championship of bass fishing, the 2010 Bassmaster Classic.

BASS is coming to town and the Duel in the Delta will surely be a major event here in Northern California, only to be followed with a stop at Clear Lake next week. With all the rainfall that we have been receiving this year the Delta is muddier than usual and there is currently only 1-2 feet visibility throughout most areas and a cold snap in the area looks like it has altered the usual spawn patterns. So just how good will fishing be this year? Will it match up some of the massive weigh ins we saw three years ago? The largest largemouth ever caught during a BASS competition (14lbs. 9oz.) came out of the Delta back in 1999 by Mark Tyler and hopes are high for another spectacular big fish and total weigh in.

I think a little warmer weather is key to the event really blowing wide open and unfortuantely a predicted storm on Friday might really complicate things on day two of the tournament, but even with these conditions I think we can expect a total weight of close to 90 pounds to win this event. Which Pro has what it takes to adapt and win this event? Here are my top five picks for potential winners.

Does Skeet have what it takes to win the Duel on the Delta?

Skeet Reese: Skeet didn’t do so well in Alabama but now that were on the west coast in his own backyard he is going to come into this event strong and with a vengeance. He has finished in the top five in this event before and is going to surge either this week or next at Clear Lake.

Jared Lintner: I’ve fished with Jared and the man is an absolute beast when it comes to fishing shallow water and the Delta is also a body of water he knows well. This event and Clear Lake next week could both be excellent events for Jared and if the water warms up like it is supposed to that would only further play into his strengths.

Ish Monroe: I have to go with another one of our West Coast boys for my third pick. While it isn’t very likely with these current conditions that Ish will be throwing his frog a whole lot at this particular event when it comes to boating big fish there are few that know the Delta as well as Ish does. I think Ish has what it takes to place high up at this event and/or win it outright if he gets in the zone early.

Brent Chapman: Flipping and pitching master Brent Chapman is used to working structure and is versatile enough to be a serious contender on the Delta. Also an expert at shallow water Brent may just have what it takes to put an “X” in the win column this weekend, hope he packed enough Trokar hooks to fish plenty of plastics.

Kevin Van Dam: Finally just like covering the zeros on a roulette wheel I have to go with KVD. Why? Just because he is arguably the best angler out there right now and is hot off a classic win. You can never count KVD out and even though he won’t have the advantage of home water here on the West Coast he is among the most consistent anglers out there and has absolutely no fear of adapting quickly when conditions change.

So those are my picks, what are yours?

Prior to 2006 Abu Garcia had no say in the low profile reel market and I have to say, what they were offering before really sucked, and I bet the Abu reel team agrees. Then all of the sudden out of no where they introduced the Revo reels at the 2006 ICAST. It was Abu’s REVOlution, making a huge dent in the freshwater low profile reel market and even had the guys at Shimano running scared.

So when is Abu Garcia’s Next REVOlution and where are they headed?

Here are my thoughts on where they are going…

1) Abu Garcia rods – They started out with the low cost yet attractive and decent performing Vengeance and Vendetta rods. And recently the Veritas white bass rod that we previewed and also seen on our TackleTour Forum. Just last ICAST we also gave a sneak peek at the new lightweight rod but haven’t seen much of it lately except that it’s in the works. It will be called Verdict and will be super-lightweight and well-balanced. It’s time they introduce higher end rods in the Abu Garcia brand, though Jim at Abu did tell us at ICAST they want to introduce high-performing, JDM looking rods at affordable prices, and of course widely available and easy to buy, with a warranty.

2) The REVO lowprofile baitcast reels, they already have a great product here and only minor changes can be made if any. Nothing will probably happen here for this year’s ICAST unless they are making new reels out of new materials to make it super-lightweight. If it ain’t broken don’t change it.

3) So what’s left for the Next REVOlution? I have a feeling that it’ll be in the freshwater spinning reels and perhaps a high-end line of spinning reels under the REVO name. I was about to review the Pflueger Supreme XT spinning reel which I tested for trout fishing and it performed well but was then told it will be replaced by a newer and better model that will be introduced at ICAST 2010. Someone at Abu also leaked some word of a feather-lightweight spinning reel similar to what we’ve seen in the Revo Premier baitcaster.  This would match with the high-end lightweight rod, Verdict, that’s currently in development. Aside from that they can probably introduce a whole new line of REVO spinning reels here.

That’s where I’m seeing Abu Garcia headed for next year with prototypes being introduced this year at ICAST.

What would you like to see in the NEXT REVOlution?!?

At the recent Classic Daiwa created quite a bit of excitement by showing a prototype new reel under a small locked glass case. While we were not personally present at the event the buzz has been building both on our forums and in the industry in general. Hoping to get a look at this new reel I contacted Daiwa’s U.S. headquarters for more information but for the most part the company is keeping the reel under wraps for the time being. I was however able to confirm a few facts about this upcoming reel.

Daiwa explained that the reel was in final development and is confirmed for official introduction at this coming ICAST. At the Classic they wanted to display the reel under glass to get a feel for what reaction consumers would have to the new product. Suffice to say the reaction has been one of both excitement and curiosity. The new reel will fall under the popular Zillion series and is designed specifically for freshwater applications. It will be available in a fast 7:3.1 retrieve and to emphasize the speed a new design “7.3” graphic will be present on the side of the final reel. Finally, the standard aluminum swept handle found on other Zillion reels will be replaced with a black swept handle which is constructed with what the Daiwa representative calls “a good-looking composite.” At this time we could not confirm if the frame will remain the standard aluminum or also be constructed out of a composite (which is what has been circulating), but with the composite handle we are guessing the reel will be indeed be lighter than standard Zillions. No price point has been confirmed as of yet.

Could this be the souped up reel that narrows the gap between the Steez and Zillion series? Daiwa Zillion fans just have a few more months to wait and find out. If we can find out any more information about this new reel we will be sure to provide an update.

With the big show having taken place last month in Osaka,Japan I was fortunate to receive some pics for the Tog. If there is ever a fishing show I’d like to attend this show is it! Every year the show draws thousands of people from all walks of life.  One day I hope to get there and be behind the viewfinder until then the computer screen will have to suffice… enjoy!

lots of beautiful patterns at Megabass….they still pump out more variations than many of the big companies

an interesting hard headed soft body shad,along with what looks to be a lipless jerkbait,and possibly a topwater front runner? interesting prototypes to say the least!

Jackall knows how to meet and greet!

really looking forward to this new big swimbait…looks to be a larger swimming Ninja!

and the lovely Gamakatsu girls!

I’ll try to get some more pics up in the next few days….

Earlier this week when I finished the review of the Strike Pro Flex Crawfish this bait started up the common question “is that bait designed to catch fish or fishermen?” The product seemed to ooze the latter and yet I was proven wrong, and after putting in the proper amount of time into the product was able to catch fish using a variety of techniques on local bodies of water with resident crawfish. Will I fish it over a traditional jig? No, but I also can’t deny that in the hands of an angler willing to put in the time into the product it does work.

There are the select few products that may have completely repulsed mainstream anglers only to become popular after the “secret” got out, but for the most part products need enough initial adoption (or the backing of a big time pro) to become popular enough to become hot sellers. Take swimbaits for example. In the early days the pioneers carved these big ungainly lures out of wood and while most anglers rejected them early on they successfully spawned one of the biggest (and most often copied) segments of the bait industry. Nowadays there are countless companies out there saying they have a unique swimbait that hasn’t been seen before. Sure they do.

In an industry now dominated by giants it is getting harder for anglers to sift through all the marketing and get to the real heart of the question…. Will this product really help me catch fish? Is it a big turnoff for a product to be perceived as one that is designed to catch fishermen? Yes. Do anglers buy into fancy new products that spout off wild claims that promise pro-like performance in bag or box? Yes, even the best anglers do. It is really hard not to be skeptical when considering what features or claims are thrown into a product to garner attention from consumers but I think the good product is somewhere in the middle. It definitely must help anglers catch fish but it also should sport features that make it a product that anglers will enjoy fishing. The successful product is one that does a lot of fish catching and a little fishermen catching too, not only will it help you land more fish but it also makes realistic claims and delivers upon them. In this way more anglers will be motivated to try a product and discover just how good it really is, as the real test for any piece of tackle is how well it holds up to claims in the hands of the entire angling community not what is printed on the box or painted onto a lure.

So the next time you think “does it catch fish or fishermen?” The answer might just be “both.”

It’s good that I had my latest Pixzilla project or I would have been another victim of the winter doldrums. You got it, a long-cold spell …the water froze early last year but the ice hasn’t been suitable for any serious fishing. I’ve read all the books that I can stand, and surfing the net doesn’t help either.

At times, it almost seems like I spend more time shoveling snow than in my workshop, regardless of what my wife says about it. I’ve already got most of my rods, reels and other tackle ready for the new season; but it’s still too cold to get serious about the boats.  I’m chomping at the bit to hit the water with my latest addition to the arsenal.

So, lets spend some time looking at my new custom +R tuned Pixy.  Along the way we’ll  cover some things like getting a reel painted, doing a smoothdrag.com drag kit upgrade, +R tuning a Pixy spool, and a few other goodies. Of course, there will be plenty of pictures, tips and lots of detail for those considering similar upgrades. An Aside: Little did I know when I started planning in November that the Pixy project would end up being my answer to the new Daiwa PX68. It’s expected to hit the shelves in a few more weeks!

Oh By The Way: Yes, that’s snow and ice in the background of some pictures, it was just starting to flurry when I took them. You didn’t think I’d let you get away without sharing some of it?

Background

Come-on, get real; how can you make a Pixzilla any better?!? It already approaches perfection for lighter presentations, and excels at pitching and casting a wide-range of lure weights.  It’s no wonder that I have many of them now; they are fun to use, don’t hardly weigh anything, and the profile is easy for my crippled old hands to palm.  If you’re a modder, there’s plenty to tinker with too! A Note: A stock Pixy is no slouch, many users outside of TackleTour have never heard of a Pixzilla! Just try buying a NIB LH Pixy – they don’t come up that often.  However, if you are patient you can snag a used one! That’s exactly what I did, so read on…

I love pitching, roll casting and side-arming a Zoom Lil-Crit for smallmouth and can never seem to get enough of it!  Most of the time I use them weightless on a light #1 bass hook rigged weed less.  But sometimes I’ll put a 1/64 to 1/16 oz bullet sinker above the hook when in a little deeper water, pitching to specific weed openings in the wind, or as the smallmouth just begin to move in for the coming spawn. In early winter, I’ll even use them on sharper drop-offs near deep water; for some reason a smallmouth can’t resist that super-slow natural fall!  Unfortunately, if you’ve ever pitched or cast a Zoom Lil-Crit this way you already know what I’m talking about – everything together doesn’t weigh more than 1/8 oz., and has about the same aerodynamic characteristics as a cotton ball! A Note: Although the Pixzilla does a fair job with the right rod, line and reel adjustment; I still wanted a little more.  Remember my previous blog about always wanting to crank everything I can out of a reel? Well, here’s another example! Enough said for now.

~3” green pumpkin Zoom Lil-Crit TR with 1/32 oz bullet weight.

I’ve grown addicted to swept 4-bearing handles; they seem to be so much easier on my wrist, although I really don’t have a preference in carbon vs. aluminum. I also like the feel of Reel Grips and have them on all of my reels, especially since the profile seems to work better with my fingers.  (O.K. you guys can laugh, I even use them on handles that have cork knobs!) Then you have the level wind upgrade; swapping the bushing for a new bearing and a small spacer sleeve, for better level wind performance and line lay.  Of course, how could you ever have a Pixzilla without a Carbontex drag upgrade? And what about upgraded spool bearings and polishing a few key components in the reel; you already know where I stand on them if you’ve followed my blogs.  Last but not least, I like a stealthy look. An Aside: Maybe I’m getting a little finicky in my old age, but I occasionally get wild with a bit of bling at times.  O.K. I admit it, red shad has always been one of my favorite color schemes; and if there is black/green/white sparkles’ mixed in with the black it really catches my attention. Hey, red shad is kinda-sorta stealthy, isn’t it? A Note: I decided not to do the standard TD-Z level wind line guide mod as I was reassembling the reel.  I’ve never really noticed much difference with or without it – so I stayed with the standard Pixy guide. (I admit that I typically use lighter and more-supple types of line, and suspect that is probably why the longer line opening hasn’t been much of a factor.)  So, I’ve slowly started to migrate back to a stock guide in my Pixies anyway.

So there you have it, my specifications for the make-over. A Blog Note: I don’t intend to cover much of the “hands-on” side of the reel make-over, except for the drag upgrade.  Instead, I’ll focus on things from a higher level – besides I’ve got other blogs that get into much of the actual detail.  There’s even more information in the Maintenance Section of the TackleTour forum.

Custom Paint Preps

Although the Pixy I purchased had a little boat rash on each side plate and the frame, it was lightly used and in excellent mechanical condition. So, how could I have a new “Super Pixzilla”, without a custom paint job? Fortunately, if you’ve been around TackleTour, it doesn’t take long before you hear and see the reels that Calfish has painted! I drool all over my keyboard every time I see them.

Red shad color in winter sunlight!

Let me start by saying that Calfish did an excellent job on painting the reel, it exceeded my expectations:

• All different parts of the reel are the same shade, depth and glossy finish. Nothing that was painted appears abnormal or out of place and everything looks better than any stock reel I’ve seen. It was obvious that plenty of time, attention to detail, etc. was put in to the painting.
• The finish cured extremely hard and really shines! Smudges and fingerprints, wipe off easily with a very light spray of Eagle One Nanowax and a micro-fiber rag. There were no chips or scratches after I reassembled the reel.
• You could tell that he put a lot of effort into controlling overspray, taping and ensuring that excess paint did not affect how the spool fits in the frame and mounting of other components.
• There were no runs or missed spots, or hint of blemishes from the original boat rash.
• Periodic communications throughout the process kept me up to date on the status.

An Aside: The pictures of the reel just don’t do his work justice, the dark red plates and contrasting black frame are hard to capture with a camera, and especially during a cold and snowy winter day. They become very vibrant in direct light and you can see tiny sparkles and depth within the paint. However, the colors gradually change to a deeper and darker shade in reduced light – almost becoming dark maroon and stunning black in the process.  Both the red shad and stealth look I was hoping for!

Indirect light gives a stealthy-red look!

You’ll need to disassemble the entire reel before you send the parts to Calfish.  Everything! So in the case of a Pixy, don’t forget to: remove the clutch lever plates from the frame; the A/R bearing, tension o-ring and white spring plate from the handle plate; and the adjustment knob when you remove the other magnetic braking components from the palm plate. I only point this out because these components seldom get removed in normal situations. (You’ll also want to store them in a safe location after you remove them, along with the rest of the reel parts!)

A Tip: If you’ve never removed an A/R bearing from a Daiwa handle plate, stand-by! Sometimes they will just slide out of the socket in the plate with little effort, and it isn’t a big deal. However, most of the time they are pressed-in and getting them out is more challenging. Occasionally they are pressed-in along with epoxy – and things can be a major challenge. Search the Maintenance Section of the TackleTour forum if you encounter the last two cases and need help!

A Big Note: If you don’t have the skills, tools or desire to completely disassemble and reassemble the reel, you can have it done by a reel tech. Review the posts on TackleTour to find techs that have worked closely with Calfish in delivering a completed reel. (You’ll find them mentioned in the Show and Tell or the Maintenance Section of the forum.) It’s a great way to get to the same point, and there’s nothing wrong with this approach (although it costs a bit more). Another Note: When you send the parts you’ll also need to include the spool and the spool bearing that is pinned to it. Calfish will ensure that the sides of the spool are not affected by any paint on the frame!

You’ll probably want to clean and inspect the parts before you send them for painting. I used a small tooth brush and a 20:1 dilute solution of Simple Green to scrub the parts, warm tap water for periodic soaks, and finished by rinsing them off with distilled water. Once the front plate, both side plates and frame were dry I wrapped them in bubble wrap before boxing them up.

Stealth and red shad in mixed light!

I knew Calfish was going to be busy painting reels for other forum members this time of year; something I’ve followed on TackleTour for a couple seasons now.  I was a little surprised that the parts came back about 6 weeks after sending them to him. There was still plenty of time to get a new handle, prepare other parts, etc., and even modify/test a Pixy spool with +R tuned braking components. There was always something to tinker with, and getting things ready was a good distraction during the blizzards that left us snowbound in part of January!

Custom Paint Reassembly

Swept IZE 4-bearing 80mm handle.

I had planned on dealing with the effects of paint long before I ever sent the parts to Calfish for painting.  Let’s face it, the spray and thickness of paint can be enough to affect the fit, mating, precision and even performance of reel components. [Also one of the reasons you need to be careful when painting a reel!] For example, the thickness of a coating can affect how one part matches and mounts with another. A run or little bit of paint in the wrong location can affect alignment or precision. In the case of threaded holes, overspray can affect how fasteners travel and torque components together.  Bearing sockets present a unique situation; in extreme cases paint might prevent the bearing from even being mounted, or could adversely affect the bearings radial clearance if it can.

On the other hand, how can you really ensure adequate coverage and that chipping/ cracking won’t occur around an opening, unless you actually overspray a small part of it?  An interesting dilemma and an age old problem involving two extremes, and one that coating and manufacturing engineers address all the time! So, I planned on dealing with the affects of paint ahead of time, simply because it should be expected. A Tip: I discussed removing excess paint with Calfish and he suggested that Acetone or other similar solvents not be used to remove any paint or paint residue near/in screw holes, etc.

A small bit of paint needed to be removed from the inside wall of
the bearing socket. The paint runs between the arrow tips.

When I got the parts back I checked them for paint that had to be removed before reassembling the reel.  Calfish did a great job of taping and controlling excess overspray, so there wasn’t much I had to do in that regard. Thanks Calfish for making my project so much easier:

• The previous picture shows a small amount of extra paint between the arrow tips, on the inside wall of the drive shaft outer bearing socket. It obviously affected installing the bearing and was relatively thick. So, I lightly scraped it off the wall with a dull knife tip, blew the chips out with a little compressed air and wiped the socket out with a q-tip dampened in a little water.  A Note: The rest of the paint on the front of the bearing socket should not be removed; it has no affect on alignment, the bearing or other components, and is not visible when the reel is reassembled.

• The bottom red arrow in the picture below shows the hole where the level wind guard mounts in the palm plate side of frame.  The paint was just a little too thick on the inside edge to allow the guard to pass through the hole.  So I wrapped a small strip of 600 Wet and Dry sand paper around a ¼” dowel and lightly removed a small amount of paint on the inside edge – just enough to allow the guard to pass through. I don’t think it took more than a half-dozen light strokes with the paper to get what I needed.

• The remaining arrows in the picture below show threaded holes in the frame for the handle plate, level wind stabilizing bar, etc. When I checked them with the screw that goes in each hole, I found two that needed to be cleared.  I used a very small pick to carefully remove paint in the threads, then blew the holes with compressed air and rinsed them out with fresh water.  I also found that the threaded hole for the palm plate locking screw had a little paint in the threads that also needed to be removed. So, I used the same method to clean up that hole. I finished by running a spare palm plate locking screw coated with a very thin film of oil in-and-out several times, to ensure travel was smooth and not impeded (see the previous picture).

Frame openings where paint might affect reassembly. Most are
threaded holes for plates and the level wind stabilizer bar.

I really didn’t have any surprises while reassembling the reel and everything went together the way I expected.  I did put a very-light film of grease on the threads of screws that tighten in the frame; something that I typically do anyway during an annual clean/inspect to preclude fretting.  You might want to consider doing the same after having a frame painted, but there’s no need to get carried away with the grease when you do it.

Level Wind Upgrade

Stock bushing shown on Pixy level wind worm (bottom),
has been replaced with a small collar and bearing (top).

The Daiwa level wind upgrade has been around for several years now and I automatically do it on a new reel when required.  I recently touched on it, about half-way through my Level Wind Fundamentals blog.

Some Daiwa low profile reels have a bushing under the level wind gear as shown in the bottom of the previous picture, and it’s possible to replace the bushing with a 4×8x2.5 mm bearing and a 5×6x2 mm collar (top of the picture).  You’ll need ball bearing (part 39) F05-5601 from the TD-Z103H/105H and worm shaft collar (part 40) G01-0701 from the TD-Z 103, to complete the modification and improve level wind performance.

However, in the case of my Pixy project, I recognized that the new collar dimensions could be affected by the painting.  Simply put, the added thickness of the new paint on the frame would likely require that I customize the collar under the level wind gear. So I decided to modify the original stock Pixy bushing to make it work, and would adjust its thickness for precise fit.  A Note: Little did I know at the time, that Daiwa US didn’t have any collars in stock, so that was probably a good choice anyway! An Aside: Unfortunately a lot of forum members are still looking for collars and have level wind upgrades on hold. Oh By The Way: I’ve never had a problem getting a replacement bushing collar from Daiwa, like the one found in a stock Sol, Fuego, Viento, Pixy, etc.  For instance, worm shaft holder (part 40) G41-7801 from a Sol never seems to be out of stock when I’ve ordered them. So, the information in the next couple of paragraphs may be an option…

Making Your Own Collar

Most of the 4x8mm end of the stock Pixy bushing collar needs to be removed to make the new collar. The good news is that the material is not that hard or brittle, and is very easy to work.

I’ve cut them almost all the way down (~2.5mm), with a razor-sharp contractor’s knife and even a Dremel wheel in the past, and filed them the rest of the way to square them up and get the correct thickness.  DR on the forum has even used a belt sander to sand them down, and he’s made a jig to hold them while doing it. I even recall one forum member who filed the whole thing down to make a new collar! So, there are several ways to do it.

You can square and finish them up to the correct thickness with a piece of 600# Wet and Dry sandpaper, fine file, or even an Emory board borrowed for your significant other.  A replacement collar from Daiwa is 2mm thick, but you can even leave it .1 or .2 mm longer for a custom fit – to remove the last bit of axial play from the worm gear as the pinion switches tapers.

A Test: In the case of my Pixy Project, the exact thickness of the collar ended up being 1.89mm, a little smaller than the standard 2mm because of the paint. It only required 42 passes on a sheet of 400 and 6 passes on a sheet of 600 Wet and Dry to make make the new collar — and took all of 3-1/2 minutes to do it (including the 2 checks with the level wind worm and bearing in the frame)! So stop waiting for Daiwa to get them back in stock and make your own — chances are you’ll spend 10x that long on the phone ordering one.

Tuning a New IZE Handle

One of the first things I did was to fine-tune the new IZE 80mm carbon handle that I got from Plat.  The knobs I used were from a brand new  TD-Advantage-153HSTA. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the fit when you mounted them with the usual washer(s) beneath the bottom bearing on each post.  One washer was not thick enough, and the ~.13mm axial slop in the knob resulted in a noticeable click when you cranked a reel. Yet 2 washers were too thick, and the knob would bind depending on how far you tightened the knob screw.  So I sanded one of the washers under each knob to achieve just the right fit, using 600 then and 1200 Wet and Dry paper.  I lubricated all knob bearings with Xtreme Reel+, a dry lubricant that I’m testing again this season.

A Big Tip: If you are faced with the same situation, resist the urge to reduce the length of the handle post in an attempt to get a better fit with your knobs.  Not only will you kill the resale value of the handle, it can create other problems down the road. For instance, you probably won’t be able to use it with any other type of knobs, and the debris that gets inside the post is almost impossible to remove and might cause a knob screw to seize!

Polishing and Tuning

I also did a little polishing and tuning on a few key parts. Something I’ve done on all of my low profile Daiwas now. I’ll even do it on a new reel, once I’ve checked it out. It feels so good afterward!

You can use my Polishing the Sol article to improve the way the reel disengages/reengages, provide a little better spool tension adjustment, and even reduce some spool noise that might otherwise occur while casting or retrieving.

A Tip: There’s no need to get carried away with the polishing!

Pixy Drag Kit Mod

Background

The stock Pixy has a drag stack that consists of a heavy top key washer, thick composite friction washer and an eared stainless steel washer that fits in the bottom of the drive gear. When new, the stock drag delivers about 3 to 4# of break-away pull, but running pull can be up to 1# less (especially after use).  In addition, should the stack get contaminated with oil, grease or water; the running pull can become erratic and the stack may even stutter, and/or break-away pull can become non-repeatable from pull-to-pull.  You’ll find more information about break-away and running drag in my previous Reel Drag Basics blog.

About 4 years ago, some TackleTour forum members began testing various Pixy drag upgrades using multiple Carbontex and metal drag washers.  If you are curious, you can find posts about them in the Maintenance Section of the old TackleTour forum; just go there and use “Pixy drag” for search terms. However, you can find a summary of the designs in the Sticky Post at the top of the forum. Most of the drag mods were somewhat complicated; requiring parts from other reels, specific reel measurements and even cutting a new drive shaft collar. However, they worked very well and eliminated the previously described problems.

Smoothdrag.com began supplying a drag kit that includes polished stainless steel and Carbontex washers that drop right into the Pixy.  Everything you need to do a drag upgrade is included in the kit, except maybe a little Cal’s Grease (I’ll get to it in a few paragraphs). A Pixy drag upgrade became so much simpler and easier after that!

Details

I get a lot of PM’s and email from Pixy owners who are interested in a Pixy drag upgrade or have questions about the smoothdrag.com kit. It’s also a common topic in the Maintenance Section of the forum. So, I thought I’d provide a little more detail about it, since I used the kit for my custom Pixzilla – and suggest you do the same.  Thanks Dawn!

A Note and Tip: Many reel techs will also install the kit when they work on your reel, it has become that popular! Most can do it during an annual clean and inspect -- Hint, hint!

When you use the kit you will still need to use the stock eared washer that fits in the bottom of the drive gear. However, you won’t use the stock top key washer and Teflon composite washer shown above.

Smoothdrag.com Pixy Drag Kit showing the new configuration.

When you get the kit you’ll notice that there are different polished metal washers and Carbontex washers, they will need to be installed in a specific order to complete the modification.  The previous picture shows the correct arrangement, starting from the drive gear and working upward:

• The stock ear washer that was in the Pixy, gets re-used,
• One of the new larger i.d. Carbontex washers goes above it,
• One of the new metal key washers goes above that,
• The other new larger i.d. Carbontex washers goes above that,
• The new eared metal key washer goes about that,
• The new smaller i.d. Carbontex washer goes above that, and
• The other new key washer goes on top of the stack, directly under the drive shaft collar.

You’ll want to clean the new metal and Carbontex washers before you install them, to remove any residue, lubricant, etc.  I suggest using a little Lighter Fluid (Naphtha), in a sealed glass jar to do the cleaning. Just drop them in ~1/4” of the fluid and put the lid on the jar. Periodically swirl them and let them soak for a total of 10 minutes or so, to loosen and lift carbon residue from the woven fiber washers.

A Safety Note: Be sure to exercise appropriate precautions for handling and using a solvent (adequate ventilation, fire hazard, no sparks  or open flame in the area, etc.). You’ll find more on safety precautions in my Tool Time blog.

A Tip: You can clean the washers the same during the annual clean/inspect at the end of the season. However, it might take a little longer, especially if you’ve used drag grease on the washers.

Remove the washers and allow them to dry after cleaning. I like to lay them out on a clean lint-free terry cloth towel to dry in the air.  A Tip: The solvent on the Carbontex washers may appear to evaporate sooner than on the metal washers. Unfortunately, the weave inside the washer can still hold a lot of solvent in it. So don’t get in too big a hurry applying drag grease on them; if you intend to use drag grease on your Carbontex washers. [You’ll work drag grease into the fiber, and any solvent still within the fiber can immediately break it down. YIKES!]

Drag Grease

“To use drag grease or not to use drag grease?” a question I get a lot on the forum. I prefer to use it because break-away drag seems to be closer to running drag and pull tends to be more consistent from pull to pull. In addition, the drag doesn’t seem to be nearly affected by “a good dunking” (yes accidents do occasionally happen),  or a major “gully washer.” If you are a salt water anger or fish in brackish water the grease might help mitigate fouling of the stack.

On the other hand, top-end drag may be slightly less with drag grease (maybe ¼# or so, depending on the reel), and there is a little initial cost to get the grease.

So, some prefer the advantages of drag grease (called a wet drag), and others prefer to run them dry (called a dry drag). In the end, the choice is entirely yours.

Drag grease is different than the other grease used in a reel, although it still contains filler and lubricants:

• The filler holds and disperses the lubricant like in conventional reel grease. However, drag grease filler doesn’t break down until very high temperature, when compared to other grease fillers. In addition, the filler tends to insulate and protect lubricant molecules more than other fillers, from the heat developed by friction.
• The most important part of the lubricant consists of macro-molecules [or micro-particles] of a PTFE (Teflon). The macro-molecules are extremely long, chemically neutral and very strong – they will not breakdown or be penetrated like film lubricant molecules. In addition, the molecules form layers which move against each other, so shear becomes more directly related to the compression force on them (a very desirable characteristic for a drag brake).
• The rest of the lubricant typically contains a synthetic oil for carrying the PTFE molecules. It also often includes anti-oxidants, protectants and anti-coagulants; which improve the stability of the filler, and helps disperse and replenish PTFE molecules as they expend.

A Note: Strange things can happen if drag grease gets mixed with conventional reel grease and exposed to the conditions under the handle plate. Simply put, the results are unpredictable; it can glob like the curds in cottage cheese, can turn the surface of metals black, and even affect the ability of the conventional grease to adhere on gear teeth.  If fresh water or saltwater gets thrown in with the mix, it can even turn dry and crusty when things finally dry out, or may retain moisture so algae will grow on/in the mix. Lastly, it may just do nothing but turn a little different color. Yep, that sounds like unpredictable….

Drag Grease Summary: So, the way the Teflon lubricant molecules shear in layers, how they behave under compression and the characteristics of the filler are what really distinguish drag grease from conventional reel grease.  A Tip: I don’t necessarily recommend trying to use conventional reel grease in lieu of drag grease in a drag stack. It usually doesn’t last nearly as long and the drag stack can get sticky and inconsistent during use.  Just my take after trying it a couple times; they were an emergency, honest!

A Side Note: The processes involved with PTFE types of solid lubricants and woven carbon fiber are very complicated, and I’ve taken the liberty of being brief.

Cal’s Grease, Shimano drag grease (ACE grease) and a few others can be used on your Carbontex washers (or other wet drag washers).  I prefer Cal’s because it’s a little cheaper and easier to obtain, but have found that they all generally perform about the same.  The color and consistency of Cal’s reminds me of smooth peanut butter; you can get it from smoothdrag.com and it comes in a 1 oz. or 1# container. [A 1 oz container will last most anglers a lifetime!]

Once the washers are dry after cleaning, I just work a small dab of Cal’s Grease into the surface with a finger and thumb. I like to ensure the grease actually gets inside the weave on both sides of the fiber because performance seems to last longer – but there is no need to get carried away with the grease. More is not necessarily better …read on!

Excess grease will get compressed out of the stack and can splatter under the handle plate, find its way to the teeth on the drive gear and mix with other grease (BAD!), etc.  So, I typically squeeze the washer between my finger and thumb and rotate it to remove excess grease.

A Tip: A good rule of thumb for a bass reel is to only leave enough grease on the washers; so that if you touch them, you leave a finger print on them. (See the previous picture.) A Note: If you do decide to go with a lot more drag grease, make sure you know there won’t be undesired results should it find its way to the other grease in the reel. Some anglers might actually do this, to mitigate the effects of saltwater intrusion on the stack.

+R Tuned Pixy Spool

Background

I briefly mentioned the possibility of a +R tuned Pixy spool, toward the end of my Inside The Daiwa Spool blog back in November.  That’s about the time that I started planning my Pixy project, so it was a teaser for what was to come. However, I seriously thought about not even posting anything about it in this blog, figuring there just wasn’t a lot of interest. However, I admit you need to be a hard-core spool modder to want to go this route, and maybe it’s a bit much for most or involves more risk than they want to assume.

I’ve been running a couple TD-X’s and S’s without any braking components on the spool for a few years now, primarily using my thumb to control overrun.  I still have them; just don’t use them as much anymore, because I don’t cast/pitch/flip the heavier stuff that often.

I also learned long ago, that trying to do the same with very light presentations like a Zoom Lil-Crit, just won’t work – even with the lightest of spools like the Pixy and my Presso rod. There just isn’t enough momentum from the lure and spool to handle much feathering on the spool, and when you do, things get extremely critical. [A Confession: O.K. I admit it, my thumb just isn’t nimble enough to pitch a 1/8 oz piece of popcorn tied onto the end of my line, while only using my thumb to control overrun!  Whew, I feel a lot better now that that’s out in the open.] When you try, distance and accuracy are all over the spectrum, overrun is just too hard to control, and any wind turns a bad situation into “worser-than-worse.”

So it didn’t take me long to realize that I had reached the point where man and his “well trained thumb” could no longer perform as well or as quickly as machine…. I would need a little bit of variable magnetic braking for my latest Pixy project!

You can go back and review my earlier blogs for more insight:

• Exploring Magnetic Brakes
• Magging for Modders
• Adjustable Magnetic Braking
• Backlash, Magnetic Braking and Spool Tension

Braking Mod

Disassembled TD-Z +R spool braking components (left),
and stock Pixy braking components (right).

It’s possible to swap the +R tuned Magforce V braking components from another spool, over to the Pixy spool for improved pitching performance.  In fact, there are other changes you can make to +R components to fine-tune the spool braking response even more – if that’s what you want to do. (Maybe I’ll get into them someday.) I decided to use most of the braking components from a TD-Z +R spool. An Aside: Yes, you’ve seen this spool before in a couple of my previous blogs!

I already covered how to remove and reinstall Daiwa Magforce V and Z braking components in my Inside the Daiwa Spool blog. You can use the process, tools and tips from the blog; just be careful and pay attention to what you are doing, since you can damage a spool in the process!

To make a long story short, you’ll want to use the +R inductor and tabs, but the stock Pixy braking spring. A Note: It’s hard to make out in the previous picture; but the Pixy spring is a little longer, yet it doesn’t take quite as much compression force to compress it and the compression rate is not the same as the +R spring. So, you’ll just have to take my word for it; you’ll get a little bit better +R performance for the lighter presentations, with the longer spring. An Aside: Again, maybe I’ll blog about this sometime later.

+R modified Pixy spool (left) and stock Pixy spool (right). Notice
the difference in inductors, and how the stock inductor fits into the magnets a bit further, when compared to the +R.

It’s easy to see the difference between the +R inductor and the stock Pixy inductor in the previous picture.  But also note how much further the stock inductor sticks into the braking magnets at spool start-up. (Use the collar on the left spool shaft to see the ~.8mm difference on the right.) Less braking would occur at spool start-up with the +R spool for both reasons. Remember that braking torque increases when more of the inductor is exposed to magnetic lines of force and the closer the inductor is to the magnets? See my Exploring Magnetic Brakes blog for more information.

Trivia: The braking tabs also have a little different mass and length; so the effect from different momentum and distance they travel, will also affect the rate at which braking is applied as the spool accelerates and decelerates.  Sound complicated? Trust me it is….

I actually went through a couple different iterations to get the exact braking response I was looking for with my Lil-Crits. I tested braking response after each change by making numerous pitches and casts, and even did a some bench testing.  You may have seen this already, since I posted it on the forum; Prototyping Tuned Pixy Spool. But here’s a video of a Magforce V braking system in action, the red light on the bottom of the spool is from a laser tachometer. It’s one of the tools I use to collect data when prototyping a spool. Notice how the braking inductor responds with varying spool speed – similar to what would occur during a cast.

By the Way: In case you were going to ask; no, you can not put a Magforce Z braking system into a Pixy spool. You need to stay with Magforce V because the tabs run on the side of the tapered spool and there isn’t enough room.

Wrap-Up

I wrapped things up by dropping a set of higher precision spool bearings into the reel. I’ll have more about them later… and that’s all I’m saying for now! But as far as casting and pitching crits, I’ll just say SWEET!!!

So there you have it… my winter +R Tuned Pixy Project.  Hopefully you’ll find the information useful, much of it will apply to other reel models!

It was a good project for fighting off cabin fever, but now that it’s done I’m itching to get it on the water!

Like Always: I’m not associated with anyone or any products mentioned in this blog.

-dModder

Okuma has always garnered a good amount of respect worldwide for their spinning reels and has become a popular brand for a number of their heavy saltwater and trolling reels over the last few seasons but when it comes to baitcasters the company just hasn’t had the right product to compete with the other Tier 1 reel manufacturers… until now.

The previous Okuma VS baitcasters represented a major advance for the company and made a statement that they were serious about low profile baitcasters. The only problem was the reel was heavy, somewhat bulky and still unrefined. While it did a lot of things right it felt like the reel was still chasing the competition in terms of both performance and ergonomics. The Serrano and the slightly more modestly composed Cayenne bring Okuma right up to the forefront of lightweight low profile baitcasters.

The Serrano sports a new look and Okuma outfits the reel with the components within to back up the reel’s aggressive looks. Weighing in at only 7.2oz. the Serrano is light, how light? Try .4 ounces lighter than the Shimano Curado E and even .2oz lighter than the tiny Daiwa Sol. It features machine cut brass gearing and manages to pack in 10BB + 1RB some of which are Japanese ABEC-5 class. Okuma has confidence in the Serrano and backs it with a 3 year warranty which is well beyond the one year industry average.

A little over a year ago I wrote an article about the trend to move towards lighter baitcasters without sacrificing performance. The push for lower weight continues and since then Shimano has released the Core 50Mg which weighs an ultra light 5.5oz., which is equal to the lightest Daiwa Steez reels. Have reel manufacturers gone far enough to reduce the weight of their reels, yes. Have they done enough to make lightweight reels affordable, not by a long shot.  Currently magnesium reels are among the most expensive baitcasters on the market and out of reach of the mainstream angling community. Magnesium is an expensive material to work with and the tooling to build these reels isn’t cheap either. So does that mean ultra-light weight has to equate to ultra high cost? It shouldn’t.

The Shimano Core 50mg makes use of magnesium to achieve a ultralight 5.5oz. weigh in

The Stradic CI4 is constructed out of reinforced carbon fiber which is nearly 2 times stronger  than traditional graphite 

Carbon fiber is becoming a popular choice as it can be wound and molded to deliver an extremely high strength to weight ratio material. The density of carbon fiber is lower than many alloys making it ideal for light weight applications. Other benefits of using these materials include corrosion resistance. Both Shimano and Daiwa are now using carbon composite materials in their higher end spinning reels, Shimano makes use of reinforced carbon fiber in their recent Stradic redesign and the latest Daiwa Fuego spinning reel makes use of the company’s “Zaion” construction which is described as a super-carbon material. Both spinning reels are lighter, perform up to par with aluminum models and are more corrosion resistant. Will savvy reel manufacturers make use of similar materials and techniques in higher end baitcasters? They should.

The fact that Kevin VanDam won the 2010 Bassmaster Classic last weekend likely didn’t surprise many who follow the sport of bass fishing; he has been the best in the sport and the angler to beat in recent years. It is somewhat ironic though that this same fisherman who is best known for his power-fishing style did have to borrow from technology that dates back to the earliest of Classics – variable speed – to slow down for the cold water conditions found on Alabama’s Lay Lake.

VanDam was one of 34 anglers out of the 51 fishing in the Classic who relied on a foot-controlled variable speed MotorGuide® trolling motor that has a history closely paralleling that of the Classic itself. By 1972, year two for the Classic, MotorGuide inventor G.H. Harris had added variable speed control to the design of his bow-mounted foot-controlled trolling motor introduced 20 years earlier.

Variable speed provided anglers with an infinite range of speed settings from low to high, giving them the exact precision for boat control for any given condition. It was a monumental breakthrough in trolling motor technology and angler versatility. Previously, trolling motors typically had from three to five speed settings, and the selections rarely matched the conditions at hand so anglers often found themselves having to constantly switch from one speed to another.

“I did have to consciously make myself slow down in everything I was doing for this Classic,” VanDam said. “I’m accustomed to putting my MotorGuide on high and covering lots of water in a hurry with lots of casts and fast moving baits. But here it was all about dialing the speed down on my 36-volt motor, going to a 5.3:1 gear ratio baitcast reel, making long casts and working my crankbait really slow across the top of the coontail grass in the area.”

“The water was pretty shallow, so I think it was also important that I was able to move my boat around as quietly with my trolling motor as I was,” VanDam added.

VanDam and most of the others in the Classic using MotorGuide had Tour Edition TR109 Digital models on their boats. They say they prefer this model because it has a stainless steel shaft, a rock-steady Tour Gator Spring® mount bracket and a metal foot pedal … combining form and function to eliminate the flex that comes with plastic parts and to provide the smoothest in cable-steer operation.

Ever since Harris’ invention first hit the market more than 50 years ago, MotorGuide has continued to lead the way in trolling motor innovation. The brand has many firsts to its credit beyond just foot control and digital variable speed, including the retractable bow mount for easy stow and deploy, breakaway mount to protect the motor’s shaft from underwater run-ins, and digital technology for the finest in electronic performance.

Continuous improvements are always occurring within the MotorGuide product lineup, with the most recent coming from BASS Elite Series angler Brent Chapman’s father. Chapman developed a stainless steel pulley for the Tour Edition models to work with their upgraded stainless steel cables to improve upon steering feel and limiting steering torque, even when operating the motor at its highest speed setting of more than 100 pounds of thrust.

Additionally, MotorGuide now also has models that incorporate a built-in Lowrance® 200/83 kHz transducer with temperature sensor for compatibility with Lowrance HDS sonar units. Built-in transducers eliminate damage to cables and transducers from underwater obstructions, plus MotorGuide’s digital technology also helps eliminate sonar interference.

“We’re proud of the fact that the Classic trophy stays with the MotorGuide team once again, with last year’s champion Skeet Reese passing it along to now three-time Classic champion and five-time Angler of the Year Kevin VanDam,” said Kevin Fletcher, vice president of sales and marketing for Attwood Marine, the company that also includes MotorGuide products.

“We’re also proud of Pam Martin-Wells performance in having achieved the highest level ever for a female angler in the Classic, and we’re thrilled that four of the five top finishers on Lay Lake had MotorGuide on front of their boats. Congratulations to Kevin and all of our Classic anglers.”

Great things come in small packages, and Costa’s new Maya sunglass style is no exception. Available in black, tortoise, and the new black/coral and salmon/white crystal frame color combinations, Maya brings on trend styling and performance fit to those wanting a smaller frame.

In retail outlets and online at www.costadelmar.com this month, Maya features Costa’s “forget-they’re-on” fit technology. Lens options include Costa’s 400® or 580® technology, dubbed the clearest lenses on the planet by anglers, and are available in sport fishing enhancing colors such as gray and copper, and blue, green and silver mirror.

“Maya is a great fit for adventurers who need a smaller fitting frame, but still want the best performance technology and most optically clear lenses on the planet,” said Chas MacDonald, president of Costa. “And with new frame colors like salmon/white crystal and black/coral, women are going to have even more Costa choices to make when it comes to their next pair of sunglasses.”

The new sunglasses retail from $149 to $249. Proceeds from the sale of Maya, and all of Costa’s products, help benefit important marine conservation initiatives, such as the Bonefish Tarpon Trust permit tagging and Trout Unlimited’s “Embrace-a-Stream” programs.

Aldeni “Elvis” Fonseca, a guide on the Captain Peacock, shows off a 28-pound speckled peacock bass caught by Bill Gassman of Des Moines, Iowa. The fish weighed a pound more than the largest peacock bass on record.

MANAUS, Brazil – The strike barely dimpled the water, but it sent waves hurtling throughout the freshwater fishing world by shattering a coveted world record that stood for 16 years.

At about 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 9, 2010, the sixth day of his first Amazon adventure, Bill Gassmann of Des Moines, Iowa, fished a clown-colored Luhr Jensen Big Game Woodchopper Slim topwater bait in a tributary of the Rio Negro in northern Brazil. The yellow, red and black spotted lure landed atop a monster speckled peacock bass, which sucked it under with hardly a ripple.

“We were fishing in a wooded area of a little backwater off a main tributary,” said the 44-year-old chief executive officer of BGS Enterprises. “When the lure hit the water, it just disappeared. The fish went straight to the bottom and started spooling my line. Immediately, the guide with more than 12 years experience began jumping up and down and started yelling ‘Grande! Grande!’ I had no idea how big it was or that it might be a record. Then, the fish stuck its head out of the water and I realized how big it was.”

Aldeni “Elvis” Fonseca, a guide on the Captain Peacock, and Bill Gassman of Des Moines, Iowa, struggle to lift a 28-pound speckled peacock bass caught by Gassman . The fish weighed a pound more than the largest peacock bass on record.

“We are very happy with the opportunity to show the fishing world our exclusive concept combining mobility, safety and first-class service in order to create unique moments like that for every angler from the first-time peacock bass fisherman up to the most knowledgeable ones,” said Leonardo Leão and his partner Nasser Fraxe.

“This is exciting news,” exclaimed Billy Chapman, Jr., owner and founder of Anglers Inn International and a 2009 inductee into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame for pioneering peacock bass fishing in the 1980s. “I was in Brazil in 1994 when Doc Lawson caught the 27-pound peacock. If anyone wants to fish these record-breaking waters, we can make that happen together with the Captain Peacock.”

Pl. Name DAY 1 DAY 2 DAY 3 TOTAL
Fish Weight Fish Weight Fish Weight Fish Weight
1 Kevin VanDam 5 19- 8 5 12- 7 5 19- 7 15 51- 6
2 Jeff Kriet 5 16- 7 5 15-10 5 14- 5 15 46- 6
3 Todd Faircloth 5 18- 2 5 13-12 5 12- 5 15 44- 3
4 Russ Lane 5 14- 1 4 11-10 5 18- 1 14 43-12
5 Brent Chapman 5 13- 0 5 8- 2 5 16-12 15 37-14
6 Michael Iaconelli 5 14- 9 4 12- 3 5 10- 9 14 37- 5
7 Matt Herren 5 9- 7 5 13-15 5 12- 7 15 35-13
8 Kevin Wirth 5 8- 9 5 10-11 5 15- 8 15 34-12
9 Jeff Freeman 5 9- 8 5 8-13 5 14- 6 15 32-11
10 Takahiro Omori 5 15- 7 4 8-14 4 8- 5 13 32-10
11 Aaron Martens 5 8-11 5 7- 9 5 13-15 15 30- 3
12 Mark Tucker 5 9-15 4 7- 4 4 12- 0 13 29- 3
13 Cliff Crochet 5 9- 5 5 10-11 5 8-15 15 28-15
14 Cliff Pace 5 16- 3 1 2- 6 4 9- 6 10 27-15
15 Bobby Lane 5 7-13 5 12- 9 5 7- 5 15 27-11
16 Kotaro Kiriyama 5 10- 3 5 7- 3 5 10- 4 15 27-10
17 Jason Quinn 2 5-12 4 9-13 4 11- 7 10 27- 0
18 James Niggemeyer 5 13- 3 5 7- 4 4 6- 5 14 26-12
19 Tommy Biffle 5 14- 3 5 10- 6 1 1-14 11 26- 7
20 Gerald Swindle 5 10- 8 5 7- 1 5 8-11 15 26- 4
21 Shaw E Grigsby 4 6-15 5 10- 7 5 8- 3 14 25- 9
22 Pam Martin-Wells 5 6-13 5 9-15 5 8- 4 15 25- 0
23 Dean Rojas 5 6- 9 5 9- 5 5 8- 9 15 24- 7
24 Billy McCaghren 5 15- 4 3 4-11 2 2-10 10 22- 9
25 Stephen Browning 5 8-15 5 6-14 1 2- 9 11 18- 6
26 Terry Scroggins 5 13- 0 2 1-13 7 14-13
27 Alton Jones 5 6-12 2 7- 5 7 14- 1
28 Frank Scalish 5 7- 2 5 6- 3 10 13- 5
29 Mike McClelland 2 5- 9 3 7-12 5 13- 5
30 Bryan Schmidt 2 6- 2 3 6- 8 5 12-10
31 John Murray 4 7-12 3 4- 9 7 12- 5
32 Gary Klein 1 2-10 3 7-13 4 10- 7
33 Randy Howell 5 8-15 1 1- 7 6 10- 6
34 Byron Velvick 5 10- 0 0 0- 0 5 10- 0
35 Kelly Jordon 1 2- 9 3 7- 3 4 9-12
36 Terry Butcher 2 2-15 2 6- 8 4 9- 7
37 Randy Phillips 4 4- 5 4 4-12 8 9- 1
38 Mark Menendez 5 7- 9 1 0-14 6 8- 7
39 Brent Long 5 6- 8 1 1- 2 6 7-10
40 Don Hogue 2 7- 1 0 0- 0 2 7- 1
41 Casey Ashley 4 4- 2 2 2- 9 6 6-11
42 Steve Kennedy 2 2-10 1 3- 8 3 6- 2
43 Skeet Reese 3 5- 0 0 0- 0 3 5- 0
44 Jody Adkins 0 0- 0 2 3- 8 2 3- 8
45 Greg Hackney 1 3- 5 0 0- 0 1 3- 5
46 Jami Fralick 1 2- 8 0 0- 0 1 2- 8
47 Scott Ashmore 1 1- 7 1 1- 0 2 2- 7
48 Kevin Short 2 2- 6 0 0- 0 2 2- 6
49 Boyd Duckett 1 1- 2 0 0- 0 1 1- 2
50 Denny Brauer 0 0- 0 0 0- 0 0 0- 0
50 Darrell West 0 0- 0 0 0- 0 0 0- 0