Steez CT SV strength

[RayneStorm]

All my baitcast reels are shimano. I’m intrigued about this size 70 Steez. Most of my reels are BFS, as I prefer light line techniques and dislike spinning reels.

I’m looking at building a rod for stream steelhead and have my eye on this reel. Mostly using small spinners, cranks, and light floats. The stream feeds Lake Michigan and is only 30 feet or so wide. Line capacity isn’t a concern for me. My concern is could this reel handle a salmon that hits, while I’m fishing for Steel? I might have to muscle the fish away from wood occasionally too.

I thought about a conquest bfs with a deep spool too, but I wasn’t finding a spool that I felt would have bested the Steez in capacity.

I enjoy fishing with high end reels and know a cheap beater reel is better for what I’m doing, but it’s not as fun for me fishing with low end gear. I’m not afraid to push my equipment, but I also don’t want to stupidly fry a $500 reel on a rogue 30 pound salmon. Right now I’m using a Curado DC for this, which is great, but it isn’t what I’m looking for in this setup.

[Hobie-Wan Kenobi]

It will do just fine. Daiwa aluminum gears are really robust compared to some other big name companies. You are using a long rod and the drag is smooth too. Would work really well. I wouldn't drop that money for a reel for running trout (like you said) but, it will work very well. Can also use it outside of those seasons for bass, walleye or whatever else too

[RayneStorm]

I would definitely use it on other rods for different duties, that’s for sure. As long as it can handle Steel with an occasional King, it will work for all my other walleye, and small mouth adventures!

Thanks Hobie!

BTW, have you had your hands on the new Scorpion DC? I started looking at that, and somehow found the Steez CT after jumping down that Scorpion rabbit hole. Right now, Steez CT seems to be my huckleberry.

[Fishing4Fun]

Not sure how it would fair for such a large drag taking fish. It has the audible drag so you can hear the fish taking drag like a spinning reel. However I am not sure how much stopping power the reel has? I would look at doing a drag upgrade to Carbontex to see if that can add a few more lbs of drag and make it even smoother.

The Steez CT doesn’t hold a lot of line. Even if you drop down to 8-10 lb. You might wonder if you could or would get spooled?

The nice thing about the Steez CT in stock form is it casts well and is super smooth. Flushing the stock bearings will help as it did mine. The stock spool and bearing combo will allow you to cast down to 1/8 oz no problem on an appropriate rod.

They also have great resell value and are quite popular should you try it and it not work

[jvelth74]

Steez ct sv is super nice reel. I don't own one but I have tested it.

I own Alphas ct, which is in my opinion perfect reel for power finesse.
In these videos there's KTF spool in it because I use it for Finesse fishing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GwZUmK ... -GodqP1VRk
And it's full brass gears in Alphas...

[Dalleinf]

I own all 3 CT reels and I am no fan of them.
The Steez is my first choice of the lot but I have several Daiwa/Shimano/ABU reels that I would choose over the Steez CT - especially for stream steelhead. My main target is searun brown trout - akin to steelhead - and my Steez CT is mostly left in the cupboard.
Get (almost) any 34 mm Daiwa and play with spool options.

[jvelth74]

Hmmm...Is the short casting main issue why you don't like it?

[Dalleinf]

Hmmm...Is the short casting main issue why you don't like it?

Short casting, rickety thumb bar, plastic feel, and for the desired application also limited line capacity.

[Dalleinf]

If you have small hands then maybe...

[RayneStorm]

Short casting, rickety thumb bar, plastic feel, and for the desired application also limited line capacity.
[/quote]

Does the Steez feel like plastic? I was under the assumption that it was a solid reel, being a flagship model. I haven’t owned a Daiwa in 30 years, so I’m not familiar with them. Does the thumb bar have a lot of play in it, that you said it’s rickety?

[RayneStorm]

Steez ct sv is super nice reel. I don't own one but I have tested it.

I own Alphas ct, which is in my opinion perfect reel for power finesse.
In these videos there's KTF spool in it because I use it for Finesse fishing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GwZUmK ... -GodqP1VRk
And it's full brass gears in Alphas...

Great video. I will look into the Alpha CT too, I like that it has brass gears

[RayneStorm]

Not sure how it would fair for such a large drag taking fish. It has the audible drag so you can hear the fish taking drag like a spinning reel. However I am not sure how much stopping power the reel has? I would look at doing a drag upgrade to Carbontex to see if that can add a few more lbs of drag and make it even smoother.

The Steez CT doesn’t hold a lot of line. Even if you drop down to 8-10 lb. You might wonder if you could or would get spooled?

The nice thing about the Steez CT in stock form is it casts well and is super smooth. Flushing the stock bearings will help as it did mine. The stock spool and bearing combo will allow you to cast down to 1/8 oz no problem on an appropriate rod.

They also have great resell value and are quite popular should you try it and it not work

The stopping power is something I’m interested in. I think stock, the drag is around 11? Which should be plenty for steelhead. I’m running a longer rod with limber tip and a solid butt. I’m usually at 1/4 to 1/2 cranked down on my drag currently with the curado dc.

I’m not against putting carbontex in it right away, and might just do that, now that you mention it.

Normally line capacity would be a concern, but I’m running braid, and the stream I fish has at most a 50 yard straightway before it curves. So if the fish ever gets past 50 yards, it’s lost anyways.

[Dalleinf]

Short casting, rickety thumb bar, plastic feel, and for the desired application also limited line capacity.

Does the Steez feel like plastic? I was under the assumption that it was a solid reel, being a flagship model. I haven’t owned a Daiwa in 30 years, so I’m not familiar with them. Does the thumb bar have a lot of play in it, that you said it’s rickety?
[/quote]

Yes, the thumbbar on mine has plenty of play. Almost ABU Mørrum level play but with less sound/noise to it.
It feels plasticy to me, but I may biased by my general disappointment with CT reels.
It is a small reel for steelhead in streams wider than say 8-10 meters and definitely small for salmon.

[jvelth74]

I was checking a line capacity of mine ct Alphas (same spool as Steez ct). I managed to spool it a full spool (135 m) of Morethan 0.14 mm / 12.2 kg / 27 lb / PE#1.2 I was approximating that 88 m of 0.16 mm / 14 kg / 31 lb / PE#1.5 takes same volume as 135 m of 0.14 mm.

Yes, it's limited line capacity and definately not meant for salmon. But still I consider many salmon could be landed with it. And in my opinion it's fun to use as light gear as possible

[Dalleinf]

I use mine in small streams (<6 m wide) that are relatively slow-flowing and hold rare seatrout to 5-10 kg and many in 1-3 kg size. The streams twist and turn, so I cannot see more than 30-40 m of stream at a time. Seatrout generally do not run but take up the fight at close quarters. Thus, I do not need more than say 50 m of line - if a fish takes more than 30-40 of line it is already around corners and gone…

I am not used to steelhead - do they run? I know salmon do. If your stream is wide, has fast flowing water and large fish that run then a CT reel will be a bit too small IMO.
Still, I love light tackle, so try it out