Kiley brought a new Ballistic spinning reel for me to try out, which is the high end reel being used by top steelhead guides like Clancy Holt and Phil Stephens.
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And of course we used the Aird, which is a middle of the road Daiwa reel with a price point around $95. This is the one I've got strapped to all my side drifting rods and I really like this one. Price is good and they've been bulletproof so far.
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Here's Kiley with a beautiful wild hen he picked up on a yarnie drifting along a huge pile of lumber. Kiley brought it to the net after a wild ride thru a bunch of "Large Woody Debris" that was scattered everywhere. Nice job brother
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It was rather snotty today and we relied heavily upon performance-enhancing Clown Oil to stay warm
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With the water up the last few days fresh fish have been pushing in and my gawd are they hot. These fish blow up when you stick'em...and they blow up in the net. Hot, hot fish. Check out the tweekage on the Lamiglas XMG50
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Here's one of Chris's nice hens. I started fishing with Chris when he was 10 years old and I'm mostly responsible for his steelheading habit
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My favorite time of year. There's nothing better than a big wild dimer steelhead
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I rest my case
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I fished the Ballistic all day and it's the tightest spinning reel I've ever used. These bad boys are machined to a lot tighter specifications that make them super tight with absolutely no play in the bail, handle, drag, etc.. I thought my Aird's were the schniz until Kiley let me use this reel. At a price point of $200 they are a little spendy, but if you want the best I'd definitely take a look at them. If Clancy and Ron Holt are using them that works for me
