Equipment question for James

James,

Which Okuma reel are you using on your walleye rods? I’ve got a couple of Precisions coming for my boys, and have Sedona 500s on mine but can’t really find them anymore. We put the Ceymars on their Bullwhips last season and they worked great, and I’d like to stick with the Okuma line for this season as well.

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They did start selling size 500 Sedonas again FWIW

Nice collection of rods! I have a mixed bag including those mentioned, but also picked up an Okuma Safina. It’s less expensive, but seemed to work well. It’s not like ice fishing reels see the same type of use as open water applications, so most would probable suffice.

The Sedona has been updated. If you can’t find one in 500 size, consider the Sahara.

Ceymars will work just fine on the precision as well. The inspira reel is what James had on his eye rods. I was debating between the ceymar and inspira last year, went with the ceymar (per James and a few others suggested), handles eyes just fine. Plus it’s about 30 bucks cheaper than the inspira (watch amazon). Cleaned out the factory grease and replaced with hot sauce and she spins just fine no matter how cold.

At Tuned Up Custom Rods, We are carrying the Ceymars with the upgraded carbon fiber drag washer as well as the Sedonas and Saharas.
Dan

Dan Baker wrote:

We are carrying the Ceymars with the upgraded carbon fiber drag washer as well as the Sedonas and Saharas.
Dan

Hi Dan. Can you elaborate on who is “we”? Thanks.

shady5 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dan Baker wrote:</div>

We are carrying the Ceymars with the upgraded carbon fiber drag washer as well as the Sedonas and Saharas.
Dan

Hi Dan. Can you elaborate on who is “we”? Thanks.

Are you referring to a store where you work that sells gear? Or do you mean “we are using…”? I’m just interested if retailers are upgrading reels with aftrtmarket components.

Tuned up custom rods

shady5 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Shady5 wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dan Baker wrote:</div>

We are carrying the Ceymars with the upgraded carbon fiber drag washer as well as the Sedonas and Saharas.
Dan

Hi Dan. Can you elaborate on who is “we”? Thanks.

Are you referring to a store where you work that sells gear? Or do you mean “we are using…”? I’m just interested if retailers are upgrading reels with aftrtmarket components.

My apologies, I was typing this in the deer stand and it took several attempts. We is Tuned Up Custom Rods. I will edit my original post.

Thanks for the input gents. I had a few minutes of down time at work today and watched part of the Green Bay walleye episode from season 12 and caught the Inspira 20 commmercial, which ultimately answered my question. Anyone else getting the itch to get on the ice???

Yeah 90% of the time he is running an Inspira 20 for walleye jigging rods. I do the same. They did come out with the OKuma Epixor reel. Those will get some use this ice season as well on our walleye jigging rods.

Pat McSharry wrote:

Yeah 90% of the time he is running an Inspira 20 for walleye jigging rods. I do the same. They did come out with the OKuma Epixor reel. Those will get some use this ice season as well on our walleye jigging rods.

The Inspira 20’s have been on most of my walleye rods the last couple years. I have started to upgrade some of my “walleye” rods for multi-purpose duty as laker rods. On those rods I’ve upgraded to the Helios SX 20 which is a true sleeper when it comes to performance versus price point. In my opinion the Helios reels are one of the smoothest, most-durable reels you can buy for the money. They do cost more than the Inspira with most retailers selling them for just under $100 but the price difference is easily justified based on the quality of the reel you’re getting.

Okuma Helios SX 20

If I had to do it over again, knowing now how good the Ceymars are for the money, I would put Ceymars on the majority of my panfish and walleye rods and upgrade a few of my Commanders to the Helios SX 20, as I’ve done over the past season, for situations where a super smooth drag might come in handy when targeting big walleye, pike, or lakers.

If someone is looking for a really small “500 series” reel for panfish give the Avenger AV-1000 a look. They’re really light at 6.2 ounces and built much better, with better drags, than some of the other small panfish reels that find their way on a lot of ice rods.

Avenger AV 1000

Thank you for the input Pat and James!