The new Lew’s HyperMag is an ideal spinning reel for one of my favorite styles of bass fishing in Florida. I fish the many shallow lakes in Central Florida that are filled with vegetation like eelgrass, and this fish-favorite weed grows away from the shorelines dependably out to about six feet. I’ve found that fish are scattered throughout the grass during the hottest months, and I can reliably get them to bite. It becomes really fun if I can find a concentration of them before the pontoon and wake boats take over the lake.
In the heat of summer, I’ll pepper as much water as I can early in the day fishing shallow, then move to the deeper grass edges or shadows of docks in the late morning. By about noon or 1 p.m., the water temperatures reach the mid- to high 80s, and the air temperatures hover in the 90s, so I’ll seek refuge in the comfort of air conditioning. It’s truly a morning bite when temperatures start ticking toward 100, and accompanying humidity levels aren’t far behind.
This is where the new Lew’s HyperMag Shallow Spool (SS) 300 spinning reel enters the equation. I paired the reel with a Lew’s LFS Rod and tied on a weedless soft bait that can fall into the weeds but also swim over them. For me, I like flukes, creature baits, paddle tail minnows, and others too. What stuck out to me was the reel’s ability to pick up the line and lay it cleanly on the spool as I worked the lures in countless different ways over the vegetation. It really is a torture test to see if the reel can handle the stop-and-go, jerk-pause-jerk motions without causing tangles via wind knots or line twists.
What to Know
To get a bit technical, there’s a few reasons the new HyperMag SS 300 really appealed to me. It comes down to how it was built and designed. First off, it has a shallow spool that’s ready-made for braided lines. That means that I didn’t need to spend a fortune to fill the reel and didn’t need to add mono backing to the spool. The braid did not slip on the spool while I was loading the reel with line. There’s still plenty of line capacity for bass fishing, or targeting just about any of the top freshwater species across the U.S. I come from a saltwater fishing background, so line capacity was sometimes an issue when targeting reds or snook, and a giant jack crevalle or tarpon ate your bait. In freshwaters, that dread of getting completely “spooled” doesn’t really happen.
The HyperMag SS 300 also has a high-speed, 7:1 gear ratio. It wasn’t necessarily vital for the style of fishing I’ve been doing for the past month, but what I did find myself utilizing was partial cranks of the reel to get lifelike movement on my baits. I could truly impart great action on my soft baits without having to crank much on the handle — worded differently, I could get my bait to dance with very little movement of the handle.
What I enjoyed most about the reel was how light and smooth the reel feels while fishing. And yet it was plenty sturdy and solid in my hands. That’s a huge thing for anglers these days — the feel test. Go to a tackle shop and pick up a reel, and I know the first thing you’ll do is feel its weight and see how smoothly it reels.
Lew’s built its HyperMag SS 300 reel with a magnesium frame and sideplate, C40 carbon skeletal rotor, AccuGear aluminum drive gear, aluminum spool, hybrid carbon drag, and 11-bearing drag system. All that adds up to smooth operation, light weight, and a solid frame. It’s also worth noting that Lew’s utilizes a proprietary ClutchGuard system to help seal the clutch mechanism from water intrusion.
Key Features
- 7.0:1 high-speed gear ratio
- Magnesium frame and side plate
- C40 carbon skeletal rotor
- AccuGear precision-machined aluminum drive gear
- EvenLay slow oscillation
- ClutchGuard protection
- Hybrid carbon drag system
- Premium 11-bearing system
- Aluminum braid-ready shallow spool
- One-piece bail wire
- ZeroReverse one-way clutch bearing
So Very Fishy
Catching bass on the HyperMag SS 300 is a blast. The drag is smooth on that initial spurt after the hookset, but I easily took over the fight quickly. I spooled on 15-pound braid and tied on a light leader, but had no issues hauling them from underneath docks and into the open. It was a smooth feel the entire time, whether I was casting, fighting a fish, working a bait, or pulling drag. I could easily see the smallmouth bass anglers slaying bronzebacks on this reel, a species I so desperately wish existed in Florida.
At one point, I moved out to the deepwater water spots that had structure and some sort of baitfish marking on the display. I switched over to a dropshot with a small fuzzy dice bait or the Strike King Spotlight Split Minnow. And I caught fish that way on the setup, too. From my experiences, I can definitely say the new HyperMag setup works for finesse or just plain-old spin fishing.
And I cast at just about anything when fishing. In one spot, some massive carp were moving around, finning at the surface. Just for fun, I cast toward them and pulled tight on a massive fish. In shock, I thought there was no way that fish ate my lure, but the drag was telling me otherwise. As quickly as it happened, the lure eventually pulled free and I moved on. If I was a betting man, I have no doubt that the Lew’s setup would have whipped those big lugs, easily 30-pound grass carp with massive bodies.
While drifting down one shoreline, I spotted a fish positioned vertically at the surface in clear water. Like it was looking toward the surface and mouthing the air. It had to be over a foot long, white in color, and pretty skinny — almost like an eel. It definitely had its mouth protruding the water’s surface. When I spooked it, the fish immediately swam off. I’m still not sure what that fish was, but I figure it had to be some sort of catfish. If it hung around, I definitely would have made some casts its way.
Final Thoughts
Another spinning reel I use with regularity is the Lew’s Speed Spin CRX. I consider the Speed Spin CRX an everyman’s reel that’s more budget-friendly, but still a great performer.
Quickly, let me point out the differences between the two. The Speed Spin CRX has a lightweight graphite frame, deeper traditional spool, 6.2:1 gear ratio, standard oscillation, 10-bearing system (9+1), standard hybrid carbon drag, and CNC-machined brass gears. When you compare the two, it’s obvious to me why the new HyperMag SS 300 has the higher price, the better performance, and the better feel.
There’s no doubt about it: I’ll continue to keep both reels in my regular arsenal, but different materials and features do have an effect. The new Lew’s HyperMag SS 300 is one of the first options I grab whenever I’m on the water.
Editor’s Note: Because this is a new reel, the Lew’s HyperMag Shallow Spool 300 will be available to retailers on July 1, 2026. Smaller dealers will have them in stock by mid-July. Large retailers like Tackle Warehouse will have the HyperMag Spin starting on July 15th and the Shallow Spool version on August 14th. Bass Pro Shops should have availability around September 1st.
