Travel Rod Diaries -- The Big Stick
What do you do when you know people in the fishing industry are suffering and you’ve got an itch to buy some tackle? You call up your favorite small shop and purchase something that you’ve been on the fence about for a while. If you were ever going to pull the trigger on it, now’s the time.
That’s the position I found myself in last week, and in particular I was jonesing for a swimbait rod. I’ve just started to dip my toe in the big bait game. I’ve read all the forums, watched a bajillion videos, and I was finally ready to take the leap, but just one question: Which rod should I buy?
I knew it wasn’t something that I’d use often, but I also knew that if I bought a subpar stick it might sour the overall experience of getting into swimbaits. Luckily, my man Lin Bell at Fishing Pro Tech in Toano, Va., had just what I needed – The F5 Departure Series 806.
To be honest, I wasn’t familiar with F5 until Lin gave me the details. They’re built in small batches by Brad Vanderpool in Oklahoma to exacting specifications, using components including Japanese Toray 36T graphite blanks, tangle-free guides and high-density EVA.
Most importantly for my purposes, this rod was a three-piece model. I know that the one-piece purists among you will shudder, because I used to be one of you, but I’ve started to come around and I’ve amassed a selection of travel rods, but most of them are pretty generic in terms of action: 6- to 7-foot medium action spinning rods, and 6’6” to 7’6” medium-heavy baitcasters. This is the first one that has a specific purpose, in this case throwing big baits. It might not handle true giants like the Mother Chaser, but it’ll handle anything up to about 4 ounces exceptionally.
The rod locker in my Bass Cat will fit this 8’ rod in its entirety, but a true 8-footer isn’t ideal for a lot of international travel. Sure, I could probably get it to Mexico, but more exotic trips on small planes with luggage restrictions could get dicey. This rod will do double-duty for me because I’ll be able to take it places like the Amazon, to which I’m scheduled to return in December. Anglers Inn provides an excellent range of St. Croix rods to fish with while we’re there, and I’ve found that traditional bass tackle will ably handle even the big 6- and 7-inch prop baits (without tiring you out), but a medium-heavy or heavy bass rod struggles with some of the bigger musky plugs I’ve wanted to try down there in the past. This one will scratch that itch. I’m sure I’ll find myriad other uses for it in the future, possibly including some saltwater opportunities I have my eye on. I have not been this excited about a new rod in a long time.
