Travel Rod Updates — Summer 2021

Despite a pledge to do so, I have not yet conducted the rigorous travel rod testing that I discussed late last year and early in 2021. I simply haven’t fished enough at home to give meaningful analyses, and I did not bring any multi-piece rods when we visited El Salto in June. That latter decision was partially out of laziness and partially because of the difficulties we had with the Mazatlan airport authorities in November of 2020. I realize that’s a bad excuse, but in the interest of transparency I’m being completely candid. I do intend to fish the travel rods I’ve amassed and will report back on them when I’m able to do so accurately and honestly.

That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped my travel rod acquisitions, though. Specifically, I’ve obtained two:

Wild Side 6’8” Big Bait Special (WSC68XXH-5)

One of the rods that has impressed me most in my early testing is the five-piece Wild Side 6’3” light action spinning rod. It casts nicely, the ferrules are rock solid, and breaks down to a miniscule package. I put it away when the grass got thick on the Potomac, but while fishing the comparatively clear and cover-free Lake Anna a lot in the spring I gave it a workout. With that in mind, I went to the opposite end of the spectrum and acquired their five-piece “Big Bait Special” which should excel for baits up to 3 ounces. As such, I have a strong mind to take it on our tuna/roosterfish/Cubera trip to Panama in November to test it out on something bigger than largemouths, but it will also get a workout with some larger baits around home. Its use will overlap slightly with my Cast Division Beaststick 69HDG and I’ll be curious to see which one I end up using more. The Wild Side is likely easier to get in the US through Tackle Warehouse and it’s quite a bit cheaper, though still far from cheap.

Monstar Novelty MNARTC695MH

I’d never heard of Monstar until my friend Dennis Shew of Tackle Tour introduced me to this rod from southeast Asia. Based on their website and Facebook page, the company seems to be more focused on saltwater jigging and exotics like giant snakehead and barramundi than on our traditional largemouths (surely that is largely the result of geography), but this rod’s specs place it directly within the wheelhouse of a lot of mainstream largemouth tactics. At 6’9” and rated for 8-48 gram lures (roughly ¼ to 1 ½ ounces), this would be a good choice for many of us. It comes with Fuji tangle-free guides and it’s five pieces versus the traditional three or four, so if it performs it could make packing much easier, since the longest pieces are still shorter than 19 inches each. It even comes with a clear Meiho case, which is a nice touch, although I think I’d be uncomfortable placing it in a soft checked bag because it’s not remarkably rigid. The only thing I can’t figure out is why they call it a “Novelty.”

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In other multi-piece stick news, Megabass has brought their Vakyrie World Expedition Multi-Piece rods to the us market and they can be purchased through retailers including The Tackle Trap in Alabama and The Hook Up Tackle in Arizona. They’re not inexpensive at $349.99 to $389.99 apiece, but that’s not out of the realm of reasonableness in this day and age, especially for a rod that may pull double- or triple-duty for your upcoming trips, whether you’re swimbaiting Mexico, chasing peacocks in the Amazon or battling redfish in Venice. Of the eight rods in the lineup, four have unexceptional specs (6’4” medium casting, 6’5” medium-heavy casting, 6’10” medium-light spinning, 7’6” medium spinning). There is one rod that seems atypical for the American market, a 5’8” medium-light casting, although I suspect this might be big with the bait finesse crowd. But for the multi-species traveling angler, including those looking for a travel swimbait rod, there is a 7’8 heavy (rated for lures up to 120 grams), 7’11 extra-heavy (150 grams) and 8’0” extra-extra-heavy (180 grams). That means you can buy a high-end travel rod capable of slinging lures up to approximately 6 ounces for swimbait-hungry bass, Amazonian wolf fish, or possibly rampaging yellowfin tuna.

Jabbers Fishing, a company that I’ve discussed previously in various travel rod collections, has teased on Instagram the release of the five-piece “Snake Charmer” for “heavy cover game.” I have a love/hate relationship with the snakeheads here on the Potomac, but this could be another nice addition for big fish, big baits, and no-stretch braid. Maybe our friend Cudakilla will have some insight into it.

Finally, Tackle Warehouse continues to add to their travel rod selections, most recently with Daiwa’s $149.99 telescopic combo that comes complete with a Crossfire 2500 spinning reel. They claim that the “patented V-Joint technology…eliminates flat spots where the connection points are on multi piece rods.” It comes with a carrying case.