About a fifteen years ago my father made some business trips to Hong Kong and Taiwan. He came home with the most extraordinary fishing poles I had ever seen. They were telescoping rods, but unlike most tele. rods found in the USA they were very light, very thin and ranged from 7-9 feet in length. I ran into one like them at www.Ogeecheeoutdoors.com for 28$, it’s 12 feet long and collapses down to 27 inches so I figured I would try one out.
Photos of the rod can be found Here.
The Beginning:
Their website wasen’t too bad, but they could definately use some more images of their goods, I wasen’t completely sure what this pole would look like before I ordered it. Checkout was straightforward and shipping was not overly high. (I paid with paypal)
Shipping was good, the rod came in it’s plastic “box” which was thoughtfully padded with some newspaper (This was nice to see). This box was then packed with more newspaper inside a tri-fold cardboard tube.
I took the pool to a local park and used a Shimano Stradic 1000RD reel on it with 4lb line. (My style of fishing is as light as I can get it, I find it very relaxing just to sit and catch a dozen small fish and toss them back rather than wait on 1 huge fish)
The Good:
I found the sensitivity to be on-par with the asian rods I had used before (roughly the same as a 3-piece backpacking rod) small nibbles on a worm by a 3″ long fish were noticable.
The reel seat has a plastic filler in it, so your reel isn’t directly touching the metal slides (Another issue with the previous asian rods, they would scar your reels up) The design of this attachment seems to be unique to rods used in Asia and is almost never seen on rods made for the American market. (Personally I find it superior to the threaded style, but that’s just me).
The tip cover is much better than any I had previously seen. It’s a hard clear plastic with foam padding at the tip, and a green plastic “needle” that threads through the eyes while in storage. There is an eye in this needle that allows for easy threading of your line. (Previous tip covers I encountered on rods like this were black rubber and offered minimal protection for the fragile tip)
Casting a small piece of a worm on a bare hook with no weight was beautiful, I easily got 16 feet of distance from the tip of the rod to the landing point (about 8 feet of line let out before the cast and another 8 during the throw) which is exactly what I was hoping for. Casting a 1/8th ounce lure was similarly impressive, resulting in excellent distance. Tho I do have some concern with anything heavier due to the thin graphite and extreme length. (Tho at 28$ it’s worth the risk I figure)
The Bad:
The rods action is VERY slow, a small jerk will make the tip quiver violently. (Sometimes this is good, sometimes not so good, I find it “acceptable”)
It’s a little too long for most situations. You won’t want to use this pole in heavy brush or tress at all.
Aligning the eyes towards the end of the pole is quite a pain in the rear, I suggest you start at the tip and align them working backwards to the handle.
The balance point as I mentioned above is a bit far to the front, but that’s to be expected on a rod this long. (I’m looking into ways of adding weight to the back of the handle)
In all i’d say it’s a good deal.
