Also, I’m surprised you mention the Zodias 68ML falling off before its upper end rating, as the Shimanos tend to fish slightly heavier in power. Where did you feel it tapped out? 

Hmmm...am I to infer that you are saying Shimano is going to ax the entire Bantam line?

Greg, should I also order the pawl or any other parts for the wormgear swap out?

Thanks brother.

I know we like to talk about how rods feel here.  I’ve been using the max finesse a bunch and I’ve really enjoyed it.  Let’s break it down a little.

At 6’6, it is considered mid-range in terms of length as your classic JDM rods go.  It definitely is a good happy medium for a multitude of techniques.  I don’t feel that the length compromises too much even for techniques like dropshotting.  With a balanced setup between line thickness and lure weight, I can still bomb casts out super far with this and you can still control lures well.  Maybe at the longest distance with a dropshot, the angle of the bait in relation to the weight may not be as big which will cause the bait to be closer to the bottom but this is bound to happen for any long range DS application.

In terms of taper, this rod is a fast action, but it doesn’t have a comically fast taper like some of Daisuke Aoki’s older Fantasista rods.  It is a nice versatile fast that gives a nice lock up in the blank on a deep hookset, but it isn’t instant.  This gives it some leeway for guys throwing moving stuff and some hard baits even.  When you get into the butt section, it is sticky enough to keep fish pinned, there is an ever so slight bit of give in the butt that is almost like damper for head shakes.  I rarely lose fish on this rod, in fact I can only recall one time I have lost a fish on it, and it was fishing a raid Libero underspin, those baits have a terrible hook gap, couple that with the fact I was fishing in pretty strong current and the bite was during a lift and fall retrieve, the odds were stacked against me. The blanks are very sensitive, so slack-line bites are not hard to feel during slow soft plastic presentations. For guys who need a rod who can do many things, this is definitely one of them.  

Techniques I found were standouts on this rod include Neko rigging, weightless plastics, larger midstrolling, smaller shad-style hard baits, spybaiting oddly, dropshot, and the best of all, topwater soft plastic bugs.  Many techniques that you wouldn’t expect this rod to do well at somehow are handled superbly well.  It is definitely a weird feeling.

The other interesting thing about this rod is that a good number of ‘under 6’10’ medium light action rods on the JDM market fall off at higher weight ranges, an example being the Zodias 68ML (I know it’s a completely different calibre of rod).  I find that this rod handles well up to its advertised ⅜, all while having the delicate ability to handle super light rigs.  Its lower end is rated to 1/32oz which sounds incredibly low, but this rod can get pretty close to it.  I fished a 1/32oz Vespa with a 3 inch DSTYLE virola E on this rod and it could handle it incredibly well, the combined weight there with plastic and jig head couldn’t be much more than 1/16 honestly.  I also casted 1g stream fishing spoons on this rod just to see how it would do and somehow it was able to cast them, not at peak performance but it could do it.  Of course, balance with the right line would help with this.  

This rod uses titanium SIC guides, although the extreme spec models use torzite.  Nothing awfully special about the guide train.  The rod’s dry weight is 80 grams, that is very light and as a result, a full day of fishing it isn’t at all taxing on the body.  It really is incredibly easy to handle

The cork handles are in the right place (in front of the reel, as they should be haha) and I enjoy rods that have EVA on the butt end of split grips.  The signature blue Aoki colour scheme is also a thing to love, and knowing that the rod is one of the main tools of a guy like Daisuke makes it that much more special.  It isn’t the most beautiful or flashiest rod in the world, but it is certainly up there in terms of absolute performance.

In Canada, we’re looking at roughly 360-370USD for one of these rods.  In the greater scheme of things, it is an absolute bargain.  That performance for the price basically wipes out any remaining justification in buying USDM ever again.  If you can find them online from Japan, absolutely snag one and try it out, you can’t go wrong.  Sure, MIC is not the most encouraging thing, but I assure you this rod is incredible, and this is coming from a really picky bastard.  

Below are some cool pics, some are snapshots from a fight with a 5+lb smallmouth on that rod the other day.  I have a little tip bend test photo too.  Guys that bank fish, this is can be the only spinning rod you need to bring if you’re looking for one only.  Guys on the boat, no reason to not have something like this either.  I’d have a few of these if I could.  

The setup I have:

DHRS-66ML

Daiwa Luvias ST 2500XH

Varivas AVANI seabass 0.8

Linesystem FC 8lb leader 

If you look at the RAID rod line, you can see a lot of the 2000 circa Megabass style rod style.  Talk about dissing your sponsored anglers, look at K Imae and how ABU treated him.  I'm sorry to politicize comment but the Romneyization of tackle companies will not end well.

Truth…🫡

Daiwa went ahead and scooped up all the best bass pros in Japan, some of the most notable being Daisuke Aoki, Kyoya Fujita, and Katsuya Sasaki (up and coming).  They’re coming out with awesome stuff, just look at the steez lines.  Allowing Aoki to remake some of his famous tapers in Steez form is a power move.  Shimano is dead, Daiwa is only growing.  

Shimano is part of killing the Bass market, and another company that is responsible is Megabass.  They went from dominating in 2000s to 2010s to being absolute garbage.  They are terrible, mind-numbingly terrible right now, when it comes to dealing with retailers and even just their products in general.  What happened to the old megabass?

The sad thing is so many so-called enthusiasts flock to megabass ONLY when they look at JDM enthusiast gear.  L Catterton buying out megabass only made it worse.  I have briefly mentioned this in another thread before but given a chance to rant, I will keep going.  I hate it when companies get bought out and start deteriorating.

Geecrack is another company that pisses me off, when they went into the US market they became garbage.  You see some of their bait offerings now?  Terrible.  Cookie-cutter, copying other brands, just turning everything into their bellows series.  I can’t stand it, they were my favourite soft bait company at first.

In my opinion, all these companies that I pointed out are killing the industry.  And as an added effect, the community.  

To all the companies out there, please stop producing garbage and at the very least don’t market your garbage as diamonds.  I ain’t falling for you trashy bent handle rod (talking to you megabass), I also won’t fall for your stupid ribbed bait that is the same as your other ribbed bait (Geecrack).  

Innovation has been lost, everyone just jumps on the next big thing.  And the consumers are dumb enough to buy into it.  To be honest as consumers we are to blame too… if we weren’t dumb enough to entertain these trash companies they wouldn’t continue to make trash.  

Sorry for the long-winded rant, but this is coming from a guy who’s been an enthusiast for 10 years with a lot of pent up anger watching the industry go to absolute shambles (certainly a lot shorter than some of you but a long time for my age).

Absolutely love your fire for this HK, and I’ve definitely felt this way about MB/other brands since about 2015. I’m also fairly certain most of the members here have (at one time or another) said much of the same, or at least think it! And as you stated…It’s only getting worse. 

That said…Don’t ever apologize for speaking your mind on this, or any other topic. I’m someone who very much respects honestly and healthy discussions/debates. Not to mention, bringing awareness to such things is very important. The manufacturers need to hear these things from us. This sport is something we are all very passionate about and as consumers that spend waaaaaaayyyyy too much money on our beloved gear, we should have more say in what’s developed. Unfortunately, quantity/profit > quality and ediocrity is the way these days. We need a shift in this trajectory and we need it now.