Hello from Canada - HUGE gear enthusiast

WELCOME!  Thanks for sharing those gorgeous combos...looking forward to your input as well.

Welcome and thanks for sharing such lovely combos!

Welcome HKBasser,

nice setups you have there. That spinning setup is intriguing

i would like to hear more about it..  

@goldrod The spinning rod is part of a line from Daisuke Aoki’s (regarded as one of the strongest pro bass anglers in Japan) DSTYLE brand.  It’s a remake of the old Abu Garcia Fantasista Deez 66ML finesse max (his old series when he was with PurefishingJP).  This dehighro rod is called the Max Finesse, basically the exact same rod, same action and taper, but lighter and newer materials since the last generation of Fantasista was from 2017.  78g dry weight for the dehighro, 92g for the old Fantasista 66ML.  The dehighro rods similarly to Fantasistas are an absolute bargain.  The Fantasista MGS BFS rod I have here is from the 2012 release year, super old model but still punches well above its weight.  Super nice fast taper with a good backbone, classic Bass BFS rod.  And the Kaleido Grand Cobra GT needs no introduction, arguably the most versatile out of the Kaleidos.

@HKBasser 

thanks for putting both on my to get list 

@hkbasser welcome aboard. We are very happy to have you join the family. Beautiful combos you’ve got there…thanks for sharing!

I’m a bit of a Fantasista fan myself, and also enjoy the Deez series. I’ve got a few of each still in rotation. Highly underrated rods in my book.

Older pic of the AE74 on a 10th Anniversary Fantasista TZ limited X Glaive. 

@rise Amazing!!! Fantasista rods were like the best value for money in high end rods in the JDM market between 2012-2019.  I myself have used quite a few since I had a buddy who had a fleet of them.  The original Deez was so cool, particularly the 60L BFS, that tip was insane especially when I was a junior high student with no money to buy these rods.  The Deez Bank was also incredible.  X-Glaive has been a series I've wanted to own too.  I'm amazed at the sort of stuff you guys have here, I'm assuming a lot of you are from the US.  Honestly, North American JDM gear in my experience has been way too Megabass focused.  In my opinion, old Megabass was interesting but they've become a bit more cookie cutter and less about performance nowadays.  I don't know if you guys have the same sentiment.  I understand Megabass spends a lot of money to control retailers to promote their stuff, but I would love to see more of what you guys have in here.  Whenever guys talk about the best or highest end gear, they default to loomis and megabass.  There are so many JDM rods out there that can outperform this stuff.  And I've fished some of both.  I will admit they tend to be very different rods (especially loomis compared to actual JDM rods), but the philosophy on balance in JDM gear tends to be a lot more performance oriented (I am not talking about the balance of the rod as in where it's COG is).  I could be biased but I don't see that being as much of a factor as Loomis rods were a dream for me when I lived in Asia (we could not get our hands on them).

I love discussing gear so I am glad to have found a bunch of guys who know more than me.  I am also primarily a shore angler, I do kayak fishing too but I enjoy being on the bank as it's how I grew up fishing.  Living in Toronto means I'm fishing loads of urban spots where I don't want too many rods, hence the super versatile setups.  I do own technique specific rods for when I'm on a boat as a co-angler in tournaments but even they are not hyper specific.

Posted by: @hkbasser

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@rise Amazing!!! Fantasista rods were like the best value for money in high end rods in the JDM market between 2012-2019.  I myself have used quite a few since I had a buddy who had a fleet of them.  The original Deez was so cool, particularly the 60L BFS, that tip was insane especially when I was a junior high student with no money to buy these rods.  The Deez Bank was also incredible.  X-Glaive has been a series I've wanted to own too.  I'm amazed at the sort of stuff you guys have here, I'm assuming a lot of you are from the US.  Honestly, North American JDM gear in my experience has been way too Megabass focused.  In my opinion, old Megabass was interesting but they've become a bit more cookie cutter and less about performance nowadays.  I don't know if you guys have the same sentiment.  I understand Megabass spends a lot of money to control retailers to promote their stuff, but I would love to see more of what you guys have in here.  Whenever guys talk about the best or highest end gear, they default to loomis and megabass.  There are so many JDM rods out there that can outperform this stuff.  And I've fished some of both.  I will admit they tend to be very different rods (especially loomis compared to actual JDM rods), but the philosophy on balance in JDM gear tends to be a lot more performance oriented (I am not talking about the balance of the rod as in where it's COG is).  I could be biased but I don't see that being as much of a factor as Loomis rods were a dream for me when I lived in Asia (we could not get our hands on them).

Thanks!

Agreed, they (Fantasistas) definitely punch way above their price point, especially considering what you can get them for these days in the second hand market. 

Speaking of tip sections, that TZ limited BFS rod in the pics I posted has one of the most wicked tip sections I’ve ever fished. It’s rated as light power, which the tip section is, but it shuts down quick and has substantial back bone for a bfs rod. Not to mention it’s equipped with a “ratcheting/clicking” fore nut and is just so cool to lock a reel into. Very fun stick. I call the XGlaive TZ Ltd the X7 Extreme Mission’s big brother. I’ve got a lot of love for that rod as well. The New Deez…absolute blast to fish with. Easily my favorite Deez series. 

Yes, myself and a good number of the “active” members are from the US, but we have members from all over the world. 

I added this forum into the family of sites (jdmfishing.com & the store) about 5+ years ago when I relaunched the new jdmfishing.com site, but the main site has been around for almost 15 years…give or take. A solid number of our members in here are some of the OG’s of enthusiast tackle and come with a wealth of knowledge. This is a smaller, yet very hardcore group that has real passion for this niche of the industry. I can easily tell that you have that same passion for this as well and I love seeing that. The enthusiast community has gotten much smaller, but is still strong and we plan on carrying the torch for as long as we can to keep it alive and hopefully see it regrow. So again, welcome! 

As for the whole Megabass thing…I agree COMPLETELY. That is coming from an old school MB fanboy. I will say that MB set the bar high in the early years, and I still own A LOT of older MB stuff, but for me, they started “selling out” in 2016. In my eyes, the 2014/15 lineup was the high water mark for Yuki Ito and his company. The X7 blanks are still highly regarded and often hailed as the best MB ever made. They are also still used in the Arms Super Leggeras. I did own a few 2016 Destroyers featuring the “Pyrofail” blanks and quickly sold them. Fast forward, I also tried a couple of the P5’s a few years back, but was VERY underwhelmed and those left the stable after only a couple of weeks. It was sad/painful to watch MB go downhill after 2015 but profits and numbers became more important than originality and innovation. I understand it’s a business, and making money is the goal, but to set aside nearly everything that made you successful?…

Regardless, I still don’t think anyone came close in originality or built more beautiful rods in the early days than they did. There are still a good number of those early rods that easily outperform many current day offerings…even with that “old” technology. 

These days Megabass has become exactly as you said. Very monotonous/cookie cutter and  generic. I am still a fan of quite a few of their baits, but even those have gone sharply downhill in quality. 

And to set the record straight, I am not a Loomis fan, never have been and don’t own a single Loomis rod. I have in the past, but dollar for dollar, they don’t come close in aesthetics, build quality and overall performance to many JDM offerings. I still own a couple of rare/unique USDM rods from a company called Airrus that will never leave me, but that’s a topic for another thread. 

I am a huge advocate for not being brand-loyal and own a vast array of rods from MANY JDM companies. As you said, there are so many great rods out there…and so little time. Variety is the spice of life in my eyes. I also very much agree with your sentiment when it comes to “balance”. The Japanese just do it better when it comes to nearly every facet of design, aesthetics, performance, etc. The U.S. market (in my opinion) has become so redundant and saturated with cheap crap, it is honestly quite embarrassing to see.

The amount of stealing/copycatting/infringing upon original products from Japan has gotten out of control. Again, that’s a whole other issue we can discuss in another thread…Rant done. 😆

@rise I am so glad to know that you have a similar sentiment.  And yes you are absolutely right, this is my cup of tea.  We are gonna have some amazing conversations.

My opinions on Megabass are strong, they used to lead the industry.  It’s as you say, 2016 onwards they went downhill and recently L catterton acquired them bringing them down even more.  Yeah, they sell loads, but where is that passion?  It’s gone.  Now it’s about releasing custom colours and selling them in small batches so people are willing to either pay more or instantly buy them for the hype.  

Many JDM companies are slowly falling into the trap though, Geecrack being one of them.  They’re starting to be a lot more cookie cutter in their bait offerings, they’re doing what 6th sense do in the US, throw everything at the wall and see what sticks.  Geecrack used to be a leader in bait innovation at least for soft plastics, the Imo Ripper was an incredible bait, the first turd style bait to incorporate that quiver tail, and the shape rolled so well.  When dice rubber became popular in the US, they decided to jump on the bandwagon instantly with the cue bomb.  Now they just cater to US customers and make copies of baits with their SAF material and call that original.  That long worm they came out with?  Exactly the same as the Jackall Long-M.  I understand this stuff was mostly designed by Geecrack USA, but the fact that GeecrackJP allowed stuff like this to start happening is very concerning.

On the subject of Loomis, most guys are pretty oblivious and have no idea about the world out there when it comes to rods.  They default to loomis because it’s the standard for sensitivity, but an NRX+ is very one-trick when it comes to its performance.  Yeah, absolute sensitivity, you can feel a bite on slack line very well.  That’s cool and all but there is no focus on anything else.  Evergreen Kaleido for example chose bigger guides so slack line bites have more room to accelerate line into hitting the edges of the guide insert and maximize bite sensitivity, one more layer into the equation.  What about using steel double foots at the butt section stripper guides and titanium up top to influence action of the rod?  Unfortunately, I just haven’t seen that from USDM rods yet.  

On a positive note, companies like Daiwa are really getting good now.  Daiwa is the leader in bass fishing for Japan at the very least.  All the best pros are under them, and they actually make some good gear.  Abu Garcia Japan are also looking to make a comeback, I don’t know if it will be as amazing as the Fantasista PurefishingJP days, where Abu lead bass in Japan, but we can only hope.  I still own a few golden days pieces, a Revo LV7, LTX-BF8, and the last gen BigShooter compact.  So much is changing in the bass fishing landscape, we don’t know what’s to come.

Those rare USDM rods you speak of, I would love to learn about them!  

On the subject of your baitfinesse stick.  That sounds like your BFS rod is very similar to the MGS I own. I think the old classic Bass BFS tapers really emphasized on that super soft tip with a backbone that locks up super quick.

Those rods were usually used for techniques like neko rigging and small jigs in shallow light cover, there is absolutely a need for a quick lightning fast hook set, at the same time you want good control for your small bait.  That’s where these tapers probably originate from, and the lengths too.  Also these were built for 6-8lb fluorocarbon, more lock, overcome the stretch issue in fluoro.  Nowadays with PE Baitfinesse we’re seeing some RF to F and less XF tapers unsurprisingly.  DSTYLE released some BFS rods And we’re also seeing lots of solid tip incorporation into more power BFS applications.  Really interesting progression.  

@hkbasser looks like we see eye to eye on a great many things. 🤙🏼

Yes, most don’t really even know how deep the rod rabbit hole goes. And the other side of that is that most who do start going down into that rabbit hole, tend to move through Rods too quickly, IMO. While I am very big on Rods for specific techniques, most of us here know just how versatile many JDM Rods are. The biggest problem I see is how quickly people cycle through Rods. What I mean by this is that, yeah I get it… Sometimes you buy a rod and it just doesn’t line up with your expectations or how you like to fish, but I feel that too many people often discard rods without giving them a fair chance. Just because a rod says it’s designed for certain apps, doesn’t mean that’s all it can do.  Especially with JDM offerings, they can and do excel at other things…not just what the “suggested techniques” description says. I make it a point to try different/out of the box techniques with every rod I get based on personal preference and rod characteristics…not what the manufacturer tells me to do with it. That’s not to say that many manufacturers are not on point when it comes to designations, I’m just touching on the fact that a lot of these rods can do much more or different things than what they are designed for. 

I love that you want to talk about the technical aspects of guides/trains. Especially with so many variants out there. A lot of people really don’t pay attention to the details these days… It’s sad to see how many people jump on the hype train before they really even understand much of what’s done technology-wise and/or for what reasons.

Quite a few spiral wraps are in active rotation for me, and one of our members here is already building customs, utilizing the ZZ layout that Evergreen recently introduced. Still waiting for his thoughts on that set up out in the field. And you’re absolutely right, I’d wager that most people have no idea how much double foots, Thread Work and guide spacing influences blank taper/Power. 

Daiwa has been Doing a great job for sometime in my eyes. I’ve always loved that they build proprietary seats, blank technology, etc. The Racing Design series was definitely a high watermark for them when it comes to Rods, but even many of their early offerings are iconic. The XBD for example…regardless, again, I agree, but hope they will bring something of equal caliber to the racing design sometime soon.

With all the ABU Plants shutting down production of the Ambassadeurs, It’s going to be interesting to see how the brand progresses. I would love to see them start producing some super high end technique specific rods again. Let’s hope for a strong comeback.

Those rare USDM Rods, I’m talking about… I will post a few pictures of them in the next day or two and we can chat about those

The BFS Deez TZ Ltd Is definitely a doozy. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s of the same pedigree of the rod you’re talking about. I do have one other rod that is very similar in characteristics…the Smith Tourlier V Spec Bait Finesse Specialist. Much more understated, but a gorgeous build nonetheless and performance is nearly identical to the TZ. The tip section is quite similar to the Fantasista, but overall, it is just a hair heavier in Power. I will have to post a picture of that as well.

Yes, another reason for many of the dual taper, or solid tip implementations these days has to do with the fact that most people are fishing PE on their BFS spools/setups, not to mention, in Japan, they fish a lot of close quarters/small waterways, etc. and like you said, a lot of shallow water and cover at close range. Those scenarios and braid definitely require a blank that distributes the impact/load of those close range jarring hooks sets much more evenly. Definitely prolongs the life of the blank as well as preventing break-offs. A x-fast taper and braid combo will easily suffer damage at a more rapid pace as the result of the same treatment and no line stretch. Again, something many don’t understand when is comes to blank design. 

 Companies such as Designo and RAID have done a really nice job with ST implementation. Yuki Kamiya is in my eyes, the king of solid tips and has mastered those transitions into the midsections of his rods. From X-fast to Mod Fast variants…and everything from Light to Heavy power ratings, there’s something special about his ST builds. 

RAID’s MAXX series has a couple of ST winners in it as well, even though the blanks are MIC. 

I’m glad you mentioned raid, they have been killing it with their offerings.  I have some of their low end Anti rods as workhorses but I may get into some of the Maximums soon.

on the subject of guide trains, that Z guide train really intrigued me.  When I saw them come out with that I really wanted to try.  What an interesting progression once again.  And to think spiral designs were already such an interesting idea, I remember the older Fantasista Regista Light Flip 71M having that guide train and I wanted to buy that rod just for that.  And back when Kr guide and the new placements were the biggest thing!  Now we’ve progressed into zig zags.  Guys still going on and on about gloomis recoil guides and stuff like this is being released.  Funny.

Also you have a Smith rod?!!  That’s pretty amazing as they are quite under the radar outside of Asia.  Truly an enthusiast, should’ve expected no less from this forum.