At the height of the swimbait craze here in Japan (approx 5 years ago), we offered seven different swimbait rods, all baitcasting models. The most popular models were about 7 1/2 feet, and handled lures that ranged from three to five oz. We took sold only a few of the heaviest swimbait rods per year.

Now that trend has completely reversed. This year we have taken more orders for our two heaviest swimbait rods than 'regular' big swimbait rods. This is mostly due to the recent trend in hand made huge wood baits. There are no production rods on the market the chuck these big wood ( 300 to 500 grams and up), so the two heavy rods we have had on the market for the past six years has been the natural choice of many here in Japan.

One rod is rated for casting lures 200 to 500 grams, and our 10X is rated for 500 to 1000 grams.
These are not saltwater rods; these are bass rods.
The most pronounced difference between the two is the wall diameter of the blank. Our heaviest swimbait rods have a blank wall diameter no thicker than the butt on a flipping stick. The rods are built for casting, rather than prolonged fights with big fish (as in a saltwater application). Also, we spine the rods for casting, rather that fighting fish, as most of the stress placed on the rod during the life of the rod will be from casting the heavy baits.

The pictured rod has yet to be clear coated (the epoxy coat over the threads) and is WIP.





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"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"

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Sounds and looks like a sick swimbait rod, things have come a long way from the broomsticks I started with.

BTW, how long is the rod pictured? Like 2438.4mm? ;-)

Any chance you can show the full grip that diamond pattern looks nice. EVA?

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Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

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This is just standard X-Rubber which can be shrunk down over your existing EVA handle for a cool non slip grip. Any custom rod shop in Cali should carry this, and it is easy to apply with a heat gun--no epoxy necessary.
The bottom pic is the X-rubber applied below a custom painted Fuji PSS reel seat.

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"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"

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Capt. G,

That is an absolutely beautiful rod! Are your rods available in the U.S.? Also, wouldn't mind seeing some of those big custom swimbaits you were talking about.

This big wood bait compared to an AC Real Trout

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We do not offer our custom swimbait rods for sale in the USA, but Marc at Performance Tackle in Los Alamitos, CA, can build you a rod that is more than sufficient for chucking these big wood baits.
I am going to Cali this winter, and I can not wait to throw some of these big wood baits at DVL, Perris, and Casitas.:)

"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"

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shoot, what about those baits then? :9

Never seen that X-rubber before might have to look into it.

That is a HUGE bait.

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Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

> Sounds and looks like a sick swimbait rod, things have come
>a long way from the broomsticks I started with.
>
> BTW, how long is the rod pictured? Like 2438.4mm? ;-)

The rod in the pic is Eight Feet Six Inches--sorry, forgot to mention this.

"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"

Nice looking bait!



Tim