Thread: Fished two newest rods Lunakia and Banshee

Got a trip to the local lake in after work today. Fished the Lunakia 5'8" with a presso spooled with Varivas lemoni(no leader)from about 3 to 4:30. Caught about a dozen smallish crappie ranging from 6 to 8.5 inches. Fish were active but biting lightly, was using livescope to track down a good sized school. Was using a Ketchin inspired hand tied hair jig. 1g orange head, orange hair, a couple strands of chartreuse flash tipped with a wax worm.

Around 430 I had to head back to the dock to pick up my wife so she could do some fishing also. As I was leaving a found a large area with lots of fish.

After picking her up we headed back to the spot with lots of fish moving around in several schools. I rigged her up a TCB/Legalis with Varivas 4lb green trout advanced line, using a 1g orange jig with black/chartreuse trout magnet and wax worm.

I also rigged up my new Majorcraft Banshee tournament BTSS-5112L area trout rod, outfitted it with the same reel/line combo as the Lunakia except this reel had a leader. Used a 1g chartreuse head with black/chartreuse trout magnet.

I swapped between the Lunakia and Banshee for the next 2 hours, catching a couple crappie on one rod then swapping to the other for a few fish. All in all I caught around 50 smallish crappie, biggest was 9.5 inches and one 7 inch bluegill. The wife caught a couple dozen crappie the same size.

As far as the rods they were both fun with this size fish. I would say the Banshee has a little more fun factor (more tip action) than the Lunakia. I have to admit when I opened the Lunakia I was a little concerned with how tiny(small diameter) the solid tip was, it just looked so dainty. I did incrementally hang 8 oz of weight on it before today's trip checking the bending curve, at that point the solid tip is pointing strait down and your getting into the backbone of the rod. For the size fish I normally catch I think I'm going to really like the 5'8" Lunakia rod, I haven't fish my 6'10" Lunakia much due to feeling like I had more rod than I needed for the fish I expected to catch.

Originally Posted by redearhoosier

Are these a new series of the Banshee lineup? How do they compare to the Finetail SUL rod? The 6ft light action Banshee is only 56 grams! I'd like to buy that rod.

I received mine (511 L) earlier than expected. Fished it today (with Ester) on a quick pre-work trip. It certainly has more power than the Finetail 63 SUL. Feels crisp and it’s a bit stiffer than my other area rods. However, if I recall correctly, Randy once said that Majorcraft rods are typically faster than other brands. It is definitely more sensitive than Finetail. But I also wouldn’t say it’s more than a couple of classes above the Finetail in terms of sensitivity. Maybe the 6L would be a good option because I am guessing (could be wrong) that its action might be a bit softer than the 511L since it is meant to be used with PE. Overall it’s a fine rod. Would have no issues cranking up the drag a few notches with larger sized panfish (like the shellcracker you catch) and the occasional bass.

One last observation… it casts really far.
Almost like the Yamaga Blanks JH special TZ Nano.


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