I have heard they make good rods.
I went to the lake this evening because we did not have church tonight. It had been a long weekend and I needed some down time. I also wanted to use my new TFO panfish rod, 7’ ultra light, I have only had it out once and was really excited to to see it bend some more.
On the way to the lake, I met a friend that was going home from the lake, and he called me and the first thing he said was “you are wasting your time”. Well not so, I had a blast. I caught crappie, bream and bass, and numbers of each. I will post pictures tomorrow of the fish and my new rod.
I don’t like to buy a rod without handling it, but I took a chance on the TFO. I have never had a true ultra light panfish rod like this, and at first unboxing, I was little disappointed. The rod felt great in my hand, but I thought it to wimpy, and thought it would never cast the 1/32 jig heads I like to throw. I rigged it up with a Pflueger Trion and 2 pound test line, and headed to the lake.
The good points. It fished like a dream, it is very sensitive, in fact I was amazed at how sensitive it was. My main panfish rod “was” a Fenwick Eagle light, but this TFO is quite a bit more sensitive. I don’t know if it is actually the rod, or the difference in a light rod and an ultra light rod, but it is different. It handled the fish I caught very well. The bream I caught put up their normal hard fight, and the rod was up to the task, I enjoyed the heck out of it.
I caught a bass around a pound and no problem.
The bad point. I was a little disappointed in the casting distance with the 1/32 trout magnet jig I was throwing. From reading the reviews, I was expecting more distance. When I threw the same magnet jig on my fenwick I could throw the fenwick a bit further. I was getting ok distance from the TFO fishing the grass lines, I was just expecting more.
(I am not good at judging distances or I would put some in here.)
Today, I put a 1/16 road runner head on it and got quite a bit more distance. I may try a different line, maybe a braid, power pro or fire line and see what that does.
Anyway, I wanted to share this. I will post pics tomorrow, they are on my phone and I haven’t uploaded them yet.
The wrap up, I love the TFO, it is one of the sweetest rods I have ever fished, light, strong, and sensitive. I really think I see a few more of them in my future when I need to replace some rods.
Later...etex
I have heard they make good rods.
The love for fishing is one of the best gifts you can pass along
Congrats on new rod!
Regards
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TFO is better known for their fly rods, but all their stuff is good.
Congratulations on the new rod. Not familiar with that brand. Looking forward to the pics, and include a picture of the rod also.
I use braid. i have found the teflon coated braid cast a little better than regular braid. It holds a palomar knot really well without slipping. Some knots will slide right out
The love for fishing is one of the best gifts you can pass along
I actually owned 2 of them when they first came out. They used to have an color coding system on their rods to indicate the power rating. My son now has those...and one of their recent models.
Regards
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Here are the pics. Sorry it took so long.
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The TFO bass rods still have a color code on the handle, but the panfish rods don’t because they are all ultra light. The one I have is a 7’ one piece, I think I may get a 6’ or 6’6” two piece to keep in the truck because I will sometimes stop and fish in a ditch on the side of the road if it looks good. I just can’t help myself.
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What particular braid do you use. I would like to try it and compare it to the braid I use which is power pro.
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