Debriefing Phenix's Recon : On the Water with Vince Borges

Introduction: We’ve been following the revival of Phenix Rods since we did our on the water piece with Robert Ip on Lake Pardee back in 2008. The company has continued to evolve since that time looking for ways to distinguish themselves amidst a very competitive segment of the market, and while they’ve built a small following, they’ve yet to hit that home run with consumers.

At ICAST 2011, the company officially introduced a line of rods that promises to change all of that. They’ve shown us glimpses of these rods for the past year with promises of “they’re coming” but delay after delay continued to push their debut off to later and later dates. They’re finally here and we met up with pro staffer, Vince Borges at Clear Lake, California to check out Phenix Rod’s new Recon series.

Heading out with Vince Borges for a day on the water with Phenix's Recon rods.

Vince demonstrating the tip on the PHX-C713.

The Spec's: Phenix's Recon rods are built upon 36 ton graphite sticks. This places these sticks right in between what some might consider budget blanks (30 ton graphite) and high end blanks (40 ton graphite). They feature Fuji components including Fuji's new split reel seat (casting rods only). The guides are stainless steel frames with SiC inserts and the grips are made of a high density eva material. Phenix offers a mix of split rear grip and full rear grip configurations on these sticks all depending upon length and power of he rods.

While Cal is gearing up, Vince is already on fish ...

Cal drops what he's doing to give Vince a hand.

These rods feature a very solid component spec rivaling that of Daiwa Zillion, Dobyns Champion, and Shimano Cumara, yet at a price beginning at only $159. For a rod with SiC guides from St. Croix or G.Loomis, you need to pass the $300 threshold. Well, for a rod to come in at this price point while their major competitors are at least twenty five percent more with a similar spec, something has to give and our natural assumption is the blank. No matter what a manufacturer says about their blanks and the technology or material contained within, there's really only one way to find out what they're about and that's to fish them.

 Each stick comes in a very JDM-esque rod sleeve.

The longer and more powerful sticks feature full rear grips.

We met up with Vince Borges over at Konocti Vista Casino on Clear Lake to do just that. Word on the dock was the bite had been tough all week, but Vince was there three weeks prior and was confident he could put us on the fish to help us get a feel for these new Recon Sticks.

The more traditional casters feature a split rear grip.

A look at the full rear grip of the PHX-S763.