Real World Tests: I paired the VFSS70-4 with a brand new, Revo4 X spinning reel spooled with ten pound, Crystal (white), Berkley Fireline Ultra 8 Superline and took the combo out for some early season finesse fishing.

I paired the VFSS70-4 with a brand new, Revo4 X spinning reel.

Casting: The VTSS70-4's lure rating is pretty much spot on although admittedly, I did not test the upper end limit for this stick. My concern, with a finesse stick is really how low can it go, and in this case, the VTSS70-4 feels much more like a "light" powered stick than medium light. It has a really soft tip that loads well with smallish drop shot weights to help you get your offering out to the target zone.

The VTSS70-4 features titanium alloy framed guides fitted with Zirconium inserts.

Sensitivity: This is where any finesse stick worth its salt has to perform. I really didn't have very high expectations given the VTSS70-4's price point and the fact it has a painted blank. For optimal performance in sensitivity, my preference is always for the raw, unfinished blank to help minimize the weight burden carried by that blank. But the VTSS70-4 delivers surprising performance in this area.

Fig 1 : The chart above illustrates the deflection characteristics of our Abu Garcia Veritas VTSS70-4 against our baseline finesse rods from our 2011 What the Finesse themed fishing year.

Power: Once you sense that little "tick" or "tick-tick" of a bite, the soft, sensitive tip of the VTSS70-4 quickly transitions into that medium-heavy backbone and delivers good power. Granted, you're never going to overpower a fish with a stick like this, but what you want to be able and do is keep the pressure on until that fish tires. The VTSS70-4 helps you do this very easily.

Checking out the rod's taper.

Design & Ergonomics: Aside from sensitivity, where most finesse spinning rods distinguish themselves from one another is in design and ergonomics. The VTSS70-4 scores well here in a few areas. First, while the rod is somewhat average in overall weight, it has excellent balance for a spinning rod. Many will argue that you don't need good balance in a spinning rod because the reels are always so heavy, they balance out as a combo. While the point is true, it is always my view that if a rod has good balance to begin with, then you're already ahead of the game.

The second good thing going for the VTSS70-4 is that reel seat. Abu Garcia has created an exposed blank spinning seat with gentle, sculpted curves that is very comfortable to grasp. That's not all, this reel seat has a double locking design. It has the traditional rotating ring (in this case, ratcheted for added security) to tighten your reel down onto the seat, but then the rear grip also rotates and locks against the first ring.

For whatever reason, whether the locking mechanism is at the top or bottom of the reel on a spinning rod, they are much more prone to coming loose than with a casting rod. This double locking seat on the VTSS70-4 makes a lot of sense and is very secure.

Next Section: A closer look at the guides...