Meet the Jackall Poison Adrena, the product of the joining of Jackall and Shimano

Impressions: The first thing you notice about the rod is the lack of a traditional EVA or Cork reargrip, instead anglers will find a “Carbon Monocoque” butt section which is designed to better balance out the entire rod while decreasing weight and improving sensitivity. Weight is significantly reduced by eliminating the grip material, glue and winding checks but in proper JDM style the butt is finished with a badge identifying the Jackall brand.

The Adrena makes use of a proprietary "Perfection" reel seat...

After you get past the butt section you will notice a reel seat constructed out of CI4+ material, the very same carbon composite that Shimano uses in their newest Chronarch and Stradic CI4+ models. By using this material Shimano is able to help bring down the overall weight of the rods while providing an extremely stable platform to lock their reels down. The rod blanks look familiar as they leverage a variation of Shimano TC4 but they feature rolled carbon tape on both the inside and outside of the blank to form a cross pattern, what the company is calling a “Spiral X” blank.

...which is constructed out of Shimano CI4 material, the same material found in Shimano's composite reels

The rod feels extremely light thanks to the C14 reel seat and the carbon monocoque butt section

The spiral X blank construction is designed to create a light blank with thin walls that is reinforced on both sides providing a balance of sensitivity and strength under load. As you might expect the rod is finished with Fuji SiC guides.

The rod makes use of Fuji SiC guides to handle anything from mono to superline

The overall rod definitely has that JDM look and feel and I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn’t a rod that we imported for an enthusiast article, but rather one we were able to source at our local tackle shop. In fact we purchased this rod directly from Hi’s Tackle Box in San Francisco along with one of the Company’s new Expride rods for comparison.

This is a light rod, weighing in only at 3.9oz.

The front of the reel seat encircles the winding check for a clean look

Next Section: A closer look at the Carbon Monocoque Butt