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Rod Review


Daiwa brings “IT” with the new TD Zillion Rods (continued)

 

Retrieving cont'd: During the pitching and flipping tests on the Delta one afternoon the calm was suddenly interrupted by diving birds in the distance. We could make out birds darting erratically and a number of them dropping straight into the water. On the Delta these bird swarms usually mean one thing…Stripers.

 


The main blank is finished with a thin layer of gloss while the section directly above the reel seat is unfinished and matte in appearance

The Delta Stripers are attracted to bait balls as are the birds and when the birds swarm and start hitting the water it means that bait is close to the surface or extremely thick, and at times this is because they are being hammered by a school of stripers.


Zander fishes a wreck in the Delta

We pulled up the Minn Kota and powered on the big motor and within minutes started chasing birds off the bait ball. I cut the jig off the Zillion rod and replaced it with a shallow diving jerkbait and cast into the open water and began ripping the lure back to the boat. I didn’t have to wait long before the lure was hammered by a striper.

 


The Hyper-Speed Zillion quickly became my favorite pairing for the rod


The Zillion rod didn’t curl over much at all with the striper on the line and within seconds I had a 21 incher in the boat. I quickly unhooked the fish and cast again and caught another cookie cutter fish, within the span of five minutes I caught seven stripers, all schoolie size and only around to four pounds each but still good fighters. As quickly as we got on the fish they disappeared just as fast, and after those fish I couldn’t buy another striper strike all day. The Zillion rod did impress me however with the ability to effectively retrieve a wide range of baits and absorb the shock of frenzied linesides.

 


Pitching right into the thick tules when we were interrupted by birds hitting bait

 

Power: The TDZL691MHXB is rated as a Medium-Heavy rod but it feels a bit on the heavy side to me due to the fast action. I usually prefer slower actions, but overall the TDZL691MHXB proved to be capable of fishing a very wide range of applications. It really comes down to personal preference, but on the plus side the stiffness in the rod made it possible to toss mid sized swimbaits, and the rod also proved to be a very capable pitching and flipping stick.

 


The Zillion handled these 3-4lb. stripers with no problem

Next Sections: Daiwa Brings "IT"

 

   

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