Have Your Crank and Feel It Too : Evergreen International's Husky Winder

Total Score: 7.58 - ULTIMATE ENTHUSIAST!!

Introduction: If ever there was a disrespected piece of tackle amongst bass fishermen, it is the cranking stick. Time after time, you hear so called experienced anglers advising others who are in the market, that you don't need to spend a lot of money on a cranking stick because sensitivity is not a premium in this technique. Manufacturers seem to reinforce this way of thinking by offering very cost conscious alternatives to this, a stick made especially for the very definition of a reaction lure, the crankbait. In our 2009 Crankbait Rod Wars, we published 19 articles on cranking sticks half of which were priced at $200 or under, a handful more up to $240, and then the remainder were sticks over $350.

An $800+ cranking stick? Really? Only on TackleTour.

A $350 cranking stick? Thanks to the current state of affairs with our exchange rate,  let's try over $500. Walking away from this article yet? What if we told you the subject of today's review is actually an eight hundred dollar plus ($800+) cranking stick? Any guesses as to the manufacturer? Actually, given the formatting of our articles you already know, don't you? With the Enthusiast crankers in mind, presenting our review of Evergreen International's Kaleido TKLC-73MGX Husky Winder!

Impressions: So what characteristics does an $800 cranking stick have that a $150 or $200 rod doesn't? Well for starters $200 doesn't even cover the replacement cost should you break an Evergreen Stick under warranty. That is, of course, assuming you live in Japan and can actually use the stick there. Otherwise, if you bought one and shipped it outside of Japan, you're technically voiding the warranty.

Introducing Evergreen International's Husky Winder Quatro Plus Cranking stick.

The TKLC-73MGX Husky Winder sits within Evergreen International's top end bass rod lineup. It features the woven graphite blank technology in about the first two thirds of the rod, but the tip is made of glass. Yes, it is a hybrid blank and given our very positive past experiences with the this series, we're anxious to see how the Kaleido graphite actually handles being paired with a fiberglass tip.

Lab: We begin where we usually do with a new stick - in the lab. We've gone back and averaged out values across each classification of cranking rods as laid out in our Crankbait Rod Wars from 2009. Because inventory varies within each tackle store and selecting a baseline rod is rather ambiguous, this should make it a bit easier to see how our cranking sticks actually stack up against the average in each category.

This stick is part of Evergreen's top end Kaleido series featuring their signature woven graphite blank.

For the TKLC-73MGX specifically, we can see it should fall somewhere between a shallow and medium cranking stick in terms of power and that it is heavier and less balanced than the average across each category. But as we've learned in the past, cranking sticks often defy lab test measurements. The best way to get a feel for this rod? Take it out on the water.

The Husky Winder is conservatively styled, yet elegant.
 

Lake Sonoma, CA was our first stop with the Husky Winder.