Impressions: The original Helium series made its debut here on TackleTour in March of 2003 winning our coveted Innovation Award for Kistler's use of pioneering spirit as much as their delivery of unique design and performance in a production rod. Most who have sampled the original Helium product for themselves since our review would agree. The Helium 2 LTX, then, comes with some lofty expectations.

Our introduction to the Helium 2 LTX product actually came during ICAST 2005 and to be honest, we were a bit taken aback. The reason for our reservations? While the detailing on the rods looked good and they felt light and responsive, we could not get over the new grip material. Trey Kistler is constantly on the search for materials and design implementation ideas to set his product apart from the rest, and the grip material on the Helium 2 rods is no exception. Our best description of this new material would be to liken it to a thin, rough thread wrapped tightly around some kind of Styrofoam-like core. The result is grip that overall feels very light in hand and able to transmit rather than dampen vibrations but at the same time, has a disturbingly hard and rough texture. Would it work out on the water? Well, there's only one way to find out.

Lab Tests: The Kistler Helium 2 LTX He2HC76T feels pretty much like your typical 7'6" telescopic flipping rod in hand. We compared this rod against a broad spectrum rods including the Helium LTA He76HC, Loomis BCR864 GLX, Daiwa Steez STZ711HFBA Compile-X, and Powell MAX 766H Flip. Of these sticks, only the latter is really considered flipping rod material.

Real World Test: I fished this rod from the end of Spring 2007 through that same Summer on the waters of Clear Lake and the California Delta. I used one of two reels (see Field Test Set-Up matrix below) and was primarily tossing jigs and TX rigged worms, but after seeing Kistler ProStaffer Steve Kennedy win the BASS tournament on Clear Lake this past spring by tossing a Huddleston swimbait on his similarly rated He2HC711T, I had to try a couple of swings with some swimbaits too.

Pitching and Casting: Naturally, the He2HC76T would not be my first choice in tossing swimbaits, but it will handle casting chores with these huge offerings "ok". I tried both a Huddleston Deluxe trout swimbait along with the Shellcracker from Black Dog Baits and preferred the lighter Shellcracker with this rod. The Huddleston Deluxe really made the rod feel overloaded. Regardless, the action on this rod is a bit fast for swimbaits in general, but it was something we wanted to test given Steve Kennedy's recent success with the He2HC76HT's big brother.

Sensitivity: Much like the Daiwa 7'1" Compile-X (STZ711HFBA) I reviewed earlier this year, I had some very high expectations with this rod. It has that light, lively feel in hand often attributed to very sensitive rods and of course, it's a second generation Helium. It's no secret that one of my favorite rods not just in the Kistler line, but overall is the He76HC, and since the He2HC76T is the next step up in the Kistler line of evolution, I figured I'd like it all that much more.

Power: If there is one thing this rod does not lack, it is power. As show in our RoD WRACK tests, it is noticeably more stout than it's cousin, the He76HC, and very worthy of its heavy power rating. Time and time again I was able to easily work bass out of heavy cover so imagine my surprise on one cast out to the deep side of an underwater shelf. I cast my a half-ounce TnT Wadda Jig tipped with a Yamamoto Flappin Hog and felt it hit the bottom in about 25 feet of water. One little pop of my rod tip to get the bait moving and I felt that tell tale *tick* of a hit.

Next Section: Details in design