Major Craft Delivers an Ultra-Light Stick Armed with an Extra-Fast Punch
 

Total Score: 8.33

Introduction: Introduction: Are you a light tackle fanatic? Ultra light rods are often the tackle of choice with target species such as bluegill, crappie and trout - and rightfully so. These sticks provide great fish catching fun when targeting small fish with equally diminutive baits. In our effort to bring you the many stories within this diverse world of the tackle industry, we share with you now, our most recent adventure with an Ultra Light offering from Major Craft Japan. Introducing the Major Craft Toy II MSS-602UL, a two piece ultralight stick from Japan.

Impressions: Anyone wanting to experience some of what Japan has to offer in terms of tackle but has shied away from the rods because of inordinate shipping costs will be glad to know many rod manufacturers in Japan offer multi-piece sticks. One such company is Major Craft. We were able to have our two-piece ultra light stick shipped via standard Express Mail Service (EMS) from Japan at a fraction of what it would have cost to send a standard six-foot or over fishing rod. Even with its two-piece construction, our Major Craft MSS-602UL arrived in a custom velvet sheath that securely held both pieces of our stick. This velvet sheath serves as an added bonus when packing the rod away on camping trips or just leaving in your car for those "just-in-case" realizations.

Introducing Major Craft's MSS-602UL

Lab Tests: Given this is a pretty standard UL fishing rod, we did not bother to mount the MSS-602UL to our RoD WRACK. It has a prototypical UL feel to it that, interestingly enough, reminds us of the G.Loomis Mag-Lite spinning rods with that aggressive, fast taper.

Real World Test: What I did do with this rod was match it up with a Daiwa SS Tournament 700 reel spooled with 6lb Toray Ninja Monofilament. I kept it in the back of my car for some impromptu adventures and stowed it in my spare rod locker on the boat for times when the bass bite was less than ideal.

The MSS-602UL features a woven graphite base blended into a standard graphite top section 

Casting: What use would a UL rod be if it could not handle the tiniest of inline spinners? We pulled out some of our very small Panther Martin baits and cast away with this rod. It handled them as expected - flawlessly. In fact, with its rated extra-fast taper, I found I could be incredibly accurate with this ultra light spinner. So much so, that I started fishing some super-light split shot rigs in some of our clear water impoundments reminiscent of the technique I relied upon for my bass fishing success more than a decade ago, before my turn to the "darkside". The MSS-602UL performs very well casting an assortment of baits from inline spinners to split shot rigs.

A close-up of the MSS-602UL's Ti Framed SiC guides

The MSS-602UL's two pieces are joined by a graphite friction joint