Creature Fever : Demon versus Valiant

Total Score: SEE RATINGS AT END OF ARTICLE

Introduction: How many of you remember the circa 1960's films where Godzilla was pitted against everything from an oversized moth to a flying turtle to a mechanized version of itself to even King Kong? They're cult classics with the basic theme of one fantastically unrealistic yet legendary creature invades Japan to do battle against yet another fantastically and perhaps even more unrealistic, but equally legendary creature, both of which were larger than life. In recent years, judging by the response we've seen at their booths at ICAST, there are two fantastically unrealistic yet all together legendary companies from Japan making their presence more and more known on US soil. What better way to celebrate the occasion than to pit them against one another in a full blown, no holds barred, larger than life, TackleTour Shootout. Presenting an exclusive Creature Fever Feature : Super Red Demon versus Wild Stallion Valiant. Yes, it's Megabass versus Evergreen International.

Time for a good ol' fashioned TackleTour shootout... Megabass vs Evergreen!

Impressions: Ever since Megabass inexplicably discontinued their F8-78DG Super Destruction, there's been a large void of a fishable, JDM styled big bait stick. At ICAST 2011, we were introduced to Evergreen International's TKLC-77XXHX Kaleido Wild Stallion Valiant. This stick is a seven feet seven inches in length, is shipped in two pieces with the handle section separating from the rod, and is every bit what we come to expect from Evergreen's top end Kaleido series - relatively light, balanced, and powerful. The JDM big bait stick void had finally been filled.

Naturally, such a debut could not go unanswered over in the Megabass camp, so what do they do but debut an entire new product line in 2012 titled Black Jungle. Within this lineup, they're building the most powerful rod Megabass has ever delivered for black bass applications, the F10-76XBJ Super Red Demon, a one piece stick measuring seven feet, six inches in length and feels every bit the broomstick as the Wild Stallion Valiant.

The Super Red Demon (top) and Wild Stallion Valiant (bottom) fill a void long absent in JDM offerings - fishable sticks made to handle big baits and heavy duty applications.

By JDM standards, these two sticks are simply ridiculous. The Wild Stallion Variant is rated to only five ounce baits, but given its stature, we found that hard to believe - it can obviously handle more. The Super Red Demon is rated to eight ounce baits.

Lab Tests: Naturally the best place to uncover the possible truth behind their ratings, short of heading straight for the lake, is TackleTour HQ and an appointment with the RoD WRACK. For rods rated over an ounce in recommended lure weight, we typically load the rods up to forty eight ounces (three pounds) in weight. Most sticks are truly taxed when loaded with this much weight at their tips. Both these sticks seemed to mock us saying, "is that all you got?"

Fig. 1 : This chart illustrates the deflection characteristics of the Super Stallion Valiant (Orange) and Super Red Demon (Red) versus the All Purpose (Green) and Heavy Hitter (Yellow) averages from our Swimbait Rod wars of 2008.

Realistically, the RoD WRACK helped us verify just what we suspected, that these two sticks are indeed the real, big bait deal. The Super Red Demon very closely aligns with the average curve for our Heavy Hitters Swimbait Rods where the Wild Stallion Valiant falls right between that curve and that of our All Purpose Swimbait Rods.

The Wild Stallion Valiant matched up with our Megabass LIN 10

We fished this stick with a lot of different reels, but the LIN 10 really made it shine.

Statistically, both sticks compare very favorably to one another as well as to the averages in both categories. In short, both the Super Red Demon and Wild Stallion Valiant are relatively light and well balanced while demonstrating extreme power through our load range.

A Megabass Black Jungle combo... the F10-76XBJ Super Red Demon matched with ...

... the LIN Black Jungle fishing reel.