...with the Castaway spinning rod featuring the new Microwave Stripper Guide.  The line is captured at the first guide. The line loops are tamed and formed without hesitation into a single strand that skyrockets through the remaining guides. The line coils are gone, line slapping the rod shaft is gone and distance is increased.

Working closely with the Bass Professor, Doug Hannon, CastAway developed “The Right Rod” series that is designed to cast farther, faster and more accurately than traditional spinning rods.

A look down the center of the Microwave guide

Invented by Doug Hannon in conjunction with Wave Spin, and exclusively licensed to Castaway the Microwave guide is designed to eliminate the distance robbing slap of the line when it meets the first guide. Typical line-to-guide contact also negatively affects casting accuracy, lure speed and delivery.

The reel seat on the new rod...

When fishing a CastAway rod fitted with Microwave guides, the line is pulled through, rather than pushed into, the first guide, whether it is braid, mono, or flouro. This is designed to create a faster, farther and more accurate cast.

...and the split grip. All of these rods were designed by Scott Luft, Castaway's VP of Manufacturing

Castaway described the many applications of the Microwave guides. From casting a plug from the surf, to skipping a finesse worm under a dock, to tossing a tiny spinner across a trout stream or throwing a wiggle jig across a windy bonefish flat, a CastAway rod with a Microwave guide system will do it effortlessly and more accurately.

Gena Young, President of Castaway was wearing one of the new guides, well a gold version of one of them

The CastAway Microwave rods are available in a variety of lengths and actions to meet every inshore, back bay and freshwater spinning situations. The Castaway Microwave spinning rods will retail for $199 each and there will be two models available for freshwater and four for saltwater. These new spinning rods are scheduled to be on retail racks before the first of the year.

Castaway also introduced Aqua Design rods

Aqua design: In addition to the Microwave rods Castaway also added new rods with their camouflaged patterns, only instead of land patterned camo these new rods make use of actual water photography and hydrographic printing technology to create actual water pictures on rods. This “water camouflage” helps hide the rod from the fish and for even more stealth Castaway is introducing fishing shirts in these same patterns.

The rod blends into the fishing shirts featuring the same water pattern

These fishing shirts are UPF certified and vented for coolness. They are designed to be comfortable lightweight and fast drying. Some of the patterns that are available are misty sky, pacific sand, aqua sky, and green bayou. The rods will retail for $129.99 each and the long sleeve shirts will cost $69.99 while the short sleeved shirts will be five dollars less.

Gena and Scott at Castaway showed us the new rods, plenty of innovation here at the Castaway booth

Conclusion: Castaway had a number of interesting offerings at the show, most impressive of which were the new Microwave rods. The Microwave guide is a very interesting design and we look forward to seeing how the design really performs in the field, for now we definitely think the idea is very innovative and Castaway’s first implementation looks ready for retail now. The Aqua Design camo makes a lot of sense for anglers fishing off the edge of the shore and boats and the combination with the company’s own shirts makes this a total solution. In a sport where even the slightest edge can mean the difference between a livewell full of fish or a skunk on the boat its good to see innovation is still alive and thriving at companies like Castaway.