Arundel Tackle Unleashes JDM Legit Design's Wild Side

Introduction: Less frequently than the next super rare, large, and epic moon event, it seems every couple of years at ICAST we're fortunate enough to meet a new rod manufacturer threatening to shake up the status quo. Despite the virtual nature of the event, this year's show was one those affairs. Arundel Tackle out of Chicago, Illinois, is a small, family run business with a special connection to an up and coming tackle company out of Japan.

Legit Design launched their Wild Side in 2015 in Japan

Founded sometime around 2015, Legit Design, is the brain child of Iitaka Hirofumi and Onikata Takeshi and their goal is to create professional quality rods for the everyday, recreational angler. During their time at Pure Fishing Japan, the duo crafted some of the more memorable rod series for Fenwick and Tiemco, and now, out on their own, they are leveraging that expertise and letting loose their Wild Side.

Each rod in the series features Aramid Reinforcement

Wild Side Rod Series : In unleashing their Wild Side, Hirofumi and Takesshi's goal was to establish a balance between high end design features and reasonable cost. There's little purpose in designing the penultimate, super light weight fishing rod if few are going to be able to afford the experience. To that end, the blank for each specific model in their Wild Side series features its own custom blend of several grades of graphite most commonly 30T and 40T, but at times they will also use 24T for durability and 46T for sensitivity - especially with rods intended for vertical bait presentations.

The base casting rod models feature a split grip design

Each Wild Side blank is carefully reinforced with an Aramid fiber, the base material in products such as Kevlar and Nomex, to, in their words, enhance performance and tenacity. The guide train for each rod is spaced and sized with intended applications in mind, but primarily consists of Fuji K Series, tangle free guides with stainless steel frames and SiC inserts.

Many of the heavier powered rods feature double footed guides all the way up for increased strength an durability. Fuji is also relied upon as their source for reel seats specifically ECS for casting and VSS for spinning (with an uplock design).

Spinning rods feature a familiar JDM handle

Cranking models come with a full rear grip

Handle materials are a mix of cork and EVA depending on the model with many featuring split rear grip designs and no, or minimal foregrips, but several sticks also come with full rear grips. Finesse tuned casting and spinning rods have the specialized, solid carbon tip designs with hi-vis green finishes so you can see, not just feel bites.

There are 4 models in the complete cranking lineup within Wild Side

Travel series rods are 5-piece design and should be popular. There are 6 models in all