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Shimano's Tescata rods work Lucanus Jigs with finesse
(continued)
 Ergonomics:
When I first started fishing Shimano’s TC4 back with the Shimano Teramar series
I liked the strength of the graphite but the weight was slightly on the heavy
side. The Tescata’s TC4 implementation certainly doesn’t feel this way, and
actually feels light for an 8 foot rod, weighing in at only 7.5oz.
We fished braided lines and mono
leaders
While the Tescata rod is designed for a single purpose I
found the jigging action on the Tescata to be first-rate for Lucanus jigs and
not great but acceptable for smaller standard irons. While it is excellent that
the rod is multi-talented the innovative hook hanger can only hold Lucanus and
Butterfly type jigs, trying to get a treble hook into the hook hanger is not
practical or safe.
The Tescata has 10 guides plus the
tip which helps generate a smooth transition under load
It is hard to ding the rod for being flexible in
application a traditional hook hanger would have made it a secondary choice for
a wider range of techniques. For now if we want to switch up lures we will have
to hook treble hooked irons and swimbaits on the guide feet.
On our tests we found the Lucanus
system was excellent for quality, and matched traditional jigs on one day and
out fished them on the rest
The
Tescata does up the comfort level a notch with “soft touch” paint over the
entire reel seat, this coating helps improve the grip on the seat, especially in
wet conditions. We also found the soft touch coating beneficial when wearing
gloves. The grips on this rod are also ergonomically shaped and the cork above
the hook hanger is rounded to better fit your hand, while the rear section is
molded flat on both sides so that it fits more comfortably under your hand while
jigging which is nice considering the Tescata does have a rather long grip (14
inches) designed to provide plenty of leverage should a giant take hold of your
jig.
Fish typically are hooked right on
the lip
Durability:
The entire Tescata blank is coated with a layer of gloss to protect the TC4
graphite from scratches. The Hypalon grips held up nicely through our tests and
definitely look a whole lot less for wear than other cork rods used during the
same period. During our tests we noticed white particles building up on the cork
grips, which we later realized was nothing more than salt residue. A simple
spray down between uses will keep the grips looking as good as new.
We tried to stress the rod by exceeding the max lure weigh
capacity by 120% by adding on an extra iron. While the rod certainly felt
overloaded while casting the tip didn’t break nor show any signs of real stress
once the lure was in the water.
The Lucanus jigs are snag
resistant, but not snag free
Next Section: The complete
rundown
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