A Newbie's Opinion on the Allfishingbuy Kasugo 2706

Rods
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Allfishingbuy Kasugo 2706 Review

Here are my 1st impressions of the Kasugo 2706 from Allfishingbuy.com. I bought this rod on Dec 15 for $92.60 and it arrived on Dec 28. It was shipped in a cardboard mailer tube padded with air pillows and came with a hard rod tube and rod sock. @tvdavisid has reviewed a longer Kasugo rod here and his physical descriptions of the fit and finish of that rod syncs with what I received as well. In my opinion, the quality of the rod is pretty good. I also bought a Hirame M3909 at the same time and feel that the Kasugo is the nicer of the 2 rods.

Specs

In keeping with the excellent work Tom Davis did with capturing RFI values for all his rods, I jigged this rod up in a B&D Workmate table and did a Common Cents test. Below are the values I measured.

  • Length = 258 cm (measured from butt-cap to stiff portion of lilian aka “true tip”)
  • Weight = 60 grams (2.12 oz)
  • CSS = 13
  • RFI = 5.0

Casting Tests

I then decided to do a few test casts in my back yard. I’m going to make a disclaimer here and say that I have zero previous Tenkara experience, so don’t crucify me for not being idiomatic enough in my approach. My setup consisted of the following:

  • 550 cm (18 ft) of .559mm (.022") diameter mono level line (aka “30 lb Berkley Trilene Mono Leader”)
  • 140 cm (4.5 ft) of 4 lb mono tippet
  • 1/2" Airlock foam strike indicator as “fly”

I found the Kasugo easy to cast with this setup. I have no idea if my form was good, or not, but I had no problem casting the Airlock anywhere I wanted to put it. For my taste, the rod is a little soft, but this is likely due to both the heavy mono level line, as well as the foam Airlock. This soft feeling also dovetails with the RFI value of 5.0 that I measured. I suspect that with a #4 level line, light tippet and a kebari, the rod might feel perfect.

Rod Comparisons

As I had never cast a Tenkara rod before, I also wanted to compare the stock Kasugo to the Hirame M 3909 and a couple of my standard fly rods. All in all, I tested the following rods with this mono-leader setup:

  • Allfishingbuy Kasugo 2706
  • Allfishingbuy Hirame M 3909
  • Berkeley Spartan 8 ft Fiberglass fly rod
  • TFO Pro 2 graphite 9 ft 5 wt
  • Modded Kasugo 2706 (ML-3909 tip sections)

I found this exercise to be extremely useful. I have not calculated the RFI values for the fly rods yet, but I intend to do so. Unlike the author of this article, whom I like and admire, I find the ability to correlate what I like to a standard metric invaluable. Below are some “back of envelope” observations.

  1. Kasugo 2706: HOLY COW IS THIS THING LIGHT! A little limp, but generally pretty sweet.
  2. Hirame M 3909: Painfully heavy and stiff to fish for any length of time. Will happily sell at a loss, PM me.
  3. Spartan fiberglass: Heavy, but relatively easy to cast. I could see using this, if I didn’t have a Tenkara.
  4. TFO Pro 2: Takes more effort, but casts very well. Light enough to use for an extended session.
  5. Modded Kasugo 2706: Winner for me with this line setup. Has an RFI of 6.8 with the ML-3909 tip sections. For this heavier line and “fly”, works really well.

Conclusion

Overall, I think the Kasugo 2706 is a nice rod and a good value, especially for someone who wants a little shorter Tenkara rod to learn with. Assuming that the quality is essentially the same across the various lengths (which seems likely from similar reviews of 14 ft models), you could get an 11 or 12 foot version for around $100. I’m happy with the purchase and plan to fish the snot out of it in 2023, both in the 5.0 and homebrew 6.8 RFI configurations.

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It’s important to note that you made it perfectly clear that you have no Tenkara experience. Actually, I’m curious as to why you posted a “rod review”, especially because you didn’t actually FISH with it. Personally, because I have a few years of Tenkara experience and over 100 Tenkara fishing trips as well as study and discussion with experts, I would value a review if it were from an expert Tenkara fisher as there are many qualities of a good Tenkara rod that must be tested depending on the water to be fished and the size of fish being sought and, even the individual’s size and fitness level.
The cast of a Tenkara rod isn’t vaguely similar to casting a traditional fly rod. I DO feel that anyone new to Tenkara should read a few reviews before making a decision to purchase. Additionally, your “30 lb Berkley Trilene Mono Leader” is NOT Tenkara line which also has it’s variations and differs greatly from monofilament fishing line.
Again, a review from an expert would seem more valuable to me. I have yet to test a Tenkara rod for under $160 that was high quality so the price point is suspect here. I’m not saying that it’s a bad purchase. I might even have to make a purchase and post a review from actually fishing with it.
Note that I probably wouldn’t be so critical if your title hadn’t had the word “Review” in it. I consider a review to have been done by an expert who is qualified to give the the information that would be of value in selecting a rod to purchase.

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Ah! Good point. Are we not all new at some point? Sometimes the “beginner’s mind” is a useful viewpoint. Also, the CSS and RFI values for the Kasugo might be useful to more experienced people who have been curious about these rods. That and the fact that my experience shows that buying from this seller is something that seems reasonably safe.

By all means, buy one of these rods and post your opinions and experience with it. I think it would be a useful contrast.

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Your reply was heavy handed and rude.

You may not see it, but there’s always value in rod opinions, even from a beginner.

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Randy, I welcome “opinions” but when I see the word “review”, I expect the reviewer to be a qualified expert. Perhaps I responded too harshly because I expected a “review” and not an opinion. If so, I apologize and happy new year to all.

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Absolutely valid point. I’ve updated the Post’s title to reflect that.

Thanks.

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Well done, Roger, and thank you for your first impressions of the rods. And yes, the Hirame M 3909 is a “nicer” rod, but it certainly would be much more tip heavy and quite stiff in flex. I appreciate your data and the time you took to measure it. Also, way to go using ML-3909 tip sections to modify the Kasugo 27 and make it your own, for your specific likes and needs. I applaud you!

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Great writeup @Lagerratrobe . As somebody who has rigged rods to do the (pain-in-the-butt) penny ratings before, that effort alone gets props from me. I hope you’re able to get it on the water frequently and come back with a follow up review at some point. Would love to read it.

Note: I recall back when tenkara was new in the US, (even before Chris Stewart sold rods), the only two places you could get fixed line rods was from Tenkara USA or Allfishingbuy. Nice to know they’re still out there selling rods, from what I recall they had quite a diverse catalog.

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