For a while now I’ve been perusing longer, beefier rods. After much internet research and a few beers I ordered myself the Daiwa Jade 65M.
As the name suggests, it’s a 6.5m rod which can fished at 6.0m as well. It can handle tippets Japanese line size 1.0 (4x) down to 0.25 (8x).
It’s not a light rod at 170g, but doesn’t feel heavy when using two hands. The handle section is a fair bit thicker than my other rods, but my other rods are mostly seiryu rods. It also collapses down shorter than my other rods, pictured below against the Sagiri 39MC and GMR 36NP.
Instead of the normal lillian, it had a small metal loop which is guarded by a sliding sleeve. The tip mechanism is attached with a swivel.
The tip cap is of similar design to the Fuji rod caps.
I’m very eager to see how the rod performs on the water, but that may be a little while yet. Just from dry handling the rod feels like a beast but has very flexible tip sections. I’m hoping to use it as both a keiryu rod, and for casting large weighted flies for some Australian native species. Maybe even as a saltwater rod to poke around the structure and boat hulls down at the marina.
Manufacturer specifications:
