Good review as always Tom.
Hi Tom, another great video. On the matter of fighting big fish more effectively, please take a look at the videos under the title: Low Tip/Side Pressure on the Tenkara Board…Karl.
I fished a Shinobi tester for an afternoon around Halloween. I have to give it to Luong, it is a very nice rod. You can tell a lot of care was put into the fit, finish and design. It casts both beadhead and unweighted kebari quite well… and if you were to go the tactical nymphing route (I did not), I’m sure it would excel.
My only complaint (minor) was the grip section… and no, not for the cosmetics. I found it a bit too thin in diameter and actually had to take a break from fishing it for a bit to give my hand a rest from cramping. (It was also a pretty cold morning). I noticed in Tom’s summary, he mentioned Luong suggests a different type grip position while fishing… I don’t know, I used the more common grip I think most use with the pointer finger extended? Maybe that was my downfall.
That said, I’d highly recommend it to anybody looking for a high performance fixed line rod. Not fishing a Tanuki rod since his black & yellow limited run “Appalachian Brookie” rod a few years back, I was more than surprised by how fun this rod was to fish. Super smooth and simply a pleasure.
