I spent a day on a lake catching SM/LM bass, a channel cat, and some crappie. The rod worked well for a number of presentation until.... it snapped... and under very little load.

I bought the rod to use as a hair jig and general finesse rod for small mouth bass, primarily in rivers. The rod appealed to me because I wanted a longer two piece rod for river fishing I wanted a two piece because and one piece rods over seven feet long won't fit into the rod rack in my basement. A two piece rod also works well for travel or just keeping a rod in my sedan for impromptu fishing.

The rod is rated to to cast lures from 3/32 oz to 1/2 once. It adequately casts 1/16th to 3/32 oz hair jigs, but jigs or lures that are 1/8 ounce or more cast much better. I was surprised at how well the rod casts with light plastic/jig combinations. It has enough oomph to cast 1/4 ounce top water lures. It is light and sensitive. It looks like it is tough enough handle a bit of abuse.

The rod has sufficient backbone to set the hook on jigs with plastic baits that are rigged Texas style on jigs. I have caught a few decent sized smallies on the rod (18") and in the moderate current of the local rain starved river that I fished, the backbone of the rod appears to good in terms of fish fighting. I look forward seeing how the rod works on bass caught in heavy current.

Overall I am pleased with the rod.

I'm sure its a great reel, but STP screwed up, I ordered this---specifically stated it is a right handed reel on the website, and they sent a lefty.. Cannot use it. Returned .Buyer beware. Note the picture on the website is a left handed reel (why??) but calls it a right handed reel. It's less then clear what is trying to be sold here.... .