I had the opportunity to test out a medium heavy fast tip AiRRUS ULTRA XL casting rod in the 6’8’’ length and I found the rod to be loaded with features only found on custom rods at much higher prices. When I put my Revo bait cast reel on the rod and placed it in my hand it was almost perfectly balanced. I could not believe how comfortable and light the rod felt in my hand. The rod features a split grip handle and a reel seat that puts you in touch with the rod blank which made for a very sensitive feel. The grip on the rod was also very impressive.
The rod features a THERMALON grip which is a re- engineered Hypalon with improved insulation that I found to be great for keeping your hands dry despite the hot conditions. The handle also features a removable butt section and comes with an additional handle that you can add to the rod that is 3 inches longer that allows and angler to make the handle longer for making big two handed casts or if you need an increase in leverage. The rods guides are perfectly spaced and I found no line slap on the blank of the rod. A lot of rods out there will have this problem but the guides were spaced just right. The rod also has a nice Fugi fold down hook keeper that kept my bait and line from getting tangled in the rod box when I headed to the lake.
The rod was excellent for throwing ¼ oz spinnerbaits baits up to ¾ oz jigs with accuracy. I put the rod under some stress as I was able to boat flip several 3 and 4 lbers into the boat without the rod snapping. I had pulled them out of brush and up over laydowns. The rod although very light and sensitive was very powerful. These sticks are priced at 159.95 and I found them to be a very good rod at an affordable price because of all the custom features. Here’s the link to the AiRRUS website. http://www.rodsbyairrus.com/home.html
