First Assessment of Mag-Touch Casting Rod

[islandbass]

I decided to hit Lake Washington from the shore on my short lunch break to give my new Mag-Touch (from Cabelas) casting rod its first test and trial with bottom fishing. I wanted to see how well or poorly the rod would transmit feedback to me. My reel was spooled with 10# mono. I chose mono because I wanted to see how it would fare without the benefits that braid and fluorocarbon lines spoil us with.

Although it is a bit too early to give a full review, I will say that the rod possesses very good sensitivity. The first place I worked was loaded with a lot of grass and the Mag-Touch did a good job of painting the grassy picture. Whew!!!! The Mag-Touch is the first rod I ever bought site unseen without holding it and I was initially nervous. On my second pitch, I felt some nibbling that never got quite to the hook. Darn. The next cast yielded the same result so I moved to another area with a rocky bottom.
The Mag Touch once again painted a great image as I worked my drop shot rig. I placed what was probably the fourth or fifth cast next to some surface piercing wooden poles amidst the riprap and then, thwupp… It was not a nibble, but a complete engulfing of the bait, as my rod bent slightly toward the water and my line got tugged straight down.
No “Iaconelli’ing” today from me. I brought the smallie in quickly and when I brought it close to me, I noticed that my bait was gone and the smallie spat out a beat up 3” senko type bait. I also saw that it might have been recently caught with the drop shot. There was a hole in its palette that was about the size of a hook’s point, right next to where my hook was. I released him and headed back to work.


What a Cutie Smallie. You can see the worn out senko in the background. I wonder how long it has been in his gullet.

I think I made a decent acquisition in purchasing this rod. It is an additional all around trunk rod.

Conditions: Overcast, about 70 degrees
Rod/Reel: 7’ Mag-Touch casting Rod/Curado 101D with 10# Sufix Siege
Technique: Drop Shot, 3/16 oz pencil weight
Lure; 3” gray senko in the grass, 2” brown French fry worm in the rocks

08-05-09

[nofearengineer]

Good read, IB.

I'm not personally in the market for any more rods at the minute, but if I were, your tale would certainly have piqued my curiosity!

[Jim80]

Alex a great read as always man thanks

jim

[keithdog]

I've gotta get a job thats close to some shore fishin!!! Good story and lots of good details. Thanks for sharing and congrats. Looks like a beautiful outfit.

[islandbass]

Thanks, guys.

@ Nofear: I wasn't in the market for a rod either, but I was able to score the Mag Touch for less than $30 with tax and free shipping. The bait monkey said there was no way on the dry side of Seattle that he was going to miss that deal, and I couldn't say no.

Originally Posted by keithdog

I've gotta get a job thats close to some shore fishin!!! Good story and lots of good details. Thanks for sharing and congrats. Looks like a beautiful outfit.

It's a blessing and a curse. There are more times you're that close to some water and you know you can't go fishing which is the case usually.

[Bassboss]

ya those are some sweet looking rods! If I ever get a the convinced of a boat, I think that's gonna be my worms rod.

[MallenManson]

Thanks for the heads-up, ib! I've been thinkin about gettin one for a while now.
Keep us posted!

[brushhog]

IB - good read, thanks. Do you ever fish anything other than the drop shot?

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by brushhog

IB - good read, thanks. Do you ever fish anything other than the drop shot?

Well, I know he fishes a certain shark-mouthed crankbait hehe.

[islandbass]

Originally Posted by brushhog

IB - good read, thanks. Do you ever fish anything other than the drop shot?

Ha ha, that's a good one! I love fishin' cranks and jerk baits and I am starting to appreciate jigs. However, whenever they don't work I do to drop shot mode and then it catches the fish so it gives the impression that I don't fish anything else.

On this day, I didn't have much nor or any jigs with me, so it was drop shotting by default because that was all I had that I could use to test the rod's sensitivity.

@ nofear - lil' ol sharkbait is still producing. no strikes for baby bass, though.