I'm_Away

My three Samurai rods are all one piece Reaction rods. I have the 251, 351 and 201. The first two are baitcast rods and I believe that they have been discontinued. The 7' 201 spin rod is still current and Samurai have increased the range of spin rods that they make. I fish very light and these rods have proved themselves time and time again. Recently the 201 was able to subdue a 72 cm flatty with 4lb braid loaded on a 1000 series Daiwa Luvias reel. The rod absorbed the shocks well and I never felt as though the fish was going to win the day. All of these rods are so sensitive that you can feel the fish farting. I've owned truckloads of rods over the years, but rate the Three Samurai rods as the top three I own. I recently had mishap and lost my Daiwa tournament Master Z Slayer and will replace it with a Reaction 302 Spin rod. I will match it with a 2500 series reel, probably a Daiwa Luvias again because I've had such a good run with those. That said, The Shimanos that you have are perfectly good reels and, yes. it would probably be a good idea to take them to the tackle shop and try them on the rods that you like. Cheers

Hi, I haven't used a Viper, so I can't comment directly, but I do have the Sniper 3 pce, 10' 6", surf rod and can comment on the build etc. The Nitro blanks are excellent and the build is very nice. The action is "as described" in the Nitro Innovator literature. I was very pleasantly surprised at how lightweight they are, while still retaining good strength. I matched my Sniper to a 3000 series Daiwa Luvias reel and it balances perfectly. I suspect that a 4000 reel may be a little on the large side for both of the rods you are looking at, whereas the 2500 reel would possibly work well on both rods. Good luck with your research. I believe that you won't go wrong with Nitro rods. If in doubt, another brand to consider might be Samurai. I have three of their rods and, frankly, they are nothing short of sensational. Some of their models are a little bit over your stated price range (RRP) but with a bit of bargaining (haggling) you should be able to get close to what you have in the budget. Cheers

For my first post on this forum I'd like to present a case study that is relevant to this topic: Yesterday I was surf fishing just south of Ballina, NSW. I was using a 30g Streaker and my mate tried a plethora of other metal slice-type lures. I was getting a Tailor hook-up on nearly every cast (gave up counting after 15 fish) and my mate went scoreless for the day - fishing the same gutter, nearly side-by-side. I eventually got "sharked", losing the Tailor, lure and all and never caught another Tailor after that, when using other lure types. I am absolutely sold on Streaker lures! By the way, all but one Tailor were released. Cheers