Lighting it up with the Zodias

If you love catching fish on light tackle as much as I do......look no further than Shimano's Zodias line of spinning rods. In the past few years there has been a huge movement towards finnesse techniques in the fishing industry. Everything from walleye, bass and trout techniques can demand light line. Shimano being a leader in the industry has developed several products to aid in the ever growing finesse technique fishing market. Everything from rods, reels and line......they have it covered. Late last fall I had the oppertunity to test drive the Zodias ZDS268L. The model is a 6'8" light action spinning rod with line weight rating of 4-8lb. test and lure rating between 1/16 - 1/4 oz. This blank is by no means a whimpy soft action ultra light but more of stealthy light crisp action tool that delivers surprising power. Due to Shimano's Hi-Power X Construction technology the blank has been designed with the perfect fast action tip to achieve the ease of casting light weighted baits a country mile when using light line. HPXC significantly reduces blank twist = more energy throughout the blank. Zodias rods have a custom made rod seat constructed of Shimano's proprietary CI4+ carbon material which is light in weight but strong and sensitive. It was a no brainer when pairing a reel to this rod!! Stradic CI4+1000FAML spooled with 5lb. Power Pro braided line to give me the ultimate in sensitivity but light in overall weight. The Stradic CI4+ 1000FML body is constructed of CI4+ but was designed with a lighter drag system to help when fishing with micro sized lines. To date I have caught everything from 4lb. small mouth to 5lb. large mouth to several hundred black crappies using my new favorite light action spinning outfit. Cannot wait to test it on walleyes and more crappies this spring. Zodias series of rods come in 6 casting models and 5 spinning. Everything from light line fishing to heavy cover action.