When it comes to marrying performance with affordability, the 13 Fishing Blackout Casting Rod is a hard one to beat. Having personally put one of these rods to the test for more than 10 months, I would rank it as comparable to many rods out there that cost two or three times as much.
Let’s take a look at some of the specifics of this rod first and then talk a little more about my experiences with it.
Quality components top to bottom
The good and the bad
I’ve alluded to the price of this rod being really good a couple of times now, but to spell it out for you, 13 Fishing has an MSRP on their Blackout Casting Rod of only $79. I have tested a lot of fishing gear over the years, with several rods in that mix. I can confidently say that I’ve never personally fished with a better rod for less.
The only drawback to this whole deal, is that the Blackout is only offered in one model, though it is a model you can do a whole lot with. At 7 feet, 3 inches with a medium-heavy power and a fast action, 13 Fishing chose to make the one model they offer in this rod one of the most versatile combinations possible.
Versatility and personal experience
I’ve used this rod to swim a jig, fish a buzzbait, slow roll a spinnerbait, skip baits and throw a topwater, among another half dozen things. It has a fairly soft tip and a lot of backbone. This makes the Blackout Rod a great selection for lures like a spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. The soft tip helps keep me from reacting too quickly to a short-striking fish. Instead, if I do get a little bit of a nervous twitch due to a near miss, I don’t snatch the bait away from the fish and it gets another shot at the bait.
Though the tip is soft, this rod still has a plenty of length and backbone to wrestle fish out of heavy cover. For this reason, I have really like this rod in particular for swimming a jig. It also pairs well with vibrating jigs, skipping jigs, Whopper Ploppers, Texas rigs, flipping jigs and the list goes on.
It may be a little large for a few applications and a little small for a few others. But for the vast majority of the baitcasting needs of a bass angler, this 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy rod can hang with the best of them.
One last detail
Final thoughts
For a couple hundred bucks, this would be a nice rod. For $79, it would be hard for me to find an angler to whom I wouldn’t recommend this rod. Intentionally built with high-quality components and attention to detail, 13 Fishing has a brought a rod to market in the Blackout Casting Rod that has quickly become one of my personal favorites as a versatile go-to for all sorts of techniques.
Hopefully as anglers discover this rod, the sales will spur 13 Fishing on to offer additional sizes and actions in this lineup. I understand this is a bit of a glowing review of this product, but honestly that is the only way I think this rod could be any better.
