When it comes to travel rods it’s not easy, in my opinion.
Cheaper ones are mostly way heavier than a similar one piece rod and expensive ones are, well expensive. It’s not that I’m against saving up for a high end product, quality has its price and that’s ok with me, but in that case this product has to fulfill my requirements.
Especially for Peacock Bass fishing, where I want to use rods with specific specs, I haven’t found many travel rods that fulfill my expectations. For this reason I used one-piece rods on my jungle trips in the past. Which have to be transported in this huge tubes and usually cost a lot extra on luggage fees.
Since I was expecting to travel a lot between camps and hotels on my latest journey I was looking for some 4piece rods that would be easier to travel with.
On an earlier trip I met a guy who is team-angler for Fishman, a Japanese brand that makes 4-piece rods for various types of fishing and also some for jungle fisheries.
These rods made a super impression on me but they seemed almost impossible to get, especially in Europe.
So when my local tackle store got a few pieces in I bought the two heaviest ones they had immediately.
I fished them for the last several weeks almost daily and landed a lot Peacock Bass and various other types of fish with them.
Following my experience with these products so far.
Overall impression:
These rods feel great in hand from the first touch in the tackle store to fishing them all day long. Flawlessly worked and really light for 4 piece rods while feeling robust at the same time. Probably the first rods I can say about that I don’t feel a difference to a one piece rod.
One problem probably a lot of anglers know from multi-piece rods is that over day the parts tend to move so that the rings aren’t aligned anymore or even worse, that they fell apart during a cast. With these Fishman rods I never had this occurring to me once over all these weeks. The joints seem to be worked perfectly, not allowing any movement. Surprisingly I never had a problem taking them apart after a week of usage.
These rods are not only well built but also can take a beating. Fishing in the jungle can get rough and sometimes there’s just no way to store them completely safe on the boat so the rods sooner or later get in not so soft contact with the boat, a branch or the not so careful treatment by the guides. I had a few incidents where I thought that one of the rods might break on the next bite but both have survived them all so far.
Package/Cover: The rods come in a seam sleeve. For the price I would expect a bit more protection for the rod. Packed in a suitcase covered with clothes the sleeve might be enough but for those who want to go for extra security like me there’s a box from Meiho (Long Case 620) in which the Fishman Brist fits perfectly.
- the case holds two rods perfectly, one wrapped in the original sleeve and the other without sleeve with the upper parts wrapped in the sleeve of the other rod -
- Meiho Long Case 620 holds the Fishman rods perfectly -
Fishman Brist Compact B.C.4. 5.10 MXH
Fished in combination with: Daiwa Tatula HD & 65lb Braid
Due to its shortness the perfect rod for all kinds of topwater lures. From 4’’ WTD lures to 7.5’’ Riprollers this is the rod! I also fished various lures in the 20-40g range which run a bit deeper without problem. A really fun stick with lots of power to handle big fish too. While casting the rod loads up perfectly even with smaller lures which results in easy casting for lures in the 15-45g range.
Fishman Brist Compact B.C.4. 6.10 XH
Fished in combination with: Shimano Tranx 301 / Daiwa Coastal & 65-80lb Braid
If I could bring only one rod on a jungle trip it would be this one! It covers a surprisingly wide spectrum of lures that can be fished on this rod. From smaller 10cm Twitchbaits up to a 130g River2Sea Wide Glide this rod takes it all. As the H version, the road loads up well even with smaller lures and brings them on distance. With bigger lures, like mentioned before, it still doesn’t feel overloaded.
Also comes with a lot of power to fight big fish while smaller fish are enjoyable on this one too.
- a nice 15lber which was handled by the 6.10 XH without problems -
Overall I’m more than impressed with these rods! If I somehow get my hands on at least one more of each of both I see no reason for me to do any coming Peacock Bass trips with one pieced rods again. These are THE ONES!
So if you somehow can help me to get more of these rods, please contact me over social media, thank you!
This review is based solely on my personal experience with these products.
I bought them in my local tackle store (Fishingzone, 2560 Nidau, Switzerland) and are not affiliated with the Fishman brand in any way.
Big thanks to Fishingzone for the deal and organizing them!
