Shimano Trevala rods

These rods have been talked up quite a bit on NCKA.  I finally got one and gave it try last weekend.  It's pretty reasonably priced at $99.

http://fish.shimano.com/catalog/fish/products/group_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302039152&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181270&bmUID=1183517646476

The rod I picked up was TVC66M which is a popular model amongst the NCKA guard.

This rods is rated for 70-200 grams lure weight.  That's 2.64 to 7.05 ounces.  Ignore the line rating as it is specified at 30-80 pounds.  The line rating are way high and intended for spectra.  I wasn't jigging with it but fished it with 4 ounces of lead while drifting live bait.  I loaded up my reel with 20 pound spectra.

This rod is very light and the blank is thin for the rating.  I've been looking for such a rod.  The TC4 construction allows for this.  I found the action somewhat snappy (crisp is what Shimano calls it) meaning it stayed mostly straight under the load of just the sinker, but put a nice bend when I had a fish on.  It was way more snappy then any other rod I've tried.  With the stiffness under sinker load I did not expect it to flex as much as it did under fish load.  The flex was a good thing IMO.  I did have a good fight against a 17-18 pound California Halibut and it performed admirably.  For the way I like a rod to perform I'd say that 4 ounces is probably the lightest I'd fish on it.  It's too snappy for my tastes for lighter sinker loads.  I think it would really hit its stride at 6-8 ounces.  Then again I like to fish a GLoomis 1021C  hotshot rod which has a more action to it.  But the 1021C tops out at about 4 ounces IMO and it is indeed rated at 3/8 to 4 ounces .  The TVC66M rod is a bit short at 6'6" and if you don't have longer arms like I do (36" arm length for shirts) you might find it hard to get around the front of your kayak.  I'd love to give the TVC70ML a try and it's a 7' rod rated 55-135 grams (1.94 to 4.76 ounces) and 20-50 pound line.  Or perhaps the TVC70L which is rated a tad lighter.  Anyway, the TVC66M rod fits the need I have for a 6-8 ounce jig rod.  This series of rods is definitely worth considering if you're looking for a good bottomfish jigging rod.  They're probably a bit too snappy for salmon though.

-Allen

Sounds like you have the same rod that I do, bought it for Hawaii but didn't get to use it there (long story).

I like mine, and was thinking about using it for halibut in the straight when I come out to WA.  What do you think, would it be appropriate with the large jigs and grub tails I've heard you guys use out there?

I definitely think this would be an appropriate halibut rod.

-Allen

I had a Trevala and really liked it's versatility. It was lost on a trip so got a replacement that's a bit different. I did really like it for jigging.. a real Jiggasaur!!

Z

Had this rod out again this weekend.  For grins I put 8 ounces on to see how it handles.  This rod is hitting its stride at 8.  Bumped up to 16 to what happened.  16 is getting close to the top end of this rod.  If you were only fishing for a day, you could make this rod work.  On a multiday trip where you're jigging 16 ounces all day for a number of days in a row, if will get tiring.  But then again, jigging 16 ounces from a seated position will get tiring no matter what.

-Allen