Varivas Super Suspender SSR-610T

[Dalleinf]

Garage and back yard review with initial impressions of Varivas Super Suspender SSR-610T

Taken from the shop where I purchased the rod:

“Maurice Graphite Works BASS Tournament Finesse Rod
SSR-610T [Super Suspender-610]
The infinite potential is exhibited as a bait finess multi rod!] Hybrid glass tubular
The tenacity that can be caught with a small crank or shad, and the ability to cast no sinker worms and smoravas with a light touch. It is a hybrid glass structure to honor both sides. A sense of nimble operation like a spinning rod opens up a new level of bait finesse.

■ Guide: Titanium flame torque guide (using SiC-S at the tip of the TIP section)

Model name ●: SSR-610T
● Length (ft.): 6'10 '' (2.08 m)
● Transport length (cm): 107
● Pieces (book): 2
● Standard weight (g): 72 g
● Tip diameter (mm): 1.4
● Original diameter (mm): 13.6
● Applicable line (lb): 3 to 6
● Recommended PE line (No.): 0.3 to 0.6
● Applicable lure (oz): ZERO ~ 7/16 (12.5g)

■ Materials used: 57% glass fiber, 35% carbon fiber, 8% epoxy resin
(Use of Japanese-made carbon material)”

My impressions:
Very nice slim rod tube. Also nice soft rod sock inside.
The rod is pretty in hand - primarily black but also some carbon, grey/metal, hints of purple, red, blue, white lettering.
It is very light but also tip heavy with balance point 5 cm in front of reel foot with reel mounted. Due to the color scheme, many of my reels look good on this rod - Steez TW SV XHL with purple ZPI spools, PX68 SPR and regular PX68, Aldebaran 51 are just a few of the suitable reels that I tried on.
Action is FAST, and I do mean fast... Not much bend in this rod, which is of some concern to me. I was hoping for a rod that work great with treble hook baits, e.g. “crank” as in sales pitch. After all, the rod has a high % of glass. Alas, I think this is only good for jigs and soft plastics.
Lure rating zero to 12.5 gram. I tied on a 5 gram spoon for casting tests, which hardly put any bend in the rod. With hard casts, the lure did sail beautifully away from me and my Steez TW SV w ZPI. I would say 5-12.5 gram is probably a better lure rating, but I will have to do some on the water tests. That is IF I can ever get on with the bloody fast action. The rod will most likely collect dust in my garage...

Conclusion:
If you are looking for a low weight, fast action, light power (not super BFS) rod for bass fishing with at least 1/8 oz plus to around 3/8 oz jigs, soft plastics, or other slow moving baits then the Varivas Super Suspender may be good for you.
If you need a rod for fast moving baits, look elsewhere.

[poisonokie]

Awesome. Have fun with that! That's a very intriguing rod.

On another note, can anyone explain what a smolava/smolava/sumorava is? What about scrolls? There are others I can't recall at the moment, but what the hell baits are they talking about??

Scone rig is another. Also does Okappari mean bank fishing?

[Cristo]

To add to the side note I like the new improved abcdefghijklmnop rig as well as

[Aquaftm45]

It is very light but also tip heavy with balance point 5 cm in front of reel foot with reel mounted. Due to the color scheme, many of my reels look good on this rod - Steez TW SV XHL with purple ZPI spools, PX68 SPR and regular PX68, Aldebaran 51 are just a few of the suitable reels that I tried on.
Action is FAST, and I do mean fast... Not much bend in this rod, which is of some concern to me. I was hoping for a rod that work great with treble hook baits, e.g. “crank” as in sales pitch. After all, the rod has a high % of glass. Alas, I think this is only good for jigs and soft plastics.
Lure rating zero to 12.5 gram. I tied on a 5 gram spoon for casting tests, which hardly put any bend in the rod. With hard casts, the lure did sail beautifully away from me and my Steez TW SV w ZPI. I would say 5-12.5 gram is probably a better lure rating, but I will have to do some on the water tests. That is IF I can ever get on with the bloody fast action. The rod will most likely collect dust in my garage...

Conclusion:
If you are looking for a low weight, fast action, light power (not super BFS) rod for bass fishing with at least 1/8 oz plus to around 3/8 oz jigs, soft plastics, or other slow moving baits then the Varivas Super Suspender may be good for you.
If you need a rod for fast moving baits, look elsewhere.

Man, sorry to hear your dissapointment in the rod. You would have thought they could have easily gotten the balance point correct with such a light rod. There are a bunch of guides on it, and not much on the back end. Hell, they could have added another 10 grams to the butt/reel seat via eva and still had a super light 6'10 rod. Wish we were closer in the world, I would be talking trade.

[poisonokie]

I still think it sounds like a fun rod. It might surprise you. It may not be what you expected, but it may shine for techniques you haven't yet considered. Plus, the way a rod behaves in the front yard and the way it behaves on the water or with a fish on can be completely different.

[Craigthor]

Man I wish you were close enough for me to test this. I’ve been eyeing them for a bit for my 6+g cranks.

[Dalleinf]

Thanks for the comments. Rod is very nice in many ways and I am sure my disappointment will fade over time - I may come to love it. I am mainly frustrated by the Xfast action, which I did not expect, and can easily live with the front heavy part (as the overall rod is so light it is no nuissance while fishing/casting in the back yard). I do not think it is the right rod for 6+g cranks - rod is suited for the lure weight, but rod action is not good for cranks IMO. If I had to compare the rod to one of my many trout and BFS rods then I would say that the Varivas is somewhat comparable to the MC Volkey Vkc 692 ML BFs, which is also a fast action rod good for 5-10g single hook lures (and not so good for moving baits).

[Craigthor]

Thanks for the comments. Rod is very nice in many ways and I am sure my disappointment will fade over time - I may come to love it. I am mainly frustrated by the Xfast action, which I did not expect, and can easily live with the front heavy part (as the overall rod is so light it is no nuissance while fishing/casting in the back yard). I do not think it is the right rod for 6+g cranks - rod is suited for the lure weight, but rod action is not good for cranks IMO. If I had to compare the rod to one of my many trout and BFS rods then I would say that the Varivas is somewhat comparable to the MC Volkey Vkc 692 ML BFs, which is also a fast action rod good for 5-10g single hook lures (and not so good for moving baits).

Good to know, you saved me a ton of cash.

[poisonokie]

Thanks for the comments. Rod is very nice in many ways and I am sure my disappointment will fade over time - I may come to love it. I am mainly frustrated by the Xfast action, which I did not expect, and can easily live with the front heavy part (as the overall rod is so light it is no nuissance while fishing/casting in the back yard). I do not think it is the right rod for 6+g cranks - rod is suited for the lure weight, but rod action is not good for cranks IMO. If I had to compare the rod to one of my many trout and BFS rods then I would say that the Varivas is somewhat comparable to the MC Volkey Vkc 692 ML BFs, which is also a fast action rod good for 5-10g single hook lures (and not so good for moving baits).

I think that particular Volkey is actually rated as extra fast. I was curious about what an MC fast or extra fast tip was like but never pulled the trigger on one.

I have both of the first gen Tatula glass composite rods and they also have pretty fast tips, but the action progresses deeply into the belly under load. They're great for flinging hardbaits and keeping trebles pinned while steering fish around with the stiff carbon lower section. They're also pretty tip heavy, but relatively light overall and surprisingly sensitive. I don't do just a whole lot of cranking, though, and I've gotten to where I really appreciate balanced rods so I'll probably wind up selling them. The MH does make a killer chatterbait stick, so maybe I'll hold on to that one.

[Dalleinf]

Yes, MC VKC962ML is rated XF and the Varivas should be as well. For both rods, and maybe the Varivas in particular, the rod is quite stiff with fast tips and little progression.
The Varivas seems super sensitive!
I will have to play around with the Varivas some more and give further input when trout season really kicks in this summer.

[Dalleinf]

Quick update.
I used the rod again a couple of weeks ago. The rod was mounted with Steez TWS SV and 10lb FC line.

Sadly, the rod suddenly broke while reeling a small inline spinner.
Even more sadly, Caster House - the Japanese Seller - will not cover repairs as I used 10 lb line on a rod rated 3-6 lb line. If any sort of violent pull was involved, I would be OK with that. However, the rod would have broken with 1-2 lb line.

The rod is expensive and I hoped for more.
Surprisingly, while going through the rod papers, I noted that it is made in China (not Japan as I thought).
Stay clear...