This 4'7"/1.4 m rod is listed as a 2 piece but in reality it's a 1 piece rod with a detachable handle, much like the 5' Kuying Teton TTC50FUL. On the web it's listed as having a solid tip but Hobie-Wan says the entire rod is solid. Just going to have to trust him on that. The lure rating is 1-6 g but it is definitely better at casting 1 g than the Ace Hawk CU Double 562UL which is rated .5-4 g or the Teton with it's more similar 1-7 g rating. I intended to compare the Ares to just those two other rods, as they are most similar, but once I got the camera and rod holder setup, I decided to also to document 4 other rods I have in what I would loosely consider to be the SUL and XUL range. It's also interesting to note that the Ares model number lists it as UL but the rod is marked as "EX-UL", which I think is more accurate.
Initial cast testing was done in the backyard with '16 Aldebaran BFS XG with stock spool and .16 mm 4# flouro. Started with 2.7 g and had no problems as expected. My hope was to easily go below 2 g and the next 1.4 g weight cast just fine. Of course the ultimate test is a Trout Magnet (1/64 oz jighead + plastic = 1 g) and I was pleased that the .9 g weight cast acceptably. Definitely pulled to the left but the Ares made me think that it might finally be practical to cast Trout Magnets with BFS, especially if I switch to a lighter mono or much thinner braid. The Teton and CU Double just weren't up to the challenge.
Next up was a few hours in a stream on an overcast 34F day. Cast inline spinners, plugs, spoons and jigheads, ranging from 1-4 g. It handled everything over maybe 1.5 g with ease. The rod length was great for the ever important underhand flip. Once I got down to the 1 g Trout Magnet, accuracy, and of course distance, suffered but it was doable and it caught me my only fish of the day a nice brown trout. I was focused on casting, and it was cold, but initial impressions are that sensitivity is good. Had it been exceptional, I probably would have noticed without even concentrating on it.
High winds prevented me from going out again, so I decided to analyze why the Ares out performed the Teton and CU Double at lower weights. First test was to hold two rods, one over the other, in one hand and then do a wiggle test. The Ares' bent deeper and the tip swung wider than other two. I did notice that if you vary the frequency, at some point the other rods might match the deflection of the Ares, probably due to harmonics.
I then setup a rig to mount the rods in and hung a 29.3 g (just over 1 oz) weight from each rod, taking a picture with a tripod mounted camera to maintain a constant perspective. All the pics are below, including a digitally created triple exposure of the three main rods. The Ares is obviously the most supple of the three, allowing it to load better with light lures. I believe all three have 1 mm tips but the Ares has a much thinner butt section than the also longer CU Double, and is slightly thinner at the butt than the Teton. In my opinion, Kuying should not have branded the fairly fast TTC50FUL as a Teton. I have other Teton's and they are all noodly (in the good sense) trout rods.
Tsurinoya Ares C472UL
As long as the rig was setup, might as well document some other rods too.
Ace Hawk CU Double 562UL .5-4 g
Kuying Teton TTC50FUL 1-7 g
Kuying Teton TTS-662SUL .8-3 g
Daiwa Presso AGS 54XUL-S .6-2.5 g
Tsurinoya Dexterity Ajing C632UL .6-8 g
Major Craft Finetail Area Special FAX-632SUL
Note how the area rods (AGS and Finetail) and the ajing rod (Dexterity) are the only ones whose tips dip below horizontal. Actually the Ares does a little as well. Also FWIW, I wouldn't fish an ajing rod on a trout stream. They really are still water rods.
Much thanks to Hobie-Wan for turning me on to this rod and his previous discussions of it on this forum and in his YouTubes.
. The "tip" being solid carbon I think they meant the non-handle piece (like the blank part of the 2-piece / insert blank into handle part Megabass rods).
