Shimano to introduce balsa minnow

[ras]

Shimano is rolling out balsa minnow for trout fishing – Cardiff Refrain 50HS. Looks like Shimano is stepping up its game in stream fishing. They've maintained a high end line of lure rods (technically, two: Cardiff Monster Limited is still officially offered, although good luck finding them) and now this.
Will Daiwa revive its long-gone high-end line of Silver Creek rods? I really like their Glass Progressive offerings, but it looks like they've prioritized area fishing over the past few years. Any insight on this subject would be great to read about. I love when Shimano and Daiwa compete for a market segment, amazing tackle usually results...

[Aquaftm45]

Good to see them stepping up thier game in that catagory. I'm sure with their engineering and design department they will put out a good product. I notice that they incorperated a tungston weight into it which is a big plus and adds value to the $11 lure. If you want a avenue for the Monster Limited or Native Limited, send me a PM and I will send you a link. I seriously considered the Native Limited until I found out that they changed the guide specification for 2023 from TI-TOR to TI-SIC without dropping the price. That's pretty low in my book. Personally, I have moved more toward buying the boutique japanese handmade balsa minnows. There are some that can be had for $12-15 and they are just spectacular. Same goes for the rod, after deciding that the Native Limited wasn't and option for me and realizing that I really wanted a fiberglass rod, I opted to pre-order the M-Aire MG-50MLC (Bait) T-2 Torzite.(guess they were able to find torzite rings) Some of my decision came down to your recommendation of the brand/series. It didn't hurt that it's going to match the red Abu that I picked up.
Although a much smaller scale that bass fishing, I continue to be amazed at the whole trout scene in Japan and the products that are generated on it's behalf.

[ras]

The guide change is scheduled for April 2023, so rods currently on the market are still outfitted with Torzite guides. There will also be a corresponding change in JAN codes for all affected products, so it's easy to tell if you're buying from the old batch or a new, SiCkened production. Shimano's demand for Torzite guides is likely orders of magnitude higher than any boutique maker's, and Fuji is definitely struggling to keep up. The price being the same reflects the reality of today's world, I think. Daiwa's solution is AGS guides, and Shimano will probably transition to X-guides in most of their products at some point.
I now have three 22 Cardiff Stream Limited models, I picked up the latest one just a couple of weeks ago from the most recent production. All of mine have Torzite guides. The travel versions impressed me as much as the traditional two-piece model.

What surprised, and impressed, me about Shimano's announced balsa minnows was the price. It speaks volumes to how a major manufacturer like Shimano can leverage economy of scale. I do have about two dozens of excellent WooDream Arbor minnows, but I can't really justify their cost.

[ras]

I opted to pre-order the M-Aire MG-50MLC (Bait) T-2 Torzite.(guess they were able to find torzite rings) Some of my decision came down to your recommendation of the brand/series.

I thought I'd mention for clarity: I only have experience with Masakage's UD glass rods, I don't have experience with regular glass models. I believe MG-50MLC uses regular glass, not UD glass. I like its travel configuration very much, but I read comments on the web that lure rating was a bit off in earlier iterations. If these issues were real, I hope they've been fixed.