Temple reef stealth series?

[Mark Richie]

G'day all,

Has anyone had any experience with the stealth series of temple reef rods? Mainly the the stk78 or stk76. Looking at it mainly as a light duty GT stick bait rod and school tuna rod paired with a 5000/5500 saltiga or 14000 Stella running pe5-6. Looking for light weight.

I'm also open to suggestions with rod however I can walk around the corner and pick up the temple reef instead of buying over the Internet.

$700-$800 budget.
 
Please not a carpenter rod! no offence intended to carpenter fans but the carpenter-centric atmosphere of the gt world doesn't interest me! Punk rock by nature and prefer the "against the grain" approach.

[Ian Cook]

Hi Mark,

I have the Stealth 78HH and Stella 14000SWB combo loaded with 65lb JB solid, which I bought it for use mainly with poppers for larger kings and tuna to compliment my Saltiga S-Extreme 80TN that I use for the same species with sliders and stickbaits.

I am yet to use the 78HH in anger, however it is a deceptively powerful rod and fairly stiff too, that's why I bought it for poppers, though in saying that it will still fish larger scale stickbaits in the say in the 120-130gm or so range.

It would be a perfect match if you want to use it for mid range GT's or larger tuna and other species, if you search around, there are a few videos around showing the STK78HH in action.

Hopefully there are some guys around with real world use on this model that can chime in to let you know exactly how it fishes.

All the best,

Cheers,

Ian

[Lucas Nixon]

Hi Mark,

Mate did you end up getting the temple reef rod?

I recently purchased a Temple Reef STK 76-H and it handled YFT to 25kg no worries and a big GT that smashed me in tight terrain but I think the outcome there was inevitable regardless of gear selection.

Bent up really well and cast like a dream. Mostly threw poppers and stickbaits at 80grams.

Think I will be checking out more temple reef in the future.

Cheers.

[Mark Richie]

Hi Lucas,

Not yet mate. Non fishing commitments and terrible weather here in the Whitsundays has kept my boat in the garage gathering dust and my funds catering to a new baby on the way. It's devastating too because there's insane numbers of spaniards around here at the moment! Every newspaper has a picture of a tourist holding up a 30kg+ model mack caught while I'm working and then it blows 30kn South Easters all weekend!

I've definitely got my sights set on the stk76 though as I'm thinking the 78 is too stiff and strong and will be cheating when it comes to my local schools of mack and long tail tuna. It is also too close in rating to my reefer 711 in terms of line class. I'm not made of money so I can't justify a pe6 and pe8 rod. The 76 is still cheating but I don't want to be left short when one of the monster spaniards/Wahoos sitting under the tuna schools comes up for an airborne strike.

Also, I've got the reel sorted. A 5000 Catalina loaded with varivas casting pe5 which only leaves me with the 76 or 78 to choose from.

The average size geets I seem to come across here are around the 20kg mark so it should be interesting throwing the pe5 setup at them! I think that'll be a job for the cheap halcos and river2seas.

Rich

[Oliver Deakin]

I've been offered a Stealth 78HH at a very good price.

Will my Hots Gipang Tide Lez 711MH do everything the Stealth can?

I think my Hots has a softer tip.

[Leo Sorbello]

The Hots 711MH is a powerful rod Oliver....it has a nice tip and you'll be able to cast at a min 50 - 60 g lures well no problems.

The Temple reef 78HH is an allrounder stiffer rod and tip......it feels bulky to me.....but that my view only...and maybe not others.

The Hots 711MH will cast & perform and has strong bottom power for Tuna, Kingfish, Gt's no problems with stickbaits upto 120 - 130g...and poppers up to 70 -80 g.

 

[Christoffer Hansen]

Hey guys,

Any idea how the Hots 711 compares to the Ripple Fisher Ultimo 711ml? Which has more bottom end power?

Cheers
Chris

[Lucas Nixon]

Hey Rich,

Mate I had a Shimano Saragossa 10000SW with 50lb Tufline on it and it matched up nicely so a 5000 Daiwa Catalina would be a good match.

Yea I have seen a few good fish pop up on FB etc from up your way at the moment.

Hope you get out and nail a couple of those spaniards.

A couple of big winter kingfish are popping up down my way so hope to get out soon and get some more Temple reef bending action.

Cheers.