XZOGA Taka 7708

[sam williams]

hi all was just wondering on peoples opinions of this rod. im using a catalina 6500H with monster battle pe8 on it and a demonblood 802xh. will this rod be much of an upgrade? im using poppers between 130-180grms and i fish off point lookout in brisbane so i encounter alot of bycatch aswell wahoo/YFT/spanish/kingies. 

[Ian Cook]

Hi Sam,

I recently had a play with the latest model Xzoga Taka PI 7708 ('K' guided model) in a shop that I frequent here in Sydney and personally I found it nice and light, but a bit soft when loaded and think it would be more suited to stickbaits and may struggle a bit with larger poppers.

I am sure someone out there has actually used one in the field and can make more informed comment on its ability, as the above are just my observations on dry land.

As food for thought, for around the same sort of dollars that the Xzoga attracts, you may also want to have a look at the N.S Blck Hole Cape Cod 80S which is PE10 or even the Smith GTK 77BG PE10 (I have this one myself), both will fish nicely with PE8, balance well with the Catalina 6500H and throw lures up to 200gms.

Cheers,

Ian