When it comes to marrying performance with affordability, the 13 Fishing Blackout Casting Rod is a hard one to beat. Having personally put one of these rods to the test for more than 10 months, I would rank it as comparable to many rods out there that cost two or three times as much.
Let’s take a look at some of the specifics of this rod first and then talk a little more about my experiences with it.
I’ve alluded to the price of this rod being really good a couple of times now, but to spell it out for you, 13 Fishing has an MSRP on their Blackout Casting Rod of only $79. I have tested a lot of fishing gear over the years, with several rods in that mix. I can confidently say that I’ve never personally fished with a better rod for less.
The only drawback to this whole deal, is that the Blackout is only offered in one model, though it is a model you can do a whole lot with. At 7 feet, 3 inches with a medium-heavy power and a fast action, 13 Fishing chose to make the one model they offer in this rod one of the most versatile combinations possible.
I’ve used this rod to swim a jig, fish a buzzbait, slow roll a spinnerbait, skip baits and throw a topwater, among another half dozen things. It has a fairly soft tip and a lot of backbone. This makes the Blackout Rod a great selection for lures like a spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. The soft tip helps keep me from reacting too quickly to a short-striking fish. Instead, if I do get a little bit of a nervous twitch due to a near miss, I don’t snatch the bait away from the fish and it gets another shot at the bait.
Though the tip is soft, this rod still has a plenty of length and backbone to wrestle fish out of heavy cover. For this reason, I have really like this rod in particular for swimming a jig. It also pairs well with vibrating jigs, skipping jigs, Whopper Ploppers, Texas rigs, flipping jigs and the list goes on.
It may be a little large for a few applications and a little small for a few others. But for the vast majority of the baitcasting needs of a bass angler, this 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy rod can hang with the best of them.
For a couple hundred bucks, this would be a nice rod. For $79, it would be hard for me to find an angler to whom I wouldn’t recommend this rod. Intentionally built with high-quality components and attention to detail, 13 Fishing has a brought a rod to market in the Blackout Casting Rod that has quickly become one of my personal favorites as a versatile go-to for all sorts of techniques.
Hopefully as anglers discover this rod, the sales will spur 13 Fishing on to offer additional sizes and actions in this lineup. I understand this is a bit of a glowing review of this product, but honestly that is the only way I think this rod could be any better.
