They are many rodmakers in Japan known for their amazing high quality products.
One of those companies is certainly Major Craft. This company, in my opinion, makes one of the best rods in terms of cost/performance. They have rods that start from about 80USD up to 400USD.
Their catalog range from ultralight trout rods to Tuna boat casting rods. They offer lots of models to choose from and basically you can find a rod for every kind of lure fishing. And the best part is that they keep adding new rods almost on a monthly basis.
At the bottom of their line we find the Solpara range. These rods, introduced in 2010, are cheap but yet very pleasing. To keep the costs down the production was shifted to China but the guys at Major Craft were able to ensure that the quality remained high as for the other MC rods.
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| Solpara: Performance > Cost . It summarizes exactly the rod quality price ratio. |
The Solpara rod family is pretty vast. They have seabass, ajingu, rockfishing, eging, shore jigging models and so on. The trademark of the Solpara is the very nice electron blue blank that really adds a perceived quality feel to the whole rod and look insanely cool!. Guides are Fuji Aluminum Oxide and the workmanship is overall really impressive for such a cheap and made in China rod. As told before, quality control is definitely there.
The Details on the rod like cork accents, quality EVA and metal rings add a nice touch and give that famous JDM signature to the rod.
It comes in different length and power :
- SPS-862L 8'6 " 7-23
- SPS-902L 9'0 " 7-23
- SPS-862ML 8'6 " 10-30
- SPS-902ML 9'0 " 10-30
- SPS-962ML 96 " 10-30
- SPS-962M 96 " 15-42
- SPS-1002M 100 "15-42
Ok, so, you would say, the rod is nice looking but how does it behave in action? How is the blank? Sensibility?
Well, I use the 9ft 7-23gr. medium-light Seabass rod (SPS-902L) and I have been very pleased with it.
I own many rods made by different and famous brands and I can safely say that this rod is a keeper. For the price you pay you get a very decent rod, light, sensible and very enjoyable. It has a moderate-fast action and is pretty flexible. It casts lures very effectively and safely casts up to 18 gr. with no problems.
I admit that I didn't fight any respectable fish but the rod has enough backbone to handle good size seabass or even bluefish. The 9ft matches very good with a size 3000 Daiwa or 4000 Shimano reel.
I have been so impressed that I am thinking about getting the shore jigging rod too. My friend got the eging rod and it says that is incredible for the price he paid.
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Fuji DPS reel seat plus a nice composite cork and EVA
combination for the foregrip. Very nice looking detail. |
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The grip is made with good quality EVA. The metal ring
and the cork add a nice touch to the rod. |
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The rod comes with silver Fuji Aluminum Oxide Guides.
Cheapest Fuji guides available but they do their job with braid |
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| Spigot Ferrule Joint |
Bottom line is, the rod is definitely a very decent rod, not a high end top quality rod, but at this price point I doubt you can find anything better. Being made in China might sound like a big turn off, but trust me, you wouldn't tell the difference with a made in Japan one. I heard also great things about the upper level series such as the Saltz and Huntaway. I am sure you will get even a better rod once the price starts to reach the 150-250 USD (12.000 - 20.000 YEN) range. I am following closely this amazing rodmaker. They just keep producing new and exciting products at a fast rate. The latest range they introduced is the Trapara (trout rods).
I am planning to write more in the near future. I'll post some pictures of the rod in action.
In the meantime have a look at their website :
Major Craft
