Inshore Lite - Gary Read 16.10# Blackfish - Gary caught this along with several other 10# + Blackfish January 2012 out of Shark River, NJ. At first skeptical about using the Inshore Lite for Togging, those concerns were quickly erased the very first time he used his Lite and had a trip of a lifetime. Gary's rod was wrapped by Jared Shukis.
Gary Read's 16.10# Tog 1/2012
Inshore Lite - Felix L - The mates and guys fishing along side of me were impressed with the rod. They all said they didn't expect such a large cod to be handled so easliy with such a light rod.
GTS 60XH - Captain Billy Turnbull - What more can I say, I love the XH as much as I do the H. If you know how ot handle a rod you can put a tremendous amount of pressure on a fish and not worry about it bottoming out - the Hercules rods never run out of power. I came up for a visit to NY from Florida, and jigged up what turned out to be an IGFA Record 81 pound Longfin - I'm stoked!! Thank you for building me these rods, and thanks to John from Trophy Tackle for turning me on to the Hercules, next up is an Inshore Lite or Heavy for Florida Bottom fishing.
Seeker Promo for Billy's 81# Longfin
Super Tog - Captain Gregg Nardiello - "Get the net I think this is a big one". This is what Gregg yelled at me as I fished next to him the first time he used his Super Tog. Within 15 minutes of his first cast he landed an 11# Blackfish - first cast and first fish on the rod!! Since that day he has landed 6 more Blckfish over 10# on the rod. He has raved to other fishermen on the Ocean Eagle how much he likes the rod, so much that one day I was out there and there were 12 Super Togs being used by different fishermen!!
Super Tog -Scott A aka Black on Black - I took my brand new Super Tog you built me down to Maryland yesterday, and took the pool with a 19.25# Blackfish. The rod handled the fish easily as I was able to get him up and out of the sticky structure with ease. I was shocked when I saw how big the fish was, I've caught several other 10# fish using other rods and I got beat up reeling them up, but with the SUper Tog it was a piece of cake. I love the performance of this rod, and I'm going to order another one cut to a lighter tip. Thank you again.
Inshore Lite - Captain Gregg Nardiello of the Ocean Eagle, SHB Brooklyn - I used the Inshore Lite all summer for Porgy and Sea Bass fishing, it replaced all the other rods I used to use. It has everything I was looking for in a rod, the right action, power, and it takes a beating. I liked it so much, I used it a couple of times for Fluke, resulting in several 8-10 pounders. It was perfect for fishing 60 feet. I even tried it Blackfishing, and had a ball catching several 10# fish up to 12.5#'s. I really enjoyed fishing the rod, it's the best all around Inshore Rod I've ever fished.
INSHORE LITE - Mark "3Beard" P. from SOL - Just wanted to give my 1st impressions of my latest build, the Seeker Hercules inshore lite I got from Billy at the NERBs gathering.. . in brief, I'm in love. It's spiral wrapped with Amtak's Virtus lite Ti.'s.. As the main purpose of this rod will be for heavier Fluke bucktailing/Tog. I got the opportunity to pull on a few Stripers with it this week, up to the hi teens.. and this rod whupped'em like they stole something... awesome power down low, yet sensitive enough at the tip to detect the slight peck of an eel on the bait..I have no doubts this rod will tame the fattest cow in the river.. or hopefully my holy grail for '2010, the elusive 10+# doormat UPDATE - Mark caught this 40# Bass after writing this review. Still no 10# Fluke, but a 40# Bass isn't a bad!!
40# Striped Bass Inshore Lite
INSHORE LITE 72L - Mark "3Beard" P. from SOL - Just wanted to give my 1st impressions of my latest build, the Seeker Hercules inshore lite I got from Billy at the NERBs gathering.. . in brief, I'm in love. It's spiral wrapped with Amtak's Virtus lite Ti.'s.. As the main purpose of this rod will be for heavier Fluke bucktailing/Tog, I used the perfection ball gimbal mostly as a counter-balance.. and I think I nailed it, as with an Avet SX mounted, it balances slightly tip-up right at the forward reel foot.. making the tip feel almost weightless. I got the opportunity to pull on a few Stripers with it this week, up to the hi teens.. and this rod whupped'em like they stole something... awesome power down low, yet sensitive enough at the tip to detect the slight peck of an eel on the bait..I have no doubts this rod will tame the fattest cow in the river.. or hopefully my holy grail for '2010, the elusive 10+# doormat
GTS 60H - Captain Bill Turnbull, Florida commercial fisherman - I picked up a Jigga 60H from Trophy Tackle and had my doubts about it holding up to the abusive way I fish my rods. Within 2 days all doubts were relieved as I tried to push the rod past its limits on AJ's and Grouper. I started off jigging some AJ's, 30#ers were no problem on this rod. Then I went Grouper fishing, and released an estimated 100# Goliath in short order, followed by a 200#'er the second day. Both fish tried to rock me, so I bumped the drag up and turned them. When I returned to the dock, I checked the drag at full - 32#'s. I couldn't believe a rod this light could be so powerful. What I liked most is no matter how hard I pulled and pushed the drag up, the rod would not bottom out, and never bent into the fore grip.
Inshore Heavy - by WhiteLakeBuc -The grouper fishing is closing here in NC on this Friday, Jan 1st. In regards to my purchase of the Hercules XL Inshore Heavy, as noted in the previous emails noted below, I would like to give you some feedback based on 18 grouper trips between mid august 2009 and yesterday landing 234 grouper. ALL ON THE XL INSHORE HEAVY! (FYI - I cut the blank from the butt to achieve a build length of 6' 6")
The rod is awesome. I am completely satisfied with the performance in every way. It has enough sensitivity to feel those finicky grouper bites and enough back bone to yank their fat ass out of a rock.
The Action - Cutting the rod down to 6' 6" did not make the blank parabolic. It had more of a "moderate" action and shut off ahead of the fore grip. This action was surprising to me as I was able to stand and hold the rod in a normal relaxed position yet still apply pressure with out becoming fatigued. Also - when a grouper dove for the rocks, I could stop his ass cold. I think a parabolic rod would have bent enough to allow fish to "rock me up". Can't give grouper not one inch of line!!!!
Durability - I literally abused this rod. Swinging fish in the boat, bending the crap out of it when I got hung up, etc. The rod finish, line guides, and grips, are all cracked, beaten, and falling apart yet the blank is stellar!!! (Alps tri reel seat, fuji SIN guides, EVA fore grip, Riley Rod carbon foam core rear grip). I will rebuild it this winter and use the same blank!!!!
Limitations - I found the limit of this blank IMHO. Although, I have landed quite a few grouper above 20lbs, I believe that this blank is "the one" for all grouper/snapper up to 20lbs and utilizing up to 20lbs of drag. I used up to 30lbs of drag on this rod, but I dropped the rod tip and let the fish pull drag straight from the spool with this amount of pressure. This rod can take some serious heat!!!
I hope this feedback is useful. This blank has surely served me well.
SO............. I have decided to purchase another blank!!!! This time, the 60H for jigging big AJ and hopefully a BFT.
