New Popper top water rod
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Popper and Topwater Fishing
Forum Description: If you're into a bit of action on top, this is the forum for you
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=121542
Printed Date: 04 Jun 2026 at 8:09pm
Topic: New Popper top water rod
Posted By: Motorhead
Subject: New Popper top water rod
Date Posted: 08 Oct 2016 at 6:39pm
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I'm looking to get a bit more into top water style fishing and currently looking at either a Daiwa Monster Mesh Max 832 or a Offshore Illusion Popper 150/200G 2 piece or similar. The reel will be a Saltist 5000H, OK so it's not a saltiga or Stella but I like it and have smashed a 17kg Kingie with no problem at all. The reel currently sits on a Shimano Ocea Ian Miller 732 Saltwater. Tends to be a bit small for heavier lures, hence the reason to up size. A mate reckons just get the Offshore Illusion as it is unbeatable for a $500 rod. Is he right? Cheers |
Replies:
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 08 Oct 2016 at 10:57pm
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Hey Motorhead, I'm not an expert, but for what it's worth, I've done quite a bit of reading of older threads on this forum to gather info on the right mid-range top water rod to get, and there seems to be a clear distinction between rods suitable for poppers (stiffer tips), and rods suitable for stick baits (softer tips). And the overwhelming advice is that NZ kingies go for stick baits more than poppers (versus the opposite in the tropics). If you think you're going to focus on poppers, cool. But if you think you're likely to want to stick bait, make sure you don't end up with a stiff rod that won't work stick baits effectively. Then it comes down to the lure weights and line weights you're going to use. But judging from a lot of the older threads, there's a big fan base for the Offshore top water rods, and as an owner of one of the Illusion soft bait rods can vouch for the quality. However, you'll find quite a bit of discussion about the accuracy of the lure weight range quoted by the makers on the top water rods, and in a couple of cases, even the length (which seems odd, not hard to measure a rod blank!). The lighter of the two Offshore rods seems favoured for stick baits. |
Posted By: Motorhead
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2016 at 12:47am
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I was meant to say Stickbaiting. I throw a popper around occasionally but have yet to catch anything. Stick baiting on the other hand is very rewarding as far as catch rate goes. The only Stickbaits I have are Shimano blue sardines, seem to work OK. Cheers |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2016 at 12:27pm
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Cool. So hopefully someone with direct knowledge of the rods will provide you with advice, but from what i've read you may want to aim for the lighter of the two Offshore rods for stick baiting. If you're in Auckland, Big Fish in Pakuranga stocks a good range of the Offshores and Phil should give you a good price. They usually have the Daiwa and Shimano equivalents (the Energy Concept probably the closest), so you can get a feel for the action side by side. There's an Okuma Metaloid top water rod coming out here too, which might be worth looking at?
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Posted By: Pico
Date Posted: 09 Oct 2016 at 8:29pm
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I've been using the offshore 100-200gm 7 foot 6 model for a few years now. It casts and works 90-140gm stickbaits nicely. I haven't caught any monsters but it's handled fish up to 18kg |
Posted By: sizedoesntmatter
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2016 at 5:46pm
We have caught multiple fish 20-38kg on the offshore 150-200gm 2 picece. Throwing baits as small as 90gm. The blanks are bullet proof and well made. Great bang for buck, even used them to catch striped marlin 
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Posted By: Motorhead
Date Posted: 10 Oct 2016 at 8:17pm
| Thanks for the comments. Sounds like an Illusion is on the shopping list. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 11 Oct 2016 at 9:18am
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Nice one, Offshore are very well made rods - I've got three for various uses. While you're comparing rods in that price range you might like to drop in and look at the Japanese domestic market rods on sale at Yeehaa. There's a lighter and a heavier stick bait option (see the products announcement thread about a week ago). There's a bit of chatter on the forum threads about "mass produced rods", but most of the mid range Shimanos and Daiwas feature high-end Fuji components (K guides etc) and the JDM rods are purportedly a step up as well. |
Posted By: COROfishn
Date Posted: 12 Oct 2016 at 3:48pm
| The Shimano Backbone Elite top water 8'2" 2pce 50/80LB is a very good top water rod for its price! |