First Fish with Daiwa 63 UL Italian Special

Went over to the city pond today and netted 50 trout.....all in the 14-16 inch range. Been thinking how to best describe this rod. First out of the gate this rod fishes different than anything I have ever used. Since I only own the one AGS rod I do not know if the feeling I get is from fishing a rod with AGS guides....or is it from the blank. I suspect it is both. The blank is extremely rigid for a UL rod...but when you hook up it goes into a nice bend. This rod is fast...I would even say very fast. It gets to the meat of the blank quick. It cast 2.5 gram like a dream. I also fished a 3 gram spinner and while it did well you get the feeling you are at the max for this rod. Of course the rod is rated 0.5 gram to 3 gram so this is no surprise. Hook ups are great.....the fish just hook themselves. Of course I was using a Presso Eve spoon with Saq Sas hooks. A fish sniffs those hooks and he is done for. The spoon I was using had a barbless hook. Couldn't believe I did not lose a single fish due to the barbless hook. When fishing my other rods I would always lose several with the barbless hooks. Had it paired with a 2021 Presso reel spooled with Lemon Ester at 2.3# test. I also tried the rod out with a Daiwa Ballistic FW 1000 spooled with Twitch Master 3# test nylon. Rod just cast like a dream with both setups. I did not try any lighter offerings as I was catching fish and just did not want to mess with success....LOL. I have been wanting an AGS rod for years and now that I own one it will not be my last. We all talk about balance on a rod and all my rods balance well. But this one, paired with either reel, is on another level. While you cannot horse a 15 inch trout with this setup you can steer them with just a flip of the wrist one way or the other. This is probably the most crisp rod I have fished. It's hard for me to articulate exactly the feel you get from using this rod but as I said earlier it is unlike anything I have ever fished. I am very anxious to get into some bluegill and crappie with this rod. Of course to tell you the truth I bought this for bluegill fishing....LOL. This rod would not do well fishing in current. I may try it in the Little Red though when they are in a no flow situation. If LvSpinfisher reads this maybe he can speak to some of my observations. Always good to have max input on gear.


Regards

Good report on the rod. Glad it’s living up to your standards. Sounds like you had a fun and enjoyable day breaking the new rod in. Thanks for sharing.

Wow, 50 fishes on your first outing with the new Presso Ags. I can only dream of having a pond like yours my side of the woods. All envies aside, Alpha, your observation is what I've encountered when fishing with the only 1.2 g spoon i have just to replicate and experience what the rod was designed for: a competition Area pond fishing. My thoughts are very similar in that it balance well, cast well ( ML-s/ solid tip) and a joy to fish with. The rest is hard to explain just by comparing to lower end and heavier ultralight rods. Who knows, I might just retract my comment about this Presso Italian Special being my last JDM purchase...lol.

Great review and day on the lake, those trout were hungry. They really put on a show. From the looks of the tails looks like they were stocked recently. Did many jump? Out of about 150 trout I've caught this fall only had one jump multiple times.

Nice report and beautiful fish. Thanks!
Bob

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Originally Posted by JUNGLEJIMJIGS

Great review and day on the lake, those trout were hungry. They really put on a show. From the looks of the tails looks like they were stocked recently. Did many jump? Out of about 150 trout I've caught this fall only had one jump multiple times.

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Not sure when the last stocking was but they have been stocking for about 2 months now. This year they have stocked a lot of golden rainbows from Ava, MO. I've yet to catch any. They are tagged and if you catch one you get to enter a contest for a free guide trip on the Little Red River with a guide from Trout Magnet's Sore Lip'Em All Guide Service. If I do catch one I will forgo the prize as I'm friends with all those guys and I don't need to take a guide trip away for someone who could really use it. But to the question of jumping. Yes a lot of them did jump and I kept thinking I'm going to lose fish. Shocked I did not lose the first one. It's easy to stay in contact with the fish using this rod. But I need to switch out a lot of my barbless hooks with the micro barbed hooks.

Regards

How do you rate this rod vs. the eradicator?


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Originally Posted by TXPanfisher

How do you rate this rod vs. the eradicator?


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This is going to be hard but I’ll do my best. This rod is very rigid. In fighting 14 inch trout, or really any fish you catch, the Eradicator will protect the line better as it is much softer. The Daiwa allows you to steer the fish though much more than the Eradicator. It cast much better than Eradicator. The Daiwa rod recovers very quickly. As the Japanese call it, no blurring with this rod. It is every bit as steely if not more so. I was texting with someone today and they asked me about the rod and I told them if I had plenty of money I’d buy all the Italian Special’s I could find. I took it out again today for only 20 minutes. That’s all the free time I had but caught two more trout. I’m in love with the rod and am considering selling off some rods to acquire maybe one more of the UL and one each of the other models. Had a guy by my place about 2 months back and he wanted to buy a couple of my UL rods. Told him I didn’t want to sell any. That thought process has now changed. Out of the 2 dozen rods I have left I know how each one fishes. They all fish different. This Presso is just on another level.

Regards


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I second to Apha's observation as well! Besides rod actions, the Daiwa's own SVF Compile NanoPlus blank technology and its proprietary resin coating, X45 Full Shield outer layer gives the rod a more finished look compare to most JDM high end rods using Toray NanoAlloy bare blanks. I'm very convinced its worth the $100 over most vendor would sell the Abu Eradicator at this point.

randy,
do you happen to know much about the 61mlf version?
wondering if its tubular tip as well and fast action as well.
also kind of wondering how the 63ul version stacks up to the evergreen short cut.
i do absolutely love the 63ul though, bought mine from italy.

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Originally Posted by Shru[emoji6[emoji640

[emoji638]][emoji639];[emoji640][emoji640][emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji640]][emoji638][emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]][emoji638][emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]]]]randy,
do you happen to know much about the [emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji637]mlf version?
wondering if its tubular tip as well and fast action as well.
also kind of wondering how the [emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji639]ul version stacks up to the evergreen short cut.
i do absolutely love the [emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji639]ul though, bought mine from italy.

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I’ve watched every video there is on it and read all of what I’ve found. Tubular tip and very fast. Going to throw some [emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]] gram minnows with it.

Regards


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How does this rod compare to the lunakia 610? I was lucky enough to purchase a evergreen superior limber tip, but this rod has me very interested.

Also, did you use a reshipper to get the rod?

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Originally Posted by troutking

How does this rod compare to the lunakia 610? I was lucky enough to purchase a evergreen superior limber tip, but this rod has me very interested.

Also, did you use a reshipper to get the rod?

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This rod is in a category all its own. Of course it is much shorter the the 610 Luna. But it is head and shoulders better than the Lunakia series of rods. The rod falls into one of the "must have" category. Out of my many purchases there are a few that really stand above all others. This includes the Tict Rockin Drift...the Slow Taper Special. The rigidity of the rod throws you off when you first put it together and give it a little wiggle. You think maybe this is not going to be a fun rod. But once you hook into a fish it goes in to a big bend even with smaller fish. The bend is progressive through the rod. It is even more steely and crisp than the Slow Taper Special. I knew after fishing it I had to have the 61 ML version of the rod. This is my first foray into rods with carbon guide frames. Already researching one of the AGS bass rods in L action to fish the D2 jigs for trout upon the White.


Regards

save up and try and locate the scoutmaster for a light rod.

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Originally Posted by Shru63

save up and try and locate the scoutmaster for a light rod.

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While that is a great rod it is not suitable for what I'm wanting to do with a L rated rod. Casting D2 jigs using 9.2# test PE line on the White River. Catches of 20 plus inch trout are common and in that current and I need something with a little more backbone. Currently using a Major Craft Days L rated rod for that and it is OK...just wanting to upgrade.


Regards

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Originally Posted by Alphahawk

This rod is in a category all its own. Of course it is much shorter the the 610 Luna. But it is head and shoulders better than the Lunakia series of rods. The rod falls into one of the "must have" category. Out of my many purchases there are a few that really stand above all others. This includes the Tict Rockin Drift...the Slow Taper Special. The rigidity of the rod throws you off when you first put it together and give it a little wiggle. You think maybe this is not going to be a fun rod. But once you hook into a fish it goes in to a big bend even with smaller fish. The bend is progressive through the rod. It is even more steely and crisp than the Slow Taper Special. I knew after fishing it I had to have the 61 ML version of the rod. This is my first foray into rods with carbon guide frames. Already researching one of the AGS bass rods in L action to fish the D2 jigs for trout upon the White.


Regards

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Hi Randy, would you be able to take a short video clip of the upper half of the rod while you jig the rod? I want to see how much wobble the tip of the rod has. I want to see if it’s similar to the ML version linked (FINesseFishing | Daiwa Presso Limited AGS 58 ML-S Italian Special. 😍

Lure Weight: 0.4-4g
Rod Weight: 52g
@daiwatrout @daiwaitaly @mydaiwa_official... | Instagram )

I will try to get it done. Currently fighting a pinched nerve in the back.


Regards


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Originally Posted by Alphahawk

This rod is in a category all its own. Of course it is much shorter the the 610 Luna. But it is head and shoulders better than the Lunakia series of rods. The rod falls into one of the "must have" category. Out of my many purchases there are a few that really stand above all others. This includes the Tict Rockin Drift...the Slow Taper Special. The rigidity of the rod throws you off when you first put it together and give it a little wiggle. You think maybe this is not going to be a fun rod. But once you hook into a fish it goes in to a big bend even with smaller fish. The bend is progressive through the rod. It is even more steely and crisp than the Slow Taper Special. I knew after fishing it I had to have the 61 ML version of the rod. This is my first foray into rods with carbon guide frames. Already researching one of the AGS bass rods in L action to fish the D2 jigs for trout upon the White.


Regards

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is it as stiff as the 610 lunakia?

Feel better soon Randy.