Made in Japan JDM UL Rod - Olympic '18 Corto, 1.8 ounce. Phenomenal Minijig Rod. $219

I purchased four different Olympic Corto Rods including three in this series at 6' 1", 6' 10" and 7' 4".

For me, I genuinely believe that this 6' 1" is the sweet spot. It has the most sensitive tip, and these Cortos casts the proverbial 'country mile'. This 6' 1" feels incredibly light in hand.

The weight is rated at 51 grams which is 1.797 ounce or - 1.8 ounce.

This is new with tags. New is new, never fished. However, I did mount with a UL JDM reel to see hot it feels when swung. Without exaggeration, this 6' 1" feels incredibly light in hand - almost as if it was half the weight of the 6' 10" thought that rod is only a few tenths of an ounce heavier. If I were to pick one in the '18 Corto to fish with, no question it would be this 6' 1". For minijigs, the 6' 1" casts exactly as far as the 6' 10" models.

Yes, this is Made in Japan including the blank.

(In case you are wondering, I've been on a tear recently, picking up a bunch of JDM rods of different brands, and blanks - well north of multiple $Ks just to inform myself as to what cutting edge JDM Ul is all about. I sell all these off after I make my measurements.

Dollar for dollar, this one is the top bang for the buck in JDM rods I've seen. It comes with Fuji Single Foot (AT series) Titanium guides!

It includes the original zippered bag and all papers including the date of production which I in 2019.

Price is firm - I need to clear $219.

Again, I do not know of one other UL rod that gives you world class performance that gives you better value. Nothing in the USA I know of comes close to this - not even the $500+ rods that I know of.

Are you selling the 7'4"? Would you be open to trades? Thanks

I sold the 7' 4" and the 6' 10" first. Kept the 6' 1" for last to list.

And sorry, no trades - unless there are better rods for UL but I'm not sure that there are. The only better ones that I like are ones I build for myself.

Thanks for asking.

Sounds good. I was looking to trade a couple of Phenix mirage rods. I'll check back to see if you get any more 7'. 6'1" is a little too short for me for jigging. Thanks

No problem. I hear you. Here in So cal, I see a lot of people using longer UL rods for minijigs. I minijig myself.

But one of the finest minijig fisherman I know (retired but used to run one of Turner's fishing dept) prefers 6' rods and he owns upwards of 100 rods. There are some situations where longer rods can help clear brush in wide open waters (i.e. DVL) but shorter rods actually are more sensitive, balance better, and provide more than enough movement to the jig. I used to go longer but my thoughts are starting to shift. I'm going to be building some sub 5' rod to test to see what short shorter rod does. I know, this probably sounds like a sales pitch on the 6' 1" but this rod will sell and I just wanted to make that note. This 6' 1" casts as far as the 6' 10" by the way. Don't know about the 7' 4" as I never cast any Corto in that length.

But yes, I get it that you want longer and there are advantages to that too. I have one piece blank that is 8' long and they do allow you to angle the line high above the water if you need to do that.

Hope you find the 7' 4" that you want.

I do have another 6' 11" coming by another JDM company that may be the lightest 6' 11" production rod on the planet but that is in a different price category. It will be interesting to see how that one measures.

The Mirage rods sure are popular here in so Cal. Nothing bad to say about them but I think that these JDM rods are in a whole different level of performance.