Complete ICAST 2017 Coverage

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TackleTour Exclusive: On the Water with the New G.Loomis Conquest Rod Series
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Ready to Combat the USDM : Evergreen International's Jack Hammer
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First Look Inside the New Shimano Curado K Series Baitcasters
 

Daiwa goes high end with new Steez "SPX Mega Top" and "Saltiga G" Rods

Introduction: Daiwa adds new high end rod offerings to their lineup this ICAST with new Steez rods designed for ultra finesse applications and on the other end of the spectrum the company launches Saltiga G boat rods featuring a blend of fiberglass and graphite.  

Daiwa kicked things off with a new logo on all their products called D-Vec

Steez SPX Mega Top Rods: The Steez lineup of rods gets two new additions this season, and rather than just simply introducing two new rods making use of the same graphite Daiwa went back to the drawing board to create two rods with very specific actions designed for finesse fishing.

Meet the newest addition to the Daiwa family, the Mega Top rod which uses a solid SPX graphite tip

These Steez new rods make us of a solid SPX graphite tip, which is also the reason why they are called "Mega Top," this new tip design promises greater casting accuracy and enhanced detection of subtle bites.

Daiwa displayed the tips curled up one after another

Unlike ordinary solid tips, Mega Top is built with an exclusive process that distributes graphite fiber evenly with precise resin control. The design creates a rod tip without a noticeable spine, perfect for pinpoint casting accuracy with lightweight lures. The flexibility is designed to allow anglers to you see the most subtle of bites, often before you can actually feel them.

This solid tip has no spine so it casts in every direction accurately, it is ultra sensitive and is designed for drop shot and wacky jig

The lower half of the rod is constructed out of Bias graphite for reduced blank twist and maximum strength. Keeping weight to a minimum are Daiwa's Air Beam reel seat, aluminum reel clamp nut and Air-Foam™ grips. Each rod comes with 9 guides and all are Fuji® Titanium-framed SiCs.

A closer look at the highly flexible Mega Top

In terms of cosmetics each rod features the traditional clean Steez design and this version contrasts black with gold highlights on all winding checks and the aluminum reel clamp bolt. These are the first rods in the premium series that not only feature the "Steez" logo but the new Daiwa logo on the blank as well.

The rod features a darker black and gold motif

Daiwa's Rod Product Manager Ted Akutsu shows us the new rods

There is one casting version as well as one new spinning rod, both are ML power and extra fast. These new SPX Mega Top rods will retail for $474.95 each when they become available in a few weeks.

To pair up with Daiwa's new Saltiga reels the company introduces new Saltiga G rods

Saltiga G Rods: On the saltwater side Daiwa has designed a new series of 23 Saltiga G rods for jigging and general purpose boat fishing. These rods feature an exclusive construction that Daiwa calls "Glatech." Glatech construction sandwiches unidirectional fiberglass running tip to butt between 90 degrees of inner and outer layers of graphite.

The Saltiga G-Rods make use of hardloy guides

This design creates a resilient blank with plenty of backbone and lifting power to control and move even big fish. The rods are clean looking and feature a black blank with some kevlar style wrapping at the base of the rod and blue threading throughout.

Each rod features a different application specific grip

Component-wise the Saltiga G rods make use of Fuji reel seats and silicon nitride guides on the conventional rods and hardloy guides on the spinning actions.

The blank sandwiches unidirectional fiberglass running tip to butt between 90 degrees of inner and outer layers of graphite

A Padded butt cap and EVA grips are utilized on 6'and 6'6" jigging models (Nylon gimbal on other jig rods) and an aluminum gimbal with rubber butt cap and triangular-shaped Powerlift Grip are employed on the boat rods. The boat rods come with either foam grips or Quick Grip hard grips for trolling applications. The Saltiga G Rods will match up nicely with existing Saltiga reels as well as the new Saltiga lever drag rods which are also being introduced this week at ICAST.