Besides being very short rods (5'4" and 5'10") by today's standards the first thing anglers will visually notice about the rods are the Z-Man signature colors on the wraps. The bright blue reminds me a bit of classic G.Loomis NRX, but with red highlights. This rod matches the brand's plastic packaging and is not shy about highlighting Z-Man colors, and I'm kind of here for it. Why not embrace the brand in this very application specific rod?

Look further down the rod and the next thing you will notice is the lack of any reel seat. These rods are truly retro-finesse with Tennessee style handles that require tape (typically electric tape) to strap a reel into place.

Drew explained the design stating "anglers who see a Tennessee handle today might scratch their heads, but experiencing a rod’s true performance can’t be fully realized until you’ve found the precise balance point, or fulcrum, between rod and reel. We chose a cork Tennessee handle because it’s many times lighter and ten times more sensitive than traditional reel seats. The rod’s handle allows each angler to maximize comfort and sensitivity by customizing reel placement on the sweet spot. For me, it’s a 2000 size Daiwa, positioned just forward from the handle’s center. Couple strips of electrical tape work nicely, providing a nice, low-profile grip that fits comfortably in your hand. In order to achieve the same balance with a 7-foot rod, you’d need to add two more feet in the butt section, and that adds extra, unnecessary weight to the rod.”

It has literally been two decades since I've personally fished a Tennessee style rod and the whole design felt oddly novel to me. To many anglers in this generation this design will be completely new. Countering inevitable questions about shorter rod lengths, Reese makes a case for weight, sensitivity and lure control with this design.

“Pick one up and you’ll immediately wonder why you’ve been weighed down by 7-footers for so long. Many of these ideas on the merits of shorter, lighter rods came from Ray Finke, a pioneering Kansas city tackle shop owner," recalls Reese. "All the way back in the 1980s, Ray designed two such rods for one of the top rod companies in America. These were brilliant, light line tools for the time, but Ray’s work started me on this quest to perfect his ideas and produce a pair of truly exceptional finesse rods. The overarching idea is that creating a superior sense of feel is all about rod weight and length. A shorter, super-light blank simply puts you in closer contact with your lure and the fish. It’s an almost intimate connection. Like your hand is in a direct conversation with your lure. It’s right there, and each move of the rod tip transmits straight to the lure and back to your fingertips again."

The idea of a smaller and lighter rod also impact presentation and action. Every little twitch of the rod tip moves the bait a short precise distance, whereas the same maneuvers with longer 7-foot sticks tend to move the lure much greater distances, often to the detriment of a precise presentation.

Fished with a light, low-stretch braided line and fluorocarbon leader and there is the potential to detect more strikes. When discussing these new rods Reese hints that anglers wielding longer, heavier spinning rods, even with relatively light lines only detect a fraction of the strikes, especially the subtle inhale-and-spit or ‘soft-mouthing’ variety.

At the coming ICAST Z-Man will launch two medium-light power / fast action models which include a 5’4” (4- to 8-pound test) and 5’10” (4- to 10-pound test) rod. Both are built on carbon fiber blanks that leverage Toray’s 12K High Modulus Fiber with a modulus value of 50 million.