Abu Garcia Veritas Crankbait Winch Casting Rod VTSCW76-6 Product Review

Rod Review

Crank It Up! Abu Garcia's Veritas Winch Cranking Stick

Date:	12/24/18
Tackle Type:	Rod
Manufacturer:	Abu Garcia
Reviewer:	Cal

Total Score: 7.92 - BEST VALUE AWARD

Introduction: Over the last few years, we've fished Abu Garcia's Villain and Fantasista Premier and Beast sticks finding them to be solid performing rods delivered at an excellent value. But what about their actual value priced rods? I recall over eight years ago, being quite surprised when JIP revealed to me the price point of the Vendetta stick he was reviewing - $79.99. Eight years later, the Vendetta carries the same price. Today, we take a look at a technique specific stick in a rod series that is one step up from the Vendetta. Introducing Abu Garcia's Veritas Winch Cranking Rod.

Abu Garcia Veritas VTSCW76-6 Specifications
Material	30Ton Graphite
Length	7'-6"
Line Wt.	10-20lb
Lure Wt.	1/2 - 1 3/8oz
Pieces	One
Guides	10+tip Ti Alloy Frames w/ Zirconium Inserts
Rear Handle Length	11.5
Power Rating	Medium Heavy
Taper	Mod-Fast
Rod Weight	5.7oz
Origin	Made in China
MSRP	$119.99

Our first detailed look at Abu's Veritas sticks.

Impressions: There are actually seven (7) sticks within the Veritas Cranking rod lineup including two of the new generation nine foot (9') cranking sticks! I'm not sure that I'm ready for that movement quite yet, so the stick I chose to take a closer look at is the VTSCW76-6. This is a seven foot six inch (7'-6"), medium heavy powered cranking stick made from thirty ton graphite.

Introducing the Veritas VTSCW76-6.

The VTSCW76-6 is covered in a white, pearlescent finish and wrapped with Zirconium insert guides with titanium alloy frames. The rod features the company's proprietary up locking ratcheting reel seat with a split seat design. The split rear grip is made of EVA foam and there is no foregrip.

The VTSCW76-6 is a cranking specific rod.

Real World Tests: For the VTSCW76-6's real world tests, I paired it with the Editor's Choice Award winning REVO X Winch spooled with 50lb Daiwa J-Braid in white topped with a 10lb Green Sunline Sniper leader.

The handle section of this rod is not all that it seems.

Casting: The lure weight range of this stick is from half an ounce on up to one and three eighths of an ounce (1/2 - 1 3/8oz). To test this stick with standard cranks, I fished Berkley's Dredger crank in the 8.5, 10.5, and 25.5 sizes. The 8.5 is rated at five sixteenths of an ounce (5/16oz), below the rod's rated range, but I was able to cast this bait fine. I didn't even realize the lower end of this stick's rating was so high until after a full day on the water!

It's actually a double locking reel seat with a rotating ring just below the reel seat collar and a rotating grip to securely hold your reel in place.

On the upper end of the spectrum, the 25.5 Dredger is rated at one and one eighth of an ounce and very comfortably within the rod's lure rating, so I pulled out my Megabass Vatalion, rated right at 1 3/8oz, and gave it a go with this combo. The VTSCW76-6 handled this bait fine as well. It's obvious to me, this stick can handle even a little more, but I'm sure Abu played it safe with the lure ratings to minimize the occurrence of warranty claims.

Guides feature frames with a titanium alloy and Zirconium inserts.

Sensitivity: The fun thing about this stick is it's full graphite, not a glass or a glass/graphite blend. Abu just built it with a more moderate taper making it more conducive to fishing treble hook baits. That means this cranking stick is more sensitive than the usual and you can feel your bait bumping and dredging the bottom, or vibrating its way through the water. This is helpful because there are times when bass can even take a moving bait in a very subtle manner.

Fig 1 : The chart above illustrates the deflection characteristics of our Abu Garcia Veritas VTSCW76-6 against our cranking rod averages.

Power: More often than not, with cranking sticks over seven feet in length, power is the least of your concerns. Not only to longer sticks enable super long casts, but they give you incredible leverage when battling your catch. The VTSCW76-6 has a really smooth power curve that's very reassuring when you have a fish at the end of the line.

Checking out the taper.

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