HOME | TACKLETOUR FORUMS  | EDITOR'S CHOICE | REVIEW ARCHIVE | ABOUT US | 

Reels | Rods | Lures | SwimbaitsBFS Lines | Term. Tackle | Tools | Storage | Apparel | Enthusiast | Watercraft | Interviews | Events | Autopsy


 


 

 


Rod Review

 

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

Design & Ergonomics: What I enjoy most about this stick is its length. Seven feet, six inches (7'-6") is an ideal length for me in a cranking stick not because of some complicated feng shui fishing principal or mystical body alignment calculation, but because it fits in my rod locker! Yes, I've been in the fishing industry as a member of TackleTour for close to fifteen years now and fishing for much longer than that, but I don't have a big, twenty one foot bass boat with endless amount of storage.


The back end of the handle features some styling cues.

The maximum rod length I can fit in my boat's locker is seven feet, eleven inches (7'-11") and with that, only one. I can fit a number of rods 7'-6" in length, which makes it much more convenient.


The rod's hook hangar works as a closed loop or open ended hangar.

Referring back to the complicated feng shui principals, I also find 7'-6" much more manageable to fish. I don't have to worry as much, about how close Zander is standing behind me on a cast and my wrists aren't as stressed when I have a fish at the end of the line or when I'm pulling a deep diving, hard pulling crank. The VTSCW76-6 is a little tip heavy, but that kind of comes hand in hand with a rod of this length with a minimal build design.


More little design cues at the end of the rear grip.

Finally, speaking of design, while most of the components on this rod are pretty straight forward, Abu Garcia has an interesting reel seat on this stick. They are describing it as an uplocking ratcheting reel seat. What it features is two lock rings. The first is attached to the back end of the reel seat and moves in to close down on your reel. This is the adjustment that is ratcheted. The second is the actual grip - it rotates too and locks in against the back end of the reel seat creating a sort of tension joint to secure the reel. It's pretty effective with the end result being a super clean transition from the top of the reel to the rod because there are no threads to deal with.

Lab Results for Abu Garcia Veritas VTSCW76-6

Model
Avg RoD (2-32 oz)
Taper
Measured Weight (oz)
Balance Point (inches)
Balancing Torque (ftlbs)
Abu Garcia Veritas VTSCW76-6
2.62
Mod-Fast
5.7
6
0.20
Shallow Crank Avg
3.00
--
4.8
5
0.17
Medium Crank Avg
2.30
--
5.2
8.5
0.21
Deep Crank Avg
1.90
--
4.9
8.75
0.23


The only thing I didn't really like about this stick is the bar code stamp right on the blank.

Price & Applications: Those who do not believe in spending a lot of money in a stick for moving baits will really appreciate the VTSCW76-6 because it retails for only $119.99. Once again Abu Garcia delivers good value in a stick that performs as needed. It's built with sensible components and handles moving bait applications like a cranking stick should.


The Veritas cranking stick retails for $119.99.

Ratings:

Abu Garcia Veritas VTSCW76-6 Ratings (?/10)

Construction/Quality A really clean build although I could do without the sku on the bottom of the rod 8
Performance The bar is not very high for a cranking stick but if you throw in sensitivity, then the scores are going to be pretty good 8
Price An affordable cranking stick that performs 9
Features A double locking reel seat, Zirconium guides, comfortable grip material 7.5
Design (Ergonomics) A little tip heavy but the perfect length for me 7.5
Application If moving baits are what you need to throw, this stick will handle them 7.5

Total Score

7.92
Ratings Key: 1 = terrible : 2 = poor : 3 = lacking : 4 = sub par : 5 = mediocre : 6 = fair : 7 = good : 8 = great : 9 = excellent : 10 = unbelievable!
For More Details of the updated rating system visit our explanation here

 

Pluses and Minuses:

Plus

Minus
+ Good power and length - Just a bit tip heavy
+ Smooth casting performance - Bar code stamped on the rod
+ Nice reel seat design  


Abu Garcia does a very good job with the VTSCW76-6 and if you like the style of the Veritas lineup, this is a cranking stick that deserves consideration.

Conclusion: The performance gap between different tiers of fishing rods is really getting blurred these days. For vertical bait presentations, the distinguishing characteristic is still sensitivity - and always will be. But for a dedicated moving bait stick, it's growing increasingly difficult to make that same distinction. When a manufacturer builds a moving bait stick out of a decent graphite blank adding sensitivity into the mix (some graphite cranking rods are as dead as old school glass), then all we are really left with are cosmetics and components. Abu Garcia does a very good job with the VTSCW76-6 and if you like the style of the Veritas lineup, this is a cranking stick that deserves consideration.

 

Looking for a Abu Garcia Veritas VTSCW76-6?

Try TackleWarehouse


 

   

Google
  Web
  TackleTour

 

 

 
 





 

 



Copyright © 2000-2024 TackleTour LLC All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy information