Traditionally, the way this assembly and separation is handled is by mere friction. Simply insert the top half of the rod into the handle and press down firmly. But because these sticks are intended for heavy duty applications, Abu Garcia has engineered a clever little locking strategy to ensure the two pieces of the rod do not come apart mid-cast or fish battle. The top half of the rod actually screws down into the handle via a metal collar. It's a clean, no-nonense, implementation that fits right into the entire aesthetic of the rods and a design touch that inspired a knowing grin from at least one hardened, exacting, tackle reviewer.

The handle section ready for assembly

Sliding the top section of the rod over the tube extending from the handle. It stops with an inch or two to spare

The knurled collar then comes down and screws into the handle, pulling the top section of the rod with it for an ultra-secure hold

Real World Tests: After wiping that grin off my face, I paired the 7'-5" model with my Beast 200, the 7'-9" with the Beast 300, and the 8'-0" with the Beast 400 - at least initially. I may or may not have interchanged the 200 and 300 Beast reels between the BSTSB75-6 and BTSB792-7 during the course of these tests. It gets a little hazy after a few trips mixing and matching combos to answer the application at hand.

Assembled and ready for action

Casting: Each of these three sticks handles casting duties within their rated lure range quite adeptly. As with most sticks out there, the sweet spot for each rod is somewhere in the middle eighty percent of that rating. The interesting characteristic to note is each stick has a rear handle length that is right on the border of being too short for big bait duties and too long for other stuff. So for instance the BSTSB79-7, if you take it for its ratings and taper alone, that spec is obviously well suited for hard bodied big baits, but it's also a good spec for a punching rod where you want the power to set hook, but the softness to keep the fish pinned to the matte without ripping that hook out.

Slinging Gan Craft's Jointed Claw 230 with the BSTSB792-7

Because the BSTSB792-7's rear handle length is only thirteen inches (13"), you can actually do both without compromising ergonomics too badly. Likewise the BSTSB75-6 is a good cranking stick and the BSTSB802-8, well, that's just a stick for big baits in my eyes. It's pretty beefy! But it did make a great foundation for subduing bat rays in San Francisco Bay.

Built on a blank formulation of 30T graphite and PowerLux 200 is one built more for durability than sensitivity, but they are certainly sensitive enough

Sensitivity: The BEAST Rods' blank formulation of 30T graphite and PowerLux 200 is one built more for durability than sensitivity. Similarly, fishing big baits is not a technique that requires ultra-sensitivity. You just need to be able and feel what's going on at the end of the line when you're working our glide or crankdown. Those behaviors are easily detected with the BSTSB79-2, and by extension, I'd expect the other sticks in this lineup to be suitably sensitive as well.

Fig 1 : The chart above illustrates the deflection characteristics of our three BEAST rods against the historical averages of similarly powered rods we've tested over the past twenty plus years. As you can see, each stick lines up almost perfectly with these averages

Power: Rather than discuss how each rod allowed me to set hook and control my catch, because really, when was the last time I wrote about a stick that did not allow me to do that based on their rating? Let's talk about how each of these three sticks lines up almost perfectly with our historical average for how we classify big bait sticks. The BSTSB75-6 (solid red curve) is the lone exception showing up a little softer than average at the early stages, but then falling in line when pressure is really applied to the blank.

Battling bat rays in a canal connected to San Francisco Bay

The other two sticks are almost identical to our historical average of all purpose big bait sticks (BSTSB79-2, white curve) and the heavy hitters (BSTSB802-8, orange curve). It's almost as if Abu Garcia wanted to submit these BEAST sticks for us to use as the baseline of our measurements and comparisons moving forward.

Checking out the BSTSB792-7's tip

Design & Ergonomics: One thing is for sure, Abu Garcia's lineup of BEAST rods are not going to win any weight or beauty contests. While they're not overweight, these sticks are robust and they are built with minimal adornment. Length of each of the three sticks' rear handle is right at the minimum of what I'd want for throwing big baits or at least baits that fall within each sticks' lure rating. This makes them more useful for other techniques and applications. You know, for those who don't strictly fish for largemouth bass - shocking, right?

The BSTSB75-6 is the only one piece stick in the lineup and has a slightly different look at the top of the handle

Rear grips are split and feature EVA foam

In terms of balance, the shorter rod, as you'd expect, is the least tip heavy of the three. I'd expect the two sticks in the casting lineup that are over eight feet in length to be even more tip heavy but balance is a difficult thing to achieve with super long fishing rods. As you can see in the above table, all but the BSTSB79-2 compare favorably to our historical averages for balancing torque.

The butt end is large enough for a good hold with your of hand

Guides are SS framed with Zirconia inserts

Price & Applications: Abu Garcia has done a good job keeping the price of their BEAST sticks reasonable. Both the BTSB75-6 and BTSB792-7 retail for $179.99 while the BTSB802-8 retails for $209.95. That's less pricey than a lot of the homegrown garage baits that are out there today. That also means you can assemble an entire BEAST combo (rod and reel) for under $500, comparable to or even less expensive than a JDM swimbait stick or the Shimano Conquest 300MD alone. Just putting things in perspective.

Conclusion: At first glance, to me, Abu Garcia's new BEAST rods didn't seem like much more than a typical, large manufacturer extension of a product line to dilute the market place. That impression quickly dissolved once I assembled the pieces of the two part rods and experienced the thoughtfulness that went into the design of that connection. That implementation was so spot on, it inspired an evil grin on my ugly mug.

First the reels, now the rods, Abu Garcia has won me over with their new BEAST lineup

Then I fished the rods and understood why the handles skirt that border in length opening up the rods' use for more than just slinging big baits. Next, consider the use of proprietary components help keep the price point of the BEAST rods down in a time when prices for everything are simply getting out of hand. There's a lot of thoughtfulness in the design and execution of these sticks - certainly more than I expected. For the spot on design implementation of that connection method between the rods' two parts alone, Abu Garcia has not only won me over, but they've won our first Innovation Award of 2026.

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