The Search For One.. Damiki's Long Anticipated Angel Blade (continued)

Sensitivity: I predominately fished moving baits with this stick, but I did tie on a jig just to get a sense of the rod’s sensitivity and while I didn’t get any hits with the jig tied on, I did get the impression that the sensitivity of the C691MH was about average. I could certainly feel the half ounce jig moving across the bottom as I slowly dragged it with the rod’s tip and could discern between rocks and weeds when the jig would stop, but I didn’t have any big revelations with regards to what I was feeling at the end of the line, so I’d say performance here was just okay. Considering the rod’s price point, I was expecting a little bit more.

All Angel Blade rods come with Fuji, titanium coated stainless steel frame guides with SiC inserts.

On the other hand, this stick feels great with a spinnerbait or jerkbait tied to the end of the line which is why it didn’t see much duty with slow moving baits. Secondarily, it makes a pretty decent stick for soft swimbaits as I fished it a bit matched up with the new Owner Ribeye Swimbait and the new Sebile Magic Swimmer Soft Pro. It works particularly well with the Sebile bait.

Our modified Chronarch 101D matches up nicely to the C691MH

Power: It must be something to do with 2010 or maybe it’s the fact I’m back fishing normal sized baits, but I wasn’t able to hook into anything significant to really test the power of the Angel Blade C691MH. It rates on the RoD WRACK slightly more powerful than the MBR783 GLX2000, but only slightly. Realistically it feels a bit less powerful to me and that might possibly be attributed once again to the rod’s taper. It might be a small percentage less fast than the G.Loomis MBR783C.

Note the sculpted shape to the rear handle of the C691MH.

Two handed casters like myself, will find the back portion of the rear, split grip on the C691MH very comfortable to grasp.

I tried to land a striper with this stick tossing the seven inch Triton Mike Bull Shad out on the California Delta last fall, but all to no avail. It seems as soon as we started heavy duty testing in our Search For One campaign, the striper all got lock jaw. Guess they learned from our 2008 Swimbait Rod Wars.

Detailing at the split rear grip is clean and well executed.

The customary badge of honor on a stick whose detailing has been carefully planned out.

Features: We already touched upon the majority of features with this Angel Blade rod at the very beginning of the review, but one component bears some further discussion. What might that component be? Why of course, the Angel Blade’s hook keeper. We touched upon this keeper during our reviews of the two Dark Angel rods, but put it through different rigors this time around namely time with some larger than normal baits. The little circle loop right at the end of the hook keeper is really good for holding onto your bait’s hook but when used with larger baits, the keeper itself tends to get pulled out away from the blank. Not really a criticism here nor there, but a word of caution when using this keeper.

If a domestically available stick with JDM-esque styling and good performance is what you're after, the Damiki Angel Blade C691MH will fit the bill.

Warranty: The Angel Blade rods are covered by a five year warranty against manufacturer’s defects and workmanship. All claims must be made directly with the company and include a copy of your receipt. They are also offering a $125 replacement fee within that five year period that again, requires a copy of your receipt. For complete details about any warranty situation you might have, we suggest you contact the company directly.

Ratings: (We've re-calibrated our ratings standard for 2008 and have included a key at the bottom of the following matrix as a guide):

Pluses and Minuses: