CB Rod Wars Part 12: The Cumara Reaction Rods up the ante for Shimano (continued)

Power: The Cumara rods are not the most powerful cranking rods and are more like a precision weapon rather than an overpowering one. When bass get hooked the CUC711MH and CUC70H load up quickly giving you confidence to bring fish quickly back to the boat. The CUC76ML behaved differently in our tests and when it loaded up it just kept loading to the point I was wondering if it was going to have enough backbone to handle larger fish, sure enough it was able to handle bass but while I would be comfortable fishing for stripers with either of the other two rods the CUC76ML is just a bit too light.

The Core 100Mg matches the rod in appearance to create a stealthy looking lightweight rig

Ergonomics: The Cumara is among the lightest crankbait rods on the market and manages to weigh less than even the ultralight Steez by shaving off weight with the custom reel seat. In terms of ergonomics the Steez does feel more comfortable in hand with the sculpted Air-Beam seat over the very exposed proprietary reel seat on the Cumara. When cranking the round blank focuses more pressure right on your fingers with the Cumara than some other reel seats that distribute the pressure over a wider surface. While sensitivity is improved through this implementation a little comfort is sacrificed. This was never noticed with the original series as contact fishing plastics doesn’t put that constant pressure on your hands. This is alleviated when palming reels and retrieving as a few fingers are used to hold the hold while cranking.

The Curado E5 also pairs nicely with the Cumara Reaction rods for a more affordable combo

Overall ergonomics of the rod are otherwise excellent and when paired with one of the Core reels the Cumara feels (and looks) like a perfect match. The rod feels like an extension of your arm while casting and retrieving, making it easy to fish this rod all day long.

The butt features a aluminum insert

Price & Applications: The Cumara Reaction Series rods retail for $199.99 to $239.99 dollars which is a good price for a rod of this build quality and attributes. Shimano continues to move right up to the near premium price point and while there are a lot of competitors in the space few can offer the total value proposition with the Cumara. The rods come backed with a limited lifetime warranty that includes over the counter replacement, a big advantage as Shimano has a very robust dealer network.

Loaded up at Clear Lake

Each Cumara rod is designed for a specific application but like we found in our tests these are multi-talented rods that can be used for a variety of different crankbaits, wirebaits, and even ripbaits. These rods fish like rods that cost up to 30% more and deliver plenty of performance for a reasonable price. While other rods in the 250-450 dollar price range are much flashier and offer more enthusiast appeal the Cumara fishes just as good as many of them. In terms of availability the Cumara rods are slightly delayed and should have hit the market this month. They are in mass production now and should hit retail and e-tail stores in the next few weeks.

While I started out liking the individual performance characteristics of all three Cumara Reaction rods it was the CUC70H that really shone through as an excellent all round cranking machine

Like the previous Cumara series this is a rod that many Shimano reel fans should be proud to pair with their higher end baitcasters. The Cumara Reaction Series answers the question if Shimano can build a high end moving rod series, and we hope the company doesn’t stop there and brings out an even more premium series in the future.

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: