Everyone is always looking that ideal action in a saltwater spinning rod, light enough in the tip the cast a light lure, but heavy enough in the backbone to put the pressure on a big fish. We have a demanding list of criteria that any rod we use, it has to be light enough for to cast a quarter ounce lure, yet tough enough to handle a 100 pound Tarpon. We were thrilled when we finally found the exact rod we needed in the Calico Jack line of rods by Hurricane Tackle.
For the last five years we have been using the Calico Jack rods on all of our charters primarily the 7 ½ foot medium heavy action for Snook and Tarpon and the 7 ½ foot medium for everything else. For the recreational angler this would be a lifetime’s worth of use, and the Calico Jack’s have held up remarkably well. Over the past 30 years we’ve been able to evaluate rods from a large number of brands. Yet nothing we have ever used has held up the way the calico Jack rods have in day after day of heavy charter use. In five years of charter use most of our original rods are just now “wearing out” for lack of a better term. Here are a few examples, clients have broken the ceramic rings out of the guides, some have been stepped on, and all of them have been subject to the rigors of every day casting. Of the ones that were stepped on were otherwise broken they were replaced by Hurricane under their outstanding warranty. The most remarkable thing that we can say about the Hurricane rods is that not a single rod ever failed while fighting a fish. That’s quite a tribute when you consider the number of large Tarpon and Snook that those rods have had to fight in five years of hard use. In addition you have to factor in all of the snagged docks, trees, and who knows what else has been snagged by our clients. This adds up to a lot of stress on the rod blanks and they have held up like nothing else we’ve ever used.
Here’s the best part of all the suggested retail price on the hurricane calico Jack series of rods starts at $59.95 there is not another rod in the industry that can offer the quality for anywhere near that price. The best advice we can give you is to go to your nearest Dick’s Sporting Goods or wherever else Hurricane tackle is sold and by a 7 ½ foot medium heavy and a 7 foot medium rod. Use them for six months and were confident they will exceed your every expectation and then some, if our charter clients can abuse them for five years, they will last you a lifetime.
Hurricane tackle also makes the Redbone series of spinning rods and up until recently also made an outstanding fly rod. We’re hopeful that they’ll bring the fly rods back, for the money nothing else can touch them in quality or performance.
