APIA Foojin’RS Springer 88ML 3-32g lure rod review - £379.99 in the UK

In my opinion APIA makes fishing rods, and whilst this might sound blindingly obvious when of course they do, what I mean is that this rather amazing Japanese fishing tackle company makes lure fishing rods which so badly need to be fished with to properly appreciate them. The thing is that few anglers can or will spend nearly £400 on a lure fishing rod - quite understandably on a bunch of different levels - but frustratingly we are talking about one of the easiest and efficient rods you could ever hope to handle at any price. For sure an experienced angler is going to get a whole lot of good stuff out of this APIA Foojin’RS Springer 88ML 3-32g, but it would also do nothing but good stuff for a less experienced angler as well…………………..

I have extensively waggled and fished with nearly all the spinning style rods in this new Foojin’RS range from APIA, and each rod fishes so much more than they waggle if that makes any sense. There is so much going on with each and every one of these lure rods that only opens up over proper fishing time with a wide variety of lures and techniques and locations and conditions. As I said above, this is also an incredibly easy rod to fish with. Pick this stunning looking APIA Foojin’RS Springer 88ML 3-32g lure rod up and give it a waggle and it feels rather nice. Now go and fish with it and enable the rod to start opening up? Crumbs. Let’s call this rod the Springer from now on, and if you can get yourself along to the Art of Fishing tackle shop in Wadebridge then you should be able to get a chance to cast with a few of these rods.

Every single thing about this rod feels correct to me when I am holding it in my hand with a spinning reel strapped to it. The lightest reel I have here is the Shimano Vanford 3000, and the rod feels great with this delightful little reel, but now I go and put the heavier and bulkier Penn Slammer IV 2500 or more expensive Authority 2500 on the rod and to me it also works a treat. For sure I’d choose the smaller and lighter reels if I was taking this rod more down the finesse route - it’s extremely happy fishing like this - but now give me the open coast and a bit of life to the sea and I am more comfortable with the Penn reels and how that extra bit of weight on the butt end of the rod makes it feel so good. Each to their own of course, but I do think that some of the shorter lure rods can arguably benefit with a bit of extra weight towards the butt.

I love the handle design and the length of the handle. The rod sits in my hands and it all just feels perfect. The understated and clean way the rod looks suits my eye. APIA always seems to make good looking lure rods, but we obviously need more than that, and especially when we are not far off £400 for a fishing rod. You might not need an 8’8’’ long lure rod rated to fish with 3-32g lures, but if you do and if you want to splash some cash, I implore you to think about this Springer. You can’t go wrong with it. This rod refuses to bite back, it is utterly effortless to fish with, lures go exactly where you want them to, the rod just sits so gloriously in my hands when I am fishing and casting, and in many respects this is two lure rods in one - a lighter rod for estuary and calm conditions, but when you need to step it up a gear or two it doesn’t miss a single beat. Damn this is a proper fishing rod.

The rod may quote 3g at the bottom end, and of course you can clip a 3g lure on and fish with it, but I think APIA are being a bit generous here. Bear in mind though that I am not really fishing with bass lures under about 9g or 10g so I am inclined towards thinking that lure rods like this tend to start around those weights anyway (I am not a good test for very lightweight lures so take what I say with a pinch of salt). What I do know is that this Springer is properly performing when I fish lighter surface lures like the Savage Gear Surf Walker 2.0 12.5cm F9.5g or Pop Walker 2.0 9cm/11g. I also know that the same rod isn’t breaking a sweat when you bang the hell out of the bigger Patchinko 140 or the ridiculously long-casting Savage Gear Surf Walker 2.0 15.5cm S26.5g. You can find faster and sharper lure rods with similar specs to this Springer, but as a complete fishing rod it’s outstanding to fish with.

I don’t personally abide by this mantra that certain styles of lure rods are meant to work better with certain types of lures and so on. To me it’s all down to the angler and how they fish and what works best for them. Waggle this Springer and you might not see it as a rod ideally suited to surface lures, but I happen to think it’s awesome for this. I also think it’s bloody brilliant with soft plastics, both swimming and twitching both sizes of “my” SG Gravity Stick Soft plastics and of course the lethal OSP DoLive Stick, and then “searching” with something like the SG Savage Minnow Weedless or Sandeel V2 Weedless. I have no interest in how a rod balances when sitting on a little finger because it makes zero sense to me in the real fishing world, but I am interested in how this Springer plus spinning reel combination just feels SO right when I am actually fishing with it. As I said, APIA build rods that need to be fished with.

If you are reading this review about a nearly £400 8’8’’ rod rated 3-32g then you most likely realise that it’s not really designed for punching something like the IMA Hound 125F Glide hard lure into strong winds and big seas. For sure this Springer can bang this lure out, but to me this is a more subtle type of finesse lure rod best, better to calmer/mildly bouncy bass fishing situations. Estuaries, night time, areas of the UK which don’t need a decent bit of bounce to get things going, you know the score. I understand the physics behind longer rods/levers putting lures out further, but I still stand by a good rod of any sensible length together with a decent casting style as being more important. This Springer seriously gets lures out there if you need it to, but perhaps more importantly with how the rod is designed, lures go where you want them to go. We don’t always need distance, but we tend to want accuracy. This Springer is one of those rods that just seems to turn over so smoothly and effortlessly in the cast, and your lure goes where you want. I can’t properly describe the feeling but it’s something I have been getting with all these new APIA Foojin’RS rods I have been trying out. Proper, proper fishing rods.

I can’t really say much more about the Springer. If I had nearly £400 lying around I’d be sorely tempted to buy one for a lot of my estuary and open coast night fishing especially. I don’t know what APIA put into their lure rod mix of ingredients, but damn they make some rods that are simply stunning to fish with. I still think the stunning APIA Foojin’RS Vivogue 96ML+ 9’6’’ 6-38g is the most interesting rod from this new Foojin’RS range - that tip is insane! - but I didn’t enjoy handing back this APIA Foojin’RS Springer 88ML 3-32g one bit. Wow. You all have a good weekend………..

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