Favorite Black Swan 852H 8'5'' 16-56g lure rod review - £289.99 (the rating doesn’t tell the story at all, this thing is ridiculously versatile)

If I get to review a better lure rod than this one in 2024 I will be gobsmacked. You might not think that you need or want a lure rod for your bass fishing with this much (easily accessible) power, but if there was a ever a lure fishing rod where the rating didn’t tell even half the story then this Favorite Black Swan 852H 8'5'' 16-56g is that rod. The fact that you can buy this rod for £289.99 here in the UK is quite frankly a steal, because with the technology that has gone into it - Japanese Toray T1100G carbon for starters - and how ridiculously wand-like and utterly delightful it is to fish with, this rod could easily be £500+ and it would still be seriously good value. Not that just under £300 is not a lot of money, I don’t mean that at all. What I mean is that for £289.99 you are getting a rod so deft and so unique that I think it makes something like the far more expensive and similar specced Shimano Exsence Genos 9’ 8-48g (which I bought a few years back I might add) feel rather clunky...............

This Black Swan 852H is lighter at 109g compared to 132g for the 9’ 48g Genos - yep, the Black Swan is a shorter rod, I grant you that - and then 170g for the outstanding and more robust/rough and tumble feeling APIA Foojin'Z Testamatta 88MH 8'8'' 8-56g (review here). This Black Swan 852H is a good bit more subtle than the Genos 9’ 48g; it can easily chuck a 50g lure at full power, but genuinely feels just as good with a little 10g surface lure, it’s very powerful but it doesn’t demand a perfect cast every single time, and in many respects it’s just about the most versatile lure rod for UK and Irish bass fishing that I can recall fishing with. I am genuinely blown away by how incredible this rod is.

Please note that I have had nothing to do with the development of this Black Swan rod, and I don’t work with Favorite. I only came across this Black Swan 852H lure rod because via a contact in Ireland I was asked to spend a couple of days taking photographs of some of their extensive range of lure rods in action the other day. This specific Black Swan 852H 8'5'' 16-56g lure rod happened to be one of the rods they brought with them. Because I am a tackle tart I obviously had a quick go or two with the rod, and then because my tackle tartery knows no bounds, I asked if they would mind me taking the rod away for a while for further “inspection”. In many respects I wish I hadn’t because that Shimano Exsence Genos 9’ 8-48g which I bought a few years ago is now gathering even more dust than it already was because of that APIA Testamatta plus some rather special Savage Gear rods we are currently working on.

So why on earth would I urge you to think about adding a relatively “short” 8’5’’ lure rod to your arsenal, and especially one which is rated to cast a fairly hefty 16-56g? Because this rod is an all-round wand, plain and simple. It’s miles more versatile than the 16-56g rating suggests, indeed I wonder if that 16-56g rating might hold this rod back within the (sea) bass world because of what it implies. We are talking about a very, very light, ultra-responsive, sharp lure rod which genuinely fishes say 10-50g lures with complete precision. I enjoy every single cast I make with this Black Swan 852H. Ignore the 16g low end rating because you can easily fish 10g lures; that little Savage Gear Surf Walker 2.0 12.5cm F9.5g is a dream to fish with on this rod for example. When working soft plastics, the way that the rod sits in your hand and imparts all the movement you might need with the deftest nudge of your wrist is almost stupidly effortless. I like a fast rod, I can easily like a fairly pokey tip if it feels like a seamless part of the whole rod, and I have a growing thing for what could be called these slightly overpowered shorter lure rods - if they fish as effortlessly as this Black Swan 852H and that APIA Testamatta.

 

Some other lure rods which fit into the shorter/more powerful category:

 

A lot of my open coast bass fishing takes place when the wind is in my face or off to either side of me, and invariably I am looking for a decent bit of bounce during daylight hours especially. I am not regularly catching such big bass that I need a rod this powerful, but you know my feelings about the sort of lure rods we use versus the sort of lure rods we fish with. I went for that Genos 9’ 48g rod a few years ago because a friend described it to me and it sounded perfect. Which it was and is, but I happen to think that this much newer Black Swan 852H is on another level. The Genos is fantastic, but it isn’t nearly as wand-like as this thing. This Black Swan is outrageous, and for a lure rod with that much potential for power it really is quite something. A number of people have contacted me over the last few years to ask where they might be able to buy that particular Genos, but I’d rather have this specific Favorite rod any day of the week. Plus it’s a lot cheaper as well.

That tip doesn’t flap around at all in a bit of breeze and I really feel like I have an added bit of control if I need it with certain lures. I can easily step up to something like that Savage Gear Sandeel V2 15.5cm/46g and this rod doesn’t miss a single frigging beat when you compare it to fishing something much lighter like the IMA Hound 125F Glide hard lure or a Gravity Stick Paddletail rigged “naked” on a weedless hook. I don’t know how the Favorite bods have managed to make a rod like this, but bloody hell it’s ridiculous. The regular Patchinko surface lure at range on this thing is about as effortless as this type of lure fishing can be. Deftly twitching a 6’’ DoLive Stick or the two sizes of Gravity Stick Pintails for me are a dream on this rod. So much feedback it’s almost on another level.

Then we get to bumping lures either along the bottom as you retrieve them, or when you let a fast run of current do the work for you. The inherent power in the whole rod lends itself to this type of bass fishing so much for me, indeed I also happen to think this Black Swan 852H is also essentially the perfect lure rod for wrasse and pollack - loads of finesse but also loads of stopping and lifting power. Whatever has gone on with the premium carbons in this blank seems to feed a percentage more feedback down the rod and into my brain when I am connected to a lure which is working along the bottom. This is very subjective I might add, and stuff like this obviously can’t be measured, but such a precise and firm rod tip gives me what feels like an incredible amount of feedback. If I believe that and it helps me hook and land just one more bigger bass then a rod like this is worth every single penny to me.

I could go on and on telling you about fishing specific lures on this Black Swan 852H, but the whole point of this rod is how versatile it is with all the lures I might use for my bass fishing. For sure it suits how I cast and how I tend to like a rod to be, but like with the APIA Testamatta, you don’t need to be casting like a genius every single second of every single session. Loads of very easily accessible power. Aside from when I am deliberately testing different rods out, I am going to be carrying the one rod and reel for my lure fishing session. The outfit I have decided on is informed by the weather forecast and where I believe I will end up fishing. I then need that one rod to do a lot of different stuff for me, and with this Black Swan 852H lure rod I simply can’t find a way to trip it up. In many respects I could fish with this rod and cover literally all the lure fishing for bass I currently know about and do.

The Favorite Black Swan range is deliberately very minimalist. If I had my way I’d have some duplon or cork where the back of my reel-hand sits, but the overall handle design on these rods works fine for me. I believe that everything is meant to be as light and unobtrusive as possible, to the point that you need just the right angle of light to fall on the blank to be able to read the rod name and specs! The guides on this specific Black Swan 852H are Fuji SiC-S. I have fished a good bit with the Shimano Vanford C5000 and Daiwa BG MQ 4000D-XH spinning reels on this rod and it feels fantastic, but even though this rod is so light it also feels pretty good to me when you’ve got a heavier Penn Slammer IV 2500 or Penn Authority 2500 reel strapped to it.

My apologies for banging on a bit with this review, but if you are still with me then I hope I have managed to convey to you just how incredible I think this Favorite Black Swan 852H 8'5'' 16-56g lure rod is. Whatever you do or do not like from a fishing rod and the sort of action it has been designed to have, my understanding is that with these Black Swan rods you have essentially got about as much carbon technology going into the blanks as is currently possible. Favorite set their rod prices and I know nothing about how they run their fishing tackle business, but what I do know is that with this Favorite Black Swan 852H 8'5'' 16-56g lure rod we have got a lure rod which has really got me thinking about what is and isn’t possible. If you like a sub-9’ lure rod for bass, wrasse or pollack fishing then you should forget about what a 16-56g rating tends to imply and see if you can find one of these rods for a bit of a waggle. Rods are very personal things, but I can all but guarantee that you have never fished with a lure rod quite like this one. Take my money for starters!

 

Other Favorite Black Swan rods I have fished with:

 

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Bass fishing, Fishing tackle, Reviews, Lure fishing, Lure rodsHenry GilbeyJune 202420 Comments