The word nice is massively overused, and in many respects it’s also a cop out of a word, but bloody hell this stunning Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g lure rod is such a nice rod. You know that I don’t obsess about the lightest rods and reels because every combination feels different with how the different components fit together while you are actually fishing and not just balancing stuff on a little finger, but when you’ve got an 8’5’’ long lure rod which is rated to 24g - easily doable at full power on this rod - and it weighs a quite ridiculous 97g? Wow. Put a lightweight Shimano spinning reel on this thing and it’s really quite incredible. Lots of us throw the word “wand” around when we try and describe fishing rods like this, but this Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g lure rod truly is a wand, end of. It’s an absolute joy to fish with……………….

If you read my lure rod reviews then you have most likely worked out what sort of lure rods I like. I really enjoy playing around with different rods with different actions, but when it comes to working on lure rods with Savage Gear for example, I go for the sort of lure rods I want to fish with. When I first picked this Black Swan 852M rod up at The Big One Show, it obviously felt impressive because it’s so bloody light, but what struck me more than that was how when you waggle it, this rod feels 100% my type of bass lure rod - but they have dialled back the power to give us this 24g rating. From my first cast with this rod I was grinning. I do not work with Favorite, but I respect the hell out a Ukranian fishing tackle company that can continue to design, make and market stuff like this during the living hell their poor country is going through. Huge respect.

This Black Swan 852M is a very understated lure fishing rod. The graphics do not jump out at you and the handle design is deliberately minimalist and as lightweight as possible. My understanding is that Favorite market the Black Swan range to the freshwater lure fishing world, but there are a number of rods within the range which scream bass and wrasse fishing to me because of their specs. I have grabbed this text from the Favorite website: “Favorite Black Swan Spinning Rods are the lightest, finest and most sensitive among the range of Favorite rods. A black matte rod with a neat barely noticeable logo and a simple handle shifts the emphasis from the design to the rod itself. But it also makes the rod stand out from the rest on the market. The handle is made of classically shaped EVA based on the most functional IPS reel seats. The grips are constructed utilizing graphite arbors with minimal epoxy to lighten its weight. The rod is equipped with titanium Fuji guides with Torzite inserts. The best ratio of different high modulus carbon was chosen for the rod's blank. The basis is Toray T1100G carbon, which was previously available exclusively for Japan. This carbon is 30% stronger than other prepregs of equal modularity. Therefore, we were able to use more high modulus 40-46 TON carbons for the blank without sacrificing strength. The blanks are built according to Japanese rods for mackerel (aji) and squid (egi) fishing. Wicked, dry, it allows to cast the bait precisely and far, leaving no chance for the fish to escape”.

As I said, this Black Swan 852M bends exactly how I like a lure rod to bend, just that here it’s obviously a less powerful rod than your more typical 30g or 35g offering. What I don’t want though is a soft tip just because the rod’s designed for lighter lures, and I don’t get that here at all. I guess it’s a very progressive action and the recovery is almost ridiculously fast. I can bang a 23g Savage Gear Seeker as hard as I physically can on this Black Swan 852M and it’s as easy and smooth as any rod I can remember fishing with. Multiple casts later and there is no hint of jarring in my shoulder, indeed I feel like I can fish with this rod for days on end it’s so smooth. Okay, you’re most likely not going to buy a rod like this to smack a 23g Seeker all day long, but the experience is so amazing that it doesn’t half get me thinking.

I don’t advise you to do so, but because the rod is not mine I have gone at the regular, 27g Xorus Patchinko 140 as hard as I can on this rod - effortless! - and there is no hassle at all. Again you’re not going to buy this rod if you fish that particular surface lure all the time, but the smaller Patchinko 125 is an absolute joy to cast and work on this rod, as is the incredibly long-casting Savage Gear Slap Walker 125. I know that a lot of anglers love the little Patchinko 100, and now we are seriously talking with this rod when you fish a small surface lure like that. I have got a thing for the little Savage Gear Pop Walker 2.0 9cm/11g, and this rod helps you cover so much water so easily with that lure. Working them across the top is a delight.

Then we move onto soft plastics which I need a rod like this to deal with really well. Twitching lures like the OSP DoLive Stick or the two sizes of Savage Gear Gravity Stick Pintail around is almost silly it’s such a good experience with this Black Swan 852M. I literally can’t stop grinning with how the overall tension in the blank lends itself SO well to twitching stuff around. Talk about a deft touch. Then I start banging Gravity Stick Paddletails, Pulsetails, Slender Scoop Shads and of course that sodding Craft Bleak lure (which got me my big March bass and which continues to wreck my head) - and the rod is so effortless at getting them out there with ample precision that again it makes me grin. I am a perfectly useless fly angler, but casting this Black Swan 852M reminds me a bit of fly fishing and how easily you often want to be turning that rod over to aerialise the fly line. As I said above, I can properly launch into the 23g Seeker on this rod with no hassle at all, but it’s when I find my subtler side that I think it really comes to life.

You might also have gathered that I am a big fan of some of the more powerful but shorter lure rods. I think my casting style can suit what you could call a slightly overpowered rod, but then I start fishing with this Black Swan 852M - with a couple of casts to adjust my timing to less power - and I can’t help but start thinking about just how many bass fishing situations I could press this lure rod to dealing with. Because it is honestly such a profound delight to fish with. I was shocked at how much fun it was to bang the 23g Seeker into a bit of medium surf on this rod, then up the estuaries and it’s basically perfection in my mind. I don’t know enough about fishing creature baits yet to quite know what sort of lure rod might suit it best, but I do know that this Black Swan 852M is something else when you’re sneaking around all nice and quiet with a variety of lures.

Put the Shimano Vanford C3000HG (191g loaded with line) on this Black Swan 852M and you have a rod and reel combination of a measly 288g. Hell, even with the slightly larger Shimano Vanford 4000XG (232g loaded with line) you are only looking at a still very measly 329g for the setup. I believe that reels like the Shimano Vanquish series are even lighter again. I can’t imagine that a lure angler who buys this rod would ever think of pairing it with a heavier spinning reel like the Penn Slammer IV 2500 (326g loaded with line) - total outfit weight of 423g - but I have done so just to get an idea, and I was slightly taken aback at how good the heavier reel on the butt-end of such a light lure rod actually feels. If anything the rod feels a touch lighter again now that the weight is concentrated on the butt of the rod.

Casting the Gravity Stick Paddletail on the rod

I am pretty sure this Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g lure rod is the lightest lure rod I have pressed into service for bass fishing, but way above that fact is how good I think it is. I love a lovely lighter lure rod for my bass fishing when possible, and I am struggling to think of a lighter lure rod I have liked more than this thing. For sure those Favorite Skyline rods I tried a few years back were very special as well - upgraded versions of the Skyline are out in the autumn I believe - but I prefer the tip and overall action on this stunning Black Swan 852M. By no means am I saying that a penny under £260 is cheap, but bloody hell you are getting a very serious amount of lure rod for the money. I also really like how the rod comes in a very good quality cloth rod bag inside of a proper hard carry tube. Tag me very much blown away by this awesome Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g lure rod. You all have a good weekend and I hope to see some of you at the Irish Spring Angling fair tomorrow……………

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Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g lure rod review - £259.99 (at 97g I am sure this is the lightest lure rod I have used for bass fishing)

© Henry Gilbey 2023