Favorite Skyline '25 862M 8'6'' 8-24g and 862ML 8'6'' 5-18g lure rods review - around £270 (but there is 15% off everything at Veals Mail Order for a few days!)
First off, there is a big Black Friday 15% off everything at Veals Mail Order until midnight this Sunday (30th November 2025), use code BF15 at checkout. And yes, I am filling my boots because I really need more fishing tackle!
If you have been reading my blog this year - thank you as always - then it should come as no surprise that I am reviewing another couple of lighter lure rods. This time it’s two of the 2025 version Skyline rods from Favorite, a company which I think is currently making some of the best lure rods we can get our hands on…………
The Favorite Skyline '25 862M 8'6'' 8-24g and me subduing a bass at close quarters
Here is some information I grabbed from the Favorite website to get us started: “The updated line of Favorite Skyline professional rods is designed primarily for fishing with soft lures on jig heads. The blank combines top-grade carbon materials, including M40X, previously available only for the Japanese market. This carbon fiber is 30% stronger than standard 40T carbon, enabling the rods to be lighter and more sensitive without loss of durability. Additionally, the butt section is reinforced with an 8-directional OCG carbon wrap. The updated Skyline models feature more functional DKK ZrO2 guides on most blanks and Seaguide ZrO2 for ExH models, replacing the outdated Fuji Alconite used in the previous version. The combination of guides in steel frames along the blank and in titanium frames on the tip section unloaded the rod’s tip, improving balance and reducing tip inertia. The design is minimalistic, free of excessive elements with no functional value. As a result, the new Skyline is lighter, more sonorous, and “meaner” than the previous version”.
A mate into a bass on the lighter Favorite Skyline ‘25 862ML 8'6'' 5-18g
I have had a lot of proper fishing time with a number of the Black Swan range from Favorite, and I also got to fish with a couple of the previous generation of Favorite Skyline rods a few years ago. From memory they were 8’6’’ rods rated up to 16g and 21g I think, and if you search Skyline or Favorite on this blog I am sure you will find the actual reviews. I remember loving the rods, but because I wasn’t so obsessed with the lighter side of lure fishing for bass back then, my need for lure rods like these was somewhat limited.
A mate ninja fishing with the Favorite Skyline '25 862M 8'6'' 8-24g
Then along comes the truly outstanding Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g lure rod (review here), and soon after that comes a growing obsession with creature baits and a lighter side of estuary fishing - and I’m hooked. Lighter lure rods have seriously come back onto my radar again, and thanks to a very kind person I know I managed to get hold of both the Favorite Skyline '25 862M 8'6'' 8-24g and Favorite Skyline ‘25 862ML 8'6'' 5-18g lure rods to try out.
And these are different rods to the lighter Black Swan rods I have fished with. Not so different that I’d be buying one of these specific Skyline ‘25 rods if I already owned one of the lighter Black Swans I’ve reviewed (check here and here), but they are deliberately different rods and you can feel it when you fish with them. I like how Favorite have laid it out in black and white on their website: “The updated line of Favorite Skyline professional rods is designed primarily for fishing with soft lures on jig heads”. I don’t find it at all easy to try and technically describe rod actions to you, but from a clinical point of view I believe these Skyline ‘25 rods are what is known as an extra fast action (and yes, on the website they are described as this).
Most of the action in the blank is in the tip section as per their design, or as I borrowed from a website: “A fast action rod bends closer to the tip of the rod blank making your lure more sensitive”. These Skyline ‘25 rods are so good for casting, so easy to accurately place lures, there’s plenty of feedback (with the usual caveats of wind, waves, depth, current, lure type etc.), and as much as these rods are meant to be best for “soft lures on jig heads”, I also think they are pretty damn sweet for any kind of lighter lure fishing you might be doing. Surface lures, paddletails, creature baits, twitch baits, you name it, these things excel.
Bring back summer!
Two rods rated 5-18g and 8-24g are obviously going to be lighter to fish with than the more powerful rods in the Skyline ‘25 range, whatever’s going on through the rod as you cast and retrieve lures. Tippier than the equivalent Black Swans these two Skylines might well be, but I’d happily take either, indeed I’d be fascinated to try some of the more powerful Skyline ‘25 rods and see how they compare to the relevant Black Swan rods I now know so well.
The Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g casting a creature bait on a 7g cheb weight
If I had to compare that incredible Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g lure rod to this Favorite Skyline '25 862M 8'6'' 8-24g then I’d say the Black Swan is more powerfully parabolic if that is the right word. An equivalent level of power that bends through the rod more than the Skyline ‘25 which has a more pronounced tip on it. I hope that makes sense because I know what I can feel, but it’s hard to put it into words. Interestingly the lighter rated Favorite Skyline ‘25 862ML 8'6'' 5-18g is a bit less tippy than its 862M 8'6'' 8-24g sibling, but of course the 24g rod is a bit more powerful overall than the lighter 18g version. I go out fishing with the 5-18g rod and I come to the conclusion that it’s definitely my favourite out of the two, then I go out fishing with the 8-24g and that rod then becomes my favourite. Or Favorite. A friend of mine landed a 78cm bass at night on his Favorite Skyline ‘25 862ML 8'6'' 5-18g, and while it’s an awesome bass, I am not remotely surprised that it was successfully subdued on a rod this “light”.
You know that I don’t worry much about the lure rods we use and how they respond when we fight these bass we chase, but I found it very noticeable from the off how delightful it feels to get bass in on these two Skylines. The way the rods bend makes me feel so confident at closer quarters especially, and whilst I have not yet landed a 78cm bass on either of them myself, I have had a few decent fish when using these rods.
Which rod would I go for though? I have mostly fished with various creature baits at various ranges and also bumped those Savage Gear NED Dragontail lures a lot in current on these two rods - both types of lures rigged mainly on 5g, 7g and 10g cheb weights - but I have also wound up the odd Seeker or surface lure or DoLive Stick and so on. The 18g rod easily deals with 18g lures while still feeling so light and responsive, and the 24g rod can chuck a 24g lure at full power and not feel remotely overgunned.
I am sure you could go over the recommended casting weights on both rods, but I haven’t seen the need to do so myself. I honestly can’t give you my definitive answer because both rods have left such a strong impression on me, and to be honest either of the 18g or a 24g top end casting weights work well for the type of estuary fishing I have been doing so much of this year.
The 8’6’’ lengths sit so well in my hands when I’ve strapped a lightweight 2500 or C3000 size Shimano spinning reel to the rods - I do like the Vanford for my lighter estuary fishing - and yes, I know I am trying to avoid having to give you an answer to the question I asked myself above. Tie me down and I think I’m going for the 862ML 8'6'' 5-18g, but bear in mind that’s my opinion as I am writing this review, but last week I fished a good bit with the more powerful 862M 8'6'' 8-24g and I might have told you that this one was my favourite. Or Favorite. Sorry!
Both these Favorite Skyline '25 862M 8'6'' 8-24g and Favorite Skyline ‘25 862ML 8'6'' 5-18g lure rods are incredible lure rods which I think are perfectly suited to the bass fishing I have been asking them to do. Bear in mind though that I also think the Favorite Black Swan 772ML 7'7'' 4-18g (review here) and the Favorite Black Swan 852M 8'5'' 6-24g lure rods are also incredible lighter lure rods (I know that this doesn’t exactly help matters). Want a slightly tippier rod that feels so good for precision casting and “bumping” especially? Go for the Skylines. Want a more regular feeling lighter lure rod that is perhaps ever so slightly better suited to all the types of lures/rigging you might use? Go for the Black Swans. But it’s SO down to what sort of lure rod you like, and don’t let anybody tell you that you have to use a specific type of rod for a specific method. Hope that helps, because I’d cheerfully take the lot of them! You all have a good weekend, free from any dream-shattering Ashes cricket and awesome rugby…………..
Disclosure - If you buy anything using links found around my website, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you anymore to buy via these affiliate links - and please feel entirely free not to do so of course - but it will help me to continue producing content. Thank you.