Favorite X1.1 902MH 9' 12-36g lure rod review - a rather incredible £89.99

Quite how a fishing tackle company which is based in Ukraine manages to come up with new lure rods as they are going through hell is pretty amazing in itself. I was somewhat taken aback when I spent a few days with a couple of the lads and learnt that the chief rod designer (such a nice bloke) was actually volunteering the bulk of his time at the moment to help medically train new military recruits because he has studied medicine at university. We take our freedoms for granted here in the UK, but somehow Favorite which now has a trading base in Poland I believe still manages to exist as a very interesting fishing tackle company which is developing some very serious gear………………….

I do my fishing tackle company work with Pure Fishing/Savage Gear, but I firmly believe in respect where respect is due in the fishing tackle industry. I am a more rounded and I hope more knowledgeable tackle tart by using a wide range of gear. Favorite’s somewhat ridiculously priced range of Black Swan lure rods - far too cheap for how good they are - are some of, if not the best lure rods I have ever fished with. You can check out some reviews of their Black Swan rods here, and we can get our hands on the more bass related rods in that range here for example. Of course fishing rods are very personal things, but for me these are as good as lure rods get.

So what on earth is their take on a 9’ long lure rod rated 12-36g and priced at a miserly £89.99 here in the UK like? Can a sub-£100 lure rod be a “proper” lure rod, or is it a case of accepting some big compromises because we cannot or will not spend a load of dosh on a lure fishing rod? I will admit to not picking up this new Favorite X1.1 902MH 9' 12-36g lure rod for a good while because I have been so utterly absorbed with the Black Swan range, but eventually I decided to do the right thing and strap a Penn Slammer IV 2500 to this X1.1 rod and start fishing with it. First impressions? It’s SO much better than that Favorite Cobalt rod I fished with and reviewed a few years ago. Chalk and cheese, black metal and hair metal, carp and tarpon, rugby and football, the differences could not be more stark……………..

Because this Favorite X1.1 902MH 9' 12-36g lure rod is really quite something. For sure you can find a lighter 9’ lure rod, but at 156g for a rod like this it’s not remotely heavy, and without a doubt I have become so used to the almost extreme lightness of the Black Swan rods that many lure rods take a bit of getting used to again if that makes sense. I would class our awesome Savage Gear SGS5 9’ 9-35g lure rod as a perfectly light lure rod at 148g, so for a good bit less money I am not going to complain about a miserable 10g more with this X1.1 rod. I did like the combination of this rod with the Slammer IV 2500 spinning reel, but no doubt you could get the overall outfit to feel a bit lighter by fishing one of the Shimano Stradic reels on it for example. Personally I don’t sweat it.

I was impressed with this X1.1 rod from the very first cast because it feels like a proper lure fishing rod whatever the price is or isn’t. There is zero collapsing in the butt and the tip is a serious bit of work and very impressive. I don’t really care what lure or types of lures I use on this rod because I expect a 9’ long lure rod rated 12-36g to deal with virtually all the lures I might take out bass fishing with me when I’d turn to a rod like this. For sure I can change over to the more expensive Favorite Black Swan 852MH 8'5'' 10-36g lure rod (review here) and the increased degree of subtlety and feel is undeniable, but for £89.99 this X1.1 puts a smile on my face because it simply doesn’t make me think of the word “budget” at all when I am fishing with it.

The handle feels good and the guides do their thing. I wash my rods down in freshwater so I can’t tell you how the fixtures and fittings might or might not last, but I see no reason why this rod won’t last if you look after it. I grabbed this from the Favorite website: “A distinctive feature of the series is the quality of the blanks. They are made of Korean carbon fiber prepreg Skyflex 30T, making them light and sensitive. Thus, they can be confidently comparable with the blanks of more expensive rods”. Favorite know their carbons and wherever they make their rods knows how to get the stuff working.

I think that this Favorite X1.1 902MH 9' 12-36g lure rod is better suited to say the regular Patchinko II than the smaller and lighter Savage Gear Pop Walker 2.0 9cm/11g (that new HTO Kamikaze 125 surface lure goes out like an arrow on this rod!), and I feel the rod is working a touch better with say the 30g Surf Seeker than it is when you are searching acres of shallow ground with the little 16g Seeker ISP. I think the power in the tip works well when it comes to fishing one of my favourite combinations, the Gravity Stick Paddletail 140 or 120 on the 6/0 3g belly-weight weedless hook we made. You simply can’t get a lure rod at £89.99 to behave like that utterly ridiculous and more expensive Favorite Black Swan 852H 8'5'' 16-56g (review here) which to me genuinely feels as good with that little 11g Pop Walker as it does a 50g metal. If that’s a compromise then so be it, but I am not remotely complaining about being able to fish with such a good all round lure rod for under £100. I haven’t yet seen any of the Major Craft Ceana range of sub-£100 lure rods, but I hear really good things about them. For the time being then it’s going to be this Favorite X1.1 902MH 9' 12-36g lure rod if you gave me £100 to spend. It’s another well done and a huge dose of respect to Favorite for bringing a “budget” lure rod like this X1.1 902MH 9' 12-36g to market. You all have a good weekend, best of luck to those of you fishing the Art of Fishing Cornish Lure Festival, I am heading over to Ireland on Monday for my last guiding stint of the year………………

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