HTO N70 Labrax Special Travel (4 piece) lure rod 9' 4'' 7-42g review - £394.99

A lot of anglers search around my website and/or blog for all manner of fishing related stuff, and over the years I have been asked many times if I know of any decent travel style lure rods for bass fishing. Whether this be because the angler wants a lure rod to more easily fly somewhere with, or whether the angler simply wants a handy lure rod to break down and store in a vehicle or even carry on a bike for when they can grab a session, who am I to know? The unavoidable fact is that there don’t seem to be many travel style bass lure rods out there, or at least not which I have come across - and by travel style I mean fishing rods which can be broken down and carried in a typical bag you would put in the hold of an aircraft…………

What I have really wanted to stumble across for sometime now is a “proper” lure rod which happens to work for travel, and also happens to be around the length and casting weight that so many of us use for our saltwater lure fishing. If I am going to travel for my lure fishing for bass or pollack or wrasse or comparable species of fish - with the whole idea of travel not exactly being a given these days for obvious reasons - I don’t see why I should have to compromise with my fishing rod when I have travelled mainly as a photographer all around the world with fly anglers who never have to carry those infernal bloody rod tubes because their lovely shiny fly rods all come in four pieces and fit in their hold luggage. They aren’t compromising, so why should a lure angler have to? Note by the way that there is a considerably cheaper travel lure rod than the one I am reviewing here today, the rather good HTO Nebula 9’ 7-35g 4-piece travel rod, review here.

Anyway, so with this new HTO N70 Labrax Special Travel lure rod 9' 4'' 7-42g we’ve got a lure rod here which breaks down into four easily manageable pieces and costs a shade under £400 which is a lot of cash in most people’s books. I will admit to being rather surprised that for this much dosh a rod intended for travelling or storing out of sight in a car doesn’t come inside in a good quality rod tube, but it doesn’t, and the rod bag is also pretty cheap looking as well. Now I know it’s not exactly very hard even for a DIY idiot like me to buy a bit of downpipe and make my own rod tube if need be, but I am amazed that HTO decided against providing one.

Which could have been a problem at this price if the rod wasn’t so bloody good - but it is. This HTO N70 Labrax Special Travel lure rod 9' 4'' 7-42g is every bit as good as its two piece sibling, the fantastic HTO N70 Labrax Special N7094ML 9’4’’ 7-42g (I really like that both rods are the same price). To save my typing I would urge you to either go and read my review of the two piece version here, or have a look below at some of the words I have simply copied and pasted from that review - because these two rods are incredibly close to being the same to fish with that to try and re-review it would be pretty pointless. If I cast the two rods side by side I reckon I can feel a touch more give in the butt and mid-sections on the four piece version as I guess you’d expect, but it’s marginal, and when you’re out fishing in the real world it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.

So here is some stuff I have pinched from the two piece review: It’s incredibly fine and precise in the tip, to the point that you think no bloody way am I putting a 40g metal on this thing. This 9’4’’ HTO Labrax Special looks like it’s going to be a longer, light lure rod when you look at its profile, but now put a heavier lure on and really go at it and it’s bloody amazing. I asked the question of a lad I know on Facebook who bought one of these rods if he could try and describe it, and I reckon he hit the nail on the head when he said something along the lines of “it’s a really powerful lure rod masquerading as a light lure rod”.

7g is perhaps a little generous at the lower end, but then again I don’t take any lures weighing only 7g out fishing with me, and I think this rod does really well with say a 10g surface lure in calm conditions. If I go on the rods I am so used to fishing plus the many rods which have come through my doors here at home, it’s incredibly rare to find a lure rod that can fish say 10-18g lures so well but then seriously not grumble a single bit when you clip on a new 35g or 40g Savage Gear Surf Seeker and absolutely frigging belt it out there - and I mean this thing doesn’t feel like it’s trying at all. I really like the Shimano Lunamis S96M 9’6’’ 7-35g (Jig Max 45g) lure rod for example, but when you’re banging out a 40g metal you know to slow down with the rod a bit because you’re towards the top end and you can feel the rod asking you to do so to get the best out of it - not with this 9’4’’ N70 though. Not at all in fact. You can also imagine I am sure how far the Patchinko goes on this rod when you catch it right.

I really like Torzite guides on a lure rod whilst accepting that they do bump the price up, and a fair few years ago now I had a good feel of some Winn grip rod handles at the massive iCast show in the US and was interested to see some lure rods over here fitted with these grips. So we have that now with this N70 rod I have been fishing with, and as much as I like what are some fairly slimline Winn grips on the rods, there is no getting away from the overall handle design being a bit of a Marmite thing. The actual handle itself is a bit longer than on many of the lure rods I come across these days, but after a while with the rod I don’t even notice it.

So until I stumble across a better travel style lure rod then this HTO N70 Labrax Special Travel (4 piece) 9' 4'' 7-42g lure rod is what I would personally be turning to if I was flying somewhere for any lure fishing that involved lures up to 42g, or if I wanted to keep a fishing rod in my Epic Berlingo because life could be a bit easier like that. I’m as happy putting a Slammer 2500 or larger 3500 on this rod as I am one of the very lightweight Shimanos in 2500, 3000, 4000 or C5000 sizes. I know it’s a lot of cash for a fishing rod which should really come in a nice furry tube, but this is an incredibly good, proper lure fishing rod which happens to come in four pieces for easy transportation. Respect to HTO for making a rod like this. You all have a good weekend…………….

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