Penn Conflict Elite 9’6’’ 6-32g lure rod review - around £320 here in the UK

I wasn’t remotely looking for a 9’6’’ lure rod around the 30-35g rating to play with, not with what I already have here with similar specs, and not after the stunning Major Craft Tidrift 9’6’’ 7-35g (review here) and the “I’m still trying to resist buying” APIA Foojin’RS Vivogue 96ML+ 9’6’’ 6-38g (review here). You know that I don’t exactly need a new lure rod, but because I can via my work, I ended up asking if I could please see this Penn Conflict Elite 962M 9’6’’ 6-32g rod for a bit of a thrashing…………..

I am of the belief that this new range of £300+ Penn Conflict Elite lure rods is right up there as one the most interesting ranges of lure rods I have come across. I will also put the APIA Foojin’RS range into that category as well. The Conflict Elite rods I have already reviewed have impressed me so much, but I wasn’t actually going to ask to see this particular rod I am reviewing here for the reasons I stated in the first paragraph. I can’t get enough of the Penn Conflict Elite 9’6’’ 8-45g version and how subtle it is (review here), but it was actually how the staggeringly good Conflict Elite 8’ 6-32g rod fishes (review here) which got me thinking about then asking to see the rod we are talking about here. The interested tackle tart in me wanted to see how the design of a much shorter 8’ 6-32g rod would compare to a longer 9’6’’ 6-32g version. Would it be a case of the longer rod getting a bit sloppy, or would the rod be tightened up even more to account for the longer length?

And once again I come back to that word sharp, because for the life of me I can’t think of a better word to describe this outstanding Penn Conflict Elite 9’6’’ 6-32g rod. We all know the waggle test doesn’t tell us much about real world fishing, but if you like sharp feeling, responsive lure rods then I defy you not to put the two equal sections together and grin like a loon when you give it a knowing waggle. I am head over heels with the shorter 8’ 6-32g version, but in my ignorance perhaps I have always assumed that it’s a bit easier to make sharper feeling shorter rods quite simply because of the lack of length. I can’t stand lure rods which feel like they are collapsing into the lure when you work it, and this Penn Conflict Elite 9’6’’ 6-32g rod is about as far away from that kind of “dead” feeling as you can get.

Penn Conflict Elite 9’6’’ 6-32g rod, Penn Authority 2500 reel, Savage Gear Surf Walker 2.0 18cm/29g F surface lure - perfection!

It’s staggeringly easy to cast - you simply do not need to go at 100% with this rod - and the way the inherent sharpness in the tip section works to pick your lure up at whatever range you have launched it out there is really noticeable. I can’t have a lure rod like this be much better at say soft plastics than surface lures and so on, and it’s not - or rather I am completely comfortable using any lures and methods I might expect a rod like this to deal with. Swimming and twitching my Gravity Sticks is a dream, bumping the Sandeel V2 weedless along the bottom is precision personified, and it’s a bit silly how well the Patchinko 140 or SG Slap Walker 125 go out with little effort and cover huge amounts of water. Something like the (never leaves my lure box) IMA Hound 125F Glide or the two sizes of Savage Gear Gravity Shallow lures are just a dream when you ease into a cast at say 75% power, and I caught myself giggling like a monkey at how far on a smooth cast I can put the SG Sandeel Pencil 150, SG Surf Walker 2.0 15.5cm/17g F, 15.5cm/26.5cm S, and even the larger 18cm/29g F if need be. But the rod also feels so precise and comfortable fishing lures at short range and with high degrees of precision. I can put lures where I want, I can fish them exactly how I want, and this is one of those rods that makes me smile literally every single time I cast it with how good it feels. This Penn Conflict Elite 9’6’’ 6-32g rod is literally every single thing I want from a 9’6’’ lure rod which is rated to cast lures around those weights.

Okay, so any rod like this can technically cast 6g lures just fine, but I am not carrying soft or hard lures that light when I am taking a rod like this for my bass fishing, and it’s a stretch to expect any rod to feel as good with little 6g lures as it does with 32g lures. As with the shorter 8’ 6-32g rod, around the 10g mark is where I think the rod(s) really begins to perform. Out of interest I have whacked a 40g Surf Seeker on this Penn Conflict Elite 9’6’’ 6-32g rod and it didn’t feel remotely stressed. I can seriously lash into the 35g Surf Seeker but this rod is so efficient you just don’t need to lash anything with it (as with my talking about this overloading in the Penn Conflict Elite 8’ 6-32g review, in no way am I saying that you should fish with lures heavier than 32g on these rods). I think that both rods can easily fish over the 32g rating, and the shorter 8’ one feels more comfortable doing so - as you might expect - but do so on your own money because it doesn’t really matter if I break these rods during my own testing. If you need to bang heavier lures than 32g AND you need some come back if you snap it then I would look at a different rod anyway, indeed the amazing Penn Conflict Elite 9’6’’ 8-45g would be the logical choice.

The silver coloured Penn Slammer IV 2500 DX spinning reel on this Penn Conflict 9’6’’ 6-32g rod

Again I’d prefer something grippier where my hand sits on the rod behind the reel, but it’s the same reel seat design throughout the range and I can easily live with it. I reckon the handle length is probably a touch longer than on say my SGS5 or SGS8 9’6’’ 9-35g rods, but I find myself naturally gripping that that flattened little duplon section on the side of the rear duplon grip. I really like it for casting and fishing and in no time at all it all feels normal. If you want a lighter rod in the hand then go for something like the almost ridiculously light Major Craft Tidrift 9’6’’ 962ML 7-35g which weighs only 132.5g, but personally I have never based what I like or don’t like purely on the weight of a rod. I kind of admire Penn Europe for not trying to make the lightest lure rods in the world - this 9’6’’ 6-32g I believe weighs 171g - because the rods feel as tough as hell and seriously nice in the hand when fishing with the “right” reel. I don’t find this rod to be choosy about what spinning reel I put on it. I have been fishing a bit recently with the Daiwa BQ MQ 4000D-HX spinning reel - early days, but wow! - and this Penn Conflict Elite 9’6’’ 6-32g feels great with this on it. Something like the ultra-lightweight Shimano Vanford spinning reels work great on the rod as well, but yet again it’s the heavier Penn Slammer IV 2500 and Authority 2500 reels which I think make the rod feel lightest in the hand (I am obviously very used to fishing with these two reels I might add, make sure to bear that in mind). In pure numbers terms this might end up being a slightly heavier outfit, but in my hands when I am out fishing it all feels bloody good. I know what I believe to be more important - and it sure as hell isn’t balancing a rod and reel outfit on a forefinger!

So there we go. Another outstanding fishing rod in this new Conflict Elite range of lure rods from Penn Europe. I had no idea what to expect when I was first contacted earlier last year and asked if I would like to see the 9’ 8-38g (review here), indeed when it arrived I will admit to it sitting there for a while before I got round to fishing with it. A few sessions later and I was hooked and then itching to see some of the other rods in the range. These are not cheap rods and there are so many good lure rods available to us these days at all kinds of prices. You most likely have half a clue about how many of these rods I have actually fished with and quite possibly reviewed on this blog, so I don’t say it lightly that the Penn Conflict Elite lure rods are some of the best I have ever fished with. The fact that I am now getting to work with the guy who is responsible for these Conflict Elite lure rods is fascinating……………….

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