Penn Conflict Inshore 822MH 8’2’’ Max 45g (under £100) and Penn Conflict XR Inshore 862MH 8’6’’ Max 45g (£170+) lure rod reviews

What you see is essentially what you get with these two shorter lure rods, but we’ve got a bit of a weird situation because I think I prefer the cheaper rod and how it’s a bit easier to get at what these rods can do. I will try and explain. For a fair while now I have been enjoying getting back into fishing with what might be termed shorter lure rods, and if the rod is a good one I also like the whole shorter/more powerful rod thing as well. With these two Penn rods you have definitely got that, and to save my typing lets’ call the more expensive Penn Conflict XR Inshore 862MH 8’6’’ Max 45g lure rod the 8’6’’, and the cheaper Penn Conflict Inshore 822MH 8’2’’ Max 45g the 8’2’’...........

Me casting the Surf Walker 2.0 180 42.5g sinking surface lure on the more expensive Penn Conflict XR Inshore 862MH 8’6’’ Max 45g lure rod

Both rods say Max 45g on the rods, so as much as you can obviously cast very light lures if you want to, you are probably not going to be buying rods like these for some subtle estuary fishing, or say calm early mornings out on the coast when you could be fishing with smaller, lighter surface lures. If we go with the (more expensive) 8’6’’ then to me this rod is starting to really perform once you approach around the 18g mark and beyond. This is a powerful lure rod which can easily handle a 45g lure at full power, yet still retain a decent degree of subtlety with a soft plastic such as the larger 140mm Gravity Stick Paddletail on the 6/0 3g belly-weight hook. Up and over about 25g and the rod’s seriously flying now, indeed I was genuinely shocked at how well I could put both versions of the fairly voluminous Savage Gear Surf Walker 2.0 180mm surface lures out there, the floating 29g version and the sinking 42.5g version. It’s all about timing and the right drop-length for sure, but this rod likes lures like these.

I really like working surface lures on shorter rods

I guess I just like how short rods can feel in your hands, and especially when working a surface lure like the Patchinko 140 or SG Surf Walker 2.0 15.5cm and 18cm versions. Winding any of those lures up and letting them fly is easy on this rod, and then the shorter length works really well when you’re doing stuff on top. Fishing with your rod tip up as you work say the SG Sandeel V2 Weedless or a Fiiish Black Minnow along the bottom is so good with this rod, indeed I reckon it’s going to make one hell of a lure rod for wrasse fishing - SO much stopping and lifting power.

If you want a more subtle rod around the same price of this 8’6’’ then go for the Penn Conflict XR Inshore 9’ Max 30g which I reviewed the other day, but if you want some fairly accessible grunt from a rod which sits very easily in your hands at 8’6’’ long, check this thing out. By no means is it the last word in subtlety, and it isn’t meant to be - not at Max 45g on a relatively short rod - but like all the Penn lure rods I have come across recently it feels very robust and built to last. It’s got Fuji Alconite K-type guides and a Fuji VSS style reelseat, and it just plain works. A lot of anglers are very comfortable with what could be termed an overpowered rod for a lot of our bass fishing, indeed I very much am myself if the rod feels right - and this Penn Conflict XR Inshore 862MH 8’6’’ Max 45g does. I can’t wait to go and bash a few hard-scrapping wrasse on this rod for starters, and I also like turning to rods like these for closer-quarters, bouncy conditions bass fishing where precision and power is more important than deft tips and softer mid-sections. Another very impressive Penn lure rod from their XR Inshore range.

Me casting the cheaper Penn Conflict Inshore 822MH 8’2’’ Max 45g

So let’s now take all that good stuff from the more expensive 8’6’’, put some cheaper fixtures and fittings on it to help keep the price low, but now make the rod a touch “easier” which in turn makes it better with the lighter lures. This is the sub-£100 Penn Conflict Inshore 822MH 8’2’’ Max 45g, and it’s really rather impressive. I have fished both sizes of the Gravity Stick soft plastics on this rod and I was quite taken aback by how good the smaller 120mm Gravity Stick Paddletai, Pulsetail and Pintail felt on this rod. It’s not the last word in subtlety, but it does a good job, and I wonder if what I guess is slightly cheaper carbon has meant the rod simply can’t be quite as sharp and pokey as the more expensive 8’6’’ - which I think happens to work in the rod’s favour if you want a shorter more powerful lure rod for your fishing AND you still need to fish the lighter lures pretty damn well. You could of course spend a heap more money and get more performance, but it’s hugely satisfying to stumble across a rod this good for under £100.

If I was after a shorter lure rod to use for a fairly wide range of bass fishing then I’d go for the cheaper 8’2’’ Conflict. Both rods do a good job, and as I said earlier, I do think there is something about how shorter rods sit in the hands when you are working surface lures especially, or bumping soft plastics along the bottom and swimming/twitching soft plastics etc. For sure these rods are fairly similar save for the components used to hit the price points, but with how I would want to go bass fishing with rods like these I’d personally be buying the much cheaper 8’2’’. I reckon both rods will make really good wrasse rods, and if you are inclined towards shorter rods for shore based pollack fishing I can’t see how you could go wrong with either. I find it very interesting to be able to put two rods with similar specifications but different prices against each other, and I am especially liking the fact that I’d go for the cheaper rod here as more of an all round bass rod. You all have a good weekend and I will see you next week……..

The cheaper rod in action. This is the rod for me.

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