Wow, and I don’t mean the more expensive rod here - I have come across another one of those rare lure rods, a really rather “proper” fishing rod around the £100 mark. I had no idea about these two Penn lure rod ranges - Conflict Inshore (budget) and Conflict XR Inshore (more expensive) - until some kind souls on my Facebook page suggested that I check them out because they were really good. Because I can, I asked Pure Fishing if I could please get hold of some to try………….

Are we okay to call a 9’ long lure rod which will cast up to 30g or 35g a sort of standard lure fishing rod which a lot of us might turn to for our bass fishing? To me the 9’ length is a really good all round mix of short enough for the right rod to feel like a precision tool with the lighter lures especially, but then you also get a bit of grunt when you need to bang something like the Patchinko 140 or IMA Hound 125F Glide lures out. If a 9’ lure rod rated around the 30g mark doesn’t make a very good job of swimming and bumping different soft plastics then I’m going to walk away from it, and I’d expect a Max 30g rod to be able to bang out the 30g Surf Seeker without any hassle. An all rounder type of rod category and I expect it to make a good stab at fishing effectively with a lot of different lures.

The (more expensive) Penn Conflict XR Inshore 902M 9’ Max 30g lure rod

And these two rods do, but without a doubt it’s the roughly £100 Penn Conflict Inshore 902M 9’ Max 30g (174g rod weight) which impresses me the most. The more expensive Penn Conflict XR Inshore 902M 9’ Max 30g (176g rod weight) is a really good 9’ lure rod which I know a lot of bass anglers are already getting on with really well, but it’s the fact that for a fair amount less money you are getting so nearly all of the performance which impresses me so much. Okay, so on the cheaper rod you don’t get Fuji guides or a Fuji reelseat like you do on the more expensive Conflict XR Inshore (which has Fuji Alconite K-type guides and a Fuji VSS style reelseat), but it’s the same story on the £150 Savage Gear SGS5 9’ 9-35g lure rod (which I still think is the best £150 9’ lure rod I have ever fished with - bit sharper, more precise, and a bit lighter than these two Penn rods). I pushed for the best carbon we could use on the SGS5 rods, but it meant we couldn’t put Fuji guides or a Fuji reelseat on the rod to hit the price point - and to me it doesn’t matter one bit. I would far rather have a better rod and then make sure to wash the thing down after use. Which I do with any rod whatever it costs.

The (cheaper) Penn Conflict Inshore 902M 9’ Max 30g lure rod

You can’t go wrong if you spend around £170 for the more expensive Conflict XR Inshore rod we are talking about here, but as much as I think it’s a very accomplished and easy to fish with 9’ Max 30g lure rod, personally I’m going for “my” SGS5 9’ 9-35g rod if I had to choose. I get on better with a really sharp lure rod, but on the other hand I know that this Conflict XR Inshore is going to suit a hell of a lot of bass anglers and how they fish. It’s smooth and easy and fast and plenty sharp enough to fish all types of lures in many different conditions. The rod isn’t remotely straining when I bang the 30g Surf Seeker out so I suspect it will handle more if need be, but if you break the rod by going way over don’t come bleating to me! For sure the brand new and much more expensive Penn Conflict Elite 9' 7-38g lure rod which I reviewed recently (here) is a hugely more subtle and deft fishing rod than either of these two rods we are talking about here, but so it bloody should be for the price.

The more expensive rod in action, working a surface lure at range

There’s no point in me banging on about what these two 9’ Max 30g lure rods can do for us on the bass fishing front because if I use the words sharpish, fast, easy and smooth then I would imagine by now that you know what sort of lure rod I am on about. I simply cannot see how these rods could bite back at you if you mistime a cast, but get your casting spot on and these things can seriously bang some lures out without any sense of them straining at all. For sure you’re not talking the subtlest of lure rods with lighter and smaller surface lures such as the rather deadly little SG Pop Walker 2.0 9cm/11g, but now move up to say the Patchinko 125 (125mm, 18g) or the very long-casting SG Slap Walker 12.5cm/20g and both rods are feeling really, really good. These two rods know exactly what they are about and I am really impressed at what Penn have done here.

Did Penn mean to make the cheaper version feel so close to the more expensive one though? I don’t know, but if you can live with the “lesser” guides and reelseat on the (non-XR) £100 Conflict Inshore then to me we’re talking about one of those rare £100 lure rods which feels very grown up indeed. I can feel a bit more give in the butt on the cheaper rod when I wind something like the 30g Surf Seeker up, and when working various surface lures I would suggest there’s a touch less “snap” to the tip section on the cheaper rod - but it’s marginal. I prefer the chunkier feel to the duplon foregrip on the more expensive rod, and I have come around to really liking the flat section Penn have put on some of their duplon rear grips - it’s a standard round duplon rear grip on the cheaper rod here - but I am not remotely bothered when it comes to the price of the two rods.

For sure the Conflict XR Inshore is the (marginally) better rod, but blindfold me and make me fish with the cheaper non-XR version and I bet you that within ten minutes of fishing I have forgotten all about the lack of Fuji guides or reelseat because I have saved all that money. Hell, with the money I have saved I could nearly buy the longer and more powerful Penn Conflict Inshore 962MH 9’6’’ Max 45g as well (review to come), and with two £100 rods I could as good as cover 90% of the shore based bass fishing I am likely to be doing. I don’t know why I had never even heard of these two ranges of sub-£200 Penn lure fishing rods until later last year, but I am so glad I did (thank you!). You all have a good weekend and if you’re anything like me then you’re frigging bouncing with ideas and plans and thoughts for the coming bass season…………….

The rear grip on the more expensive rod, I really like that flat part for holding onto when I am casting

Likes:

Very good ease of casting and fishing
The cheaper rod is serious value for money
Both rods feel very solid and robust
Seems to be good build quality
Good handle lengths for me

Niggles:

Could be a touch “sharper” I guess, but that’s me and what I really like
Cheaper fixtures and fittings on the cheaper rod, but it has to be like this to hit the price point and I am not bothered at all - it’s brilliant!
I’d prefer the chunkier style foregrip on both the rods
Neither rod is the out and out lightest 9’ lure rod you are going to find, but I really like how they both feel when I am fishing with the (heavier) Penn Slammer IV 2500 spinning reel on them

I cannot get the Breakaway Mink Link/HTO Lure Link through the tip guides on either rod.

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Penn Conflict Inshore 9’ Max 30g (around £100) and Penn Conflict XR Inshore 9’ Max 30g (around £160+) lure rod reviews

Likes:

Niggles:

I cannot get the Breakaway Mink Link/HTO Lure Link through the tip guides on either rod.

© Henry Gilbey 2023