Penn Overseas II Inshore 9'10'' 30-60g 4-piece lure rod - under £100 (plus it comes with a hard tube that fits in a typical holdall)
This Penn Overseas II Inshore 9'10'' 30-60g 4-piece travel lure rod was meant to be with me right now out in SW Portugal (let’s call it the Overseas II rod for this review), but as per Wednesday’s blog post I couldn’t go thanks to Storm Isha. But I did fish with this rod nearly all the time out in Portugal last year, and because I am at home and Storm needs lots of walks, before I wrote this review purely from memory I have been out and re-familiarised myself with the rod - while my mates have been WhatsApping me photos of bass under lovely blue skies and from gorgeous green and very bouncy water. Me, jealous? Not at all!
I honestly can’t believe the price of this Overseas II, and especially with how it comes with a proper travel tube as well. Note that when I was packed and ready for my Portugal 2024 trip which didn’t happen, I had actually managed to fit two of these 9’8’’ 30-60g Overseas II rods into the one tube (which comes with the rod), as well as also squeezing in a Savage Gear SGS5 9’ 12-46g 4-piece travel rod (brilliant rod but it doesn’t come with a tube). I had nothing at all to do with the development of this Overseas II rod, indeed I got hold of one purely because before my Portugal 2023 trip I asked a contact at Pure Fishing whether they had anything heavier lure based travel style they might be working on. This Overseas II rod duly arrived and they told me that it was a final version but that they didn’t know when it was going on sale or what the RRP would be yet. I only found out that the rod was actually in the shops when one of those Veals Mail Order emails which I am signed up to dropped into my inbox one afternoon. Hence this review.
First off I think that Penn have done themselves a bit of a disservice by labelling this Penn Overseas II Inshore 9'10'' 30-60g 4-piece travel lure rod as a 30-60g rod. For sure it chucks and fishes 60g lures, but it also fishes lures well below 30g perfectly well if you need to. I think that 30-60g perhaps implies a slightly different rod to what this thing actually is and I think Max 60g would have made more sense as a rod rating.
There are some other shore fishing related versions of this rod as well, but I haven’t seen them yet:
So what we have here is not the final word in refinement and I don’t think that anybody would expect it to be for under £100, but it is in fact a very impressive and easy to use lure rod which can cast and fish virtually any sort of lure you might think of up to that 60g mark. A great big paddletail on a jig head which weighs 60g total is going to have a much larger profile than say the (metal) 60g Savage Gear Slim Jig Minnow, and as much as this rod will deal with that sort of soft plastic, I’d personally be more comfortable with (bulkier) plastics up to about 50g and then metals at full power up to the 60g mark. It’s also really good with the heavier surface lures like the awesome distance weapon that is the Savage Gear Surf Walker 2.0 in the largest 18cm S42g (sinking) size. Holy cow that thing absolutely flies on this rod, and working it at maximum range is pretty damn efficient. I really like how the IMA Hound 125F Glide goes out on this Overseas II rod, also the regular Patchinko, and then when you step up to some of the larger DUO Tide Minnows etc. it’s really singing. Easy as well with the 15.5cm/46g Savage Gear Sandeel V2 but surprisingly efficient with the Savage Gear Gravity Stick Paddletail on one of those heavier Berkley Fusion19 Weight Swimbait hooks.
The rod’s got a powerful enough tip on it which helps me with working the larger lures in heavier seas like I was in Portugal last year, but in an ideal world I’d like to see a bit more power in the butt section. It works fine and in fact it makes getting the lure out nice and easy when fishing long sessions for days on end, but I would prefer a bit more grunt which I think would help deliver me a touch more precision. As with anything though, when you fish with something for a decent amount of time you get used to it. I pushed this rod really hard and I never had a single issue in what were some hectic seas plus difficult lure control at times.
I fished mainly with the Penn Slammer IV 3500 and Penn Authority 3500 spinning reels on this rod, but I have no doubt that the smaller Slammer IV 2500 and Authority 2500 would work well. Same with the Van Staal VR50 and VR75 I am sure, and because the rod feels really quite light in the hand I have no doubt that a Shimano 4000, C5000 or comparable Daiwa would feel pretty good. I do like that bit more heft on the butt end though when I am fishing with a rod like this in those Portuguese conditions, and because I had flown with limited gear I didn’t mess around with endless different combinations. What I was using felt good and I was getting a few different lures out there just fine.
You are not going to get Fuji fixtures and fittings on a rod like this for under £100, but with what I know about alternative components it doesn’t remotely bother me. The handle is really well thought out and I don’t recall ever having to tighten the reel seat up at any point. I was also pleased that I didn’t have to keep re-securing the different rod sections which you might expect on a travel rod. I like the SeaGuide rod rings because I know the brand from our Savage Gear SGS5 rods, and overall I get the impression that as much as possible has gone into the actual blank to get it feeling as good as possible. As I said, you can obviously find more refined lure rods around this length and casting weight, but for a genuine travel rod which fishes pretty bloody well, fits in a typical holdall, comes with a properly protective rod tube, AND retails for under £100? Outstanding if you ask me. Hell, I’ve had a whole year to look around for an alternative since I used this rod for a solid week’s fishing in some hectic bass fishing conditions, but I got on with it so well I had two of them packed and ready to go with me the other day………….
Disclosure - If you buy anything using links found around my website, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you anymore to buy via these affiliate links - and please feel entirely free not to do so of course - but it will help me to continue producing content. Thank you.