Shimano Blue Romance is my favorite fishing rod. I guess this is the right sentence to start this “review”. If you’re really interested in this article it means you are seriously into fishing, and if you are seriously into it, I bet you also have your own favorites, unless the fishing gear is just a tool of the trade for you. I got this rod in 2015. as soon as it came out (pardon me if I’m wrong). I was looking for a mid-range spinning rod that I can use for shore jigging as well. Back in 2015. selection of shore jigging rods on the fishing market was relatively bad, at least in Europe. Most fishing stores didn’t even have shore jigging categories not to mention specific shore jigging rods. I used to have a few light spinning rods which I used for casting small 20-40g jigs like the legendary Okuma Octana and that was it.
I decided to go for my first serious “shore jigging rod” which is actually not made for shore jigging but spin fishing – Shimano Blue Romance Powergame 20-60g.
This rod comes in plenty of variations:
- Powergame – Strong spinning rod
- Stickbait – Made for stick baits with a soft tip
- Shore Jigging – Classic shore jigging rod
- Jerkbait – Rod for jerkbaits and twitching
- Softbait – Rod with a special tip for soft baits
- Light game – Light game fishing rod
- Topwater – Rod for topwater lures
- Eging – Squid fishing rod
I was in a big dilemma about whether to go for a classic shore jigging rod or powergame variation. At that time we used to cast a lot of big minnows like Rapala MaxRap and DUO Tide Minnow Slim in search of bonito, false albacore and barracuda, but we also cast metal jigs. Which rod could handle both? I went for Powergame, and boy I was right. What a great rod this is! I could fish for hours with metal jigs and instantly switch to spin lures without a problem. High-quality components, great action, strong but extremely light – only 200g and armed with 10 FUJI Alconite guides and FUJI reel seat. Simply great. Although it looks so light and fragile this rod is strong! I landed 8kg false albacore without problems, ok, there are always “problems” with albies but I think this rod can land even bigger ones. You can choose between different lengths, i went for 274cm instead of 300cm which is also a great option. There’s an even stronger model 40-80g which i definitely must have in my arsenal, maybe shore jigging one. Some of the catches with my Blue Romance…
Shimano Blue Romance Models
Amberjack Off The Rocks
In the ocean of new fishing gear that hits the market every year, it’s really difficult to choose the right fishing gear that suits your needs. People get hooked on fishing fast, they don’t have experience and they order things “to try” instead to fish with them. I did the same, and everyone did. Numerous useless things I actually don’t need, lots of thrown money on fishing gear I actually never use, and actually don’t like. We made many mistakes so you don’t have to.
Value for money fishing rod!