Whip'R Panfish Rod - Out In Michigan

I have been on the hunt for several years for a true dropshot rod for fishing gills and yellow perch on the inland lakes here in Michigan. No matter what brand of rods I had looked at I just couldn’t seem to find what I was looking for. I was trying to find a rod that matched up to a bass dropshot. The rod had to have lots of backbone and taper quickly into the tip section.

For years I just couldn’t find what I wanted, I even entertained custom rods but could never find a blank to match what I was looking for. Fast forward to about a month ago; I was looking at ice fishing products doing some research for some up coming articles. I was on K and E’s websites looking at jigs when something caught my eye. It was a new ice rod combo they were offering. That combo promoted me to look at their other rods not just the hardwater products.

That is when I saw an image of a fishing rod that had the bend I was looking for with the words “Ultimate Panfish Gear” on it. I started thinking to myself have I found the rod I was looking for?I was quickly on the phone with Jim over K and E asking him about the rod. It wasn’t long until I had a rod in the mail to me so I could do a product review on the rod.

I was excited to see this rod come to my doorstep a few days later. I quickly rigged it up and headed on down to some docks on Lake Erie where I knew there was good numbers of gills and pumpkinseeds. I rigged the rod up with a simple dropshot rig with a waxworm on the hook and started working it like you would a dropshot Goby for bass. It didn’t take long for me to see that this rod had the action and taper I was looking for. So then it was time to change up the rigging a bit after catching some nice 7 inch gills. I set it up with a Thill Shy bite and started casting to structure. I wanted to check out and see how it handled fishing the way most pan-fishermen would use the rod. It preformed pretty well for a rod in this price point. I fished with this rod on and off on Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair and un-nameable inland lake over the next month. I was fairly happy with the rod.

The rod is made of a composite construction, the top 1/3^rd is made out of fiberglass which then leads into the back 2/3^rd which is made of graphite. The rod has a split rear grip which lowers the overall weight of the rod and it shows off it blank through construction. The reel seat was kinda oversized for a panfish rod, but it held the reel tightly. I am not sure on the brand of guides this rod has but they have ceramic inserts which handled the braided line I was using well. The openwater series of these Whip’R Rods comes in 7 lengths from 4ft to 8ft long. I was fishing the 6ft 6 inch model. Many of the rods are 2pc construction.

Quality

The quality of this rod is what you would except for a rod in this price point. It is well made and should give the budget minded angler many years of fishing.

Reliability

This was as reliable as one would except from a fishing rod it never broke the guides where straight the expoy on the threading that holds the guides on looks to be done well. The cork on the handle of the model I used had very little filler in it so that means the must have used a fairly high quality cork. The reels seat on my rod has no slop to it and held the reel tightly.

Price/Value

This rod retails for $29.99 to $38.99 which puts it in just about every fisherman’s price range. Currently in today rod market this is rod is fairly unique. So there really isn’t anything I could compare it to just yet.

Referability

I would recommended this rod to my fellow panfisherman that are on the hunt for a dropshot panfish rod. It is one that is worth a look by just about every panfish angler.

1 Comment

Andy Koschmann on August 29, 2012 at 10:36 PM

I bought the 5′ 6″ rod over a year ago for German Brown Trout fishing in small streams. It excelled at accurately casting rooster tails into tight cover. Since then it has become my go to rod for dead stick fishing for Perch and Blue Gills on Lake Winnebago. Not sure why it out fishes my other rods when it is sitting in a rod holder, but it does. Maybe it is the action of the fine tip as the boat rocks??? Took a friend out Walleye fishing this spring and gave him free pick of any rod he wanted to use. He grabbed my Whip’r Rod with 4lb test on it. He tied on a nuckle ball jig and hooked into an 18″ walleye. He said he could feel the fish inhale it on the fall. We were in rough water, so this was impressive! Even more impressive was how this light rod handled a broad shouldered Walleye! He had no trouble landing this fish! I love this rod!!!

Whip’R Panfish Rod

Reliability

Price/Value

Referability

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