This post was originally published here inside our members' forum on August 16th, 2024.
I was lucky to receive one of the new MFCC “All Around” 7-foot rods earlier this week and I had the chance to take it out surf casting this morning.
I had heard there were some great blitzes of stripers on the Outer Cape and I was anxious to see how the “The All Around” performed off the beach.
Gretchen Stiers of Eastham, MA has been a member of My Fishing Cape Cod since January of 2020. She's the first to review "The All Around".
I paired the “All Around” with a Shimano Saragossa 6000 (one of my favorite reels for surfcasting) with 30-pound braid. Ryan worked with Zack’s Custom Rods to build these new rods using an exclusive blank from the Loomis factory in the United States. They are medium fast action and can cast lures from ¾ oz to 3.5 oz.
So how did the rod do?
The ”All Around” scored highly in many categories:
+Excellent feel and light to carry walking on the beach
+Easy casting with 1-3 oz lures
+Excellent balance with the Shimano Saragossa 6000 reel
+Excellent quality, including a reel lock (a fantasic feature)
+A longish butt end that made it easy to cast and change lures
In the video below, you can see the rod in action for yourself. I am casting a 2.8 Oz Monomoy Tackle TW200 Specter and you can see how easy this lure was to cast with the “All Around” rod.
I also tried several different lures this morning ( a 1 oz 7 ½” Albie Snax, a 2 oz 7” Cotton Cordell Pencil Popper, and a 3 oz 3” GT Ice Cream Cone) and all cast as easily as the Specter.
Alas, the morning was all about fishing but not catching – so I will be excited to catch my first striper or bluefish on this rod soon!
What are the downsides to this rod? Not many.
This is an excellent rod that can easily be used for surf casting off the beach. If you want a canal rod or a longer rod with more reach, then you would want to look at rods that are specifically for those applications.
Ryan plans on launching a 9" MFCC surf rod sometime later this year, so stay tuned for more information from him on when that rod will be released.
I am looking forward to trying out the “All Around” on an upcoming boat trip and will let you know more about how the rod performs.
Tight lines 🎣
Gretchen