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Product Review: 13 Fishing Omen Travel Rod and Concept Z reel

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I had seen the 13 Fishing brand of rods and reels in tackle catalogs and mainland kayak fishing forums but never really considered using them in Hawaii because they were primarily geared for the fresh water market.  JD, our Hawaii Rapala/Sufix/VMC sales rep was working the 13 Fishing booth at the Fred Hall Show in March and surprised me with a 3 piece Omen travel rod to use with their innovative Concept Z salt water rated bait casting reel.  The “Z” stands for “Zero” ball bearings in the reel; instead it uses “space age polymer bushings” that don’t rust since there are no metal components involved. The non-ball bearing bushings purportedly increased casting distance., which seemed counter intuitive. The physical size of the reel was smaller than the bait casting reels I had been using inshore yet boasted a max drag of 22 lbs. Definitely had to give this reel a try.

Inshore, I mainly use 1/2 oz lures, which are challenging to throw on a bait caster in 15 mph winds.  I was really surprised that the Z reel could cast further on a shorter rod than what I experience with my  slightly longer, softer 1-piece rod. And I was hardly backlashing, even when casting into the wind.  Once I realized I could cast without backlashes, I swapped the 17 lb mono out for 20 lb Sufix 832.  That further increased casting distance. The stiffer tip on the travel rod “walked the dog” easier, and the 3-piece rod felt like a solid 1-piece.

When I did need to adjust the casting brakes, I really liked the way the “Beetle Wing” side plate popped away from the reel frame and swung open but stayed attached to the reel to eliminate dropping it in the water.  The brake settings were on a dial unlike the more common pin setup where you have to pull out or push in the pins.  Definitely easier and safer to adjust when fishing.

The form factor was really light and comfortable to hold and retrieve, and the cranking power felt pretty good for such a small reel.  I was in a Spring season slump when I started testing the gear, and made a lot of great casts but wasn’t hooking fish.  Finally I hooked a 19 inch kaku that was so over powered by the reel it came in green.  Here’s how that day went.

Then I dunked the reel while releasing a fish and took it apart at home. There was a lot of blue reel grease on the moving parts and quite a bit of drag grease on the carbon fiber drag washers, which I assumed was spread when the reel was submerged, then sprayed externally with Corrosion Block.  I cleaned most of the grease off and reapplied a light coating.  When I fished the reel again, the drag was a little sticky and the gears didn’t feel as smooth as they did before my cleanup.  So I opened the reel up again, applied more gear and drag grease and the reel performed great again.

After fishing the 13 Fishing combo for 3 months I found it to be a joy to fish inshore, launching light lures at kaku and small papio.  I was able to land this 3lb white papio before it could get sharked, but the reel’s smaller gearing and short handle crank made it a little more exciting than I preferred.  The reel is definitely not a winch but is a blast on smaller game.

Instead of breaking the 3-piece rod down I just leave it assembled but when I get a chance to travel and fish I’ll definitely be taking it.  I think the Z reel casts so well because it needs less inertia at startup, so it doesn’t make the spool spin excessively fast, thus experiences much fewer backlashes.  Been just 3/4 effort casting to get the same distance I would get with my larger inshore bait casting reels.

No corrosion but I did need to clean off the drag washer residue on the main gear. Didn’t look like materials prone to corrosion were used.

The reel is really easy to open up and maintain.  I don’t think corrosion will be an issue in the long run, but it does appear to need to be liberally greased to perform optimally.

At $200 MSRP, the Concept Z reel is a great first bait caster to start with since it’s so forgiving to cast and maintain but is also a joy for the seasoned fisher to use due to the small form factor and ergonomics.  Paired with a light rod you can cast all day and not get tired.

Brian’s Fishing Supply has started to carry the Concept Z reel, please call ahead to see if he still has some in stock.   If that’s not convenient you can always purchase it online at Tacklewarehouse.com.  And no, I don’t get any commission if you purchase the reel. 🙂

 

 

Big man o’ war, jumping kaku and $20 JDM lure lost

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Went back to the Windward side hoping to get a bigger fish on the 13 Fishing Concept Z reel.  Last week I got stung badly by a Portuguese Man o’ War so I wore wading socks that extended a few inches above my tabis but still left a 9 inch uncovered area between the socks and the bottom of my trunks.  At the first spot, I saw this huge Man of War getting blown towards me.  Freaked me out but this time I remembered to walk in front of the float, not behind it, since the stinging tentacles can extend pretty far.  I whipped the area cautiously for no bites but probably didn’t do it justice since I was constantly scanning the water for more Man o’ War.

Left the area and went to the spot I missed the kaku the last time.  Sure enough I got a hit on the JDM sub-surface lure right away. I felt the fish on and in a split second it went airborne with the lure in its mouth but shook it mid-flight. Here’s the short video of the little kaku acrobat.

I worked the area and moved down a ways, and when I returned I hooked that same fish or his brother.  I bumbled turning on the GoPro so I didn’t capture that action. And when I released the kaku that got tangled up in the leader, I ended up dunking the Concept Z reel for a couple of seconds. Ugh…

After draining the water, I made a cautious cast and backlashed because the wet casting brakes were slipping.  Adjusted from 3 brakes “on” to 5 brakes “on” (6 brakes are the max) and the reel casted great again.  Missed what felt like a papio bite and then my casts shortened as the brakes dried.  Readjusted the brakes back to their original setting but I must’ve had loose line on my spool ‘cuz I snapped off my lure at the FG knot on a cast. I had tied this sloppy FG knot on the water the last time and must not have cinched it down well.

My $20 limited edition JDM sub-surface lure couldn’t have gone far but I didn’t see it land and couldn’t find it even though it floats.  Took that as a sign to quit while I was unstung.  This is the second JDM lure I’ve left floating in jellyfish infested waters, although Portuguese Man Of War technically aren’t jellyfish.  If you find it, I hope it brings you luck.

I hadn’t opened up the Concept Z reel before so I was a little leery about losing flying parts.  The reel was actually a little simpler than bait casters I have serviced although there was a little spring loaded clicker pin under the star drag that fell off on disassembly.  The innards looked wet but free of grit, salt and corrosion.  The materials used looked impressively corrosion resistant and I verified that the stack of drag washers was made out of carbon fiber to produce an astounding 22 lb of drag.  Applied some Corrosion Block oil and Daiwa Blue Grease and reassembled it.  Reassuring to know that the Concept Z reel can be easily self-serviced.

 

 

The Bolo is over!

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After 5 kayak and 6 shore fishing bolo trips, painfully documented in this post, I can finally say it’s over!  Thanks for the well wishes and suggestions on how to break the bad luck streak.

From shore I had been testing the 13 Fishing Concept Z bait casting reel I was given at the Fred Hall Show in March.  Was stubbornly sticking to top water and sub-surface lures although the thought of dragging bait did cross my mind. The reel cast and swam light lures really well and had some near misses so I was hoping it was just a matter of fishing the right conditions.

The last two spots I wade fished were so murky and muddy that the fish couldn’t see the lure well.  Changing things up, I  tried a spot where I could walk out to the break on a very low tide.  Hadn’t fished it in more than a year but the last time I did, the omilu were going nuts for the JDM sub-surface lure.  Here’s how the action went down that day.  This time, on the -0.1 ft tide,  I almost made it to the break.  Hedging my bets because of the clear water, I dropped down to 25lb fluoro leader instead of the 40lb I had been using to prevent kaku bite-offs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My second cast into a small sandy pocket hooked something solid. I set the hook a few times to make sure it wasn’t gonna shake off like the previous fish on this bolo run, before turning on the hat mounted GoPro.  The Concept Z reel is so light and small yet has a max drag of 22lbs.  I had the drag set enough to over power the kaku so it came in green and flopped around like a trout avoiding a landing net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I was so far from shore I tried tagging the kaku in the Promar ProFloat net. Keeping it captive wasn’t a problem but measuring the sharp toothed fish while keeping my reel out of the water was a challenge. I ended up grabbing the kaku through the net and doing a rough estimate.  19 inches, tagged with #A5651.  And just like that, my bolo was over.

On my next cast, a kaku of about the same size followed by a pound half omilu investigated my lure and turned away 10 ft from me.  That was it for the action in that little sand patch so I walked back to shore with a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders.  Sorry for all the photos of a slimy kaku but I needed proof I finally landed a fish with the Z reel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the zero foot tide I gathered some pipihi and mussels for my Toby puffer. Interesting that the pipihi were a 1/3 the size of the ones I gathered earlier at another spot with a large lava rock shelf.

I whipped a sandy, protective cove and missed 2 more kaku.  Fellow whippers I talked to when I was leaving said they saw a large omilu come in, swirl around and go out in the area I caught the bolo-breaking kaku.  Fishing is a matter of inches. If that kaku had hit the lure an inch back from the front hook I’d still be lamenting the bolo.

Seems like the omilu are coming in looking for bait but not finding much yet.  Still no reports of large oama schools inshore.

 

Composite product test and catch report

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Since returning from the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach, the weather was often windy and rainy. Erik was able to get out and jig the deep a few times when conditions allowed and caught some noteworthy fish on the test jigs.

He got this 15lb kawakawa on a Jigging Master striped glow jig he purchased at the Fred Hall Show and immediately bled and iced the fish.  Made some incredible sashimi.

 

 

 

 

 

And right before Easter, Erik deep dropped a Lumica Xtrada Jacker glow jig with rattle he was given by the guys at Lumica and pulled up a rare and delicious hapu’upu’u.  Erik described the sashimi as having a texture similar to ono but with a slightly lighter taste.  And 3 days later it firmed up a little more with great oil content. He also made a fish and shrimp chowder with it and said it was super ono.

 

I haven’t done as well.  Caught a cold shortly after returning from the Fred Hall Show and whipped once and kayak fished once.  Took the 13 Fishing Omen 7’3″ travel rod and zero ball bearings Concept Z bait casting reel out to the test flats.  The tide was too low to allow predators to come in but I was able to see how the rig cast a 1/2 oz top water lure into the wind. I was very impressed.  The spool doesn’t initially spin as fast as my other bait casters so it doesn’t have to slow down as abruptly either.  I had 17 lb mono on, which is more forgiving than braid, and never backlashed, even with a head or side wind.  Could also cast further than I normally do despite a stiffer rod 7 inches shorter. The little reel was easy to cup and the 3-piece travel rod felt like a 1-piece.  I did get a small kaku to boil on my lure but that was it.  I’m pretty stoked to have a travel rod that I can carry on the plane that fishes like my 7’10” 1-piece whipping rod.  Excited to test the rig again under more fishy conditions.

Frank and I did paddle out on the one day calm enough to do so.  We fished the same 100 ft dropoff area we’ve been getting the big strikes and small uku, and the tide was rising in the morning.  Yet it was super slow. I hooked one shark which looked to be about 5 ft, and Frank had 3 of his trolled dead opelu attacked by something that clipped 3 inches off the tail.  It was a bright moon day, a few days before the full moon so maybe that’s why it was so slow. Even the whales had left the area.

The shark pulled steady and rested often. I tried to fight it off the bow, not off the side, so it couldn’t tip me over, and finally got it up to leader after about 20 mins.  Just as I was reaching to cut the leader with my new Gerber Neat Freak scissors I bought from the Fred Hall Show, it shredded the leader with its body or tail.  The VMC 6X Circle Hook was embedded in its jaw, keeping the line away from its chompers.  No pictures or video. Turns out, while fighting the shark, I turned the GoPro off instead of on.  Now I know how sharks feel on the line and the next time something pulls slow and steady, with rest periods, I’m gonna try my hardest to bust ’em off. My GLoomis Bucara rod, which is too stiff for the small uku I’ve been catching, had a lot of backbone to raise the shark off the bottom.  But all that backbone puts pressure on me so I gotta get in better shape to fight these heavy sea monsters.

No light wind days predicted in the near future so our product reviews are piling up.