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2 more Phenix Rods to try! 6’6″ Black Diamond Heavy boat rod and 6′ PE 2-4 Megalodan jig rod.

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I had purchased two “live bait” style rods from Phenix Rods last year, as a dealer and liked their lightness and build quality. Shipping of those two rods from California to Hawaii was about $50. Since then, Phenix Rods was purchased by the outdoor company GSM Outdoors, and moved to Texas. The new company worked out some kinks and is back to servicing their dealers so I ordered two more rods to see how the shipping experience would be. This time, shipping via FedEx costs $86 and took 8 days.

I got the 6ft 6in Black Diamond Heavy rod since the 7ft Extra Heavy version is a little too stiff for the 10 – 15lb fish I’m mostly catching, which caused me to pull some hooks on jumping fish. Angler error did play a role. 🙂 The shorter length is easier to work with from the seated position of the kayak. Most offshore kayak guys use rods 6ft 6in or shorter and I’ve been stubbornly using longer rods and losing leverage on bigger fish.

The Avet MX Raptor pairs nicely with the new Black Diamond Heavy rod.

The Megalodan jig rod series has a lot of backbone and guys in SoCal use the larger rod sizes for big bluefin. The one I ordered is rated for PE 2 – 4 (about 30lb braid) and 100g – 200g jigs.

Game Type J on top, Megalodan on the bottom.

Compared to the Shimano Game Type J rod I have that’s rated for even heavier jigs, the Megalodan is stiffer in the tip and has a thicker blank. The Game Type J has a more sensitive feel whereas the Megalodan feels much more robust like it could take the rigors of kayak jigging.

Megalodan on top, Game Type J on bottom.

The Megalodan, with the long EVA foregrip is really made to battle big fish.

After giving both new rods a good shake out, I’ll let you know how they performed and whether I recommend them.

We are a Phenix Rod dealer! Anyone interested in trying these premium rods?

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Update: 4/24/24: Phenix Rods was purchased by a larger company and the factory has been moved from California to Texas so the shipping cost to Hawaii has increased. We’re currently working with Phenix to bring more rods in. Stay tuned.

We’ve been a Phenix Rod online dealer for half a year now and I’ve been trying to verify that the rods are as good as I’ve been hearing from the bass, trout and salt water guys. Been using a 7ft Heavy and a 7ft Extra Heavy live bait rod on the kayak and they performed well so far, but haven’t gotten really big fish to stress test them. I do like the lightness, sensitivity, components and durability of both rods.

Here’s a short video of the first day using the Black Diamond Heavy rod.

Phenix sells finished freshwater, saltwater, and travel rods in spinning and casting models, as well as the blanks of each. They are known to be very light in weight, yet strong in backbone, and are less expensive than the comparable high end brands.

Phenix offers a lifetime warranty on the rods that is basically this: If you break the rod, you send the pieces back to Phenix in California, and pay a bit more than 50% of the cost of the rod to have a replacement shipped back to you. That’s better than a lot of rod manufacturers these days.

These are just a few of the products the Hawaii angler may be interested in:

Black Diamond Surf – 2 piece Spinning rods 9ft to 14ft

View details on Phenix website.

Redeye Travel Saltwater Spinning rods – 3 piece, 7ft 6in, rated 15lb – 40lb and 30lb – 80lb.

View details on Phenix website.

Megalodan Jigging rods

Spinning: 5ft 6in PE 4-8 to 6ft PE 6-10

View details on Phenix website.

Casting: 5ft 6in PE 2-4 to 6ft PE 6-10.

View details on Phenix website.

Shipping of the rods from TX to HI is pretty expensive so I plan to order a batch of rods at a time. If you’re interested in trying any of the premium rods you see on their website, I’ll drop the price to make it worth your while. Please get in touch through the contact page.

Mahalo!