Cabelas Arachnid Rod!?

[mojojojo]

I know about the Arachnid reel which is basically an upgraded Tatula but I was in Cabelas today and they have an Arachnid rod and holy cow is this thing light and pure awesome.

I was fondling the St Croix Avids, as usual, and stumbled upon this Arachnid. The Avids are light but this Arachnid was considerably lighter and extremely well balanced. Fuji K guides with SiC inserts. Its priced at $200. It looks and feels very high quality, with some of the best guides you can get.

I think I just found a rod in the $200 range that I like better than the Avid which I never thought would happen.

Has anyone seen or handled this rod before?

[iabass8]

I've handled them before in store. As far as house brand rods, they are probably the best I've ever felt in hand. Ridiculously balanced and very comfortable. Local Cabelas is out of them. 

[Chris at Tech]

I just happened to handle one of these yesterday at Cabelas.  Totally random that I ended up standing there but I picked one up and I was shocked at how good it felt in hand.  Now of course lots of rods feel great in the store, but this one caught my attention somehow with how light it seemed in hand.

[Hogsticker]

It kills me when companies state Toray blank. Toray doesn't produce rod blanks. They manufacture graphite prepeg. Shape shifting? What's that about? For those that held these did you flex or bend the blank, or just wiggle it? Nice looking rods though with a good guide set. Every Cabelas branded rod I've looked at has sloppy epoxy work. Hopefully they've stepped up the build quality on a 200 dollar rod. 

[Jeff H]

On 6/12/2016 at 1:14 PM, Chris at Tech said:

I just happened to handle one of these yesterday at Cabelas.  Totally random that I ended up standing there but I picked one up and I was shocked at how good it felt in hand.  Now of course lots of rods feel great in the store, but this one caught my attention somehow with how light it seemed in hand.

Well, did it follow you home?  I haven't even touched one yet, just because I don't need any more rods.  I figured  I'd end up with one if I got to lookin'.

[mojojojo]

On June 12, 2016 at 7:06 PM, Hogsticker said:

It kills me when companies state Toray blank. Toray doesn't produce rod blanks. They manufacture graphite prepeg. Shape shifting? What's that about? For those that held these did you flex or bend the blank, or just wiggle it? Nice looking rods though with a good guide set. Every Cabelas branded rod I've looked at has sloppy epoxy work. Hopefully they've stepped up the build quality on a 200 dollar rod. 

I tested the flex and it felt very similar to the Avid I was comparing it with as far as stiffness, so they may be slightly on the heavier side.

They had two of them one in medium fast and the other medium heavy fast and I looked at the guides in detail and they both were very clean. These have excellent guides on them. I know what you mean about the other Cabelas branded rods and somewhat sloppy guides, but these Arachnids are top notch.

[LunkerFisher]

Has anyone fished any of these yet? The flipping stick is intriguing.