Cashion Rods Comprehensive Review

[th365thli]

Not too long ago I bought a Cashion 7'6 deep cranking rod. Then I bought their 7' worm and jig rod. Shortly after, I made the decision to complete switch my arsenal to Cashion. I fished with several of their offerings and thought it would be fun to do a review.

 

I am not affiliated with Cashion, as far as I know they have no idea I exist. I'm doing this partly for fun, partly to inform people, and partly to support a NC company (I'm from Cary, NC, living in California). All the rods were paid for by myself. The rods retail for $180-$200. They feature Fuji micro guides, Fuji reel seats, and a unique carbon fiber woven split grip handle. 

 

I won't be doing a super in-depth feature summary, and won't be posting a ton of complete pictures. Cashion has a website and Google is your friend. This is mainly my experiences with the rods. However, this blurb from Cashion has the general gist:

 

"Finally we use a high grade carbon fiber and manufactured by a uni-directional process to manufacture the blanks. This ensures the carbon fiber runs perfectly straight from the butt to the tip. Equally important the uni-direction carbon fiber does not wrap or twist as it travels the blank, ensuring the carbon fiber is aligned at 0° without rotation. As well as the uni-direction process ensures Cashion Blanks are extremely strong because the rod will not twist under load. Finally this allows vibrations to have a straight path down the blank to your finger tips providing ultimate sensitivity."

 

Every rod maker on the planet claims their rods are the most sensitive. Fortunately for Cashion, they make a strong case. I am not a rod builder, so I will not go into the technical details of the rods. This is just a layman's perspective. Finally, the rods feature micro guides. So if you're not a fan of micro guides at all I would maybe check out another brand. 

 

Before we get into the good, lets go through the bad:

 

THE BAD

 

Tip heaviness

Most of the rods I have are a little tip heavy compared to other brands. Tip heaviness is an interesting topic to discuss. The confounding factor is the reel, as the reel weight makes a big difference as well. Some anglers are balance queens, others don't care as much. For me, being tip heavy is a con, but there's a big difference standing in my garage comparing two rods and saying "hmm this one is tip heavy", versus fishing and saying "this is tip heavy". Meaning, if I don't notice it fishing all day, then it's pretty negligible. All the Cashions I have fished I had no problem fishing 8 hours with. In fact, every fishing trip I put zero thought to it. It was only comparing rods did I find a difference, and it was pretty small.

 

Just a few examples: The M8437 worming rod has excellent balance. The M87473 football jig rod is slightly tip heavy, but it's also my favorite rod. The worst offender is the P90472ts spinning shakey head rod, this one has the most noticeable tip heaviness, but paired with a 8.8 ounce reel it feels acceptable. For the record, out of the dozens of rods I fished, only ONE was so tip heavy it bothered me. It was a Gander Mountain brand combo. In summary, while Cashions are a little tip heavy, it has no affect on my enjoyment and use of the rods, and it's not even a thought when fishing. For objectiveness sake, it's still worth bringing up. 

 

Fit and Finish

Some have criticized Cashion for lacking in fit and finish, particularly regarding line guide wrapping and epoxying. Fit and finish is also a tough thing to evaluate. Keep in mind, when I say fit and finish, I'm talking about mostly cosmetic details, if the rod is messed up functionally then that's not a fit and finish problem, it's a "I have a trash rod" problem. 

 

The biggest criticism is the line guide wrapping. Cashion has been accused of overwrapping the guides, causing a football/bulbous appearance and adding unnecessary weight. I took some pictures and compared to other rods, intending to post in this review. Then a funny thing happened, when reviewing the pictures, I realized I had some trouble telling which ones were Cashion and which ones were other brands.........so, that's kind of tells you all you need to know about the line wrapping issue lol. The exception are the spinning rods, they have one blemish which I believe should've been fixed. Here are the pictures:

 

 

Pretty sure this one is a Cashion

 

 

This one is a Cashion, the line wrapping is a touch more bulbous and the micro guide gives it away

 

 

This is a Powell Endurance. The wrappings are slightly thinner, but the difference is small. 

 

 

This is a Lew's Custom Speed Stick Lite. Again, slightly thinner, but also longer.

 

 

Dobyn's Fury. The wrappings on this rod were very clean, big props to Dobyns, the Fury is their lower middle end "budget" line. 

 

So far so good. Nothing here suggests that Cashion guide wrapping is noticeably worse than other rods. They may be slightly thicker but they're also shorter, so the amount of material seems to be the same. The spinning rods are a different story. The spinning rods also are decently wrapped EXCEPT FOR THE TIP. Every spinning rod I own has thick epoxy at the tip connection.

 

 

I would say this is probably the only noteworthy wrapping issue. Cashion definitely should have smoothed these out. 

 

Well that's probably the most anyone wrote about guide wrappings. Anyways, the point is that none of the Cashions I own (about 13) have egregious line wrapping issues. The only noteworthy fit and finish issue was the thick epoxy on the tip joint on the spinning rods. 

 

Some rods had minor imperfections near the handle and there was some extra epoxy under the hook keeper on one. But understand here we're really nitpicking. Every rod had straight guide alignment except for one, in which the tip guide was just slightly off center. Overall, I would say the fit and finish of these rods is just acceptable. Cashion can definitely improve on this, they already have a strong product and fixing minor imperfections and shoring up QA would really take them to the next level. 

 

THE GOOD

 

Well it feels good to get the bad out of the way. Let's talk about the good. There's a lot of good with these rods. And it starts with the sensitivity. 

 

Sensitivity

I remember when I bought the worm rod, the first thing I did was go straight from the store to a pond to try it out. And that's pretty much all she wrote. Every rock, every twig, was like an mini earthquake. Okay yeah that was an exaggeration. The point is, these rods are sensitive. When I bought the football jig rod, same deal. As I kept picking up more Cashions, the same thing revelation happened. These rods were just more sensitive. We're talking about a $150-$200 price point here, so don't think I'm saying these are better than $300-$400 dollar rods. I haven't fished with rods that expensive so I have nothing to say about that. But when comparing across the same price point, these rods are freaking sensitive. I fish a lot of clear water California reservoirs, so finesse is my game. Sensitive gear goes a long way and these Cashion rods help the cause. 

 

Loading up

At some point we're delving into subjective territory. I realize that. Still, I have to say, these rods load up nice. What I mean is that, when you feel that tick, or see that line move, and you swing on it, it feels nice. That's the essence of fishing right there. You feel it evenly throughout the rod. I'll have fun swinging on fish with a branch, but with a Cashion, it's heaven. Because of this, the rod offers excellent control fighting the fish as well. I don't encounter issues such as uneven load, too much "bounce", and rod twist. 

 

Durability

I have stepped on and dropped these rods multiple times. Still going strong. The micro guides feel solid and very firmly wrapped. 

 

Ergonomics

The handle is definitely unique. It's a carbon fiber split grip with a unique pattern. Being used to foam or cork my entire life, there was a short adjustment period, but after fishing countless hours I love the handles, to the point where cork or foam feels too spongy for me. The hard handle and sensitivity makes me feel more connected with the bait. 

 

Summary

 

These rods are pretty simple. There's no crazy paint jobs, vents, or "bling" as I would say. They have unique handles and micro guides and that's about it. I love how purposeful and minimalistic they feel. Their primary strength is sensitivity and their primary job is catching fish. I'm a big fan and will continue to use these with pleasure. The criticism I have is they could improve their fit and finish a little bit. I pair up all my rods with mostly Curados and Chronarchs. It's a deadly combination. 

[RichF]

Nice write up.  Always like hearing actual, real life experience with products.

[roadwarrior]

[new2BC4bass]

Very nice write up.  You don't see much on these rods.  Thank.

[bhoff]

I bought a 7' MH Cashion last summer and I agree with pretty much everything here. The sensitivity was nuts for the price, more sensitive than my Dobyns Champions for $80 less. Although, I ended up selling it pretty quickly because I am the type that cannot stand a tip heavy rod. It was one of the main reasons for going to Dobyns in the first place. That being said, if you're looking for a rod that doesn't break the bank and has outstanding feel for the price, I would recommend these. They also have a very good replacement policy. Good review.

[Choporoz]

Thank you very much.  Well done.

[NYWayfarer]

6 hours ago, th365thli said:

These rods are pretty simple. There's no crazy paint jobs, vents, or "bling" as I would say. They have unique handles and micro guides and that's about it.

Those handles with the zig zag grips (Winn?) caught my eye. That's as "bling" as it gets.

 

Nice review. Thanks.

 

 

[th365thli]

27 minutes ago, NYWayfarer said:

Those handles with the zig zag grips (Winn?) caught my eye. That's as "bling" as it gets.

 

Nice review. Thanks.

 

 

Not Winn! It's a some sort of carbon fiber wrap. It feels almost like hemp or burlap. Hard to explain. Good grip though. 

[Brad Reid]

Good review and it jibes with my general observations about a new Cashion spinning rod I received last summer as part of a bonus for a kayak purchase I made. 

 

It is one of the Cashion rods designed for kayak usage, that is, with a shorter butt end where the problem of having one too long is it jabs into your midsection, prevents you from swinging your rod around freely.

 

My general impression is it is a very sensitive rod, otherwise sort of what I'd think of as a mid-range offering. More Chevy than Caddy in terms of fit and finish. 

 

Yes, mine has some sort of houndstooth design for its handle material. At first, I thought, yuck, but then I started appreciating it . . . like seeing Tom Landry in one of his hats back decades ago. Conservatively stylish!

 

And, some of you know that I am a champion of short rods for kayaking, gosh, what an advantage. This kayak rod sort of fits that definition.

 

Brad

[th365thli]

2 hours ago, Brad Reid said:

Good review and it jibes with my general observations about a new Cashion spinning rod I received last summer as part of a bonus for a kayak purchase I made. 

 

It is one of the Cashion rods designed for kayak usage, that is, with a shorter butt end where the problem of having one too long is it jabs into your midsection, prevents you from swinging your rod around freely.

 

My general impression is it is a very sensitive rod, otherwise sort of what I'd think of as a mid-range offering. More Chevy than Caddy in terms of fit and finish. 

 

Yes, mine has some sort of houndstooth design for its handle material. At first, I thought, yuck, but then I started appreciating it . . . like seeing Tom Landry in one of his hats back decades ago. Conservatively stylish!

 

And, some of you know that I am a champion of short rods for kayaking, gosh, what an advantage. This kayak rod sort of fits that definition.

 

Brad

Thanks for the reply Brad. Curious, in your opinion, do you think the shorter handle makes the tip heaviness more of an issue? Or do you have no issues with balance. 

[CountryboyinDC]

I've wanted to try these, I've heard that the blanks are pretty good, they're made in NC, and the owner is a fellow VT chemist.  Every rod I've seen has a guide pretty obviously out of line (though not always the tip top like you're seeing) and a good bit of excess epoxy on one or more guides.  I just couldn't get over these imperfections at this price point.  Maybe the real world effects are less than I imagined and I need to try them out.  The grips are a lot different from cork, for sure.

[th365thli]

4 hours ago, CountryboyinDC said:

I've wanted to try these, I've heard that the blanks are pretty good, they're made in NC, and the owner is a fellow VT chemist.  Every rod I've seen has a guide pretty obviously out of line (though not always the tip top like you're seeing) and a good bit of excess epoxy on one or more guides.  I just couldn't get over these imperfections at this price point.  Maybe the real world effects are less than I imagined and I need to try them out.  The grips are a lot different from cork, for sure.

I've heard similar things and had similar reservations. I think I have about 12-13 of their offerings I didn't notice anything really out of line. 

[Brad Reid]

15 hours ago, th365thli said:

Thanks for the reply Brad. Curious, in your opinion, do you think the shorter handle makes the tip heaviness more of an issue? Or do you have no issues with balance. 

I do think it alters the balance ever so slightly. But, sitting in a kayak means that even with a relatively short butt end, it is still rather lodged into the tummy area. But, just not so much that once you start moving the rod tip around, it interferes. 

 

When standing or using this rod from a shoreline, it might be different.

 

I am just a huge fan of short rods for kayak angling. My favorite is this 5'6" M power, fast St. Croix. Casting accuracy is so enhanced, skippin under docks, and the power from the short lever is surprising. It's my "never leave home without it rod" and I often go out with just this one rod if I am just finesse fishing.

 

Brad

 

 

[th365thli]

I received two more Cashion rods today, they're 7'6" medium heavy flipping stick and they're 7'4" frog/all purpose rod. Both had excellent build quality and straight guides. I put a Chronarch Ci4+ on the flipping stick and tied on a 1/2 ounce rage craw. Flipped several times in my yard. Needless today I am VERY excited to try this one out. The balance was outstanding and it felt really good.

 

Similar story with the frog on. I paired it with a Curado K, straight braid, R2S frog. Fantastic balance, and very nimble. Definitely more nimble than the Dobyns 735c Fury it replaced. Cashion got it right with these two rods. Those Delta bass are in for a hurtin' with these two combos.