Lew's TP1X Review

[Koz]

As some of you may remember from an earlier thread I posted, my Lew's Mach 2 rod broke in a strange spot the other week and even though it was out of warranty, the good folks at Lew's felt my pain and considered it such an odd break they sent me a replacement rod for free. Because they did not have a ready supply of Mach 2 rods available they substituted a rod at the same price point of $99. That rod was the TP1X.

 

To be specific, it is the baitcast model TP1X70M which is an all purpose rod. I have no idea how comparable there other model numbers are to this rod. I paired it with my Lew's Mach 2 SLP reel that was on the rod that I broke. I figured this would give me an honest comparison of the rods.

 

When I got the rod there were a few things I noticed right away. First, it was a great looking rod and appears to be well built. There were no obvious defects. Second, despite having a thicker shaft than the Mach 2, it felt lighter (although I can't be sure). But it felt light and well balanced for my needs.

 

Comfort

Out on the water, the first thing I noticed was the grip diameter was larger than my Mach 2. Sine I don't have big hands this became an issue for the first few days as my hand and arm grew tired quickly. However, after fishing with it for about a week now it's not much of a problem. So this isn't a problem with the rod, it's just my personal preference.

 

Casting

This is where this rod really shines. Remember, I paired it with that same Mach 2 reel. Not only can I cast noticeably further with this rod, but also the accuracy with this pairing is far superior. I'm landing casts on dimes here. It's the same 7 foot length as my old rod, but the blank is noticeably different not only in construction, but also with larger eyelets. I can't express how good this rod feels to cast.

 

Sensitivity

During the past week with this rod I caught over a dozen bass, Two were dinks, two were over 5 pounds, and the rest were all 3 - 3.5 pounds. Not a big sample size, but a good start. I used chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, t-rigged worms, crankbaits, lipless cranks, buzzbaits, Whopper Ploppers, and beetlespins. All the bass I caught were on chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, and beetlespins, nothing else.

 

The one thing that I like about my now deceased Mach 2 rod was its sensitivity. When the fish went after the bait it was like, "OK, there it is - wait - now set the hook!" It's like I could feel the bass pushing water, sucking in the bait, and then grabbing the bait.

 

But with the TP1X it's like, "Oh - a bass seems to have impaled itself on my hook." I'm not feeling that same level of sensitivity. Even running through weeds or bumping into structure doesn't provide the same feedback that I'm accustomed to. Let me give another example. I'm fishing a chatterbait with a craw trailer. As I'm reeling in it feel like I bumped the chatterbait off of a log in an area where I fished a thousand times before and I know there's no log. But when I get the bait in I see one of the claws on the craw trailer was bit off. This actually happened twice. With the Mach 2 I would have felt a vibration through the rod instead of a thud.

 

Now keep in mind this is an all purpose rod. Since the model number of my old Mach 2 doesn't match up to the new Mach 2 model numbers I have no idea if that rod was an all purpose rod or a specialty rod. I just know it's a lot different than the TP1X. Now perhaps when I fish the TP1X I will pick up on more subtleties. Or maybe I need to switch from my normal 40 pound braid to something else. What I worry about is I am missing bites or the opportunity to slow the bait and let the bass grab it.

 

What I have found since I got this rod is that I switch out to other rods more frequently. While switching rods is common for a lot of anglers, since I bank fish and usually walk miles from lagoon to lagoon and I constantly move down the bank while I'm fishing I prefer using just one rod. Now I find myself carrying two rods although the TP1X has been my primary rod.

 

Where I think this rod will truly shine is with buzzbaits and other topwaters. And since buzzbaits are my most used baits during the warmer months this makes it an ideal rod for me. Unfortunately, I had no takers on topwaters this week so I could not test out the backbone, but it certainly appears to be stout enough for the task.

 

Overall, I like this rod and it will serve as the primary rod in my arsenal. As for my perceived lack of sensitivity in the rod compared to my old Mach 2, the TP1X model I have is designated as an all purpose rod and in order to accomplish that there are some tradeoff. I think it leans more to a topwater rod than a bottom contact rod and that's understandable. It definitely lives up to it's purpose.

 

With that, my grade is two thumbs up. If you have a TP1X what do you think of it?

[NYWayfarer]

Great review. 
 

I have 6’9” ML/F spinning TP1X for dropshotting. Paired it with a size 200 Lew’s Speed Spin SS20HS
 

Short and sweet, it’s light as a feather and casts great. It has handled fighting river Smallies in current well. I even had to pull a fish over a log with it. 
 

Cosmetically it’s got a nice contrast between the white of the rod and the dark gray Winn Grips. I like the darker Winn Grips as they show dirt less. I noticed some sloppy glue work around the guides. That would be my only complaint. 
 

Overall I like it and would not hesitate to buy another rod in this series. 

Oh and I feel your pain on the Mach 2 rod. I laid mine to rest this year, high sticking a Largemouth in my Kayak this year. Since it was my fault I didn’t reach out to Lew’s I replaced the rod with one of those $29.99 Lew’s Laser HS rods from Walmart.

[Koz]

4 hours ago, NYWayfarer said:

Great review. 
 

I have 6’9” ML/F spinning TP1X for dropshotting. Paired it with a size 200 Lew’s Speed Spin SS20HS
 

Short and sweet, it’s light as a feather and casts great. It has handled fighting river Smallies in current well. I even had to pull a fish over a log with it. 
 

Cosmetically it’s got a nice contrast between the white of the rod and the dark gray Winn Grips. I like the darker Winn Grips as they show dirt less. I noticed some sloppy glue work around the guides. That would be my only complaint. 
 

Overall I like it and would not hesitate to buy another rod in this series. 

Oh and I feel your pain on the Mach 2 rod. I laid mine to rest this year, high sticking a Largemouth in my Kayak this year. Since it was my fault I didn’t reach out to Lew’s I replaced the rod with one of those $29.99 Lew’s Laser HS rods from Walmart.

I like the Winn grips on both the rod and reel as well. I know some people hate them, but I find them comfortable.

[Koz]

**Update**
 

I’ve been using this rod for a month now and my first impression is pretty much spot on. My biggest beef is the lack of sensitivity.

 

With the Mach 2 rod I could feel the slightest tick when a fish went after the bait. As I prefer to fish with moving baits this is important. For example, if I feel a fish tick the bait but not engulf it I will stop cranking giving the appearance of a stunned bait fish. As it starts to sink, more often than not the fish engulfs the bait.

 

I don’t feel the slight ticks with this rod at all and I fear I’m missing out on potential catches. Again, it’s like, “Oh - there’s a fish that hooked itself” and not like, “Oh - there’s a bite.”

 

I still think that it makes a great topwater rod but for everything else and for my purposes I will probably get a different rod. I may give the new Lew’s KVD rod a try.

[Matt Hoo]

I didn’t see it mentioned, so I’ll ask. Was the M2 and the TP1X the same type of rod?  Where they both MH/F or M/F?  It almost sounds like you aren’t comparing the same type of rod. I’m asking because I have both of the rod series you are talking about. I use the M2 for freshwater and the TPX1 is my new inshore setup. I paired it with a Lew’s Custom Inshore. I’m truly curious?

[Koz]

5 hours ago, Matt Hoo said:

I didn’t see it mentioned, so I’ll ask. Was the M2 and the TP1X the same type of rod?  Where they both MH/F or M/F?  It almost sounds like you aren’t comparing the same type of rod. I’m asking because I have both of the rod series you are talking about. I use the M2 for freshwater and the TPX1 is my new inshore setup. I paired it with a Lew’s Custom Inshore. I’m truly curious?

Both are MH/F rods but the Mach 2 uses the IM8 graphite blank and the TPX1 uses the HM40 blank.