Ark Tharp Series Grinder/Money Badger

[Huckfinn38]

Picked up this rod on sale for $88 shipped with taxes from TW. Man this rod is awesome and will be perfect for spinnerbaits, bladed jigs, and all cranks. A couple weeks I posted how disappointed I was in the Daiwa Zillion bladed jig rod. The zillion actually weighs about an oz less but due to it being unbalanced and tip heavy it actually feels heavier than the Ark rod. 
Now part of my disappointment min the Zillion was that it wasnt a good rod for heavier jerk baits. But when comparing the 2 that have the exact same purpose you get a lot better rod for $88 in the Ark than you do with the Zillion at $329 IMHO.

 

[MediumMouthBass]

I was looking at the Honey Badger on TW a few weeks ago to pair with my 21 Zillion reel, since i think it would look good with it, and im really fond of having matching combos or at the very least somewhat similar. But i passed on it, oddly enough today i realized i dont have a "proper" mod-fast bladed jig rod. And now with your thoughts on it, paired with the one they have on sale being the right power, action, and ratings.... Hmmmm the choices🤔

[Huckfinn38]

19 minutes ago, MediumMouthBass said:

I was looking at the Honey Badger on TW a few weeks ago to pair with my 21 Zillion reel, since i think it would look good with it, and im really fond of having matching combos or at the very least somewhat similar. But i passed on it, oddly enough today i realized i dont have a "proper" mod-fast bladed jig rod. And now with your thoughts on it, paired with the one they have on sale being the right power, action, and ratings.... Hmmmm the choices🤔

Man it looks really good with the Shimano Bantam or the Silver Daiwa Tatula SV Tw Limited edition.

[Porkchop_Sandwiches]

I was going to get a lews tp2 from bass pro for spinners and chatters but I think im going to order the honey badger instead

[new2BC4bass]

11 hours ago, Huckfinn38 said:

Picked up this rod on sale for $88 shipped with taxes from TW. Man this rod is awesome and will be perfect for spinnerbaits, bladed jigs, and all cranks. A couple weeks I posted how disappointed I was in the Daiwa Zillion bladed jig rod. The zillion actually weighs about an oz less but due to it being unbalanced and tip heavy it actually feels heavier than the Ark rod. 
Now part of my disappointment min the Zillion was that it wasnt a good rod for heavier jerk baits. But when comparing the 2 that have the exact same purpose you get a lot better rod for $88 in the Ark than you do with the Zillion at $329 IMHO.

 

Dobyns rods are similar.  Often a little heavier than like models, but better balanced making them feel lighter.

 

Wish I needed another couple rods.  Excellent price.  Enjoy.

 

And, yeah, it sucks that a $329 rod doesn't feel as nice as an $88 rod.  That shouldn't happen.

[Bigbox99]

Not a Zillion apologist but balancing out tip down for chatterbaits isn't a deal breaker and might even be preferred for chuck and wind retrieves.  Also I consider a bladed jig rod to have a H or a stout MH power which I would not expect to use for jerkbaits even 3/4 oz max LOBOs.  I do like the clean look of that Ark Tharp series.  Rear grip is a tad too short and I don't like grey EVA but it looks nicer than a Tatula Elite IMO.

[FrnkNsteen]

2 hours ago, Bigbox99 said:

Not a Zillion apologist but balancing out tip down for chatterbaits isn't a deal breaker and might even be preferred for chuck and wind retrieves.  Also I consider a bladed jig rod to have a H or a stout MH power which I would not expect to use for jerkbaits even 3/4 oz max LOBOs.  I do like the clean look of that Ark Tharp series.  Rear grip is a tad too short and I don't like grey EVA but it looks nicer than a Tatula Elite IMO.

I tend to agree with this.

 

I typically like a well balanced rod to feel like a feather in tip up applications where I'm using the rod to move the bait and want to feel every little thing. On moving baits though,... a little tip heaviness so it naturally wants to go to a level or tip down position while reeling is actually kind of nice.

[GetFishorDieTryin]

I never understood, why a company would put out a tip heavy rod.  It doesn't matter what technique you're doing, its never a benefit to have a tip heavy rod, it might not hurt you as much if you're fishing with the tip down, but its not optimal.  You can have a 4oz MH power rod, but it will heavier than a well balanced 5oz H because you're constantly fighting the tip.  I would think more companies would counterbalance rods like Dobyns does, especially with longer rods becoming more popular.

Ive got the 7'3 MH F Essence, its a shade tip heavy and not the lightest rod, almost 5oz, but the action on the blank is really good.  I found it to be a great 3/8 bladed jig rod.  I read a *** review on the wes logan 7'5 MH F and it did really well.  It weights 4oz and has virtually the same balancing point as the 7'3 essense, about 6" above the middle of the reel seat. 

[Huckfinn38]

30 minutes ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

I never understood, why a company would put out a tip heavy rod.  It doesn't matter what technique you're doing, its never a benefit to have a tip heavy rod, it might not hurt you as much if you're fishing with the tip down, but its not optimal.  You can have a 4oz MH power rod, but it will heavier than a well balanced 5oz H because you're constantly fighting the tip.  I would think more companies would counterbalance rods like Dobyns does, especially with longer rods becoming more popular.

Ive got the 7'3 MH F Essence, its a shade tip heavy and not the lightest rod, almost 5oz, but the action on the blank is really good.  I found it to be a great 3/8 bladed jig rod.  I read a *** review on the wes logan 7'5 MH F and it did really well.  It weights 4oz and has virtually the same balancing point as the 7'3 essense, about 6" above the middle of the reel seat. 

I fly fish, surf fish, fish inshore, fish rivers, fish for bass, and fish for crappie and i can not think of a situation i enjoy fishing a tip heavy rod but we all like different things. 

[GReb]

6’10-7’ is the sweet spot for moving baits to me personally. At that length you can have a light and well balanced rod that is comfortable to fish all day. I’ve tried longer rods and didn’t see any real benefit to the added length in most situations. 

[msgf91]

I just picked up the wes Logan all chatter. I really liked the Medium Leatherman so I decided to get the all chatter. Hoping it's as good as the Tharp rods. When it's not a 15 degree wind chill in Texas I can try it out. 

[wdp]

Thanks to this topic I also purchased one of these rods. Didn’t really need it but I’ll put it to use. Thanks for nothing fellas. 🤣

[softwateronly]

3 hours ago, wdp said:

Thanks to this topic I also purchased one of these rods. Didn’t really need it but I’ll put it to use. Thanks for nothing fellas. 🤣

This url has cost me more money than any other!

 

scott

[new2BC4bass]

23 hours ago, GetFishorDieTryin said:

I never understood, why a company would put out a tip heavy rod.  It doesn't matter what technique you're doing, its never a benefit to have a tip heavy rod, it might not hurt you as much if you're fishing with the tip down, but its not optimal.  You can have a 4oz MH power rod, but it will heavier than a well balanced 5oz H because you're constantly fighting the tip.  I would think more companies would counterbalance rods like Dobyns does, especially with longer rods becoming more popular.

Ive got the 7'3 MH F Essence, its a shade tip heavy and not the lightest rod, almost 5oz, but the action on the blank is really good.  I found it to be a great 3/8 bladed jig rod.  I read a *** review on the wes logan 7'5 MH F and it did really well.  It weights 4oz and has virtually the same balancing point as the 7'3 essense, about 6" above the middle of the reel seat. 

I can put up with a little tip heavy.  I bought a 7'7" composite crankbait casting rod.  Was on closeout and hard to pass up such a deal.  At that time I didn't have a 'crankbait' rod (used MF rods).  I've used it once.  If I want to work out, I'll go to the gym and exercise most of my muscles instead of only the wrist of my rod arm. 

 

[GetFishorDieTryin]

22 hours ago, new2BC4bass said:

I can put up with a little tip heavy.  I bought a 7'7" composite crankbait casting rod.  Was on closeout and hard to pass up such a deal.  At that time I didn't have a 'crankbait' rod (used MF rods).  I've used it once.  If I want to work out, I'll go to the gym and exercise most of my muscles instead of only the wrist of my rod arm. 

 

I know what you mean.  They have gotten better.  I really liked 13s composite rods, they were light and were well balanced.  Came close to buying one, but since most of my crankbait fishing is SBs that I already have a rod for, I passed.

[wdp]

Well, my Grinder rod came in from TW today. Opened it soon as I got home from work. Have to say it’s pretty light and feels good. Glad I ordered it & looking forward to putting a new reel on it & fishing with it soon. Probably gonna spool up with some 17 lb fluorocarbon & start out throwing chatterbaits & spinnerbaits with it. 
 

Does anybody know, is this a 100% graphite rod or a glass composite? The description on TW was kinda confusing about that. 

[softwateronly]

Looks like a composite from the website

 

https://arkrods.com/collections/rods/products/2024-tharp-series-casting-rod?variant=44167371817200

 

scott

[wdp]

1 hour ago, softwateronly said:

Looks like a composite from the website

 

https://arkrods.com/collections/rods/products/2024-tharp-series-casting-rod?variant=44167371817200

 

scott

Ahhh, didn’t think to check the Ark website. Thanks.