Tournament Class Perfecta Dhc5 Rod /performa Xt

[J Francho]

Have you ever wanted a spinning rod with just a bit more oomf?

Often when fishing for smallmouth in places like Lake Erie, Oneida Lake, or Chaumont Bay on Lake Ontario, I wondered why it's so hard to find a rod with the right oomf. What the heck is oomf? I have several models - medium, medium light, fast, slow, moderate - but certain techniques seem to sit in the middle. They need more oomf from the rod. I have casting gear that will handle lighter baits, but it's not as practical. When you are fishing in forty feet of water, it's easier to just flip the bail open, and let the bait drop than deal with paying out line on casting gear. Spinning gear seems to handle lighter line better as well.

The baits I am referring to? The ones that need some oomf! Football jigs in smaller weights, like 5/16 oz. and 3/8 oz. and bigger. That might not sound like a lot of weight, but add in a big old spider grub, and you get the picture. Tubes in bigger than usual sizes, like ½ or even 3/4 oz are no issue. Ever try to get a grub down 20’ in 20 mph winds? That’s what those ½ oz. ballheads are for – this rod can do it. When its really windy, and I'm dragging a drop shot, I'll use up to 3/4 oz. weight to keep my bait on the bottom. Lastly, suspending jerkbaits. I prefer casting gear for this, but in spring and fall faced with fishing points into the wind, I'll take a spinning rig anyday.

That is a tall order. I'm looking for an extra fast taper with slightly better than just plain old medium and in a spinning configuration. Pinnacle. Yep, they have one, and it's pretty sweet. Their new Tournament Class Perfecta DHC5-681SPM spinning rod is the answer. The moment I unwrapped this rod, I could tell it was a little bit different. "Really fast, and stout," I thought to myself. The detailing this rod is very nice, from the knurled check on the fore grip, to the simple mat finish on the blank. There is quite a bit of bling to this rod considering it retails for $159.99. Pinnacle labels this as a Finesse, Tube, Grub rod, and they couldn't be more on the money. I would add that it makes a fine jerk bait rod on windy days. The rod uses light weight components, and is every bit as sensitive as other rods in my locker costing $300 or more. I would put right in there with St. Croix's Avid series in the bang for the buck category. That's nice company.

I paired this rod up with their Performa XT PEF30. Spooled with 6# fluorocarbon, this was a perfect match with the Perfecta rod. For $99.99, this reel has a few features that surprised me. One, a sealed multi disk drag system not unlike what is in reels costing $50 more might have. It isn't the lightest reel at 9.9 oz., but feels great paired with the Tournament Class rods. It has a very unique oversize line roller. I am in the crowd that manually flips the bail back and seats the line on the roller rather than simply turn the handle to engage the reel. This arrangement is by far the most trouble free operation I've ever encountered. It does seem to reduce some twist, though I've only really fished two tournaments with it. The coin slot for easy maintenance of the roller bearing is a nice touch. So often, this little bearing gets neglected is probably the most oft replaced bearing in spinning gear. The whole mechanism is just two parts - the cover and bearing, and the roller sleeve. No little parts wandering under the fridge when doing winter maintenance.

Together on the water, this setup performed without issue in two tournament settings. I fished the combo nearly 90% of the time for a practice days and tournaments on both Oneida Lake and Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario. I really can't count how many smallmouth I caught on the combo, including a 5.05 lb. smallmouth in Chaumont Bay. The rod felt like it been in my arsenal for a long time, and the more fish I caught, the more confident I was using it. I started with 5/8 oz. spider jigs, and later moved up to some heavier tubes. As I described earlier, this rod is stout and I had no issue making two handed snap casts with over ½ oz. weight tied on. On some of my lighter, whippy rigs, that would have resulted in me going to the ER to remove some fishing jewelry! As far as handling fish, like I said I whipped a big girl to submission without much ado - a few nice jumps, and into the net. Later, we found the jerk bait bite to start to turn on, and after backlashing twice with my usual casting stick, I tried the Perfecta/Performa combo. Perfect! Strong enough to whip a Pointer 100SP into westerly Lake Ontario wind and with a nice fast recovery for that twitch-twitch-twitch-pause retrieve we like.

Overall this is a rod and reel that I might have overlooked, just reading the stat sheet. In hand, it is a highly valuable, and versatile tool. It's got oomf!

Chaumont Bay Smallmouth:

[ChiCityBasser]

Great review of both the rod and reel on something good that might have been overlooked.

[pitchinthejig]

nice read J, gives the guys looking for a mid range stick another choice to look at i guide on many lakes in Florida and on a few lakes around Atlanta and i dont like my customers using MY jdm gear but i also want them using decent gear. mostly i set them up with 6 to 8 rigs depending on the lake and mainly its Fuego and Sol casting reels and Fuego and Sol 2000 or 2500 spinning reels so i make sure they have nice gear on the trips as you can see..... to get to the point lmao...

when fishing in a few deep clear lakes in north atl drop shotting for spots and the wind starts blowing a my guests start having a hard time with the Cielo drop shot sticks i set them up with... as you know very nice rods and that sst drop shot rod is a awesome drop shot stick however not when you have to start adding weight as the tip dont carry weight over its rating worth of s**t.

do you think these tourney grade sticks are durable enough to be guide customer sticks? do you think they will stand up to high sticking as most will do that because they are fairly new and dont know thats a no no and even after telling them they still do it.. another thing i want good looking rods so they dont start eyeing my megabass and evergreen stuff and wanting to try this and try that lol. let me know if you think these rods would be a great rod for what im wanting as i will pick 2 or 3 up if you think they would be... no one around me carries them so i cant just go see them but i know i can take your word on them.

[J Francho]

I would have no problem handing this over to one of my kayak students. I think for what you pay for them, they'd be great sticks.

[zell_pop1]

I dont like split grip rods but I might just try the Performa XT 30.

[roadwarrior]

Great post!

I'm glad you like this rig.

Take a look at the new Pinnacle Tournament Series rods & reels:

http://www.pinnaclef...FECTA-RODS.html

http://www.tackletou...treels2010.html

:D

[Canga]

if you dont like the split grip of the perfecta bass series, i read in the Walleye magazine (flw walleye edition) that they are coming out with a series targeted at walleye anglers... basically the same rods, just with a full grip instead of split. not a huge selection and mostly medium-lights in the spinning models, but here is the model list i found.

Model Number Length Action Taper Lure Weight Line Rating

SPINNING

DHC5W-601SPL 6'0" Light Fast 1/16-1/4 4-8

DHC5W-631SPM 6'3" Medium Extra Fast 1/8-1/2 6-10

DHC5W-661SPML 6'6" Medium Light Fast 1/8-3/8 4-10

DHC5W-701SPML 7'0" Medium Light Fast 1/8-3/8 4-10

DHC5W-761SPML 7'6" Medium Light Fast 1/8-3/8 4-10

DHC5W-802SPML 8'0" Medium Light Fast 1/8-3/8 4-10

CASTING

DHC5W-701CAM 7'0" Medium Moderate Fast 1/2-1 1/2 6-10

DHC5W-762CAM 7'6" Medium Moderate Fast 1/2-1 1/2 6-12

DHC5W-762CAMH 7'6" Medium Heavy Moderate Fast 1/ 1/2-3 8-14

DHC5W-801CAMH 8'0" Medium Heavy Moderate Fast 1/ 1/2-3 8-12

[J Francho]

I dont like split grip rods but I might just try the Performa XT 30.

I like a full rear grip, myself. This rod doesn't really feel like a split grip rod with the integrated reel seat. Even on a two handed cast, the large, tapered rear grip feels like a full grip. I'd say handle one, with your eyes closed, and see what you think.

[flippin and pitchin]

There's something special about freshly mowed grass. Nice pic and great review J.

[J Francho]

[new2BC4bass]

Whoopee!!! NICE fish.

[gall]

i deff like the looks of those rods and they seem really nice ill probably get one of them thanks for the advice