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I've always been a fan of the Dblue rods for many reasons. First of all I like getting a pro level top grade rod for under 100 bucks! These rods won my heart 2 years ago and I find now that “All my rods” as sitting on the rod rack and the only rods I use anylonger are my Dblue rods for work horse fishing and my Lamaglas Ron Arra rods for lighter finese plugging. Now that says a lot about how these Dblues have won my confidence…
For those of you that dont know there is a patented Shimano graphite building proceedure called TC4. Under the Shimano name your talking $300 plus…. Well Dblue has somehow gotten the okey to use this material (maybe there are cousins or something? I dont know) but one thing I do know is that I like this TC4 blank material very very much.. its loads up like Eglass “slow , strong and powerfull” but has the crispness of graphite. The naterial is as strong as an OX yet very light. You get a nice tip action and good backbone…
I own a 10 ft TC4 Dblue spinner which is my go to rod now for blood and guts surfcasting… the fuji guides and reel seat hold up to the salt stoutly and perform without a hitch, the buttcap is a nice doorknob kinda fuji cap and cork tape on the handle gives it a classy sweet feel.
So I wanted to buy a new heaver.. a nice 8 + bait rod to fishing deep fast water and casting over 100 yards with BIG BAITS.. problem is that all the 12 foot heavers I have are stiff and a bit top heavy….
I ordered the 11.4” Royal Conventional without hesditation even though the old “under $100” Dblue prices are no more… The nice customer service lady Lily says that the first year they blew them out at cost to get market recognition and this year they were hit with manufacturing price increases as well…. But judging from the great quality of my last Dblue rods I had no problem buying the 11.4” rod at its new price $149 dollars.
Okey here is my review,,,
The first things that struck me about the rod right away when I removed it from the rod tube was …
Man it was as light as a feather! I mean we are talking about a heaver here.. it was surprisingly light. They seem to have refined the TC4 material even more.. The blank was thin and it felt more like a plugging rod than a heaver.
Secondly the blank color was “absolutely gorgeous” a rich deep 3D Dark Aqua blue/Green gone were the multi colored warps of the older models and instead it sported stealthy jet black single wraps without the heavy epoxy and excessive underwraps of the first models… MMMMMMMMmmmmmm sharp looking rod!
The handle was a intriquing design, first of all it was as long as it should be 31” from the butt to the center of the reel seat. When your sling heavy baits you need that leverage for a smooth power charged cast. Having long arms I always had a problem with short handled rods. But this one was perfect. The butt cap was again a nice Fuji buble knob plus it has a extended 8 incj EVA foam grip “Perfect for power casting and mounting securely on sand spikes without scratching the cork tape that followed up neatly to the reel seat. The fore grip also was “contoured nicely” EVA foam so the whole package was the best of both worlds with cork tape and Eva foam for a good grip, leverage and a good overall feel.
The rod is 11.4 inches which is a unorthadox length… the butt half is actually 4 inches longer than the top… this seemed odd to me until I put the two pieces together and started whipping the rod around. Wow what a perfectly balanced rod! Once again it felt more like a MH plugging rod and a heaver… I slapped on a hot roded ABU 7001i (with the bushings replaced with ceramic bearings, and a double bearing level wind) I ran out to beach to give this rod its first test run…
I put on a 6 oz Hopkins and casted into a good head wind….
The power of this rod in ratio to its light weight is amazing! I was hitting 120 yards like it was nothing ! The creamy powerful loadup of the Medium heavy TC4 blank has to be felt to be believed what a joy to use…. Man with every cast I was saying wow!
Now I bought this rod for bait fishing, 6 and 8 oz and bait…. Long casts and deadsticking… but I can see that this rod will easily double as a big metal and tin stick for storms and big water. Ive been having great luck “snapping a Hopkins from the beach” and also Butterfly Jigging off a beach too! With this rod and a good smooth reel casting a 6 oz Butterfly jig you can clear 150 yards and more….. now jig that baby back and watch what happens!
Anyway I just love this rod… another winner from Dblue.. even at $149 I still consider it a steal! Its a first class big water big bait big fish rod…. But it wont destroy your arms because is as light as a feather and has that great long nicely designed and perfectly balanced handle.
Just for kicks I fliped it over and slapped on a Daiwa Emblem Pro 5500 with 50 pound braid and was still hitting over 120 yards with a Hopkins casting “regular tempo without any real huffing and puffing”
Im really Glad I bought this rod! It is heads and shoulders over my Tsnamis and Okumas ( those are also good rods but a bit stiff and cumbersome compared to this sweet new technology rod) the Dblue is using the lastest technology blank and components and once again performs more like a plugging rod than a heaver…
I would put the sweet spot at 6 oz but I also tried casting really hard leaning into 8oz and a whole squid and the rod didnt event “creek” …
This is the next generation folks, something new, and different.. a sweet darling of a rod for medium heavy fishing, long casts and strong performance at light weight.
I cant stop casting this rod, its a joy to use… I love it!
Bravo to Lily and the folks at Dblue this Royal Conventional 11ft.4” is right up there with with the finest casting surf conventional rods Ive ever used , warrenty and everything … for 149 bucks its still a steal…
If your thinking of getting into heavy baits and long casting but dont have the extra time and Money for back therapy this is a rod you should check out.
For those of you that dont know there is a patented Shimano graphite building proceedure called TC4. Under the Shimano name your talking $300 plus…. Well Dblue has somehow gotten the okey to use this material (maybe there are cousins or something? I dont know) but one thing I do know is that I like this TC4 blank material very very much.. its loads up like Eglass “slow , strong and powerfull” but has the crispness of graphite. The naterial is as strong as an OX yet very light. You get a nice tip action and good backbone…
I own a 10 ft TC4 Dblue spinner which is my go to rod now for blood and guts surfcasting… the fuji guides and reel seat hold up to the salt stoutly and perform without a hitch, the buttcap is a nice doorknob kinda fuji cap and cork tape on the handle gives it a classy sweet feel.
So I wanted to buy a new heaver.. a nice 8 + bait rod to fishing deep fast water and casting over 100 yards with BIG BAITS.. problem is that all the 12 foot heavers I have are stiff and a bit top heavy….
I ordered the 11.4” Royal Conventional without hesditation even though the old “under $100” Dblue prices are no more… The nice customer service lady Lily says that the first year they blew them out at cost to get market recognition and this year they were hit with manufacturing price increases as well…. But judging from the great quality of my last Dblue rods I had no problem buying the 11.4” rod at its new price $149 dollars.
Okey here is my review,,,
The first things that struck me about the rod right away when I removed it from the rod tube was …
Man it was as light as a feather! I mean we are talking about a heaver here.. it was surprisingly light. They seem to have refined the TC4 material even more.. The blank was thin and it felt more like a plugging rod than a heaver.
Secondly the blank color was “absolutely gorgeous” a rich deep 3D Dark Aqua blue/Green gone were the multi colored warps of the older models and instead it sported stealthy jet black single wraps without the heavy epoxy and excessive underwraps of the first models… MMMMMMMMmmmmmm sharp looking rod!
The handle was a intriquing design, first of all it was as long as it should be 31” from the butt to the center of the reel seat. When your sling heavy baits you need that leverage for a smooth power charged cast. Having long arms I always had a problem with short handled rods. But this one was perfect. The butt cap was again a nice Fuji buble knob plus it has a extended 8 incj EVA foam grip “Perfect for power casting and mounting securely on sand spikes without scratching the cork tape that followed up neatly to the reel seat. The fore grip also was “contoured nicely” EVA foam so the whole package was the best of both worlds with cork tape and Eva foam for a good grip, leverage and a good overall feel.
The rod is 11.4 inches which is a unorthadox length… the butt half is actually 4 inches longer than the top… this seemed odd to me until I put the two pieces together and started whipping the rod around. Wow what a perfectly balanced rod! Once again it felt more like a MH plugging rod and a heaver… I slapped on a hot roded ABU 7001i (with the bushings replaced with ceramic bearings, and a double bearing level wind) I ran out to beach to give this rod its first test run…
I put on a 6 oz Hopkins and casted into a good head wind….
The power of this rod in ratio to its light weight is amazing! I was hitting 120 yards like it was nothing ! The creamy powerful loadup of the Medium heavy TC4 blank has to be felt to be believed what a joy to use…. Man with every cast I was saying wow!
Now I bought this rod for bait fishing, 6 and 8 oz and bait…. Long casts and deadsticking… but I can see that this rod will easily double as a big metal and tin stick for storms and big water. Ive been having great luck “snapping a Hopkins from the beach” and also Butterfly Jigging off a beach too! With this rod and a good smooth reel casting a 6 oz Butterfly jig you can clear 150 yards and more….. now jig that baby back and watch what happens!
Anyway I just love this rod… another winner from Dblue.. even at $149 I still consider it a steal! Its a first class big water big bait big fish rod…. But it wont destroy your arms because is as light as a feather and has that great long nicely designed and perfectly balanced handle.
Just for kicks I fliped it over and slapped on a Daiwa Emblem Pro 5500 with 50 pound braid and was still hitting over 120 yards with a Hopkins casting “regular tempo without any real huffing and puffing”
Im really Glad I bought this rod! It is heads and shoulders over my Tsnamis and Okumas ( those are also good rods but a bit stiff and cumbersome compared to this sweet new technology rod) the Dblue is using the lastest technology blank and components and once again performs more like a plugging rod than a heaver…
I would put the sweet spot at 6 oz but I also tried casting really hard leaning into 8oz and a whole squid and the rod didnt event “creek” …
This is the next generation folks, something new, and different.. a sweet darling of a rod for medium heavy fishing, long casts and strong performance at light weight.
I cant stop casting this rod, its a joy to use… I love it!
Bravo to Lily and the folks at Dblue this Royal Conventional 11ft.4” is right up there with with the finest casting surf conventional rods Ive ever used , warrenty and everything … for 149 bucks its still a steal…
If your thinking of getting into heavy baits and long casting but dont have the extra time and Money for back therapy this is a rod you should check out.
