Fishing Rod Review Process
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Scoring Criteria For All Rods
When reviewing fishing rods we focus on 4 main key attributes.
- Build quality
- Casting & feel
- Playing fish
- Value for money
Build Quality
When assessing the build quality of a fishing rod we focus on the raw materials used to build the rod and how they knit together to output the rod’s overall performance.
One of the key parts of this assessment is the blank. We look at how it was made, how it feels, its power, its subtlety, its overall balance as well as the materials used to build it.
We also focus on the quality, materials and performance of the handle, the reel seat, and the eyes on the rod.
Casting & Feel
Without stating the obvious here, we test how the rod casts both short distances and longer distances. We are examining how smooth the cast is and how much effort is required to gain the desired distance.
We also test accuracy to see if the rod (in the right hands) can hit a designated spot a certain number of times. The more times the rod casts the required distances with the required accuracy, the higher it scores.
Playing Fish
Let’s face it, we all go fishing to catch fish. We also want to enjoy the experience when doing so. Rods are reviewed in this category by simply catching fish and rating the experience of the fight.
We are looking at how a rod can dictate a fight, i.e. its power, how subtle it is and most importantly how enjoyable it is to play fish on.
Value For Money
As an angler, you may have heard of the term ‘Tackle Tax’. If you haven’t, it’s when fishing tackle brands charge an extortionate amount of money when you can get the same quality product a lot cheaper elsewhere.
Under the ‘value for money’ review, we value and score the rod for its price-point against its quality and actual worth.
What Is The Scoring System
At eTackle, the scoring system is the same no matter the item of fishing tackle being reviewed. The only things that change are the actual attributes being tested which is dependant on the type of tackle being assessed.
For more detail on the scoring system you can check out our dedicated reviews page.
Carp Rod Review Process
Reviewing carp rods is where it all started with eTackle and so is kind of our forte. For this reason we have a lot of first hand experience and often use this in our reviews.
We also utilise opinions of vetted experts in the field to ensure the reviews are well-balanced with different opinions and experiences. Here is a list of our current sources that have helped with our carp rod reviews.
Coarse Fishing Rod Review Process
Our coarse fishing rod reviews contain a variety of experiential hands on experience with well researched opinion and experiences from anglers on a number of platforms (including our own Facebook group.)
They actually cover a wide range of disciplines and specialities which we have guides on. These include:
The following sources have been vetted for quality and fairness and have been used in our research on coarse fishing rods when we are reviewing them
- Match Fishing Magazine
- Angling Times
- Tench Fishers
- Maggot Drowning Forum
- Barbel Fishing World Forum
Pike/Predator Rod Review Process
Our pike and predator rod reviews have been carefully selected to cover all method types with spinning rods, boat rods and deadbait rods being the most goto types.
The majority of predator rods have been tested and reviewed by ourselves with some additional support from expert resources that have been verified for accuracy. These sources include:
- Pikers Pit
- Fishing Magic Forum
Sea Fishing Rod Review Process
Our sea rod reviews mostly comprise of well-researched opinions and expertise from the sea angling community with some being tried and tested by the etackle team.
When we review a rod via research we take into account anglers comments and opinions as well as expert reviews from experienced sea anglers.
We always cite the sources from reviews if they are carried out by research and will always refer to our experience of certain features or materials used that in our assessment of the rod.
A combination of experience, anglers personal use of the rod, opinions and research all go into scoring a sea rod in a way that is fair and consistent. Here are our main review sources when researching a sea fishing rod:
Etackles dedication to providing a useful platform where anglers can find unbiased opinions with qualitative data that helps to compare, is the reason why we utilise our own experiences alongside that of other experts and anglers in amongst communities.
We have some main guides on fishing rods that utilises this process and picks out the top rods that have been reviewed and researched. These can be found here: