Okuma NOMAD Travel Spinning Rod

I bought this for my son and he has taken it on several long arduous back pack trips. He said it is very well made and even more important has caught him a bunch of fish.

I received the Okuma Nomad spinning rod today (NT-S-703L-ML). The butt section was lighter than I expected and I was very curious to see how my Penn Spinfisher VI 7500 was going to balance out with the rod. Assembled with the lighter tip section, the center of balance was about 3-4 inches in front of the reel seat. So the rod was a little tip heavy with this reel, when holding the rod at the reel seat, but not enough to send the rod back. The rod is stiff so it will not be a good casting rod, but should do very well for jigging, which I plan on doing with it. The rod is marked with a 15-40 line weight, which the rod should be able to handle based on the feel of the rod. But the true test will be fishing with it this winter in Mexico ( deep jigging ) and see how the material and workmanship hold up.

I wanted something portable since my bigger rods don't fit in my trunk. Its good for boat fishing but not for casting or piers. Very sturdy for a 3 piece. Price was a steal compared to Basspro and other stores.

In my personal opinion, this size combo is a little useless compared to the 30-60lb version. Pole base is very thick and heavy and a bit much if you were looking to use the lighter size tip of this combo. The 30-60 seems to more appropriately fit the overall rod size.

Nice boat rod.

I like this rod for saltwater fishing for bigger fish. I was fishing in the Keys in March and worked the shallow reefs. The rod is too heavy for that. Most fish I caught were in the 10-16" range. However, I caught a 12" blue runner on a lighter rod and used it as barracuda bait. For that I used the Okuma rod with the 40lb tip. It was ideal for that. I got a strong hit from a 3' barracuda, but he didn't take the hook enough to set it. Nevertheless, for that kind of fishing, the rod is great.

Great rod. Perfect for air travel. Carry on is no problem and comes in a nice case. I had a lot of fun casting swim baits.

Had to ship to Hawks Cay Marathon Fl.Just a little to long in break drop mode to fit in suit case (I did bring 2 Okuma travel rods and 2 TRL travel rods)not enough room for gear and clothes. But they are good strong rods that I will use in my local NJ saltwater waters.