Seeker Hercules, light weight jig rod; product review August 22, 2010 Seeker rod company is again cutting the leading edge with the advent of the new Hercules series composite saltwater rods, to borrow the phrase, the best just keep getting better. Originally designed as an east coast jigging rod the Hercules is finding crossover applications here in the live bait fishery of the west coast. In fact, to this writer/captain, the Hercules is a major advancement, maybe one of the biggest jumps in saltwater rod technology in the last three years, since Seeker first introduced it's Super Seeker series of S-glass/composite rods to the market place.
Three weeks ago, Joe Pfister graciously donated four of the more popular actions of the Hercules for passengers and crew to try out. Yellowtail, Bluefin and finally larger Yellowfin tuna all succumbed to the diminutive Hercules rods. The surprise to most who used these mini-titans was first the weight of the outfit. When paired with a small Accurate or Avet two speed reel this rod/reel combo weighs in at only 2/3rd's of a "standard" west coast live bait outfit used to land the same size of game fish. Standing at the rail at Alijos, Guadalupe or during a plunker bluefin bite has never been easier on your arms and lower back. Next would be the ease of casting. Most thought that with the inherent parabolic action of a jig rod that it wouldn't cast a live bait well. What we found is that if you slow your casting stroke down and let the rod work for you and it easily delivers a live sardine or anchovy distances as far or further than its fast action cousins. Finally, how does it pull? Does it have enough of a butt? The expression of surprise graced the faces of hooked-up anglers as they found out first hand some expected surprises.
The recoil of the graphite/S-glass combo is almost too fast to keep up with in low gear, and many of us just kept the two-speed in high to keep the rods loaded and pulling hard. The Hercules is constructed from the finest components available. First thing you will notice is that these aren't your black or blond rods from yesteryear,
Seeker has painted the blanks in a high gloss epoxy in what I would like to call "West Coast" red, but if you look hard enough at the local tackle shops, there is also a green, blue and clear available, but for the most part these colors are an east coast exclusive. A graphite core from butt to tip is surrounded by Seeker's superior S-glass, then bonded together with the EH04 resin system, this makes for an incredibly small diameter, light weight blank. American tackle "Virtus" ring lock guides with solid titanium frame and nanolite rings seem to have solved the age old problem of the silicon carbide rings popping out and beside that they look good. We have only seen a trickle amount of the Hercules rods on the water so far from passengers, but I am sure next season there will be more as I see young and old anglers riding the new wave of small rods, small reels, spectra and short top-shots. With this first step towards gearing the rods to accommodate the power of the small reels Seeker rods are again proving that the company is leading the pack and pushing boundaries for the west coast fisherman.
Bruce A. Smith
Captain M/V Shogun
