You might be wondering why on earth I am reviewing another APIA Foojin’RS rod today which sounds so similar to Monday’s (awesome) Vivogue 96ML+ 9’6’’ 6-38g, but this APIA Foojin’RS Sky High 99M 9’9’’ 8-42g is a different type of lure rod. On paper we’ve got two fishing rods which sound like they might be rather similar in how they fish, but what we actually have is two very different rods which happen to share similar lengths and casting weights on a spec sheet. Let’s call this APIA Foojin’RS Sky High 99M 9’9’’ 8-42g the Sky High to make things easier………….
The Sky High then - an all round cannon of a lure rod which copes extremely well with all kinds of lures in the 8-42g range in any conditions you’d expect to use these types of lures. An immensely capable all rounder. A rod action which most UK bass anglers will be very used to and extremely comfortable with, including me. Plenty of easily accessible power, the rod feels like it bends progressively as one whole length of carbon if that makes sense. It doesn’t feel like there's a tip, mid-section or butt-section when you cast, it just feels complete. Fast and light, it’s not going to bite back at all. Perfect handle length. The bass angler who fishes with hard lures, surface lures, soft plastics and metals and wants to fish from rod tip to horizon over reefs and rocks and beaches and headlands is going to find something within this rod to suit them. As I said, the all rounder, but because it’s a high-end APIA rod, an all rounder done seriously well.
So with the Sky High we’ve got a lure fishing rod which an angler could happily waggle in a tackle shop if they are drawn to rods around the 9’6’’ length (yes, I know it’s 9’9’’ long, but it feels just like a good 9’6’’ in the hand instead of being closer again to 10’). That angler in the shop might like how it feels, drop some not insignificant amount of money on it, take it home, strap a spinning reel on, take it fishing, and find out over some decent real world fishing time that they’ve got themself a hugely efficient, long-range weapon that can cover all their bass fishing. In many respects this Sky High isn’t a surprising rod at all because it feels so comfortable and reassuring to fish with a lure rod like this. It does what it feels like it’s going to do, but it does it all really, really well. When I am casting it bends how I’d expect it to, I keep grinning at how far literally any lure up to 42g goes, I literally can’t get this rod to bite back if my timing is a bit off, and when I start retrieving a hard lure or working a surface lure it all just feels completely together. I’ll put soft plastics into that mix as well.
Which is what I would expect from an expensive 9’9’’ lure fishing rod rated to cast and fish with 8-42g. For sure I can’t feel the rod bending as much when I punch something light like the SG Pop Walker 2.0 9cm/11g surface lure into a bit of a headwind, but it makes a pretty good job of it. You’d expect a rod this expensive to not even be straining when I absolutely full-blood the 35g or 40g Surf Seeker - it’s obscene how far they go - but what’s perhaps most impressive is how a rod which can fish an 11g surface lure so well can also bang at absolute full power the bulkier, much higher volume (than a comparable metal) Savage Gear Surf Walker 2.0 18cm/42.5g Sinking surface lure. Yep, you know it, it makes me giggle when that lure goes out on this rod. You want to fish the Patchinko 140 at the lure’s maximum range? Use it on this Sky High.
It’s staggering firstly how good the rod feels when casting a bulkier lure like this which is right at the top end of the casting weight, secondly how far this particular lure goes, and thirdly how efficient it is to then fish lures like this with this rod. But then you clip on something like “my” Gravity Stick 120 Pintail on its 4/0 2g belly-weight hook and twitch it around and I’m just as happy. If you are after a lure rod which feels like a 9’6’’ and which can genuinely fish almost every single bass lure in a typical lure box, plus you want to drop some cash, then you need to see this Sky High 99M 9’9’’ 8-42g. Nothing about how the rod bends and fishes is going to surprise any bass anglers who have experience of a few different rods - I mean this is a very good thing by the way - because this Sky High does what you expect it bloody well.
I don’t need to bang on about this rod for much longer because it’s the sort of rod I am naturally drawn to. This M code Sky High is a very different design to the ML+ Vivogue from Monday and my guess is that most anglers would be drawn more to this Sky High than the Vivogue via the good old waggle test. Count me in there but then I am lucky enough to get to spend time with rods like these. As I have already says, this Sky High is what you’d expect from a really good 9’6’’ or thereabouts 8-42g lure rod - with some APIA magic sprinkled in - whereas Monday’s Vivogue has gone and completely surprised me with how much I can get a rod like that to work for me. Delightful dilemmas which are most likely going to end up hurting my bank account. You all have a good weekend and I hope that enough of you have got something out of the three APIA rod reviews this week. I am going to be at The Big One Show this weekend doing some stuff with Savage Gear. I know very little about this rather large fishing show other than it’s historically a carp and freshwater show but they are starting to introduce more lure fishing to it. Really interested to see how it goes. Thank you as always for taking the time to read my blog posts and correspond with me. Back to whatever passes for normal on this blog next week, I hope you have enjoyed getting to know three of these immensely capable APIA Foojin’RS lure fishing rods……………
If by any chance the thought of owning a rod like this Sky High makes you feel “sky high” - sorry, I know, it’s pathetic! - then please follow one of the links (in blue) through to the Art of Fishing where you will be able to preorder one. I believe that a bunch of these new APIA Foojin’RS rods are coming back into stock in March/April, and then it could be a long wait for the next lot. Get in there now if you want this rod.
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