Abu Garcia

Abu Garcia Villain 2.0 9ft MH 20-50g

160.00

In this age where the anti-hero is gaining more popularity on the silver screen Abu Garcia was perhaps ahead of the curve with the villainous naming of their freshwater bass rod series. We’ve already told you about the newly revamped Villain 2.0 series with our review of the VC70-6 casting rod. Today we take a look at the gentler side of Villain with our review of their VS610-4 spinning rod.

Impressions: The VS610-4 spinning rod from Abu Garcia is a six foot, ten inch (6′-10″) long stick made from 40 ton graphite. This is reportedly among the highest grade graphite you can source for the purposes of building a fishing rod. The blank features Abu Garcia’s proprietary “V-Wrap” which is a method of reinforcing the blank similar to what many of the JDM rod manufacturers now do (e.g. Megabass Orochi XX, Evergreen International Kaleido). The VS610-4’s blank is finished with a clear gloss coat. Overall the rod feels very light and well balanced in hand. Abu makes use of Fuji’s new TVS Spinning reel seat that features aggressive, exposed blank cutouts on either side of the rod. The VS610-4’s guides are titanium framed with Zirconia inserts probably made by Abu Garcia (Or their parent company, Pure Fishing) themselves.

Real World Tests: Anxious to take this aggressive looking spinning rod out for a spin, I paired it with both a Daiwa Exceler 2500SH spooled with ten pound (10lb) Sunline Super Natural nylon monofilament, and a Pfleuger Supreme SP35X spooled with six pound (6lb) Stren nylon monofilament on separate trips.

Casting: The VS610-4 is rated for between one eighth to one half ounce (1/8 – 1/2 oz) lure weight and actually feels like a much lighter powered stick than that in hand. I fished it initially with some 1/8th ounce shakey heads but on a separate occasion rigged up a drop shot setup with very minimal weight at the end of the line (1/16th oz weight). It handled all those baits extremely well and with its nine inch (9″) rear handle, is very comfortable with both one and two handed casting.

Sensitivity: The rod’s 40ton graphite composition is very apparent. You can feel a lot of what’s going on at the end of your line even with just nylon monofilament. I didn’t get a chance to fish this stick with some nice fluorocarbon at the end of the line – I didn’t have to its sensitivity is so good – but I know it would shine with some Sunline Shooter or Seaguar Tatsu spooled on your reel. This stick’s blank together with that aggressive Fuji TVS reel seat really inspire confidence that you’re going to feel the great majority of hits you receive while fishing.

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