DAIWA MISSION X PIKE ROD

Though I’ve worked for Daiwa for over 20 years, it has sometimes been hard work getting them to produce a 3lb test curve pike rod. In the early days the problem was overrated rods.

That meant that a 3lb test rod was coming in at 2.75lb. Eventually the Dictator arrived and for years a lot of pike anglers fished happily with them. I still have and use all my original rods. During that time I’ve only ever seen one broken and that was by a Mr. I cannot mention his name here. He had snagged up on the Shannon and was intent on either pulling the snag up or breaking off. He put the rod into an improbably 180 degree bend instead of pointing the rod at the snag. As I was about to say “I wouldn’t do that if I were you” the spigot snapped. A bit of an unfair test that! The good news is that Daiwa has a spare spigot so that rod isn’t dead yet!

Then a combination of price and the difficulty in finding more of the specialised carbon saw an end to Dictator production. I kept going on and on at Daiwa to produce a rod in the Mission series using similar blanks to the ones they were using for their carp rods. Eventually the 3lb Mission X arrived. I have had the rods in use for 4 months now and to be honest I cannot tell the difference between them and the Dictators.

The method of joining the two sections is different i.e. an over fit joint rather than a spigot, but I cannot notice any meaningful difference in action. The rod is ringed up properly so it folds into two equal sections and for the tackle tarts it looks nice as well. Retailing at £84.99 instead of the £150 of a Dictator, buying three Missions leaves you enough money to buy three reels!