Xzoga Blanks, Pe & Leader

[DaFrogman]

Hola All,

Just had a heads up on this range of blanks and line from what looks to be a new player in the crowded jigging tackle marketplace.... Anyone seen or heard of these guys before?.

Have a look at the rod blank specs at;

Welcome to Xzoga.com - Your 1st choice of Fishing Rod

Wall thickness certainly seems decent and the blanks test pics are very reminiscent of products from JM and the like. Pics below.

Saimee

[edylie]

Hi Saimee,

I have never seen or heard about this brand before but it does look really good. I dont think there is any shop here in SG carrying it yet but i might be wrong.

Actually it kinda reminds me of jigging master

I check out their contact us ... they are from Malaysia - Johor Bahru? ... I thought this was a Japanese Brand.

Btw their rod was engineered using "V9 construction concept".
Wondering what is that???

Excerpt from the website

The TEAMXZOGA®, a group of professional rod builders and veteran anglers that has over 20 years of experiences in sport fishing industry that had been always dedicated to new innovative ideas and challenges, evaluate and professionally designed, engineered to create a new trend using the supreme quality new rods plus the V9 construction concept, thus, the XZOGA® was born! Fully computerize design process helps the TEAMXZOGA® to estimate and develop the rod to fully utilize its “Super Power” and “Incredible Action” more precisely and efficiently which offers the anglers a different level of fishing experience.

Cheers,
Edy

[12345]

Saimee, Fred fishing store been the only appointed agent in Brunei, the blank will arrive by next week, heard thinner, stronger n cheaper than JM. (no offend)

[Juan]

their so-called rod testers are from rompin? lol rem their faces from KF VCD

[DaFrogman]

Cheng dude,

Yes, I heard that Fred had been appointed sole distributor for BD.... Spoke to Richard yesterday evening, I would be very interested to feel the action on the blank.

I reckon that the blanks and rods will be similar to JM in action, but I want to have a better idea of the finishing quality and what kind of warranty (if any) they offer on their blanks....

Saimee

[12345]

Saimee,
All Xzoga product arrived at Fred fishing shop this noon, go n check it out, heard very good lifting power.

Juan,
One of the Johor tester told me much better than JM n Expert.

[rain]

I had a Exoga PE1.5-3 Rod.

Yup the rod is built in Johor Bahru.

I will take picture of the rod if there is a chance.

For now I have been using as my deep sea jigging rod, have used it in KK Sabah, but didn't land anything beside a small red grouper.

Not really have a chance to test it against Amberjack

But the load test on the rod is very impressive

Bought the rod in the showroom beside the factory in July this year.

[12345]

Test out some Xzoga blanks justnow, fast taper, solid , light and cheap (rm3++ only) , will get the 16kg series.

[stickbom!]

*sigh* so much tackle... so little time to fish... must stay away from the internet/fishing magazines/tackle shops man RM3XX... this will definitely give JM some stiff competition here.

[MarkR]

Xzoga certainly looks interesting but without some proper field reports on good fish and without clocking hours of usage in the field I think it's hard to say how good or bad a new blank is.

Another promising range of jig blanks are APS's Tuna Max line:

Angler's Pro Shop

[12345]

Not sure same with Taiwan Tuna Max blank or not, if yes think AO will carry lol.....

The xzoga PE#10 list price rm388 only. will try to call Johor guy give me one to abuse, frankly the action like G-Craft backbone.

[Makaira]

Looking at these newer generation "new world" specialist jigging blanks, it appears that the bend-to-the-butt slow action concept has gone out the window. Perhaps they finally realized that some decent butt power is required to effectively handle big fish

[DaFrogman]

Actually,

Come to think of it, the "bend" pics are kinda reminiscent of the Tuna Max and if these blanks do indeed have a similar action, I think I would definitely have another rod to add to my "Build" list....must drop by Freds tomorrow to see if he still has the blanks there....

Mak,

Your observations are spot on, I have always been a fast action blank fan aka the Calstar Grafighters.... Wonder who wolud be willing to acid wrap one for me 'cos Ben said "No" the last time I asked him hehehehhehehe....

Regards,

Saimee

[MarkR]

Well guys, not necessarily...jig rods with full parabolic action are still very "in". Take a look at CB-One's new Zero range of jig rods. The Shortlide meant for short jigs has a medium-fast taper while the Longlide designed for long jigs has a slow taper:

CB ONE PRODUCTS [ROD] ZERO

In general, I guess a parabolic action blank is thought to impart better action to long and heavy jigs. Easier to work heavy jigs with the parabolic action too. CB-One's deep jigging 70XH is also a full parabolic rod

tight lines

[Makaira]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Well guys, not necessarily...jig rods with full parabolic action are still very "in". Take a look at CB-One's new Zero range of jig rods. The Shortlide meant for short jigs has a medium-fast taper while the Longlide designed for long jigs has a slow taper:

CB ONE PRODUCTS [ROD] ZERO

In general, I guess a parabolic action blank is thought to impart better action to long and heavy jigs. Easier to work heavy jigs with the parabolic action too. CB-One's deep jigging 70XH is also full parabolic rod

tight lines

That's why I said "new world" i.e. outside of Japan; as in new world wines -- outside of Europe, in particular France

To me, it is a matter of personal preference. Apart from supposedly imparting better action on the jig, many users of slow action rods are of the opinion that parabolic action puts less hurt on the angler. For me, I'd rather put the hurt on the fish. If the fish "hurts" me, that's half the fun of fishing anyways

[MarkR]

I'm running a bit slow these days so please excuse me Mak

Anyone knows where Xzoga blanks are made?

[DaFrogman]

MarkR and Mak,

I just handled the the PE5 and PE8 blanks, they are definitely fast action blanks but with the lockup coming into play just over one third of the rod length from the tip. In many ways its almost like a GF760L, but lighter, thinner and at lockup feels pretty solid.

I don't know where the blank is made, someone mentioned Malaysia, but blank looks to be nicely made, the ones I handled had a slightly ridged surface texture matching the pattern made by the Ti wire reinforcement wrapped around the outer skin of the blank.

Apparently the blank is unsanded and therefore is not as smoothly finished as some other similar blanks. I personally am fine with that since the sanding of the blank tends to take off material and needs to be done very precisely to avoid compromising the blank structure. The sidewalls of the butt section are as shown in the pictures i.e. THICK.

I will be getting the lighter PE5 version to build a more medium action stick for a smaller reel like an 870 or maybe a Saltiga Z30... hmmmm need to save up guys...

Saimee

[MarkR]

Hi DFM,

Yes, the Xzoga blanks do look very nice. Going by the specs on their website, Xzoga blanks would be slimmer and thinner than J/M and Tuna Max for the same line class.

Incidently, I picked up the december issue of rod & line today and in it was a Xzoga advert- looks like Xzoga's field testers are the Rompin Chong brothers and some guys from the Kingfisher team. Xzoga could be Malaysian made I suppose, check out the scan below.

tight lines

[12345]

MarkR,
Pretty sure not make in M'sia, they invited me to be their tester in Brunei few months back but i reject cos .....go fishing ONLY wear their T, used their rod and frequently Catch Report.

[MarkR]

Thanks 12345,

Is Xzoga OEM for Thomas/JDARTAC?

How long are the blanks? Length corresponds to last 2 digits? Taka-G 56 = 5'6"?

Don't think they are the same as Tuna Max...Tuna Max supposed to have a solid glass tip I believe.

cheers

[Blackmarlin]

Originally Posted by rain

I had a Exoga PE1.5-3 Rod.

Yup the rod is built in Johor Bahru.

I will take picture of the rod if there is a chance.

For now I have been using as my deep sea jigging rod, have used it in KK Sabah, but didn't land anything beside a small red grouper.

Not really have a chance to test it against Amberjack

But the load test on the rod is very impressive

Bought the rod in the showroom beside the factory in July this year.

Brother,

Where is that factory?

[12345]

Originally Posted by MarkR

Thanks 12345,

Is Xzoga OEM for Thomas/JDARTAC?

How long are the blanks? Length corresponds to last 2 digits? Taka-G 56 = 5'6"?

Don't think they are the same as Tuna Max...Tuna Max supposed to have a solid glass tip I believe.

cheers

Only can tell you this blank appear in China fishing exhibition. Here are the spec:

5'6" x-fast action PE 8 -10 MAX.600GM LURE WT. TESTED POWER 26KG
5'7" x-fast action PE 6 - 8 MAX.500GM LURE WT. TESTED POWER 20KG
5'8" x-fast action PE 5 - 6 MAX.400GM LURE WT. TESTED POWER 16KG
6'0" x-fast action PE 2 - 4 MAX.300GM LURE WT. TESTED POWER 12KG
6'6" x-fast action PE 4 - 6 MAX.400GM LURE WT. TESTED POWER 15KG

[rain]

Originally Posted by Blackmarlin

Brother,

Where is that factory?

Leonard Lim's shop in Taman Johor Jaya