I recently had the opportunity to test the new Enigma HPT Gen 2 fishing rods. It has solid cork handles, a sleek black blank with green accents, and every rod is fine-tuned actions for every need. Raising the bar on both price point and performance, every aspect of the HTP Gen2 Titanium Casting Rods were designed with extreme attention to detail. These high-performance tournament level rods are designed with premium, ultra-light Japanese Toray Carbon proprietary blend blanks.
Enigma Fishing has customized, and precision balanced each individual HPT Gen2 rod to be ultra-functional, exceptionally beautiful and tailored to exacting actions and specifications demanded by today’s tournament anglers.
The blank-through reel seats offer finger-to-blank contact for unparalleled sensitivity and offers incredible ergonomics and palm-able comfort, while further reducing weight as well. Premium cork grips balance out each rod perfectly!
I reviewed model number EHPT66MB-MH 6’6” Medium Heavy bait casting rod that was designed for 3/8-3/4-ounce lures and 10 to 20-pound test line. I paired it up with a Quantum Smoke reel spooled with 10-pound Seaguar Red Label fluorocarbon and I tried a variety of lures in different weights, so I could really test the rod fully. While the rod says, swim jigs, jigs, spinnerbaits, Texas rigs, and topwater, I went beyond that and tied on a suspending jerkbait, a lipless crankbait, a squarebill, and a medium diving crankbait in addition to the techniques specified.
I found that the rod was very sensitive, and I could tell when I was making contact with anything and everything. I was able to tell if I hit wood or rock, hard bottom or loose sand, and if I had just a slight bit of grass on my lure. The rod loaded up great on crankbaits, not being too stiff, but giving just right so I didn’t pull the lure out of the bass’ mouth. But, it had enough backbone to handle the fight of bass in excess of 6 pounds (the largest I managed to land) with ease. The rod felt great in my hand and was very comfortable to use for an entire day.
I would recommend this rod to anyone, from the bank angler looking to have a dependable rod that can handle a variety of techniques and lures to an angler fishing in a small boat or kayak. And I would highly recommend the full line of rods to any serious angler looking for technique specific rods.
You can check out the full lineup of HPT rods on the Enigma website at www.enigmarods.com and at Tackle Warehouse or your local sporting goods retailer. The casting rods come in lengths from 6’ Medium Heavy to 7’11” Flipping Extra Heavy and the spinning rods come in 4 sizes, 6’9” Drop Shot Medium, 6’11” Medium, 7’ Medium Heavy and 7’2” Medium. And they start at just $149, a great price for true performance.
By Bruce Callis