A Noob Reviews the Okuma Noob Series XH

[BadChad1983]

Hi Guys-

I thought this would be a helpful review that everyone could link to when someone asks "which rod should I get and I don't want to spend a lot." It seems to be quite common on here and other forums.

Here is the cliff notes for those who just want the nuts and bolts and don't want to read the whole thing. Although I hope there are some nuggets in here that can help out fellow beginners like myself:

Are you new to swimbaiting and want a rod to throw 6-8 inch hudds? Will the Okuma guide series XH be a good rod to actually catch fish on with 6-8 inch hudds?

Yes and Yes. I have one, and I'd recommend it.

Can you throw a hudd gill on it?

Yes but prepare for a whole lot of backlashin. It can be done in a pinch.

Can you throw a 10 inch hudd on it?

Ummm maybe? I'm not brave enough.  If you got it for free and aren't very attached to it. In a pinch, with the rof 5, yeah you could get by.

Treble hooks?
No clue, I started with hudds. But it's fast action, or so it says, so probably not? Sorry...

To the full review:

As some of you know I'm basically a born again fisherman so to speak. Not in the religion sense at all, but in the I had put down my fishing pole for my bowhunting and girl chasing recreation activities in 2001 when I was 17. Now at 34 I got back into fishing after coming down with an illness and not being able to bowhunt this fall or chase girls.

To all my fellow noobs welcome to the world of big bait fishing. Let me guess, you want a rod to throw 6-8 inch hudds on right? Well despite what tactical bassin tells you there is such a rod! Yes, you can in fact catch fish on the Okuma Guide Series XH from the hudd gill all the way to the 8 inch hudd. I have yet to catch a fish on the 8 inch hudd because I have yet to fish it enough, but I can sure cast it far enough and set a hook into a tree so deep on what I thought was a strike I'm pretty dang sure I can get a hook into a bass with the XH.

Like most of you looking for a new rod can be very overwhelming. I drove myself downright crazy trying to decide which rod to get. Going the tactical bassin route and becoming even more confused about which rod to get from dobyns didn't help things. 

You're probably thinking this:

Wait a minute, the 795 is rated 1-5 ounces but I can really only throw the 68 at it's max end? Huh, then why is it rated to 5 and not to 3? Duh, oh well, at least it's a fast action. I know I'm just going to get the 806!

Then tactical bassin steps in and puts a stop to that...

But, but, but.... why is the 806 rated as fast action but is in reality the treble hook rod with a mod-fast action. Ahhhh, what should I do? I only want to throw two different frigging fishing lures?!?

I had got my first batch of hudds, a mix of 68s, hudd gills, and 8 inch hudds. At this point I only had a lew's mach whatever swimbait rod that was rated as a heavy and for lures up to 1 ounce. I also had mistakingly bought a denali bottom feeder catfish rod as this was the closest thing my local shop had that seemed reasonable to throw a hudd on.

Wrong, outgunned, just don't even try to use a bottom feeder catfish rod with a hudd no matter what the sales person tells you. Hudds operate on some sort of alien outer space level of physics that make a 2.5 ounce lure feel like 5.

At this point I had tried to make it work with my lew's swimbait/swimjig rod and the bottom feeder but man oh man I could tell that trying to set the hook with the lews wasn't going to make good things happen. Especially with a weedless 68 hudd...

I was dying to fish my hudds but knew I needed a proper stick. Which mind you I caught fish on my trusty berkley lightning spinning rod with lures in all kinds of weight classes well outside it's stated limits. So this whole under powered swimbait rod thing really confused me.

I read enough reviews and what not and it wasn't until I read an article giving advice to beginning swimbaiters that I just had enough and ordered the okuma guide series in XH. Some experienced guy who I sure wish I could remember and give proper credit to said go with the heavier rod and you will still be able to cast light stuff. So I went on amazon and with prime shipping, it was just a couple clicks and I had a real life swimbait rod at my doorstep. 

When I first opened up the package I was like holy cow. Now I see what all the fuss was about. I've never owned a flipping stick, but this sure ain't no bottom feeder catfish rod. I actually enjoy casting with this thing! Hallelujah!

I promptly went out and started chucking my 68s and just having a blast. I'm still learning how to make the rod cast farther and work more for me, but I can verify that I've caught fish on this rod using lures as small as a 1 ounce live target threadfin shad on up to the 68 special (rof 12 even). 

I'm going to take this rod and pursue my first trout eater with the standard 8 inch hudd later this week and am eagerly looking forward to it.

What I now know about the rod vs what I was too much of a noob to know then.

First the good.
I have no problem whipping out 6 inch hudds, 68s, real prey alewife/shad, and the vaunted 8 inch hudd the proven DD catcher of them all. Even though the split grip isn't ideal for tuckin and swingin, I use a modified step back counter left hook sort of action complete with surfer cross step, yeah I know crossing feet and boxing don't mix... that I've adapted to bank fishing from Matt Peters in STE. I think the hook set on these big swimbaits is something that is often overlooked and not talked about enough btw. I'm still looking for info on this so if you have links to articles I'd love to read them.

Now the bad.
I hadn't watched STE before purchasing a swimbait stick and I flat out didn't know that parabolic action was a good thing! For real! I know Peters is hooking lots of those fish on hudds with trebles but still.

This will sound very noobish, but it ain't the rod just like it ain't the shoes that made Jordan, Peters and the other whos who of big baits, Mike Long, The Don Father, and the Babe Ruth of swimbait fishing himself Butch Brown, would still outfish the majority of swimbaiters if they used flip sticks because they are focusing more on technique than the latest hyped up bait.

Definitely get STE and watch it first. Not only will you be pumped up to go throw the big stuff but you'll learn alot. It was very calming to know that Peters was sticking fish with hudds, triple trouts, and Slammers on the Loomis 966 BBR which was wait for it... Moderate-Fast Action!!!! Ahhhh!!!! That's a good thing for hudds! Even with Mono?!? No way!!!

Way bro, wayyyy!

Now I've come to learn that most of the dedicated big bait guys are using a LDC 8'6 parabolic custom rod that I'm guessing isn't your typical extra fast tip rod... 

Mind officially blown. I thought you wanted as fast of an action rod as you could get?? Huh? Man I wish I wasn't smoking the OG during high school physics...

But back to my review of the Okuma XH. I think this rod was made for the beginners who are in an area where they can throw the 8 inch hudd and other similar jig hook baits and get enough bites that they can stick their first 100 fish or so on a big huddy.

I probably should have not bought anything bigger than a 68, and probably should have bought the heavy. Straight up. Got to learn to walk before you run.

The mod-fast heavy probably would have been more versatile and I probably shouldn't have thought I should be throwing the 8 inch to start being that I was still very new to baitcasting reels in general. I'm currently debating buying the Okuma heavy vs the dobyns 795 for smaller stuff like the hudd gill, real prey gill, maybe my cool new weedless and top hook hudd shads coming in right at 1 ounce or a little more.

Here are some pics to help visualize why you want enough rod to not only cast but set the hook. All hudds pictured are rof 5s with the exception of my hand sharpie highlighted chernobyl gill colored hudd gill.

Here is the 10 inch hudd on this rod. At this point I think we may be getting close to over powered. I have yet to cast this or my most prized swimbait, the 9 inch real prey baby bass because I'm thinking that I may be over powering the rod and bad things happen when you over power rods.



I feel like Garth when Kim Basinger tries to get him to kill her husband in Wayne's World 2. Whoa wayne, this is a foxy bait, but bad things are going to happen if I try to cast with this too much.

Keep in mind the 10 inch rof 5 hudd and real prey not so baby bass are right in this rod's listed range of ounces that can be thrown.

Shhhh-yyyyeaaahhhh right Wayne!

I'm not planning to even throw this until spring 2018 by which time I'll no doubt have at least an 8'6 custom rod as that seems to be the way this big bait mania plays out for most of the OG hard core guys. I'm pretty well over trying to learn this new drop shot fishing fad at this point and I don't even want to cast it if it ain't big bruh. I want to catch fish eaters, not worm eaters man!


Perhaps some of my more experienced big bait brothers can clue me in on this, but I'm guessing this is a little too much hudd for my XH. I could be completely wrong too. Probably going to need something in the XXH to do the deed with my 10 inch...

In the next pic here is the staple of double digits, the 8 inch hudd in phantom perch. I feel like Garth in Wayne's world doing the foxy lady dance casting an 8 inch hudd with this thing, load that rod tip up man and zing! My reel screaming out line has scared off every fish near me but I'm casting so far I only care about those ones wayyyyy out there anyway. 




I think this is right about the sweet spot for this rod. I like the amount of load on there for now and having nothing to compare it to. The 8 inch hudd is next up on my fish it 'til I catch something list of swimbaits and I'm guessing my first fish on an 8 inch hudd is going to break my current PB of 3.84 by a decent margin. Keep in mind this is Iowa guys...


Now this is the bottom end of what I now feel I can effectively cast plenty far and not have to worry about excessively backlashing myself. The 6 inch baby bass hudd in rof 5, which I think this should be a must own color for every beginning swimbaiter. As you can see there is still some load going on in the tip. I'm still perfectly in my comfort zone casting this huddy. Think Garth chilling with Wayne at the diner.

For all my fellow noobs having the tip load is a good thing, a very good thing, as the next pic will show.



Now here is the rod with not enough load. I can still cast and catch fish with the hudd gill rof 12, but I'm starting to feel like Garth trying to throw a football left handed when doing so.



As you can see there is little to no load going on here. No load is very much a bad thing the same as over load is a bad thing. I know that seems very elementary to all you OG guys but being a beginner with no frame of reference I was completely out of my element like  Donnie until I got some hands on experience.

I mean really that is kind of  what SU is all about right? Helping each other catch more big fish and keeping things positive when in the fishing world there is so much general negativity these days. Heck you can't even trust a crappie fisherman to release every bass they catch anymore!

What I initially liked about the rod:

It made casting a hudd so much more user friendly than a lew's heavy or a denali bottom feeder.
I thought the split grip looked rad because so many other swimbait sticks had full grips.
I thought I could for sure fish everything from my hudd gills to my 8 inch hudds on it, which after watching too many tactical bassin videos made me worried that every dobyns rod was only meant to fish one particular lure on. For a while I thought that I needed something different to fish every different ROF hudd on after watching too many of those. And now they are recommending Loomis rods? How is Matt Allen not fishing an LDC? Seriously? I love his enthusiasm but sometimes I feel he is more about pushing product than he is about really teaching me anything. 
I actually started slamming the hook home effectively, although somehow I'd get these fish to shore, lift them up out of the water, and they'd throw the hudd and I'd have to go diving for them like a hail mary in the super bowl.

What I don't like about the rod now:

I can't really get a good enough whip to cast the hudd gill as far as I'd like.
I wish I had gone with something with a full handle for better tucking action and mod-fast action so I could get more whip/load/parabolic funk on the rod when casting and could be more confident using future treble hooked baits that I don't own yet beyond a 6 inch spro bbz and a savage glide I literally can't give away on here.
I do genuinely feel bad when fishing the hudd gill and a dink bites close to shore surprising me and I hit the poor dink with my best swing and the dink goes flying into the wilderness (this has resulted in venomous poison ivy going and finding the poor dinks) and my hudd gill is up somewhere in a tree.

What I still like about the rod now:

I have plenty of stick to take with me and effectively fish everything from the real prey gill on up to an rof 12, 8 inch hudd. Granted it's not tactical bassin perfect for this, but seriously, f the Hype. 

If you're a beginner you should only be carrying one bait on the end of your rod, a bait knocker, a scale, megastrike as much as lube for hooking up as anything, your camera phone, be dressed in board shorts and maybe some goggles if you feel the need to go swimming after a hung up bait, and one back up hudd/real prey/mattlures in case you can't get your first one back. Oh and lots of water to get that lake water taste out of your mouth.

Was it worth the money? Yes.

Did it catch fish? Yes. Even on 1 ounce live target swimbaits, which btw, the live target threadfin shad is an awesome little fish catcher in both shad and non shad lakes. I have yet to throw any of my weedless hudd shads and only limited time with the retro top hook shad, but those little livetargets flat out catch fish. Bass, Wipers, Muskies, I even got my PB muskie in the low to mid 40s on the perch one and it still fishes fine with no mend it or bait surgery.

Was I more confident in this over either of the Dobyns Fury rods? Yes, because of their highly regarded warranty, if you have to spend 70 bones to get a replacement on a 120 dollar rod then it's pretty well totaled. I felt I knew what I was buying and what it was capable of more than any of the Dobyn's because I was going to have to buy blind being in Iowa.

Do I feel like a total hypocrite slamming savage gear products and recommending an Okuma rod? You betchya.

Who would I recommend this rod to? A beginning swimbaiter who is going to focus more on the 8 inch hudd and lives in a state where a DD is a real possibility. The state record in Iowa is 10lbs 12ozs. If I stick a 6 pound fish it will be huge. I realistically should be more focused on throwing 68s, 6s, hudd gills, etc, as a beginner in a state without Florida or F1 strain bass to get my confidence up.

What would I do different if I had it all to do over again?

1- Buy STE and watch it a dozen times to get in the right mindset.

2- Spend more time reading Mike Long's articles about eliminating water and all the other resources out there about technique and the where, when, whys, of big baiting and not focus on which lures to buy. I didn't start throwing hudds until mid July and was wondering why in the heck are all my bites coming at 1am and I can't get a fish to nudge my hudd during the vast majority of daylight but my fishing buddy is just slamming them  on senkos? Well duh, I know why now, but I didn't then.

3- Start smaller. Part of what gave me the confidence to continue throwing my 6 inch baby bass was seeing fish go bonkers over my grass minnows. Yes, during daylight in July. At first I thought they were broken because I couldn't see any action on the tail. I actually got a walleye to follow my grass minnow in on Mcbride, here in Iowa which was about like seeing a unicorn being rode by Pam Anderson circa 92 around these parts.

4- Should have bought the heavy from Okuma, got the mod fast action, and for the time of the year I was beginning my big bait dreams I should have focused more on smaller glides to actually catch fish at the non creeper hours around my local ponds and lakes. 


5- I should have bought the heavy and caught around 30 fish on the hudd gills, grass minnows/shads, livetarget swimbaits, and learned on smaller bass that I need a net because once you step up to hudd gills they are going flying in a hurry once you get the fish in. Man the bruises I got...

6- I'm still at a loss as far as line goes. Man oh man. Well fluoro is out because that stuff is too hard for a noob like me to manage. Going braid to just normal fluro is a really bad idea, especially with the palomar knot, DOH! Going braid to anything is just plain a bad idea with the uni to uni, rocking the fg knot and learning the hard way there currently. Oh you mean if you use mono you have to change your line every two days of hard fishing? Doh... learned that the hard way too.

7- Am I happy that I stuck with it, skipped all this new fangled drop shot finesse bs that came out between 2001 and now? Ummm....

[Scrambass]

You sure can write

[BadChad1983]

Super slow day at the office man.... 

[Scrambass]

Super slow day at the office man....

 

I enjoyed it actually. I've Had similar experiences. I have the sbx xh. Basically the same im guessing. I've recently got an XXH ldc parabolic intended for hirotrout and Godzilla but it throws the huge 9.5/10" soft baits so much better than the okuma did. Haven't used the okuma since. They just don't have enough bend for my liking. Took a toll on my line. I had to re-tie more often. It's the only rod I've casted off baits with. I've also thought about switching to the H instead of XH but the ldc's were a game changer for me