Our new tenkara rod, the Hachi finally arrive. And for as long as it took to produce in the myst of Covid, it is flying out the door fast. We are getting a number of inquiries about the rod and whether or not it can accomodate our Zen Performance Tip. Here’s the down and dirty on it:
Technically, yes. The Performance Tip “fits” the Hachi. BUT, it is longer than the Hachi Tip so the Performance Tip changes the casting action AND, the rod will not fully close with the Performance Tip in it because the tip is longer and sticks out of the final section and handle.
If you are concerned the Hachi will be too soft, I can tell you this- we are concerned customers will think it too fast action. The Hachi tip is faster than our Standard Tip. It is shorter than both the Standard and the Performance Tips. We designed the rod to flex deep but it is still a fast action rod. The Hachi dampens quickly and offers quite a lot of muscle and control for how tiny and light it is, only 1.5oz. We intentionally designed this rod to have power and provide sturdy control over fish in very tight places where there is little to no maneuverability. To be clear, the Hachi is not stiff, it is fast.
While you could insert the Performance Tip to fish, you would need to remove it in order to fully collapse the rod and insert the rod cap. So, while the Performance Tip technically fits the Hachi and the taper correctly, we don’t recommend using it because then you can’t fully collpase the rod and frankly, we don’t think it necessary or beneficial to the rod’s performance or hookset abilities. The Hachi rod, on its own, has “enough”.
My opinion of course but so far, the Hachi is a little dynamo.