Daiwa 20 Infeet Z

Whitey Says: 

Daiwa has long been leading the way for light tackle sport fishing equipment. It began with brands like Gekkabijin, evolved to SilverWolf and now has come full circle, with the release of the 20 INFEET rod range. Gleaned from years of experience in creating the pinnacle of finesse rod designs in Japan and Australia, combined with the insight and expertise of top Daiwa Australia Pro-Staff, the 20 INFEET range is like nothing ever released before. 

INFEET is the most technique specific rods to ever be released into the Australian market, with three price ranges covering all anglers’ budgets, there’s nothing a serious light tackle angler would need that INFEET can’t deliver. Designed with deliberately shorter butts than all other Daiwa rods before them, INFEET has benefitted from all the hours of experience from Daiwa’s R&D team and group of anglers.

INFEET Z is the middle tier in the INFEET family and perfectly combines historic Daiwa design with the most advanced materials to produce a truly outstanding finesse rod series. Six models encompass the INFEET Z range and the first thing you’ll notice is the traditional ‘Heartland’ style reel seat. This is indeed a brand-new Air Sensor design that utilises the latest in carbon infused resin materials to produce a reel seat which is hollow in construction yet incredibly durable, resulting in one of the lightest reel seats on the market. INFEET Z’s blank construction utilises the latest in Daiwa’s X45 technology, Next Gen X45 is applied to the butt section of the rod, increasing torsional stiffness and improving blank recovery.

A combination of Fuji stainless steel SiC guides on the butt section of the rod, and Fuji Titanium SiC guides on the tip, makes INFEET Z rods feel responsive, crisp and an absolute joy to use.

BEST APPLICATION PER MODEL

641LFS

The 641LFS was the result of Daiwa angler Kris Hickson’s love affair with tight-cover fishing. At 6’4” in length, this rod excels in tight cover where accurate casts and manoeuvrability are paramount. A deceptively powerful rod, the 641LFS can extract fish from cover with ease. There’s no doubt the fast taper and short blank design makes this rod ideal for single hook baits like soft plastics.

681LFS

The 681LFS is slightly softer than the shorter 641LFS and is more suited to floating structures like boats and jetties. The 6’8” length is perfect for underhand skip casting from the front decks of boats and is equally at home walking the banks of small creeks for bass or trout. The fast taper is ideal for soft plastic presentations, but the delicate tip is equally at home if you like to stop and start a suspending jerkbait around structure.

702LRS

Every good range needs an allrounder and the 702LRS is just that. The perfect blend of power and precision, this model can do it all. A progressive taper is your friend when fishing treble hooked baits, and the sensitive tip is equally at home shaking a plastic or walking your favourite topwater. A butt-joint construction brings this rod under most airline limits.

732LFS

The ultimate plastics rod. Whether it’s a grub or minnow, the 732LFS is the best choice. A fast responsive tip for precise twitches and extra length to take up slack on a strike. This is every plastics angler's dream.

742ULRS

A long-casting crankbait angler's dream, the 742ULRS is one of our favourite models. An ultra light regular taper action is perfect for small light crankbaits and the use of titanium framed tip guides means this ultra light rod doesn’t feel like a noodle. A must-have in any tournament angler's kit, the 742ULRS will see plenty of action when fish are shallow on flats or points.

782LFS

A rod made famous by Steve Morgan and the Cranka Crab, the 782LFS is the second generation of ‘Crab Rod’ from Daiwa. Modelled off the original 782 Gekkabijin rod, the INFEET 782LFS improves upon the original by reducing the handle length, making it less cumbersome to impart action to your lure. The titanium framed tip guides improve sensitivity, allowing you to feel everything that’s going on beneath the surface. If you’ve never tried a longer rod for fishing structure-based lures like the Cranka Crab then you should definitely give it a try.