Finally… a purpose-built overhead, drone fishing rod made for ANZ waters! Kia ora, everyone! I’m a keen fisherman, brought up in the Far North of NZ and have been drone fishing for over 5 years now and posting my fishing exploits on YouTube (Fish Eat Repeat) for the last couple of years.

I’ve been on the lookout for a purpose built, overhead drone fishing rod to match with my electric reel setup for a long time… and now that time has finally arrived! I’ve recently purchased the newly released Ocean’s Legacy Backline Big Bait Special 40-80lb Drone Spec Rod, and after using it in high surf at 90-Mile Beach, deep drop-offs off Waihi, Coromandel, and sending BIG BAITS for bronze whaler sharks, off Rangiputa Beach in the Far North, I’m confident that this rod is not only built for drone fishing  but it’s ticked all the right boxes for me personally as well! 

My Electric Reel Setup

I’ve paired this rod with a Shimano Forcemaster 9000, spooled with ~800m of 80lb braid, powered by 10000mAh electric reel battery from DFNZ, everything in this setup works together so well. In the past I’d used my Forcemaster with other rods & batteries setups (with loose cables etc) where I’d dropped fish in the surf or lost power to the reel simply because I didn’t have the right tools for the job!

Background and Specifications 

Since Drone Fishing is still a developing fishing method, there aren’t many purpose-built drone rods out there and most drone fisho’s are stuck using 10ft land-based game rods or (like myself) a standard 6-7ft boat rod. But these standard rods simply aren’t designed for holding heavy electric reels high up above the rocks, surf and tide level.  

A few years back, Ocean’s Legacy NZ flicked me a message asking what specs I’d want in a purpose-built drone rod – I threw a few ideas their way (e.g. having a sturdy thick handle for improved grip and for supporting batteries) and was stoked to see many of my suggestions making it into the final product! 

As the name suggests, this ‘Drone Spec’ (model BL-B1323XH) rod is designed specifically for drone fishing. The is a three-piece, 13’2″ (4.0 m) long rod with a PE line rating of 40-80lb. When the rod is made from specially blended Japanese Toray graphite with Cross-Core Carbon technology, making it both powerful and responsive, with extended torque through the foregrip, but still light and responsive enough to feel even the tiniest bites, along with premium Fuji DPS–H reel seat and LC & KW guides, you know, it’s going to be high quality! 

Performance on the Water

What I really love about this rod is how solid it feels, especially in the handle. It’s designed to handle big, heavy electric reels and solid batteries strapped onto it, whilst still allowing you plenty of area to grip the rod without getting the reel, cable or battery in the way.

It’s also a surprisingly long, overhead rod. Drone fishing tends to be done with braid rather than monofilament since you need to be able to feel bites and have direct contact with your baits at +500m distances. The problem with this is that braid doesn’t have any stretch, and when a wave crashes onto the braid, since it has no stretch, it immediately pulls the line which can lead to your sinkers coming loose out wide and your baits drifting down the beach… to mitigate some of the impacts using braid, you can use a long rod, the long rod keeps the line higher out of the water and maintains a steeper angle during the retrieve, which reduces the amount of line getting bashed around by breaking waves and even helps to keep the tension up when you’re fighting fish – which is a game changer when sending baits a long way out in, big surf! 

Despite its long length, it’s very comfortable to hold and fight fish with, and this is mainly due to its shortened butt (compared to a standard surfcaster) allowing you to dig the base of the rod into your hip (or a gimbal belt), while remaining well balanced, and enabling you to fight big fish and keep the pressure on retrieving heavy, long-distance baits without feeling like you’re being pulled forward or tiring out your arms. And with a small butt, you actually end up with more ‘bang for your buck’ as you end up with a ‘longer’ distance from your reel to your rod tip relative to a ‘standard’ 13’2” surfcaster – out of interest, I compared it to my 14’3” surfcaster and it surprised me to see the Drone spec rod being 15 cm (6”) ‘longer’ from the reel to tip! [see pictures below] 

And finally, considering how long and stiff the middle section of the rod is, it has a surprisingly sensitive tip! Meaning even out at 500m, you can still feel a solid snapper smashing through a piece of pilchard while you’re sitting dry, warm and comfortable on the beach! 

Possible Improvements

Honestly, I’m genuinely impressed with this rod! The only thing missing is more drone rod options! However, Ocean’s Legacy have advised that they’re developing more rods to meet a wider range of drone fishing requirements in terms of size and style so stay tuned for that!

Recommendations

I’ve already raved about this rod to many fellow drone fisho’s who’ve asked about a decent overhead drone fishing rod and if you’re serious about drone fishing and want to be able to comfortably fight fish at +500m, then send the drone back out and do it all again! I’d seriously recommend adding this rod to your arsenal, you won’t regret it! As the saying goes ‘buy once cry once’!