Casting

We used soft baits by Berkley during our test weighing below to a 1/4oz. On 10lb Berkley 8 Carrier main line, the Abu Garcia Seacaster II Finesse cast really well providing good distances. The tip of the Seacaster II Finesse is certainly on the softer side but it does posed no issues during the cast.

Behaviour And Feel

The softer tip of the Seacaster II Finesse managed the manipulation of the softbaits well. This means that I had no issues controlling the softbaits that I was using. I could fish them slow or fast; no issue at all. The Seacaster II Finesse is also sensitive enough to allow me to feel the terrain underwater.

Battling Fishes

Being an ultra light finesse rod, I was concerned with the rod’s ability to set the hook well due to its softer tip. This was where the Berkley PowerBait and Gulp baits played an important role. Fishes tend to hold on to them longer allowing us to set the hook properly. Every time a fish took the bait the tip of the Seacaster II Finesse bent until enough pressure is felt and that is when I striked. Good hook-set every time.

We fought plenty of hard fighting fishes without issues. The rod tip, although softer since it is an ultra light finesse rod after all, had enough fighting power to take on these hard fighters. When the bend reached about 45% of the rod (measured from butt / rear EVA grip end-cap) the backbone kicks in and the power curve grows putting more and more pressure on the fishes that we fought.

We did lose control to a hard fighting mangrove jack that managed to swim towards two big PVC pipes and wrapped itself around them in a figure 8 fashion but luckily I managed to pull it out; thanks to Berkley’s very smooth Ultra 8 Carrier lines that we were testing.