By Brad Durick
The Rippin Lips SuperCat rods have been on the market for a couple years now yet many people don’t know much about them. The SuperCat comes in three casting models: Medium, Medium Heavy, and Heavy. The price range on them is $35.99-$49.99 for the rods only. They are made of select S-Glass Blanks so they are lighter and a bit stiffer than their E-Glass counterparts. This allows for more sensitivity when trying to feel fish or detect hits.
I had the opportunity to test the medium and medium heavy bait cast models as well as the medium spinning model for about half of the 2014 season. When my rods arrived I was into a very busy part of the guiding season and did something that I don’t normally do, I put two of the rods in with my guiding rods having not tested them myself (other than in the driveway when I was setting them up).
I am one that has a superstition about new rods having a bad omen until they catch a good fish and sometimes don’t like to introduce new rods into the mix for guests until they have caught fish. So in the heat of battle two new medium rods went into the mix and we were off. Casting the rods felt very good and the sensitivity of just reeling in sinkers and bait felt good but fighting a fish would tell the real story.
It did not take long to get a bite on one and see the action on the hook set in the holder. Ok test one PASSED. Then I watched my guest fight a trophy channel cat on the rod. As a bystander it had a good looking bend and fought the fish very well. The client said he liked the fight too. I watched for a few days before I finally had the opportunity to get into a fish myself. We were shooting a television show and that meant I got to play some fish. Over the course of two or three 12-18 pound fish I was really liking the action and feel. Toward the end of the shoot we had a thunderous hit from what I knew was a big fish and I told the crew I wanted to fight it to see how the rod handled it. Test two PASSED. I was very impressed with the action the bend and the fight that the medium had on this fish in pretty good current. The fish was 21 pounds and as far as I was concerned the SuperCat was a winner.
Later in the season I was also able to test the medium heavy in heavier current and fight many 18-25 pound channel cats on it. Again I was very happy with the action and the fight that the rod produced.
My personal opinion is if you are fishing for cats up to 25 pounds in a normal current or lake the medium is perfect for you. If you are needing a little more backbone, needing to run sinkers bigger than 5 ounces or are fishing catfish in that 15+-pound range the medium heavy will be the rod for you. The heavy version is for the flathead and big blue cat guys.
These rods are also available in the SuperCat Spinning Combo.
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