REVIEW
BASS & SQUID FOR 100 QUID!
It might be designed for catching cephalopods but the HTO Nebula IKA Hunter also makes a pretty awesome lure rod for estuary bass, as Henry Gilbey found out
The word “ika” is Japanese for squid and the word “egi” is a Japanese word for a specialist squid lure; so yes, the HTO Nebula IKA Hunter 2.65m, 2.5-4.5 “egi” rod is technically designed for squid lure fishing. However, it is also a rather lovely lure rod which works incredibly well as an 8ft 7in bass rod rated to around 30g. I cannot believe that a lure rod this good and effortless to fish with costs only around £100. There’s no doubt there’s a lot of lure fishing gear on the market these days. As anglers, we have never had it so good with so much quality kit around for pretty amazing prices.
PERFECT FOR PLASTICS
HTO have a very good reputation for sensibly priced lure fishing rods, primarily based around their excellent Nebula range. I wasn’t aware of this particular IKA Hunter rod until somebody kindly alerted me to it. I was really looking forward to fishing with it once I picked it up and waggled it around like we all do. Very light and responsive, this rod is not quite as “sharp” as the equivalent Nebula, and that to me is a good thing for dealing with a wider range of bass lures. You can easily cast lures like the 30g Savage Gear Surf Seeker on this rod, and I also rather like it with a slightly heavier surface lure such as the Xorus Patchinko 140. But for me, this IKA Hunter rod really comes to life when you are fishing with an increasingly wide range of soft plastics you might swim and twitch around on weedless hooks. I know very little about lure fishing for squid, but this rod feels li
