Wanted to post an update on the Black Themis now that I have had it out for a while and caught some bass on it. All in all, i really like it. It is exactly as advertised, a Light power rod with an XF tip. I have been using it with an Alphas FC and an sv105, both spooled up with 7lb Sniper. Most of my fishing so far has been either a weightless Trick Worm or a DS w/3/16oz weight.
Up front, I will say that casting with an XF rod is very different then the more ModFast Phoenix I am used to and my first few outings with the Alphas FC mounted were non-stop overruns and two trips ended with pretty bad backlashes. I switched to the sv105 to get a little more control and had a much better time of things, but I still need to keep the brakes up and really pay attention to each cast. All this being said, the rod seems to handle both lures very well and hooksets with a t-rigged Trick Worm on a 3/0 Owner Offset hook were very very easy, with a couple of small bass hooking themselves while I was fussing with an overrun. The rod casts the DS rig quite a bit further then my XX DS spinning rod and with a lot less effort and finger slap. Hooksets on a DS rig were effortless as well, just a reeldown-n-lift is all it takes. The rod loads up quickly and has all the power I would expect from a Light powered casting rod. I do think it is a little less powerful then the Phoenix or the XX, but it might be the XF taper messing with me. Hopefully I can get some larger bass with it soon to really put it through it's paces, but so far it is a winner. I do wonder about it's sensitivity vs the XX DS, but now that it is warming up and my hands are not numb, I am going to run them side by side and see. I feel like it is close, but it's hard to get a good sense with cold hands and gloves on. The casting issues do remain and I managed to get a show-stopping backlash with the sv105, but I hope I can get it dialed in as I really am liking the XF action for both DS and small plastics.
I would really really like it better if it had the same power/action, but was around 6'-6'2". It's a fun little rod and I think it will work for my needs, but my search for the One True BFS Rod will continue.
Here it is next to it's big brother, a FMJ with a sv103 on it.
