Product Review: Wilderness Travel Series

By Mark Gercovich

I’ve used the Daiwa Wilderness range of travel rods for years now and have loved their ability to pack down small enough to fit in your regular airport luggage when flying but then perform like a one-piece rod when at your destination. However, it's not just as an airportable piece of kit that they shine, as they certainly proved their worth recently on an extended road trip. three 3 months fishing on the road, at a wide variety of angling scenarios, was always going to be somewhat of a challenge.

I do have a large, lockable PVC rod tube attached to the roof rack of the 4WD drive which is super handy to keep rods out of the inside of the car and boat, but that alone would not have gotten me through. The hard case that the 20 Wilderness comes in is not only perfect for air travel storage but, they can easily hold another rod in the one case as well. So, if you have a 20 Wilderness in one weight/size then you can purchase 23 Wilderness X of a different weight and put it in the case, thus giving you two rods in one convenient package for your trip. It was so good to have four 20 Wilderness cases that I had six 20 and 23 Wilderness rods in to supplement the arsenal in the main rod tube, tucked away under one of the car seats. They took up no room but were super important outfits on the trip. The MVP model of these rods for the trip was as follows.

The combination of a 20 Wilderness 765 HFS and a 4000 sized reel is perfect for so many northern fishing scenarios. Matched to a 4000 Certate I used it for just about every session whether it was pelagics on plastics, flats and inshore reef prospecting or barra in dams or rivers. Its length allows for nice long casts but still it has enough tip strength to throw decent sized lures. Combine this with enough backbone to stop most target species. It truly is a rod I can't do without any time I travel.

The Inlander carries the heaviest rating in the Wilderness X range for a spin rod, coming in at 8-15kg. However, it is a surprisingly versatile and light in hand rod, for something that is ratted to that weight. It was always a handy back up rod in the boat and ended up doing everything from throwing metals at pelagics to throwing frogs at barra and jacks. It handled everything with amazing versatility and would be a super handy addition to any traveling angler’s kit.

The Deepstriker is a rod in the 23 Wilderness X range I've loved for years, owing several of them through their transition from the TD black range and now into the Wilderness travel range. I've always found them a very versatile rod, whether up north or down south. On this trip the Deepstriker was our “lighter” flats rod. Always rigged at the ready with a lighter leader and smaller crab or prawn pattern lure, ready to launch when the situation required a stealthier approach. Great for casting these lighter offerings but still with enough backbone to handle any flats speedsters. 

So, whether traveling by plane or simply stuffing one in the back of your vehicle, the Wilderness range of travel rods won't let you down when the time comes to perform.