The new pocket fisherman?

Recently, I received a Emmrod kayak king compact fishing rod combo as a birthday gift from a family member. Obviously, it is because I fish out of a kayak. It took us a while to figure out how to assemble the stainless steel coil tip. I appreciate all gifts given to me but I don't think this one will replace my Sage XPs anytime soon but I thought we should keep an open mind, be appreciative and maybe be surprised by trying to fish with it.

So, anyone remember the famous Popeil Pocket Fisherman? My dad had one when I was a kid back in the 70s. I remember trying to fish with it and the biggest problem with it was casting since the tip really didn't load or flex much. The Emmrod sort of reminds me of it except it has a coil in it that I suspect is meant to help in casting. My son was particularly excited about trying it out and he had watched the video on how to do a slingshot cast with it so we picked up some worms and headed to a nearby pond for a trial.

Personally, I couldn't see just how this rod can cast as far as a 6' fishing rod or have the same leverage if you actually caught a fish with it. I was able to cast as far as with my daughter's first Barbie pole which is to say it didn't cast too bad but with a light weight, less than 1/8 ounce, the coil tip wouldn't load and it cast fairly poorly. Obviously, this was meant to cast slightly heavier lures but we didn't have any at the pond we were at.

My son decided to fish with it anyways for a while. He eventually figured out how to cast it well enough but the fish were not biting though the red-ear turtles were going nuts and attacking the worms and were careful not to hook any of them. My son was sort of disappointed in the lack of fish and in the casting ability of the little rod though he wants to give it another test sometime. We may bring it along with us on a camping trip we have scheduled for Mother's Day weekend coming up.

Supposedly the rod weighs 8 ounces but I think it is probably a little more than that. This is a big difference in weight from my son's 8' 5wt Albright fly rod and reel that probably weighs less than half of that.

In looking at the website, I was astounded to find that besides a spincast and baitcaster version, they have a fly rod version of this! It doesn't really mention what the line weight to use should be. I have had fly fishing instructors that could cast and shoot plenty of line with just the tip section of a 4 piece fly rod but this seems weird.