The ubiquitous spinning rod has been used for many fishing purposes over the years. Coupled with a threadline reel, its ease of use has been the vehicle to introduce millions of people the world over to the joys of recreational fishing. Just a few minutes’ instruction can have complete novices casting well enough to at least be getting a lure or bait somewhere near the water, giving them a reasonable chance of actually catching something on their first attempt. If that happens, they’re often on their way to becoming a lifelong fishing addict!

And who would have thought that a rod style used for river fishing for freshwater trout would be just at home bream fishing in an estuary and catching light tackle sailfish and some quite hefty marlin many miles offshore? So not only is the spinning rod design relatively foolproof, it’s versatile as well.

A spinning rod can also become an extremely potent and specialised tool in the right hands. The bream and bass fishing legends love their spinning rods for their ability to cast micro lures great distances, into the wind and across the wind, that would have baitcasters struggling to cope. Many spinning rods seem whisper thin, and incapable of catching much at all, but looks can be deceiving.

There are dozens of spinning rods in Shimano’s comprehensive rod stable, in a variety of lengths, tapers and styles, but they are all extremely powerful. At the heavy end of the spectrum, their bluewater spinning rods, especially those built on TCurve TC3 blanks or the new braid-friendly Terez range built using TC4 technology, can bowl over sizeable bluewater game fish in time periods comparable to that taken with conventional game fishing tackle.