ZOLO McSmalls - 7'6", Light+, Fast Spinning

This is the rod I’ve been looking for. A multipurpose finesse rod with way more muscle than I expected. From 1/16 on up, this smallmouth hammer has the sensitivity and backbone to handle big brownies and largemouth. I put it to work today on some finicky late summer bass and it did not disappoint. I can’t wait to use this rod on Dale hollow this winter.

I'm 70 years old an I just took up bass fishing about a year and a half ago. I'm an avid pan fisherman ( was a guide in my youth ) but bass on artificial stuff, not so much so take my review for what it's worth. I started out with a couple of entry level Dobyns rods, which I like, and a friend of mine, a high school tournament fisher, introduced me to ALX rods. I did some research, went to the alx factory/store about 30 minutes away, met Alex and bought the maestro. I equipped it with a miravell size 30 reel and it has worked flawlessly, however the balance seemed slightly less than perfect. So far I've landed roughly 40 out of 50 bass with it, not bad for an amateur. About 90 percent of my fishing is in private ponds with plastic worms from the bank. I wanted to increase my casting distance to cover more area so I went back to the factory/store and bought the McSmalls. The first rod I looked at seemed to have a slight bend towards the tip. I'm a bit of a pool shark so I tend to notice slight bends more than the average person. Although Alex thought the rod was fine, he brought out 2 more McSmalls and let me Pick the one I wanted. The rod, I guess because of the extra length, felt a little heavier than I expected. I bought the rod, put a size 30 shimano vanford reel on it and headed for the pond. I got the extra casting distance I wanted but like the maestro the balance seemed slightly less than perfect. I swapped the reels and voila the balance of both rods improved. There's only an ounce or 2 difference in the reels but I guess with these light weight rods it made a difference. Thus far I've landed about 10 out of 12 bass with the McSmalls, 2 in the 4 pound range and the rod had enough backbone to ware them down with no worries. I now own around 35 rods with the maestro being my favorite and the McSmalls not far behind. Customer service was great and if I have a problem I know Alex is just a short drive away. I gave the McSmalls 4 stars only because I don't give 5's. I hope this review is helpful. Happy bassin'.

This spinning rod does it all, it’s my go to from Ned rigs, big drop shots, wacky rig, neko, small swimmer….etc. It does it all, by far my favorite spinning rod. Fast tip with some a** in the back side to handle those big Texas fish!

I finally purchased a McSmalls last week. Fished it hard all day today, which was an epic day, with over 30 SM put in the net within about 4 hours. All I can say is WOW, where has this rod been my whole life?! I paired it with a Shimano Excense 3000 and 8lb Suffix 832. I threw mostly 6 lb leaders today. We have some pretty ginny water up here. This stick is very light for its length, sensitive enough to feel slack line takes and the light plus (1.5) tip, tapering in to a stiffer than I’m used to for its medium light rated backbone is tuned absolutely perfect, in my humble opinion. I threw 1/15 oz. Ned rigs, 1/16 and 1/8 oz Okishira screw heads loaded with 2.8 and 3.3 Keitechs, as well as 4” and even 5” whacky rigged Senkos, and bare, 1/8 oz Z-Man micro jigs. The McSmalls handled them all equally well and prior to fishing it I was actually a bit nervous about those 1/16 screw heads and 1/15 Neds because this rod is more stout than you think it is when just reading its specs. I was astonished when it launched a 1/16 ounce screw head about 35 yards on the very cast of the morning! Same with 1/15 oz Neds. When I threw the first 5” Senko I could actually see the inside of the shallow depth spool after it hit the water a LONG WAY away, because it took so much line with it. The McSmalls also easily broke the spirit of every angry bronze fish I hooked with it, up to four and a half pounds today and it could easily handle larger, which I’m greatly looking forward to on this rod. The tip on this thing is like a trebuchet for light baits.

I went through a LOT of 7-6 spinning rods looking for this very rod. I’m so happy with this stick that I’m buying another one very soon. If you are looking for THE smallmouth, spinning scepter this is it if you need long casting distance with small finesse baits. The only rival to the McSmalls, for my style of fishing which I have come in contact with is the Loomis 902s. Personally speaking, the McSmalls is 95% of what the 902 is for less than half the cost and with the way ALX has tuned its action, for me, it’s the better rod. Great job ALX! I’m looking forward to embarrassing some mean, plus five pound smallies with this McSmalls.

Couldn't be happier with my custom built McSmalls. After speaking with Alex, I had them build me a McSmalls with the Enox reel seat and grips. Build quality is excellent and turnaround time was great. Even though it's 7'6", the rod balances perfectly with a 2500 size Shimano Stradic CI4+. I've only had a chance to fish with the rod a handful of times so far flinging a 1/15oz Ned rig around. It's by far the best casting rod in terms of distance I've used for light Neds so far. It's also a real pleasure to fight fish on with light line. Its handled 3lbs+ smallies without issue using light fluoro leaders, never felt under gunned. They really nailed the action and power of this rod. The light tip and medium light backbone are perfect as far as I'm concerned, much better than the typical straight medium lights I'm used to fishing Neds and other light finess baits on.