MUTANT zx380 Zoom Tenkara Rod
Out Of Stock
The Ultimate 3-Length Full-Flex Action ZOOM Tenkara Rod
380cm (12.5ft), 350cm (11.5ft), and 315cm (10.3ft)
Covering 3 of the most popular lengths in one Tenkara Rod
Features/Performance Overview:
Zoom sections lock to give you 3 adjustable lengths in one rod (sometimes called a triple zoom rod) so you can use the same rod for all the different conditions you run into on the water. Whether you want long reach, a medium casting length, or need to shorten things up around over hanging trees this MUTANT zx380 Tenkara Rod has you covered with just the zoom of a rod section (or two) mutating into the rod length needed.
Excellent soft 6:4 Full-Flex casting action in every length, perfect for Light Level Lines to medium weight furled or tapered lines.
Excellently balanced tip-weight in every length, feels very light in hand when casting and fishing.
You’ll most likely love the rod action in every zoom length, not just 1 or maybe 2 like many other triple zoom rods.
Deep rod flex action allows the rod to distribute pressure evenly throughout the entire rod when fighting fish. This deep rod flex also makes for a smooth casting action with little effort to cast light level lines.
Excellent tip dampening so you have very little (IF ANY) oscillation while casting giving you very precise accurate casts with great presentation, even with very light level lines.
This rod is designed for targeting small to medium sized trout on light lines in creeks, streams, or small rivers. That does not mean you can’t use outside of those parameters if you so desire, have fun doing what you like. Although if you want to target big fish then this is probably not the tenkara rod for you.
Review From Tom Davis
We let Tom Davis (of Teton Tenkara Blog) take the prototype for a test drive, check out his review here >>
Tom’s Spec Measurements of the MUTANT Rod
Fully collapsed (with tip plug): 65 cm (25.5 inches)
Extended: 314, 351, 381 cm (10.3, 11.5, 12.5 feet)
Weight (without tip cap or plug): 81.5 g (2.87 oz)
CCS: 13 pennies (380cm), 12.5 pennies (350cm), 12 pennies (315cm)
RFI: 3.4 (380cm), 3.6 (350cm), 3.8 (315cm).
Rotational Moment: 6.1 (in the 380cm length)
Review From Tenkara Addict
The MUTANT Design Story
DRAGONtail has listened to people in the tenkara community over the years through comments, messages, conversations, and even reading though peoples rant posts. From paying attention to the tenkara community we have learned many things about what people want, like, and don’t like.
We decided to we needed a rod more focused on premium level line casting in our DRAGONtail lineup. But I didn’t just want a nice level line rod, I also wanted to do a 3-length zoom level line casting rod that covered the most popular rod lengths and that felt excellent in each zoom length. Many people don’t believe that is possible to achieve in a 3-length tenkara rod but we went for it anyway, and I feel like we have actually succeeded in that with the current MUTANT Tenkara rod design.
We have been working on this rod design for quite some time and finally made a lot of progress getting it the to performance level we wanted it to be late last year. After finishing our co-creation project of the MIZUCHI Tenkara Rod with Tom Davis (of Teton Tenkara) for tight fishing quarters last summer we learned many design elements that helped move the MUTANT rod design to a whole new level of performance.
(By the way, conversations with Tom Davis through out the years and reading through his blog posts has been very enlightening us and an influence in many in many things we do here at DRAGONtail. We thank him for always sharing his thoughts and experiences.)
The current MUTANT Rod Design is more than we could have hoped for, we are very pleased. We are so excited to finally be offering the MUTANT rod now in our rod lineup.
Our MIZUCHI Tenkara Rod has been very popular since it’s launch last September and people seem to be loving the rod for fishing tight quarters on small creeks and streams, like many of the creeks Tom Davis fishes. We are so happy to soon have the new MUTANT tenkara rod to cover the longer rod lengths for fishing more open casting areas (my kind of water) and still have a shorter length (10.3ft) to make casting in many tighter casting quarters easier. Really with the MIZUCHI rod and the new MUTANT rod together you can fish just about any water situation in a preferred length.
I really think a lot of tenkara anglers that prefer light level lines are going to love how this rod casts them with ease, although the rest of you are still going to like how smooth it casts most tapered lines as well.
It blows me away how much I like the MUTANT rod in each of the 3 zoom lengths, more so than any other zoom rod I have tried; and I have tried many from USA brands to Japanese brands, we do a lot of rod research here at DRAGONtail. I think you will be very pleased with the MUTANT rod’s performance for you.
How to Use a 3-Length Zoom Tenkara Rod
Light, robust. May I present the Dragontail Mutant zx380: three zoom lengths, 6:4 soft action for fully flexible casting, and I think you will appreciate the green rings at the extendable sections.
In my mind it was like the scene where John Wicks goes hunting for maps, guns and suits.
I have gone on three fishing trips in order to be able to write this review. First impression is that is a very sensible and light rod, so light that at moderate wind gusts it will oscillate accordingly.
The Mutant is sensible and very flexible. I bought mine with two additional tips, and I wished at this price that the tip where the lillian is located would be able to rotate 360. I confirmed it doesn´t come with this rotating tip feature that some Chinese rods have at much less price. The extra tips don´t come with it and based on the pictures and reviews on the official site, I guess it is not a standard.
Customer service is amazing though. My rod was missing the tip (last section) and once reported on Friday, Brent sent it and it arrived at my door on Monday. It is nice to know that further warranties and rod replacements parts are going to be taken care of so swiftly and effectively.
I have fished about 60 trout in the 6 to 10 inch length with this rod and it has been quite an experience. I also bought the sakura markers to color the lines and it has been a game changer since coloring indicators show strikes much distinctively. In my case the color lines only work about 4 hours after that it starts to fade.
I agree with the flexibility of this rod, trout larger than 8 inches become harder to be lifted off the water if you don´t use a net.
I do wipe the outside every time I come back from fishing, and every other time I do the inside and the finish is starting to get scratched up. Most likely this will depend on everyone´s grit and sand they fish on.
Also, but this is just me, the small tip cap has been lost. I think it would be a nice and new feature to be able to tie the tip cap via a tiny ring in the bottom **** cap, or mold an indent to insert the tip cap.
Worked great, research said the mutant was a good all arounder. 1st trip caught tiny perch, huge perch, 10-12 inch bass, and a few 22inch blue cats. I had the most fun I've had in a while, fishing with this rod. Longterm test in progress. Would recommend as of now.
Been at this a while, have a couple of other zoom rods but wanted to cover different streams with a couple of rods.
Got this along with the FoxFire and both are excellent. The Mutant is a softer rod, but can handle decent sized fish.
Love my new mutant rod this thing is absolutely a blast to fish with love being able to change the length when needed customer service is top notch Great Company Thanks Scott
The Mutant has become my go to rod along with the Mizuchi, another favorite of mine. It has handled small to pretty large trout in the medium sized rivers I fish here on the East coast. I love the versatility of the three lengths and have casted all sorts of flies on it, from traditional kebari to many western variations. I would recommend it to anyone as a starter rod or a second in your Tenkara lineup.
