18. April 2025 4 min read

UglyStik GX2 fishing rod review

After my son broke an old telescopic stick at the beginning of our holiday, I decided to buy him a proper stick that would allow him long casts and have a sensitive tip enough to feel the walk the dog and bite action when casting, jerking, and overall fishing with Rapala. Of course, first choice was a Penn fishing rod, which I use now, but there was none of Penn travel rods in various shops on the island. Because more than half of the vacation was still to go, I just picked the nearest alternative. One of the determining requirements was that the stick fits into a suitcase for simple airplane travel, which prevents the costly surcharge for sports equipment. UglyStik GX2 perfectly folds into 63 cm long case, so it was immediately on top of the list. It also comes in an oversized rod bag, which, when walking to beaches, proved useful because I could also add the folded fishing net and my Penn travel stick. I store reels in my backpack, so that is probably the reason that there was more space in the bag. Bag also has a nice strap, so that you can carry it over your shoulder.
My son uses mostly a bit heavier longer casting Rapala baits, so from 20g to 50g range. That was the reason I was not worried about UglyStik GX2 rod stiffness. My son is currently 145 cm tall and likes the rod, but for me handle after the reel is too short to nicely tuck it under the shoulder when doing the twitch or when you try to reel in the lighter fish. It also felt strange when doing walk the dog wrist flicks, but it might be because I used my own reel, which probably threw the balance of the rod a bit off. All this would still be acceptable deficiency, but after some more casting, I noticed that the tip response is dead, even with heavier baits: you have no idea what your bait is doing as it is just a constant pressure at best and no pressure at all in most cases. Walk the dog twitching is especially hard since you have no idea if you have enough tension on the line to actually perform or not.
While the UggyStik GX2 may not have the most sensitive tip, it does a great job at dampening the impact of hooked fish, which can be useful for beginner anglers. And at its price point, it offers good value as a travel-friendly fishing rod. However, if you fish with a float or even bottom fish, then the stick performs just fine as you do not need the sensitive tip and it is capable of casting heavier baits long distances. Maybe that is what this rod was meant for in the first place, as a beginner's rod, but I would still recommend buying a more sensitive rod if you plan to do some blinker or Rapala fishing.