Looking for advice.  I’m looking at the newest version of the Abu Garcia Veritas Tournament Casting rod in the 6’10” and 7’ sizes medium/heavy fast for a 3 week trip I am taking to Brazil in October.  
 

Abu Garcia Veritas Tournament Casting Rod VXTC 610-6 & VXTC70-6
 

I’ll be spending a week on a houseboat in the Amazon fishing for peacock bass, arowanas, black piranha, bicuda, etc.  

 

I have four baitcast reels.  Two Abu Garcia Revo5 STX 8.1.1, a Revo Premier 8.1.1 and a Lew’s Tournament Pro 7.5.1 on a 7’ Vengeance rod.  The Lew’s Tournament Pro gets to go as an emergency rod, because it’s performed really well for me the last two years in PA and I just want to see how it does with a peacock.  
 

One Revo5 STX will be strung with 65lb Power Pro braid for big woodchoppers.  The other three reels will be strung with 50lb Power Pro braid and a 50lb fluoro leader for smaller lures, poppers, flukes, jigs, etc.

 

I have all medium rods for PA.  I’m looking at this Veritas Tournament rod for this trip, because I’ve heard good things and I can get 3 of them for $140 each which is a bargain.  
 

Am I going to be pleased with these rods?  (I don’t have expensive rods.  I have nice reels, but my rods are like cheap Daiwas, Vengeance, Vendetta and Ugly Sticks.). Are these Veritas Tournament rods going to handle 50 and 65lb braid ok?  Anybody have any thoughts, concerns or ideas?  Just looking for advice as I don’t want to break the bank on new equipment.  Trying to be reasonable and get bang for my buck without getting something incompatible with my reels.  Thank you in advance.  

Ive never fished in Brazil but I would go a way different direction. 

 

Its like bringing a toothpick to a tank fight.

 

 

 

 

50 minutes ago, FishTank said:

Ive never fished in Brazil but I would go a way different direction. 

 

Its like bringing a toothpick to a tank fight.

 

 

 

 

The direction I’ve been given is 3-4 rods per person.    Medium/heavy and fast action.  I’m choosing not to fish for catfish so don’t need heavy.  50 and 65lb braid for lures and jigs.  I trust the outfit.  What kind of equipment are you thinking?

@Phillyfanatic

Welcome to the forum. How's the 'Burg?? I moved from Carnegie to FL in '87.

You may want to have at least 1 heavy/fast rod.

The Peacocks are strong and fight. A 3 lb is a bigger fight than a 7 lb FL Largie plus all the heavy vegetation.

I don't use the rods your looking at.

Sounds like a great trip! Have fun and enjoy!!

I’ve fished for that fish.  The peacock.  If I were buying rods.  I would buy rods specific for them.  The Falcons Buccos or something. The are like 6’ long.  Maybe shorter.  
 

I was so skeptical about the short rods, but d**n;  that’s the way to go.  The baits are huge and have so much water resistance.  . You’re yanking on them for hours. It’s like doing CrossFit.    Trust me. Go short rods. 
 

reels.  Zero doubt.  The Shimano Tranx 200.  65lb powerPro. 100%.  I dang near destroyed my 150mgl.  I did hurt my tatula.  Haha. It was rattling the second day. 
 

im going back.  I’ll bring two Tranx reels.  And use their rods.  They were med-heavy.  Way lighter than I expected.  And they were white Veritas I think.  6 footers. 
 

BEST FISHING TRIP OF MY ENTIRE LIFE.  BY A MILE.   flying there and back suuuuuccckkksss

To add. The reel needs the strongest drag. The water resistance of a woodchopper will pull line from your drag.  I had to cinch my drag down “full tight”. It felt unnatural.  Full TIGHT!   Like with a gloved hand - just turn the star nut tight - like your trying to shut off a leaky hose faucet.   Then when a big peacock slams the bait, that fish will still strip line. It’s wild and unbelievable.  
 

tranx 200 _ fo sure.

 

the baits are huge, so everything casts amazing.  Short rods if I failed to get that point across.

The two main rods I do are going to have the Abu Garcia Revo5 STX on them.  One heavy fast with 65lb braid for woodchoppers.  One MH fast with 50lb braid and 50lb fluoro leader for flukes, jigs and smaller top water lures.  
 

The Revo5 STX is an 8.1:1 gear ratio workhorse with an amazing 25lbs drag.  Have read reviews by folks that used it for peacocks in the Amazon and they rave about its stopping power.  The Revo Premier that I’ll use on another rod has an 8.1:1 gear ratio with 18lbs drag.  Casts farther but is really good with lighter baits.  
 

I’m looking at some of the 6’ rods as well as the Falcon Bucoo.  Thanx for your input.  

If you're bringing a one piece top water rod I would get a Megabass Valkyrie World Expedition VKC-66XH    you don't want to be under gun for a life trip 

10 hours ago, djhands said:

If you're bringing a one piece top water rod I would get a Megabass Valkyrie World Expedition VKC-66XH    you don't want to be under gun for a life trip 

Thanx for the suggestion.  I’ll take a look at it.  

I never went to Amazon, but there is no more difference for what me use here in Argentina. I know what local fisherman use, so...

Short rod, no more than 6´. Your are going to use top water lures (popper, prop) big jerbait and minnows. Long rod equal to more weight. More than 3-4 days of fishing and your wrist gonna be on fire. The brazilians tend to use 5,3, 5,6 or 6,0. 

And I agree to @Darth-Baiter , 65lbs power pro (50lbs its ok by the way) and Tranx 201 (but the revo its ok).

 

If you go to a local store, buy some lures frome the brands like Marine Sport (inna 140, brava, raptor, ram popper, tnt, power minnow) borboleta (lola, jaraqui) they work very well.

  

yes!!  @AbelG reminded me.  yanking a woodchopper is brutal. the super short rod allows you to kinda point the tip to the water and yank.  you are not twitching the rod.  you are yanking it, like hard.  like you have a Belgium Melanois on a leash and you need to stop it from going to eat some kitten, kinda yank.  HARD.    then you repeat that yank about a million times.  

 

I texted my fishing friends.  they remember out Amazon rods being sub six footers.    they were lighter than I imagined.  med-heavy.  flexy...soft tips.  they bombed the baits.  my brother would spool his first reel with a cast.  he had to reload his reel with a full spool of braid.   you empty the spools on casts.   so you have to have capacity.  

 

I do have one and only YouTube video up.  I'm not a YouTuber, so dont subscribe or click anything. hahah...just the gist of the trip. 

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

yes!!  @AbelG reminded me.  yanking a woodchopper is brutal. the super short rod allows you to kinda point the tip to the water and yank.  you are not twitching the rod.  you are yanking it, like hard.  like you have a Belgium Melanois on a leash and you need to stop it from going to eat some kitten, kinda yank.  HARD.    then you repeat that yank about a million times.  

 

I texted my fishing friends.  they remember out Amazon rods being sub six footers.    they were lighter than I imagined.  med-heavy.  flexy...soft tips.  they bombed the baits.  my brother would spool his first reel with a cast.  he had to reload his reel with a full spool of braid.   you empty the spools on casts.   so you have to have capacity.  

 

I do have one and only YouTube video up.  I'm not a YouTuber, so dont subscribe or click anything. hahah...just the gist of the trip. 

That’s a great video.  Curious about a few things.  How many days were you out there?  About how many fish do you think you caught?  What was the biggest out of your brothers and you?  And how far are your casts?  They look like a mile, but the cameras are funny that way.  My guide says about 100 feet.  When I have all my equipment I’m going around the corner to a private lake and tossing the big baits on the bait casters with 50 and 65lb braid and tuning my bait casters and building the muscle memory before I go.  

honestly, I would probably get something like a St. Croix Premier MH musky rod and a tranx 300 or 400. Amazonian peacock bass can reach 20 pounds never mind the huge catfish etc. 

 

for big lures you will need a 300 size baitcasting reel. 

 

I don't think Abu still makes heavy duty rods for big fish??

1 hour ago, Hulkster said:

honestly, I would probably get something like a St. Croix Premier MH musky rod and a tranx 300 or 400. Amazonian peacock bass can reach 20 pounds never mind the huge catfish etc. 

 

for big lures you will need a 300 size baitcasting reel. 

 

I don't think Abu still makes heavy duty rods for big fish??

A tranx 400 only if you goal its to fish the famous arapaima 
300 for live bait
200 is ok for baitcast. With 15 lbs drag and 40 lbs of multi 4x gonna be fine. There is branches and part of trees under water, with fluoro you dont have to worried about that. 
 

4 hours ago, Phillyfanatic said:

That’s a great video.  Curious about a few things.  How many days were you out there?  About how many fish do you think you caught?  What was the biggest out of your brothers and you?  And how far are your casts?  They look like a mile, but the cameras are funny that way.  My guide says about 100 feet.  When I have all my equipment I’m going around the corner to a private lake and tossing the big baits on the bait casters with 50 and 65lb braid and tuning my bait casters and building the muscle memory before I go.  

we honestly had a few slow days.  we were in a drought year.  but we never skunked.  on great days, we did 40 fish each.  the biggest for me was a 15lb, and my brother bested me by a pound.  we were not in Rio *****, so the peacock species we were targeting are smaller than the 4-bar ones you see.    I was fishing with a Shimano 150mgl, (you can see them pull drag with it cinched down hard) and I could almost spool my reel.  my far cast with two hands, catapult style would fly way further than 100 feet.  70 yards??  dont know.   it was far!!  the bait was 2oz and very aerodynamic.    people in our group did get bigger fish.  like I said, my other reel was a Tatula TWSV and I did fine.  I fried a bearing in that one.  

 

a Tranx 200 would be perfect.  when I go back, I am buying two of them.

4 hours ago, Darth-Baiter said:

we honestly had a few slow days.  we were in a drought year.  but we never skunked.  on great days, we did 40 fish each.  the biggest for me was a 15lb, and my brother bested me by a pound.  we were not in Rio *****, so the peacock species we were targeting are smaller than the 4-bar ones you see.    I was fishing with a Shimano 150mgl, (you can see them pull drag with it cinched down hard) and I could almost spool my reel.  my far cast with two hands, catapult style would fly way further than 100 feet.  70 yards??  dont know.   it was far!!  the bait was 2oz and very aerodynamic.    people in our group did get bigger fish.  like I said, my other reel was a Tatula TWSV and I did fine.  I fried a bearing in that one.  

 

a Tranx 200 would be perfect.  when I go back, I am buying two of them.

Did you change out the hooks on your lures for something stronger?  Did you use snaps and change out your lures or did you tie every lure?  I assume you tie directly to woodchoppers, but use fluoro leaders with snaps to change out smaller lures quicker?  What kind of snaps do you recommend?

No snaps.  My Brazilian guide used the coolest quick release knot.  Basically a loop with a tag end you could pull on to loosen it.    I used it the other day quick changing topwater baits here at home.  No flouro.  Straight braid to baits.  The fish are violent.  You know as a kid when you sprinkled fish food into your aquarium and all the fish get frenzied?   Sometimes your bait is THE FISHFOOD. multiple fish slam and bat the bait around. 
 

I used the guides woodchoppers.  No hook issues.  Next time I will bring a hook sharpener. My definition of sharp is different from a Brazilian dudes.   We had a few of our own baits.  We changed them out w heavier hooks.  The ones o bought at the Brazil shop had good hooks.  

1 hour ago, Darth-Baiter said:

No snaps.  My Brazilian guide used the coolest quick release knot.  Basically a loop with a tag end you could pull on to loosen it.    I used it the other day quick changing topwater baits here at home.  No flouro.  Straight braid to baits.  The fish are violent.  You know as a kid when you sprinkled fish food into your aquarium and all the fish get frenzied?   Sometimes your bait is THE FISHFOOD. multiple fish slam and bat the bait around. 
 

I used the guides woodchoppers.  No hook issues.  Next time I will bring a hook sharpener. My definition of sharp is different from a Brazilian dudes.   We had a few of our own baits.  We changed them out w heavier hooks.  The ones o bought at the Brazil shop had good hooks.  

I’m struggling to find rods at a reasonable price.  Reasonable to me is under $200 a piece.  I need a pair of medium heavy fast casting rods and a heavy fast casting rod as well as a medium heavy spinning rod and a heavy spinning rod.  
 

My wife only uses spinning reels.  We went fishing tonight in a private lake around the corner tonight.  It was heavy weeds.  She caught the biggest bass at about 3 lbs tonight.  

On 5/25/2025 at 10:06 PM, AbelG said:

I never went to Amazon, but there is no more difference for what me use here in Argentina. I know what local fisherman use, so...

Short rod, no more than 6´. Your are going to use top water lures (popper, prop) big jerbait and minnows. Long rod equal to more weight. More than 3-4 days of fishing and your wrist gonna be on fire. The brazilians tend to use 5,3, 5,6 or 6,0. 

And I agree to @Darth-Baiter , 65lbs power pro (50lbs its ok by the way) and Tranx 201 (but the revo its ok).

 

If you go to a local store, buy some lures frome the brands like Marine Sport (inna 140, brava, raptor, ram popper, tnt, power minnow) borboleta (lola, jaraqui) they work very well.

  

Do you have any recommendations on these shorter rods?  I’m struggling to find reasonably priced shorter rods.  

@Phillyfanatic

Google Falcon Peacock bass rods. Specifically made for what you're looking for.

You can look into saltwater spinning rods for tarpon. Crowder, Falcon, and Bull Bay are great brands for the aamount you want to spend.

If you’re going for Arowana. I would think you might want to check out a stout rod. Arowana from what I’ve heard are a pretty aggressive fish. Like 2-3 foot long and hit hard and fast. 

13 hours ago, Phillyfanatic said:

Do you have any recommendations on these shorter rods?  I’m struggling to find reasonably priced shorter rods

The Falcon are nice rods, like @little giant said the Peacock could be a great choice. Also if you can find a old St Croix Avid, 6´ MHF, thats a great rods for the money, great action and light weight. 

Other choice is to buy at the local shop when you arrive. There are good options from local brands (eg., Marine - Venator rod). Even Shimano released a specific curado rod called "serie Brasil", with different model for casting and spinning.    

the Falcons are where i would start.  they have several lines..  i think the Bucco line is the lower end and exactly the one i would buy.  i dont live in Brazil, so the rod would see very little use.  its $99 at Bass Pro!!

 

on my trip, a dude brought his own rods, and he told me he went up one grade from the Bucco line.  not sure i remember the name of the line.   the rods are so short, IIRC he brought them in packed in a Snowboard case.  if you want, i can text him.  he goes after peacocks 2x a year.  dude is a peacock addict.  apparently, his wife hates him.   he swears by a peacock lure called the Provenza.  it darts like a jerkbait underwater.   i bought one, and it is fishless here at home.

22 hours ago, AbelG said:

A tranx 400 only if you goal its to fish the famous arapaima 
300 for live bait
200 is ok for baitcast. With 15 lbs drag and 40 lbs of multi 4x gonna be fine. There is branches and part of trees under water, with fluoro you dont have to worried about that. 
 

Wow I'm surprised that a 200 size is ok with all the big pacu, tiger shovelnose cats etc around. you can hook into some big fish pretty easily no? 

2 hours ago, Hulkster said:

Wow I'm surprised that a 200 size is ok with all the big pacu, tiger shovelnose cats etc around. you can hook into some big fish pretty easily no? 

Its depend the size of fish you are searching for. Big catfish (bagre gigante) or tiger shovelnose (surubí) stays on deeps waters, in that case you should use a 300 size reel with live bait. For lures, a 200 size its ok. 
With pacu (or tambaqui), I think with no more than 15 lbs of drag its ok. Normally you will use tinny lures, so too much drag will bend the treble hooks.  

I bought a Falcon Marsh Peacock Bass casting rod from Cabela’s yesterday for $210.    5’7” Heavy Fast line weight 40-80lb braid.  
 

Will have an Abu Garcia Revo5 STX 8.1:1 gear ratio ten bearings and max 25lb drag on it.  65lb Power Pro Super 8 Slick V2 braid.  
 

Will use it exclusively with woodchoppers and larger lures.  

 

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• Rugged 100% graphite blank
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Now I have to find a pair of medium heavy fast casting rods preferably short rods to load 50lb braid.  Also need to find a couple of spinner rods.  One MHF and one HF.  My wife uses spinner rods.  They are harder to find.  I wonder if I shouldn’t just get her a couple of salt water spinner rods.  I got her Shimano Stradic 4000XG spinning reels.  40 feet per handle turn, 10 bearings, 6.2:1 gear ratio and 24lb drag.