Snowbee have revamped their range for 2025 with an exciting selection of new rods and tackle for a variety of disciplines. Ben Bassett got his hands on the new Deep Blue 10-30g spinning rod and put it through its paces

The new Deep Blue spinning range starts with the baby of the bunch, the 2-15g ‘LRF’ model. It’s quite a bit beefier than what I would market as true LRF but it is an interesting Light Game option. The range goes up to an ultra-powerful 20-50g model. I felt like the middle child would be the one that would appeal most to the average lure angler and have been testing the 10-30g model over recent weeks.

At eight feet long this rod is aimed at the anglers who love chucking larger lures for bass, pollack and wrasse. With the south Devon coast on my doorstep, and spring in the air, I decided there was only one species that could tell me truly how good the rod was, and that would be the ballan wrasse. My aim was to flick Jika-rigged soft plastics into the gullies and see if the sensitivity and power was there to get the best from these hard-fighting rock fish. 

Transport was simple with the rod being a four-piece yet feeling impressively taut in the hand once assembled. It shows how far carbon technology has come that a relatively inexpensive rod like the Deep Blue can have so little floppiness in the blank, despite doubling the joints. The bag it comes in is fine, but if I was marking it down, I would have loved to have a case instead. However, Snowbee is certainly not alone in using cloth bags for their travel rods. 

DESIGN

The design and finish is quality without being showy. It is Deep Blue in name and look, but with gold accents, whipping and design above the reel seat. It is undoubtedly classy. The guides, I am told, are saltwater resistant and in the top sections are nice and snug to the blank, making for smooth, risk free casting with braid. The reel seat and handle are black foam, like almost all modern spinning rods, and very comfy in the hand. I was happy to cast the rod all day without hand ache or fatigue – except from fighting the many fish I found!

I started using a 3.5 inch Keitech Easy Shiner, slowly trundled over the boulders and kelp, with plenty of pauses to entice the bites. The combined weight of the lure and weight came to just over the lower end of the rod’s listed capabilities, and occasionally you could tell. This is a very powerful rod, and the trade-off of that power is that it lacks a little finesse when working lures on the lighter side; however, it made up for that with how it took on my quarry for that day. 

POWER  

The power in the blank gave the smaller ballans no chance at all. I felt like an American largemouth bass tournament angler; I was hauling them in with drag set high to minimise the risk of them running into snags. To the rod’s credit I could still pick up the rattles and plucks from small fish and I never had a fish shake the hook as the blank set the hook solidly every time. After bullying so many smaller wrasse I was willing a larger fish to take the lure and test me properly.  

As the tide turned I began to find them, with one orange coloured specimen, around 2lb of go-faster-striped muscle, finally taking line and putting a proper bend in the carbon. I really began to respect the rod’s abilities from this point on, as I tamed many fish up to 3lb until the sun began to set. 

My favourite fish of the day came as I switched over to a creature bait and flicked the lure up slowly over a boulder. I missed a bite from a small fish, but a stunning red, white and green beast smashed the lure on the drop back down. It led to a hairy    fight, trying to avoid cutting the 20lb   braid on the jagged rocks, but the rod cushioned these runs and I landed the stunning individual.  

As I admired the fish with the sun on my back, I could easily imagine taking the rod abroad and really testing it on a bonito or trevally. At home, it is easy to see the rod’s use as an all-round rock fishing tool, as happy pulling wrasse out of gullies, as sending out hard lures for bass. It is an impressive bit of kit from Snowbee. 

Pros:

  • Smart looks
  • Quality finish
  • Powerful blank
  • Reasonable price

Cons:

  • No travel case supplied
  • Lacks a little finesse when using lighter weights

RRP: £149.99

Available from www.snowbee.co.uk