ABU GARCIA VERITAS PLX SPINNING ROD

Unpacking THE ABU GARCIA Veritas PLX

To evaluate the Abu Garcia Veritas PLX, Baitstick purchased a 7’ one-piece model of the rod and paid a commonly found retail price of $100. The rod came enclosed in a clear plastic sleeve length bag that the rod had as its only packaging.

The most notable feature of the Veritas PLX is the distinctly white color of the rod. The entire length of the carbon fiber blank, as well as the handle and grip, are all white. WIthout a doubt, any angler will feel an instant rush of style with this stick in hand. This thing has Miami Vice style fishing written all over it if you remember the tv show….

The Veritas PLX has good quality titanium alloy guides with zirconium inserts with clean wraps that give a quality look to the rod. Interestingly, the guides on the 7’ Veritas PLX bought at retail were very small sized, and noticeably narrower in width than expected. For example, the extremely small tip guide had a hard time feeding trimmed, double uni knots connecting braided line to a fluorocarbon leader. While not a big deal, as anglers shouldn’t necessarily be reeling knots through the guides anyways, life is not perfect and situations like this can serve as an annoyance while on the water. Best practices aside, the point is that the guides are small so don’t be surprised with this aspect of the rod if you care about this level of detail.

One upside of the smaller guide size is that it makes the rod slightly more compact in width overall and can make it easier to slide into rod socks and travel tubes.

The Veritas PLX comes with a sturdy rod butt that is tough and looks good against the white resin finish of the overall rod. It is also white. The handle of the rod is made of closed cell EVA material. Also white.

The Veritas PLX has a white uplocking reel seat. The design is good overall and easy to use. But the reel seat is constructed of all plastic, and while it appears to be an extremely tough plastic, it is nonetheless plastic leaving questions concerning longevity of the product.

Field Testing the THE Veritas PLX

In field testing the Veritas PLX, Baitstick used the 7’ rod with fast action and medium power. Though seemingly lightweight, this rod is very stiff with good power evenly dispersed from butt to tip.

For field testing, Baitstick paired the Veritas PLX with the Abu Garcia Max X spinning reel spooled with 8# monofilament line. This reel and line were well balanced to the rod, though a higher performance reel may make more sense for those looking for a rod/reel combo that can handle significant time on the water. Still, the Veritas PLX proved to be relatively versatile and offered plenty of backbone for setting the hook and doing battle.

The rod performed fine during casting with the ROCS (Robotically Optimized Casting System) feature. The ROCS guide train feature as advertised makes sense in concept but did not seem to enhance the casting in any distinguishable or overly noticeable way. Still, during testing the line came off the rod smoothly. The line performed as expected on line retrieval.

During testing, the Veritas PLX was comfortable to hold. There was some noticeable difference in the closed cell foam handle at the rear of the reel seat and the hard plastic covering used in front of the reel. It would be more comfortable with foam in front of the reel for an angler’s thumb and forefinger. Overall, the rod and handle are light and well balanced but the ergonomics of the grip could definitely be improved.

One issue that showed up after a few more days of testing was that the white color of the rod began to show unusually early surface level scuffs marks from normal usage in the field. The performance and integrity of the rod was completely unaffected, and the blemishes on the white surface layer of the rod were purely cosmetic. There was no unusual handling or treatment of the rod in testing, so Baitstick was left to wonder whether a pure white rod is really the best choice of color in a $100 outdoor sporting product. $100 is an investment no matter regardless of budget. Looks don’t catch fish. Still, being left with a rod that is cosmetically marked up after only a few days of fishing under normal conditions should be enough to make any angler pause….what might this rod look like after a season?

The Takeaway

The Abu Garcia Veritas PLX is a quality fishing product and paired with the right reel can make for a great go-to rod for the price. At $100 for the Veritas PLX, the pricing leaves room to pair the rod with a comparable quality reel and still make it out of the fishing store under $200 (pre-tax total if you buy in a state where the taxman shows up).

Despite its white color choice, the fast action and medium power Veritas PLX tested by Baitstick showed good results, with nice stiffness and power spread through the rod from butt to tip. The rod has a good backbone with the ability to spread power as it does but did not compromise too much on sensitivity, with no trouble detecting some very subtle strikes. There are some comfort and convenience details that could be improved (handle material above reel, placement of hook keeper, narrow guide size,…) but the rod nonetheless can be a good addition to an angler’s line up.<>