HTO

UKwww.tronixfishing.com

I've had a lot of respect for George and the HTO crew going right back to when we opened in 2010. Back then there was hardly any proper lure tackle in the UK — you were stuck selling generic gear, which I never enjoyed. HTO came along and built the rods the UK market was actually missing, and they've always been quick to react to what anglers here need. They give me an alternative to the Japanese rods: different actions, different grips, and gear that fits how we fish over here.

Rods

All HTO rods

Lures

View all HTO products

View all 16 HTO products

About HTO

As a rule the HTO bass rods sit on the steely end of things, very responsive in the hand, and that's exactly what a lot of anglers are after. It makes working surface lures easy and means there's always power there when a fish or the conditions ask for it.

You'll also spot a couple of features that run right across the HTO rods. The grips tend to be a little longer than the Japanese norm, where handles can be quite short, which gives you options a lot of anglers get on well with. And the guides are typically on the small side — worth knowing going in. They keep the rod light and tidy, and they suit the steely, responsive feel these rods are built around.

That's where HTO have been so useful to me and to the anglers I sell to. The Japanese build their rods the way they do for good reasons, but pure Japan isn't always what we want in the UK, and HTO fill those gaps. Where they really made their name, though, was the budget end — early on they brought out a proper little LRF rod with a fine solid tip at a price that finally made sense, back when nothing like it existed over here, and they've kept building on that ground ever since. HTO is a sub-brand of TronixPro, a great outfit run by good people, and they're still one of the first places I'll look when someone needs a capable UK rod without a Japanese price tag.