FishUSA Flagship Trolling Rods - Everything You Need To Know

By: FishUSA Staff

May 30, 2023

When it comes to trolling, there’s no room for compromise—your gear needs to be tough, responsive, and built for the long haul. That’s exactly why we created the FishUSA Flagship Trolling Rod Series. Designed from the ground up with input from passionate anglers and tested in real-world conditions, these rods deliver the action, durability, and performance you need when trolling for big fish.
Whether you’re just getting into trolling or you’ve been running lines for decades, this guide will break down everything you need to know about the Flagship series—what makes these rods different, how they’re built, and which models are right for your setup. Let’s dive in.

The Durability of the FishUSA Flagship Trolling Rods

Flagship Trolling Rods by Model - Get the Right Rod for the Right Job

Conclusion

FishUSA Flagship Trolling Rods were created to provide the best trolling experience possible with durability being the key attribute of this trolling rod family. The reality is, trolling is not a finesse method of fishing and the two main things that you are looking for in a trolling rod is the action of the rod and durability.

Let’s briefly talk about the action of trolling rods. Like anything, it's best to have the right tools for the job. Over the years, trolling rods seemed to be an afterthought for many manufacturers. There were limited options and you saw a lot of the “one size fits all” approach. FishUSA took the action component of the Flagship lineup very seriously. Now, there are a few rods that are very versatile and we still wanted to offer that component and option to anglers. However, we also created several rods that are technique specific, offering you the best experience. We’ll take a deeper dive when we talk about each individual rod.

The Durability of the FishUSA Flagship Trolling Rods

The number one sought after feature with freshwater trolling rods. All of our current models (and more to come) are constructed with a 24-ton blank. Let’s cut to the chase, there’s fiberglass in these rods which provides great durability. Each rod is also constructed with an EVA foam handle and foregrip with shrink tubing applied to provide extra grip. All guides and reel seats are Seaguide brand and all rods are backed with a limited one year warranty.

Let’s talk about the number one fail point in trolling rods……the guides. Many trolling rods today are made with guides that have ceramic inserts built in. If you’re a serious troller, you’ve had inserts pop out of the guides or have had line saw through and groove the inserts. To be frank, this is really annoying. All of our Flagship trolling rods are built with solid stainless steel guides with no ceramic inserts, except for the wire diver trolling rods which are built with Zirconium inserts to handle the wear and tear of seven-strand wire. We’ll get more in depth when we talk about these rods specifically.

Whether you’re new to the sport or have been trolling for decades, the FishUSA Flagship lineup is for you. We’ve cut to the chase and built a rod that can withstand the beating that trolling rods can take. Get with the program and give FishUSA Flagship trolling rods a try!

Flagship Trolling Rods by Model - Get the Right Rod for the Right Job

Flagship Trolling Rod Model FFSHIP-T-701MH

This versatile rod can be used in many locations on your boat: as a planer board rod, diver rod, or copper rod. This trolling rod was not designed for one specific application, and depending on your boat set-up, it's perfect for many different uses. While the guides and action are great for copper, the guides are a little undersized. It can absolutely still be used as a copper rod but you may have to work a little harder getting those knots through the guides.

Flagship Trolling Rod Model FFSHIP-T-802MLC

This trolling rod is ideal for fishing copper line. It’s stout and has plenty of backbone for fighting big fish. The rod is built with oversized guides to allow knots to easily pass through. You can run up to 500 ft. lengths of copper off of this rod.

Flagship Trolling Rod Model FFSHIP-T-862M

Our most versatile model, this is the longer companion to the 7’0” FFSHIP-T-701MH model. This trolling rod will be your "MVP" because you can use it for so many different applications. It’s most common spot on the boat is in a downrigger rod holder, but it's also an excellent planer board rod when fishing big boards. It can also be used as a diver rod when fishing at slower speeds.

Flagship Trolling Rod Model FFSHIP-T-902ML

This trolling rod is for downrigger fishing. It's long for more leverage when fighting fish. Its medium-light action has enough backbone to fight big fish, but it's not too heavy to detect bites from the smaller ones. The rod is also great for pulling Chinook divers in the spring for brown trout. We've been asked for a long time to develop a rod like this and are happy to introduce it to you!

Flagship Trolling Rod Model FFSHIP-T-902MH

This trolling rod shines for diver fishing with monofilament or braid lines. It has a great bend in the rod holder and great power when fighting big fish. We recommend not fishing this trolling rod with a wire line as its guides were not developed to handle wire and will groove during continual use.

Flagship Trolling Rod Model FFSHIP-T-902MHW

This trolling rod is great for fishing divers with wire lines. This rod has the same blank as the FFSHIP-T-902MH model; the difference is in the guides. The guides on these rods are heavy-duty and are commonly found on saltwater rods. The heavy-gauge stainless steel adds strength and prevents crushing and deformation. The deep-drawn frame provides impact resistance, and helps protect the Zirconium ring which guards against grooving from wire lines. These rods were tested extensively, and we found that these guides hold up the best when using a 30 lb. seven-strand wire line. This rod also comes with an attached FJR Industries Twili Tip Wire Line Guide.

Flagship Trolling Rod Model FFSHIP-T-1002MH

This trolling rod is the big brother to the FFSHIP-T-902MH and has the same power and action. The rod is terrific at diver fishing with monofilament or braid lines. Exhibiting excellent bend in the rod holder, it reveals great power when fighting big fish. We recommend not fishing this trolling rod with a wire line. The guides will groove with extended use of wire lines.

Flagship Trolling Rod Model FFSHIP-T-1002MHW

This trolling rod boasts guides that can handle wire lines. It has the same blank as the FFSHIP-T-1002MH model; the only difference is that this trolling rod's guides are heavy-duty like those commonly found on saltwater rods. The heavy-gauge stainless steel adds strength and prevents crushing and deformation. The deep-drawn frame helps protect the Zirconium ring for greater impact resistance. These rods were tested extensively, and we found that these guides hold up when using a 30 lb. seven-strand wire line when fishing divers. This trolling rod also comes with an attached FJR Industries Twili Tip Wire Line Guide.

Conclusion

The Flagship Trolling Rods were designed with the REAL angler in mind. We spent countless hours on the water putting these rods to the test so that we could be sure we were delivering the best possible product to you. If you have any further questions regarding the Flagship Trolling Rods, don't hesitate to reach out to us via our Contact Us page.

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