Good for fishing Cabo San Louis. Haven't had any issues with it. Case is heavy duty to protect the rod.

I wanted a rod/reel combo for a long cast to surf fish in Mexico..

Previously i had a 4 piece $74 Fiblink travel rod which performed Ok, (I needed to tighten up the middle section every 30min or it was flying out during the cast). I was able to cast far above the waves at Pedregal beach in Cabo San Lucas.
So, I wanted to increased the casting distance further , to hit the rock where I saw yellowtail while spearfishing.. And I came across a good deal on Daiwa Tournament Ballistic rod TNBA33-405G with the idea of pairing it with Daiwa Basia QD45 reel.

Daiwa advertises this rod as Spinning AND Conventional reel compatible I was suspicious right away as I saw how small the line guides are.

So I took it to the beach today with Okuma vs 65 reel spooled with Daiwa j-braid 40lbs. Right away I got 5 wind knots which never happened before..

During the cast the first line guide creates a "vortex" of line and I could hear a sound of line rubbing against the line guide..Very strange that Rod's first line guide that is installed in the middle of the middle section is surprisingly small for a spinning rod. Take a look at the photos..

I own 4 of these rods. The older models did not come with a worthless carry case, and the butts on the older rods were completely protected with a full wrapping.The newer rods throw as well as the older models, but the fluff that comes with the new rods are not worth the extra costs. If considering this rod, I would suggest buying the blank and having it built to your needs. The bare, unprotected butt section on my newer rods have become scared and blemished. I plan to re wrap these for better protection. In my opinion, DIAWA has tampered with success and foolishly attempted to fix a wonderful rod that was not broken.

Have now built four(4) of these rods and they are one of the best blanks for east coast red drum surf/pier fishing. Very light and easy to throw. The red paint scheme looks awesome as well. Not a fan of the three-piece design(personal preference) but Daiwa did this one up right, and they are great rods.