Shimano Lunamis S90ML 9’ 6-25g (Jig Max 32g) lure rod review - £335 UK price — Henry Gilbey (2024)

Screw you Shimano and these awesome lure rods you keep making. I had got to the stage on my lure fishing rod addiction cycle where I had successfully talked myself out of needing any kind of lighter rated lure rod for my bass fishing. This is partly down to how ridiculously versatile the Shimano Exsence Genos S90MH/R 9' 8-48g is plus the fact that I do like faster and more powerful styles of lure rods, but also because I had no idea that lure fishing for bass could be so varied and I could be fishing little 10g surface lures through to 40g metals and paddletails, plus everything in between. So I don’t need a lure rod rated to fish “only” 6-25g, or at least that is where I had got myself to until this sneaky little bastard of a fishing rod which is the Shimano Lunamis S90ML 9’ 6-25g along and messed it all up for me…………..

The easy part of this review is that I can’t get enough of this Shimano Lunamis S90ML 9’ 6-25g lure rod, indeed it’s what I refer to in my head as a “problem rod”. It’s an interesting rod to fish with and test for the purposes of this review, but it has also rather quickly become a lure rod that I seriously don’t want to send back. As you can probably tell, a fair number of lure rods come through my doors, and a good percentage of them end up being reviewed on here if I enjoy fishing with them. These reviews are on my own time and I have little interest in going out fishing with a fishing rod I don’t like very much, so if I don’t enjoy fishing with a rod then I leave it be. For the most part the rods that come to me for a bit of a thrashing then go back to wherever they came from afterwards. Sometimes I can keep a certain rod and this really helps with my guiding work over in Ireland especially, but a rather expensive rod like this incredible Shimano Lunamis S90ML 9’ 6-25g which has not come via Shimano UK needs to go back and at least get sold as lightly used so no money is lost through me testing something out.

So here is me seriously not wanting it to go back and debating whether I claim the rod broke and I threw the bits away in a fit of rage, or else I scratch it up so badly it can’t even be sold as a used rod and therefore there’s no point in the rod departing my clutches. Damn this Shimano Lunamis S90ML 9’ 6-25g is one hell of a fishing rod, and do not for one second let that 6-25g rating put you off because you think you might need to fish with say the regular size Xorus Patchinko or perhaps a 28g Savage Gear Seeker and so on - this rod eats those lures up if needs be. Incredibly deft of touch and feel this lighter class of lure rod may well be - and it very much is - but now wind it up and push things a bit and the rod responds incredibly well. Not for one second am I going to suggest that a lot of lure anglers can or indeed want to spend £335 on a lure fishing rod for their bass fishing, but I would like to suggest that this particular rod and how it performs could easily deal with many anglers’ complete bass lure fishing needs.

If you went through the hard and soft lures you take out bass fishing with you, I am going to hazard a guess that for a lot of you it’s the 26g regular size Xorus Patchinko and then a sub-surface hard lure like the 20g IMA Hound 125F Glide which are the heaviest hard lures you might carry - or the equivalent of course, it’s just that I know those two lures really well. The 120 size Fiiish Black Minnow with the 12g Shore Head weighs 22g, and the 12.5cm Savage Gear Sandeel which I guess we collectively fish with the most from that range weighs a total of 23g. I am going to add the 23g and 28g Savage Gear Seekers into the mix because I am finding more uses for them than I originally thought, and into that category I will also put the lethal 19g Savage Gear Sandeel Pencil 125. Now for sure a lot of us are going to go heavier than this for faster currents and bigger sea conditions and so on, but how many areas in the UK where anglers chase bass on lures can be successfully covered with lures weighing no more than say 26g? You’ve got a light and responsive but so damn precise and steely lure rod here that can easily chuck a 28g metal if needs be, and it puts the Patchinko out as far as you know this lure likes to go, but now drop down to some of the smaller and lighter hard and soft lures and this is where I would urge you to let a little bit of 6-25g into your life. A DoLive Stick or a new Gravity Stick (which are deliberately quite heavy) or a 13g IMA Silent Salt Skimmer on this Shimano Lunamis S90ML are just utterly sublime, and it’s that connection to the lighter lures that I might use in estuaries and calmer conditions and so on that have so ensnared me with this amazing lure rod. It’s not catching me more bass, but wow do I feel a million dollars when I’m fishing with it.

I don’t like soft tips on lure rods and I don’t subscribe to needing a “gentler” sort of lure rod action to successfully fish soft plastics such as these new Savage Gear Gravity Sticks, so as easy as this Lunamis S90ML is to fish with, I love how its action is nice and precise - kinda like how a more powerful lure rod bends but scaled down for the lighter stuff. We all like different things but when it comes to my perfect lure rod action I can’t help but put the Shimano Exsence Genos S90MH/R 9' 8-48g at the top of the list. I have fished a little bit with one of the lighter Genos rods but it wasn’t much like this Shimano Exsence Genos “Wild Contact” S90MH/R 9' 8-48g which I like to stroke on a regular basis, but blow me bloody down if this cheaper and stunningly built Shimano Lunamis S90ML 9’ 6-25g doesn’t come along and essentially become more like a lighter Genos 9’ 48g for me. For sure the more expensive Genos has something extra special that I can’t quite put my finger on, but without a doubt this lighter and cheaper Lunamis S90ML shares a lot of the same DNA.

And because you can easily chuck a 28g metal or the regular Patchinko on this rod yet get so much out of it with how light and responsive it is with the lighter lures when compared to many of the 10-30g or 7-35g lure rods I have fished with, well this is why I am so dreading having to send this awesome Shimano Lunamis S90ML 9’ 6-25g back. I have gone and convinced myself that the Exsence Genos S90MH/R 9' 8-48g can do virtually everything bass lure related for me - and it seriously can - but the more I go out and fish the estuaries and more “regular” conditions, the more I am absolutely loving this lighter Lunamis. I have had bass to around the 6lb mark on this “lighter” Lunamis where the fish smashed my Fishus Lurenzo Espetit 11cm literally right off the rod tip and because of where I was fishing I had no choice but to hold the bass on a completely tight line and let the rod do the beating - which it did, and at no point did I feel a single flicker of doubt. From another Lunamis rod review I put up - “these Lunamis rods come in a plastic sort of case and don’t come with a rod bag, and whilst this is of no real bother to me and the fact that my lure rods sit in rod racks ready to go most of the time, I thought I should mention it”. Handle design, guides, build quality, handle length, feel, handling, you name it, this lighter Lunamis is without a doubt the best lighter bass rod I have ever had the pleasure of fishing with. I’ve got my hiding spot ready for when the courier arrives at my front door to take this thing away………………...

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