Shakespeare Micro Series Spinning Rod REVIEW

Disclosure: This article may contain Amazon affiliate links. I receive a commission from products purchased at Amazon.com through my links at no extra cost to you. Reviews on Baitsoaker.com reflect my actual testing and opinion of the products reviewed.
Shakespeare Micro Series Spinning Rod Review

The Shakespeare Micro Series rod easily handled this brown trout I caught on my third cast.

I purchased a 7 foot light power Shakespeare Micro Series Spinning Rod at Wal-Mart for $17 to review how it performed and to find out if an inexpensive trout rod was just as good for catching trout as an expensive fishing rod. For this review I compared it to a significantly more expensive fishing rod and was surprised at how little difference price made to the performance of a fishing rod.

I’ll tell you right now about The Shakespeare Micro spinning rod: It catches a lot of fish and is a great value.

But is it as good as the expensive rods?

7 Foot Shakespeare Micro Spinning Fishing Rod Specs

Rod Power Light
Lure Weight 1/16 – 3/8th oz
Line Rating 4 – 10 lb

This rod is rated as a Light Power spinning rod but like many ultralight power rods it is capable of throwing a 1/16 ounce lure.

Based on my experience fishing this rod, it really hits the sweet spot of an ultralight and light power fishing rod.

This rod is capable of casting a 1/16th ounce weight and lure and can also handle a 1/4 ounce weight and lure.

That makes this rod useful for casting PowerBait type lures where you cast it and set it in a rod holder as well as for casting a lure and jigging it back.

Click here to shop for a Shakespeare Spinning Rod on Amazon

Fit and Finish

The Shakespeare Micro Series rod I purchased is well put together. I pulled the two pieces apart and felt around on the tip and didn’t notice anything that would indicate that the rod was cheaply made.  I examined the line guides to see if they were properly seated and was quite happy with the workmanship of this rod.

The color of the rod is a matte dark gray. Matte finishes are my preference because unlike a bright or glossy finish, this rod will not cause bright reflections that could potentially scare away trout.

I slid the two pieces of the rod together and they fit perfectly without any unevenness to betray their low price point.

During the entire time of my test the rod performed above average, exhibiting a remarkable amount of good workmanship in the fit and finish.

Description of the Shakespeare Micro Series Rod

The rod is a composite rod, which is pretty good for a rod under twenty dollars. There are six line guides that are the right size for the type of line they handle.

Six line guides is the ideal amount of line guides because they will help control the line and keep it from forming into wind knots.

The rod feels light in the hand and is easy to cast.

The tip is on the whippy side but the rod quickly becomes stiff lower down, preventing the entire rod from behaving in a whippy manner. This is ideal and is becoming a common way of building high end rods, so it’s nice to see this kind of build in a spinning rod at this price point.

The light tip allows  you to cast lures a long distance while the stiffer lower half of the rod provide “backbone” for absorbing the head shakes and tugs of a fighting fish, allowing you to land your fish with authority.

I have fished with rods that were considerably more expensive that were too whippy for my taste but that’s not the case with the Shakespeare Micro Series in the light power rating.

The Shakespeare Micro Series has a good action to it that feels the way a “light” powered rod should.

How the Shakespeare Micro Series Rod Casts

For this test I used a 4# test Berkley Trilene XL on UL budget spinning reel (Okuma Avenger 20b) as well as a 2500 size budget Cabelas Fish Eagle reel spooled with 6# test P-Line mono. Four pound test fishing line can be tough to deal with if it is not kept under control.  Use it on the wrong rod and it will cause endless knots and hang ups.

That did not happen with this rod. I believe that the small line guides did a remarkable job keeping the 4# test line flying out of the reel. I used a tungsten weight of 1/8th ounce to cast out into a lake and was able to achieve a reasonable distance.

I think the Ultra Light version of this rod may be able to cast this line further but that’s not a knock on this rod because it’s a light powered rod and it performed exceptionally well.

Next I went to a different lake that has strong winds. For this I switched to the 6# test fishing line and experimented with weights from 1/4 ounce to as high as 5/8th of an ounce, a bit higher than what this rod is rated for.

Surprisingly, this rod did not feel overpowered by the 5/8th ounce weight. In fact it felt quite at home.

The Shakespeare Micro Series spinning rod has a fantastic loading action; when you pull the rod back you can actually feel the weight pulling down on the rod tip and loading it up for a slingshot effect on the cast. I was able to achieve remarkable casting distance with a half ounce weight without the rod feeling stressed in any way.

I then switched to a 1/4 oz Kastmaster lure and was pleasantly surprised at the rods ability to load on the back cast and slingshot the lure a satisfying distance out into the lake.

My more expensive rods matched with higher end reels can cast a bit further but not by much and certainly not two hundred dollars further.

The Shakespeare Micro Series spinning rod was used extensively and it performed perfectly in every regard. I did not experience any wind knots when casting and setting the hook on a trout was easy. The rod felt powerful and confident handling trout 12 inches and less and I am confident it could handle larger fish.

Comparison of Shakespeare Micro Series Fishing Rod to Expensive Rods

There is a difference between the Shakespeare Micro Series spinning rod and more expensive rods.

For example, my Shimano Clarus ultralight spinning rod has more control and is less “whippy” than the Shakespeare Micros Series Spinning rod.

I am able to cast to a specific spot with more precision with the more expensive rod than I could with the less expensive rod.

But the difference in accuracy wasn’t all that much because I could still cast in the general area I wanted to reach with the Micro Series spinning rod.

What is the Shakespeare Micros Series Rod Made Of?

The Shakespeare Micro Series fishing rod is made of a graphite composite material.

This usually means that it is made of a combination of the more expensive carbon graphite material and the less expensive fiberglass.

Fiberglass is less sensitive than graphite. But Fiberglass is also stronger than graphite and less prone to snap from a sudden pull from a fish.

The Shakespeare Micro Series fishing rod displays the strengths of both graphite and fiberglass. The Shakespeare rod displays satisfactory sensitivity and at no time was any fish able to overpower my fishing rod, even though I was catching trout as big as 12 inches.

Sensitivity of Shakespeare Micros Series Spinning Rod

The Micro Series spinning rod is made of a composite graphite material. Because of that it won’t be as sensitive as a 100% graphite rod.

But for the purposes of casual fishing for trout, bass and panfish that’s going to be totally fine.

As mentioned above, the sensitivity is less than a pure graphite rod but it is still sensitive enough to feel your lure wiggling correctly and when to feel when hit has been wrapped in a leaf or aquatic vegetation.

Final Thoughts: Is Shakespeare Micro Series Rod Worth Buying?

I was skeptical about the rod when I saw how much it cost. But the quality of the workmanship and the relative light weight of the rod are qualities of a rod costing much more. The Shakespeare Micro Series spinning rod performed flawlessly and was a pleasure to use and represents an excellent value.

There is some tip oscillation when casting and a fair to small bit of “whippiness” which keeps you from making precise casts.

This is to be expected in a rod of this class. Yet it was the rod’s ability to load and spring back that gave it that extra casting power. If you have trouble casting for distance, this rod will have you casting like a pro.

This spinning rod does not compare directly with a high end graphite rod but this rod is not competing directly with that market. Judged strictly as a budget light action rod, it’s my opinion that it exceeded my expectations and can recommend it if you’re considering purchasing a light action fishing rod that can handle ultralight lines as low as 4 pound test all the way to 10lb test line.

There is no reason to spend hundreds of dollars on a fishing rod for trout when rods like this one exist. I’m a fan. Years from now this rod is going to be fondly remembered by many as a classic. Get a Deal on Shakespeare Micro Rods – Click here

Disclosure: This article may contain Amazon affiliate links. I receive a commission from products purchased at Amazon.com through my links at no extra cost to you. Reviews on Baitsoaker.com reflect my actual testing and opinion of the products reviewed.
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2 Comments on "Shakespeare Micro Series Spinning Rod REVIEW"

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  1. Heavy10mm says:

    Thanks for the review!! This is my favorite review I’ve read in A LOOONG time. Why? Because I get so tired of looking for reviews on less expensive gear and finding nothing but “cheap = garbage and my St. Croix/G Loomis/Fenwick is the only thing with using and if you don’t fish with a $250 rod you’re a horrid person.” Thanks again! I need (ok, want) a new rod, but I’m broke. This one will fit the bill!

    • Roger says:

      Awesome! Thanks for the positive feedback! I really enjoy fishing with the Shakespeare rod. I agree there is no need for high performance when fishing for trout or panfish. There is a difference between need and want. 🙂
      I’m looking at reviewing the Berkeley Cherrywood fishing rod next. It looks like it might be a winner, too.

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