Customer Reviews

FOGO Generation II Rocket Fishing Rod

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

My son begged me for this for his birthday. It was $35 and more $$$ than I really could afford. It was his favorite gift and waited anxiously for 2 weeks to use it on our camping trip.

We never got it to work once. A complete waste of money, couldn't figure it out, falling apart all over the place, I spent most of our fishing time trying to get it to work for him and finally gave up with him being disappointed. What an absolute shame.

My wife found it on sale for $12 -- which, in retrospect, should have been a clue. It took about five "casts" for a three year old who loves fishing to see that this is a sorry piece of junk. This is a great way to thoroughly disappoint a child.

This product says it's for 8 year olds & up, but it was very cumbersome & difficult to use. Pressing the safety button & reel cover simultaneously was tricky, especially for small hands. I'd give it 0 stars, except for the excitement of (finally) getting the bobber to shoot out. After that, the thrill was over - no fish for the Rocket, even though kids with traditional rods were catching fish left & right.

I really wish I had researched this product prior to purchasing - because then I wouldn't have bought it. And then I wouldn't have a bloody finger (more on that later.)

I came across the Amazon page only because I was searching for some sort of information on the product after it broke. The FOGO sports website only has information about the original RocketLauncher, not the II. That on its own is a bit "fishy" since most company websites would support their latest product. Even so, I tried looking at their FAQ (which produced a computer error) and "instruction manual" which was just a PDF of the original manual (hosted on a different server.) Clearly, the website is not maintained, nor is there any customer service to speak of.

Google searches for this product turn up ordering pages, not customer service pages -- and then this Amazon page, which unfortunately echoed the experience we had.

In our case, the "telescoping" function locked. The instruction manual troubleshooting reads 'if the telescoping APPEARS to be locked' and then says 'gently twist...' as if to imply that the telescoping could never be locked and that the solution is easy. I finally got the bottom portion of the telescoping to retract - but in so doing, shaved a piece of skin off my index finger. We finally had it set up to cast! It went out a couple feet and the telescoping locked again. It was at that point I sought out additional information in case there was another way I could unlock it.

It is going back to the store tomorrow -- what a shame, since my son was so enthusiastic about going fishing, and is instead crushed. I'm just relieved I'm the one with the hurt finger, not him.

Pretty cool for kids to try out, but a little difficult for 6-7 yr olds to operate on their own. My son had a fishing birthday party and nobody stuck with this rod for very long. They all opted to go back to the simpler regular rod. That includes my son, who asked for this to be his gift for weeks beforehand. It's a little involved.

Fishing rod broke during first use by a (9) year old who fish's three to four times a week. She was under adult supervision and was not abusive. This product is very flimsy. Not worth the money paid.FOGO Generation II Rocket Fishing Rod

I have always been a "snobby" fisherman; the best equipment, the best lures, the best boat, the best lake, etc. In fact my father lives on an excellent fishing lake in Western Wisconsin and has considered being a guide. So of course I had no time for a fishing rod as simple (and inexpensive) as the Generation II Rocket Rod. But my friend - who's seen me struggle with traditional baitcast reels - told me to try it, and boy am I glad I did. Within minutes the Rocket Rod was landing big-game fish that I never thought I'd see in my lifetime, including catfish. And my 2 year old son landed a large, electric eel last Thursday, using nothing more than the Rocket Rod and a piece of dried apricot.

We are heading up to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in mid-June, and on day one we'll likely catch our limit of 6 striped lake-tuna. I plan on tying a Dr. Spoon lure to 300lb test "firewire" and then trolling from the back of the canoe while my friend paddles. I think we'll have a "Reel" good time!

I bought this for my young children. I hoped it would add to their interest in fishing, as well as, keep their bait out of the trees. The problem is this contraption does not work. It does not cast as far as advertised and the reeling mechanism fell apart every other cast. Also the rod did not extend as it should, this kept the bait pod from going anywhere.
My advice, buy your kids a tradional rod and real and enjoy teching him how to use it. I thought the kids would like the novelty of the "rocket" but they actually like the traditional way better.

Looks good on tv, but in reality it was a waste of money. The product is much to heavy for my 6.5 year old child (roughly twice the weight of a standard rod and reel). It is difficult if not impossible for her to push the safety button and then the trigger. Often the trigger will not deploy. After you reel it in you have to spend time to reposition the expandable rod portion over the bobber before you shoot it again. Additionally the reel is fairly shotty construction and isn't secure in the housing.
After trying it in the backyard and then the lake--it ended up being useless junk. I broke out the standard rod and reel and within 15 minutes she was casting like a pro.
Avoid my mistake--it doesn't work like the commercial and there were no smiling faces on these users.

Our son had seen the infomercials for this product and really wanted it. My husband would have done anything to get him interested in fishing, so we got this for him. It's cheaply made, difficult for him to use and he has yet to catch a fish with it. At the age of 5, he was barely able to work this thing. Much prefers the Shakespeare "Spiderman" rod we got him in addition to this.