Rocket Fishing Rod - Ready to Fish Kids Fishing Pole - Shoots a Bobber Instead of Casting

Dave Barry once wrote about the difference between being a "Man" and being a "Guy". He talked about how society extolled the virtues of manliness and reveres great men. He talked about how a Man would trek into the unspoiled wilderness and build a Great and Mighty Dam that would change the face of nature to his own benefit. He then spoke about how a Guy would get to the dam and teach his kid to pee off of it.I had a Guy moment today. My kids are starting to be interested in the idea of fishing but aren't quite ready for the mechanics, so me being me, saw this as an opportunity to pull the trigger on one of those purchases that I've been waiting to buy until the "kids were ready".Today's purchase was a Rocket Fishing Rod. Half nerf gun, half fishing gadget, this 25" plastic cannon promises accessible fishing to young hands who haven't mastered the coordination required to delicately cast a lure into the serene wilderness. I am a true fisherman at heart and am easily seduced by shiny baubles that are designed to be more enticing to hobbyists than to actual fish. As a true fisherman, I put in an order. You know, for the kids.In practice, this noisy plastic artillery piece delivers mayhem and destruction the likes of which the local pond has likely never seen before. In lieu of a friendly nerf dart or simple plastic bobber, this cannon is loaded with a hard plastic mortar/bullet/bobber combination that I am certain will crash through the serene pond’s surface and cause all the fish in the lake to head for other bodies of water that promise peacetime conditions.In the interest of due diligence, I decided to test the rocket rod before taking the boys out. We can't have a misfire spoil such a formative fishing impression after all. This was purely magnanimous on my part and in no way rooted in a desire to play with a newly attained toy.I ripped it out of the packaging with my bare hands, glanced at the manual to make sure that it was included, and loaded up the projectile/mortar round/bobber combination device and looked around for a suitable target. My oversized beanbag chair promised a large enough target that even if I wasn’t pin-point accurate, my error would still hit the generous mark. As for why I have an oversized beanbag chair? It has been established that I do have a history of guy moments.I pulled back the pump action,made sure the bobber was engaged, disengaged the safety, and took careful aim at the bean bag. Once I pulled the trigger, I almost immediately became aware of three things. As I pulled the trigger, the sear disengaged and released the spring to send the test payload on its way. The recoil and noisy release immediately clued me in to the notion that this Rocket Rod was no normal piece of fishing gadgetry.The second revelation came as the the bobber hit the beanbag char, ricocheted off of the soft fabric, smacked into the aluminum window shades and gently landed on a cat who up till now was still either stunned by the noise of firing or was merely deciding if it wanted to run away or run away really fast. The noise of the hard plastic payload ping-poinging its way around my family room awoke my sleeping toddler who was previously napping on the other side of the house.So after a fruitless search for the cats, replacing an aluminum blind slat which had mysteriously developed a kink recently, and handing the now-unloaded rocket rod to my toddler who instantly discovered that its shape naturally suggested light saber combat, I came to my third realization. Under no circumstances would my children be allowed to use this gadget.I can’t wait to take it fishing.

Got this as part of a family Christmas present, and hoped for the best despite all negative reviews. We plan on going fishing this weekend for the first time, and my 5 year old has been extremely excited about it. I put line on the rest of our fishing rods, and opened the package to make sure this was ready to go. Upon getting it out, I discovered that the line was jammed in the reel. Fine... No big deal in the grand scheme of things, just need to get it taken apart so I unjam it. Or so I thought. I literally pressed the button to get access to reel, and... the whole thing practically disintegrated. The reel crank fell off, the reel apparatus fell apart as soon as it was removed, the reel door fell off... Literally the most important component to it fell apart with the push of a button. This thing didn't even get to be used once, unlike many other reviews in here.I have no idea how well the rocket bobber thing shoots, we never got that far. Fell apart before we could find out.I'm extremely disappointed, as is my 5 year old daughter. Stick to the kiddy ones at Wal-mart for $10 with the cartoon characters and save yourself not only the money, but the heartache.They hold together better, though I'm honestly inclined to believe that a stick, tape, string would do better than this thing would.

My grandchild loves this thing! He is Always wanting to use it lake or not. Pretty durable and fun that a 4 year old can't destroy it. He's 6 now and uses all by himself. Easy to use and it's good for any age. The size is of the rocket pole makes it easy to stow behind the seat.

Great toy. Caught a catfish on it. Toy didn't last long, but it was fun while it lasted.

Like many other reviews the line that it comes with defiantly snaps. I put my own 15Ib line in it and it hasn’t snapped since. Infact once it’s working the design of this thing is BRILLIANT. Extremely safe for young kids to use as it’s almost impossible to snag or get the hook caught on anything with the bobber mechanism it comes with. Easy to real & shoot. Only reason for 4 stars is the line it comes with snaps but once you put your own in it works like a charm!

I bought this for my toddler and he enjoys it quite a lot. Easy to use, easy to set up. I would replace the line with a 6 or so pound test. Taking it apart to swap out lines seems complicated at first but it's actually very simple. Any issue is for the most part just like anything on a normal rod and reel. I would recommend

It worked very well. My grandson was so happy. He caught a fish with the first cast.I wished he still had it. He loved it so much.It just did not stay together. Sandy Rapp

I purchased this product for my son at Christmas time and since it is just getting nice outside we took it for its first fishing trip. I followed all the directions and the first time we tried casting, I was unable to get the poll to shot, after several attempts it finally shot the bobber out and the line was severed by the bobber housing. When I was able to retrieve the bobber from the lake I re-stung the poll and tried once more. the same thing happened.The pole is now useless as I am unable to return it since the holiday season is over.Poorly built product and a waste of money.