Major Craft 24 Solpara: Budget Rods With K-Guides for Shore Jigging, Seabass and Squid

Major Craft’s Solpara is one of the best-known budget rod series in Japan – the rod a lot of anglers start with. The 24 Solpara adds one significant upgrade: every model now has Fuji K-guides, at prices that start around 11,000 yen including tax.

This guide explains what a K-guide actually does, then goes through the shore jigging, seabass and eging lines.

What a K-guide does

Most people know K-guides are “good” and “tangle less”, but not why.

Traditional guides stand straight up from the blank. When line is slack – during a cast, or when a crosswind blows a loop of line – it can wrap around the guide frame, and the next cast snaps it off or tangles it. The K-guide fixes this in two ways:

• The guide frame is tilted progressively rather than standing upright. When a loop of line catches on it, the force of the line leaving the reel pulls it free instead of knotting.
• The bridge (the guide’s foot) is wider and angled in two stages, removing the spots where line can catch.

The practical result: fewer tangles in wind, and fewer lost lures from line wrapping a guide mid-cast. That used to be a feature of more expensive rods.

24 Solpara Shore Jigging

Light shore jigging models

For 15-40 g jigs: chub mackerel, small Spanish mackerel (sagoshi) and ribbonfish, plus metal vibes and minnows. The 9’6″ is easy to handle and pleasant to jig with; the 10’0″ SPSJ-1002M/LSJ casts further and handles 40 g lures well – a good choice for surf.

Shore jigging models

For bigger yellowtail and amberjack. The 962M works around 50 g lures on beaches and breakwaters; the 962MH handles about 60 g from tetrapods and rocks; and the 1002H takes lures around 80 g with the butt power to lift big fish late in the season.

24 Solpara Seabass

Designed to cast well and to bend and absorb a fish’s runs, so the angler is not working as hard. A few pointers:

• SPSB-902L – from 70 mm plugs to jigs around 15 g. A good first seabass rod.
• SPSB-902ML – handles a wide range of lures; easy for anyone to cast and work.
• SPSB-962M – full-power casting in estuaries and big rivers, and plugs of 150 mm and up.
• SPSB-1002M – over 10 ft, works on surf beaches with jigs around 30 g. A good flounder rod.
• SPSB-1062M – casts large lures from surf to rocks; for later in the season.

24 Solpara Eging

For squid, the K-guides matter even more: eging is all about sharp jerks with slack line, often in wind – exactly when line wraps a guide. Lengths run from 7’8″ (handy for boat eging) to 8’6″ (more distance, better in wind), with ML models for jigs up to about 3.5 and M models up to 4.0 for big spring squid. If you are starting out, the SPE-862M covers 2.5 to 3.5-size jigs and more through the whole season. (For the jigs themselves, see my Egi-Oh K guide.)

Verdict

The 24 Solpara’s headline is simple: K-guides on every model, at a price beginners can afford. That alone makes it easier to learn on – fewer tangles, fewer snapped-off lures. Pick the series for your fishing, match the lure weight, and it will do the job. If you want a step up in blank quality, the Daiwa 24 Lateo is the next level.

Read next

• Japanese surf rods compared by price range
• Daiwa 24 Lateo review
• Daiwa 24 Revros LT
• Japanese metal jigs for shore fishing
• Yamashita Egi-Oh K

MINAGIMAN

JAPAN ANGLER

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Born in 1994. Originally from Hyogo Prefecture, I moved to Iwata City in Shizuoka Prefecture in search of the sea. I am an Enshunada surf angler who enjoys surf fishing. I am also active on YouTube, and my fishing grounds range from Irago to Iwata.