Today I’m taking a look at the RUNCL X3 fishing pliers. If you are like me, a good set of pliers is an absolute necessity on the water. I fish a lot of moving baits with treble hooks and sharp hooks with my worms so my fishing pliers serve as a bit of an insurance policy against hooks in the hand or other body parts. A good set of pliers feels good in your hand and is additionally multifunctional. I’ll walk you through the good, the points of improvement, and after reading all about them want to give these pliers a try for yourself, through July of 2019 you can use code: PAYNE20P at this link: Click here to try them out. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s see what the description from RUNCL looks like.
About the RUNCL X3 Fishing Pliers
- 5-in-1 Gadget: The fishing pliers can be utilized as hook remover, braid line cutter, fish gripper, weights crimper, and split ring pliers. Helping you to make the fishing trip easier
- Anti-Corrosion Aluminum: The fishing pliers are constructed with aircraft-grade anodized compact aluminum with fantastic coating, offers exceptional corrosion protection in saltwater surroundings
- Spring Loaded System: This spring-loaded system ensures that fishing pliers remains free unhampered, and can be easily used with a single hand
- Ergonomic Design: Specifically crafted curved PVC handgrip comes with plane lines, improves anti-slip functionality and offers better traction even on lengthy fishing expeditions
- Braided Line Cutter: The changeable 70 plus HRC tungsten carbide cutter is adequately sharpened to cut all sorts of fishing lines even the hardest braided line
The Good
Unlike a lot of other pliers I’ve used, the RUNCL is sized for a man’s hands. No dainty pliers here. Not only is the sizing right but the grip on the X3 is great as well. My hands stay pretty wet in the kayak and so traditional aluminum frame pliers just slip and slide in my hand. The PVC grip works flawlessly in the water.
I also appreciated the spring loaded system. The RUNCL X3 pliers were always ready to clamp down on something, ready for work. And speaking of ready for work, the anti-corrosion aluminum is great for both freshwater and saltwater applications.
Points of Improvement for the RUNCL X3 Fishing Pliers
The RUNCL X3 fishing pliers boast a split ring plier function which is accurate however I found the beak of the split ring part of the plier more suited for large split rings and not particularly helpful for smaller applications like treble hooks on a crankbait. It would need to be a bit smaller to not completely blow out smaller sized split rings.
I found the sheath for the pliers and the added carabiner with cord unnecessary. Most folks are going to use a different tether or none at all and that carabiner is weak sauce which is a potential fail point if you are relying on it to keep the pliers connected to a boat or belt. The sheath will get lost after a couple of trips for almost everyone so don’t lay out the cost for it. Put that back into the product pricing (reduce the price a touch).
Final Thoughts
I think if the price point for the X3 was at $19.99 it would probably be a highly recommended set of pliers. The psychological barrier of $20 is strong in a lot of anglers and this may prevent them from trying a really good set of pliers. That being said, if my math is correct, that PAYNE20P code at the link up top will get them under $20 and they are definitely worth a try for that price point, putting them on par with a lot of other industry favorites.
If you want to see them in action, check out this outing on the water where I put them to use on a big bass: