Daiwa TDZR5 16M Pole

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RRP £1,399.00   Promo Price £999.00

New for 2015, the TDZR5 pole is the top model in the latest Team Daiwa range which replaces the original, affordable and very popular TDXR series. 

There are six long poles in the range, plus a margin pole which is compatible with the power kits of both the new TDZR4 and TDZR5 poles, so if you’re looking for a super-strong second pole that matches with your long pole, than you need look no further.

Improvements to this latest series include a small overall weight reduction on the two most expensive 4 and 5 models, as well as a better slide-easy finish which now goes all the way down to the fifth section. All of the poles in the range have also been re-designed across their upper sections, providing an enhanced responsiveness. In addition, all the TDZR poles are now supplied with Daiwa’s new Pre-Bore power top kits. These have a reinforced carbon wrap which allows them to be fitted with side puller kits which definitely make the playing of boisterous fish much easier, especially when using lighter elastics.

I was very keen to test one of the new poles for myself as improvements such as these are not easily achieved without either adding extra weight, or making the pole a bit flimsy. So Daiwa’s claim of actually having 65g less weight would make for a very interesting session.

So, on an incredibly mild Christmas afternoon, I rolled-into the car park of the day ticket College Farm Lake at Aynho on the Oxfordshire borders to see if I could tempt some of its hard fighting and very pretty inhabitants with the Daiwa TDZR5 16m pole.

Now I have been a dyed-in-the-wool Daiwa pole fan for many years and I know that those Dawa poles with silver coloured butt sections are in fact more than likely to be a wallet sapping. The brilliant Tournament is a good example, but – and here’s my point - butting the sections of this TDZR5 model together and looking along its length, it looked every bit as stiff as a Tournament model.

It isn’t all that far off from handling like one either. All the claimed additional stiffness is there in spades, with plenty of grunt and grind available when and if it’s needed. The tip speed and recovery rate is understandably that little bit sharper and quicker to settle at 13m and 14m than it is at 16m, but that’s being a picky; it’s more than fishable at its full length, with more than enough rigidity and quickness to be used for rat-holing up the far-bank. 

I am not exactly in love with the change of carbon finishes between matt and gloss over the pole’s top five sections, but it certainly doesn’t detract from its shipping abilities. It’s clean and quick through the hands, and not once did the sections come apart while fishing, which is an often criticism levelled at new Daiwa poles.

The pre-bore power top kits will handle the heaviest of elastics, while the match kits are ideal for lighter set-ups. Due to the amount of stiffness and easy handling qualities of this pole, it definitely has an all-round usage that would make it every bit as much at home on a river or canal as it would bagging-up with commercial carp.