Garbolino G Max Super Legion

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£2,699.99

Anyone lucky enough to have owned an original Garbolino Super Legion will remember it fondly as one of the strongest and most reliable top-end poles ever made. Now the French company has created a worthy successor very much in the same mould, and despite the somewhat rich £2,699.99 price tag it is sure to find fans among the next generation of serious match anglers.

You do get an awful lot of pole for your money. The new G Max Super Legion has a build quality that shouts strength, rigidity and balance, even at the full 16m, and comes with a very impressive spares package

Special attention has been paid to the pole’s profile, with new mandrels used on some sections. Key stress areas have been tweaked and redefined using new carbons and resins. This technical makeover results in the impressively low weight of 648g at 11.5m and just 895g at 13m. This is phenomenally light for such a powerful 16m pole intended to withstand the rigours commercial match fishing.

Interestingly, Garbolino bills the latest Super Legion as being ‘built to fish with on the bank, unlike many other showroom poles’. That’s a brave statement to make, but it tells you just how much faith Garbolino and its UK general manager Darren Cox have in their new arrival.

So, would the pole live up to its bullish billing? On a cold, grey and very wet afternoon at Decoy Lakes’ Six Island Lake it was time to find out.

The first thing you notice on assembling this pole is the quality of its joints. They are uncompromisingly tough, cannot be squeezed out of shape, and slide together positively in a manner that tells you they are not going to come apart until you decide they should. Wall strength is also hugely impressive, and once you start to ship it out beyond 12m you forget just how powerful it actually is.

Being so light, the pole feels as though it were custom-made for your hands, with no leaden qualities or ponderous bounce. I liken fishing with it to sitting in a fairground bumper car that happens to have a two-litre turbo engine under the bonnet. Once you press the pedal to the metal you know you’re going to enjoy the ride a lot more than those around you!

It’s when you fish beyond 13m, though, that you begin to understand just why Garbolino rates this pole so highly. Linear rigidity at its longest lengths is sublime, and it’s really speedy at the tip, with little or no post-strike recoil. What’s more, it ships as smoothly as any pole I have ever handled.

Best of all, it has power to burn without being a beast of a pole. It will be every bit as good on a river or canal with light elastics as it is threaded up with heavy hollow latex, bagging commercial carp.

Make no mistake, this G Max Super Legion is up there with the best flagship poles in the world.