Maver Signature 400 16m
PAY AROUND
£1,199.99
The introductory 16m Maver Signature 400 pole shares an impressive array of features with its top-of-the-range 1000 stablemate, The real difference is in the cost – the 400 works out £2,000 cheaper!
With that in mind, you might expect the eminently affordable newcomer to be built in an altogether different way – perhaps using leather-strapped coffee table legs for butt sections, or having top kits fashioned from bamboo.
But not of bit of it. The Maver 400 makes use of high tensile, high modulus 450 grade carbon cloth and super-tough epoxy resins, martying them together with the latest impregnation processes. The smart cloth is lovingly wrapped by an Italian Reglass carbon technician around exactly the same 11-sectioned mandrel as is used for all four Maver Signature poles.
That said, this pole is not in the same league as the flagship Signature 1000, and nor could it be for what you pay. It doesn’t have quite the same rigidity, balance or tip speed, and it would be quite wrong of me to try and convince you otherwise.
Nevertheless, it is still one of the best commercial fishery poles that I have ever handled at this price. Obviously the differential in cloth tonnages between the poles (1000 and 450) means the Signature 400 is heavier, with less linear stiffness. But unless you need to ship silvers in at breakneck speed, or fish at 16m every time you go out, the additional weight and cushioning Is a positive attribute – particularly when faced with windy conditions, big fish or bagging situations.
The inclusion of super-sturdy fighting fifth and sixth sections will be a real boon to the commercial fishery regular, eliminating any chance of breakages to the pole’s standard
sections when using top-2s plus two or three. These are the lengths most useful when targeting carp with bigger baits such as paste, meat or worms. In such cases the striking action is nearly always upwards, very fast and quite severe, potentially leading to breakages as the elbow cracks against the section, or the section snaps clean in half with the force of the strike. Having a spare fifth and sixth section is good insurance, should you suffer an untimely accident.
Live testing at Northamptonshire’s ever-reliable Lakeside Fishery was very interesting. The wind, that had tried its hardest to blow the pole from my hands all day, waited until I had shipped the entire length back across two rollers to net a fish before delivering a gust so ferocious that both rollers collapsed at the same time.
As anyone who has had this happen to them can testify, the usual result is a multiple fracture of your pride and joy. So imagine my joy as I turned around to view the expected scene of carbon carnage, only to find that I would not after all have to face the wrath of the larger-than-life Maver MD Phil Briscoe.
The Signature 400 was still in one piece – it had bounced off the road with two rollers landing on top of it and survived. Now that’s impressive!