Daiwa 13m Power Carp X pole bankside test
IT WAS feeling like an awfully long time since I’d been out to live-test some new kit.
So when lockdown restrictions eased, I couldn’t get back out there fast enough to put a new pole from the all-powerful Daiwa stable through its paces.
The car’s satnav was programmed to home in on Izaak Walton fishery in Chebsey, Staffordshire, a five-lake, fish-filled venue that I hoped would be perfect for providing the elastic-stretching action I needed to give the 13m Power Carp X a proper workout.
I knew that the venue’s Bottom Lake in particular was paved with hard-fighting carp, including some well into double figures – the perfect adversaries – so after choosing a peg I began setting up my kit in the early summer sunshine.
But I wasn’t here to get a tan. I wanted to see just how good the pole, which carries a pretty reasonable price tag of £425, would be at dealing with the fishery’s resident stock.
In a world where a top-end pole can easily set you back several thousand quid, the look and feel of budget-priced models can leave you a little underwhelmed.
But I was feeling hopeful. This new all-carbon offering from Daiwa certainly looked the real deal, with its classy black livery giving the impression of a bit of kit costing three times as much.
The package is pretty impressive, and the pole comes supplied with a mini reversible Phex section which, when fitted into the end of the butt (eighth) section, takes it to its full 13m length.
Alternatively, it can also be fitted into the end of the 11.5m (seventh) section to provide a bit of extra length, as well as acting as an elbow guard, preventing the section from being cracked or snapped if you’re occasionally a trifle heavy-handed on the strike.
My initial impressions were that the Power Carp X certainly looked and felt like a powerful pole that would be perfectly at home at just about any commercial carp water.
But never mind the looks, what does it fish like, and how does it handle? These must always be your primary concerns when choosing any new pole, whatever your budget may be.
Well, as the name suggests, the Power Carp X is primarily designed for catching big fish using heavy elastics – in my opinion up to a maximum size 20, or the ever-popular Daiwa red Hydro.
I chose to fish it at its longest 13m length, and while not the lightest pole on the market at 1,245g, it was remarkably easy to handle. Its rigidity and section stiffness were particularly impressive. The shipping out process was an entirely wobble-free experience, and I managed to get my tip-fitted pole pot out to the spot without any premature spillage whatsoever.
Feeding 8mm pellets and fishing the same on the hook, it didn’t take all that long for a few greedy carp to turn up in the swim for a nosebag.
As it happened, the first bite of the day turned out to be a foul-hooker, which is always a sure sign that you’re feeding too much, so I cut back what I was putting in by half.
As many of you will know through experience, foul-hooked carp take off at an alarming rate of knots and can often be pole-breakers, especially when that unbridled first burst of acceleration is backed up by body mass.
To begin with it was a case of holding on and hoping that this wasn’t about to become the shortest live test of all time.
With the heavy hollow elastic streaming out of the tip, the pole hooped over and I suggested to my cameraman Tony that maybe now was the time to take a shot before everything came to grief amid a shower of carbon shards.
How wrong I was! Although I couldn’t yet start shipping back, the pole and its robust elastic started to slow the fish’s initial run, and inch by inch I gained ground until the pole’s side puller top-2 kit was safely within my grasp.
Now the roles were reversed. I stripped the elastic slowly at first, piling the pressure on to the fish, which eventually came up tail-first and was safely scooped up into the mesh of the pan net.
Not quite cricket, I know, but the encounter had certainly proved the pole’s mettle and instilled in me a huge degree of confidence in its abilities.
I’m confident that’s just what you’ll discover too if you invest in the Power Carp X which, in my honest opinion, represents astonishing value for money.
Price: £425 (but shop around and you may find it even cheaper)
Daiwa Connoisseur G90 16m pole package
You might find this hard to believe, but in all my years of tackle testing I have never waved a Daiwa Connoisseur pole over the water.
Given that the evergreen and award winning Connoisseur has been Daiwa’s best-selling pole for nearly 30 years, that is a quite remarkable statement!
The pole has been produced under many guises, starting way back in 1991 with the original Connoisseur Ultra model. Subsequent decades have been graced with the G8, G20, G50 and the latest G90.
I may never have live-tested a Connoisseur or, for that matter, owned one, but I have been lucky enough to have fished with some of the UK’s best match anglers who were devoted ‘Connie’ disciples. To me that speaks volumes.
The Connoisseur is reckoned by matchmen to be Daiwa’s best power model, and therefore well suited to big-fish situations. However, this preconceived ‘firepower without finesse’ idea has always been a bit of a head scratcher for me, because I know two absolute top-of-the-pile speed merchants who could smash out literally hundreds of roach at lightning pace with a Connoisseur – proving it to be much more than a one-trick pony.
So, after years of waiting and wondering about this pole’s potential, the moment of truth finally arrived! And as I assembled the latest G90 on the well-worn banks of Decoy’s carp-infested Lou’s Lake, my mind drifted to watching Essex County’s awesome Garry Miller slaying big roach on the Trent Embankment with his own ‘Connie’.
However, that was all back in the day stuff. Modern match tactics and venues require that the seasoned match angler will frequent a commercial fishery where bagging tactics, or big-fish pole methods, are the order of the day – hence Decoy, my choice of live test venue.
There is little doubt in my mind that Daiwa has developed the all UK-built Connoisseur over the years to keep pace with the demands of ever more stressful match situations, and to that end, this latest model is definitely the strongest, stiffest, most responsive and most powerful yet built. This is clearly reflected in its construction.
Daiwa’s Super MSG carbon cloths with Nanoplus resin technology combine to produce a high performance tool.
It’s a fact that the pole handles better at 13m than it does at 14.5m or 16m, and that’s not rocket science. Poles that are super-quick and slick at longer lengths come with much heftier price tags than this G90.
That said, it is more than useable at any length. It’s proper tough, and will handle a purple Hydro kit with consummate ease.
Daiwa’s packages allow you to keep your top kits all the same length, while having the right sized PTFEs for the elastics.
The pre-fitted Interlastic side puller kits come with tip sizes of 4.7mm and 5.8mm, to cover every size of elastic you are likely to need to commercial work.
The match kits – which really do help to impart a bit more stiffness and tip speed to the pole’s overall action when used with lighter solid elastics – are ideal for all silver fish work.
Verdict: This latest ‘Conny’ is a true all-rounder. The unmistakeably steely feel of a top-end Daiwa pole is there, and coupled with key features such as ITS taping across the top sections and a Diamond Satin finish on the larger sections, this make the pole quick and easy to handle in any weather.
The kit package and choice is hugely impressive too, and will provide you with enough kits for any match without having to shell out for any extras.
Price (promo): £1,499 for the full package
Daiwa’s new Yank ‘n’ Bank Pro Power pole review
Spurred on by the success of its iconic Yank ‘n’ Bank rods and poles, Daiwa has extended the range.
Among several new items, the 14.5m Pro Power Pole is the subject of this week’s live test. It comes with enough spare top kits to cover every commercial fishery scenario and is built around the same fast-taper mandrel as the new 13m Power Yank ‘n’ Bank pole, with sections that fully interchange with the current 9.5m Yank ‘n’ Bank model.
The Pro Power pole is designed to be that little bit more robust than its stablemates and is built from the same high-modulus carbon fibre cloths as many of Daiwa’s far more expensive poles.
However, the cloth from which it is cut has different specifications to give added power and awesome section wall and joint strengths.
Built like a tank it may be, but it certainly doesn’t handle like one – it’s as nimble as a sports car, with a fair turn of handling pace.
I discovered that and much more while testing the pole at Miracle Baits boss Steve Gregory’s super-popular Rushfield Lakes complex – although with the car’s temperature gauge reading minus two, it was never going to be an easy day. Ice was forming at an alarming pace across the surface of Canal Lake and I found my confidence rapidly ebbing away.
However, this L-shaped lake is jam-packed with fighting-fit carp, which put up a devilish scrap even in the coldest of water conditions.
I rigged up with a 6mm disc of punched bread set to fish at dead depth in the deepest water – no feed, just the hookbait.
Just to make things even more interesting, it started snowing (that Beast from the East again!).
Luckily, before hypothermia could disable me, the float gave a little waggle and disappeared from sight. Oh joy! With a lightly-set No8 hollow elastic streaming from the pole-tip, the fish charged straight underneath the ice.
I was reminded of something my Angling Times predecessor Dave Woodmansey once wrote – he described a carp pole as having ‘enough pulling power to drag a snarling Alsatian from its kennel’. This time around it was a very angry carp that needed extraction.
Playing a decent fish underneath ice will exert an awful lot of stress on a pole. You need to keep piling on the pressure, but you can’t see where the elastic is going – all you know is, you need to keep it and your rig line well away from the razor-sharp edges of that ice.
At this point you learn the strengths and limitations of a pole. And I can happily report that the new Yank ‘n’ Bank Pro Power does exactly what the name suggests.
Should you have a recalcitrant Alsatian that needs dragging out of its kennel, get yourself a Yank ‘n’ Bank Pro, tie some hefty elastic to the dog’s collar, and give it go. Trust me, the dog will move first!
Price: Expect to pay around £765
Our Verdict: the 14.5m Pro Power is a chip off the old Yank ‘n’ Bank block. It has many of the build qualities of its thoroughbred Daiwa stablemates, and it comes with a more than handy selection of top kits and accessories. All this makes it an outstanding one-stop commercial weapon, quite capable of delivering a super power play performance both down the margins and at longer range.
Daiwa Power Carp 13m pole review
When I first heard that Daiwa was launching a 13m Power Carp pole I wasn’t sure which of its best-selling ranges it would join – Tournament, Team Daiwa, Match Winner or Yank-n-Bank.
As it turns out I was wrong on all counts. The newcomer is a stand-alone model with a very modest price tag. This puts it within reach of the newbie pole buyer who fancies a crack at some really big commercial carp, and wants to do it with a branded Daiwa pole.
This is quite a shrewd move by Daiwa, the leading seller of poles in the UK and reckoned by most discerning match anglers to make the best top-end models. Over the years I’ve lost count of the conversations I have had with people whose very first pole was a Daiwa. ‘Once a Daiwa man, always a Daiwa man (or woman)’ is not far off the mark.
So, if you choose to tread the jewel-strewn Daiwa pole path, what performance and build can you expect from this latest 13m, nine-sectioned model? Well, clearly power, strength and reliability are written large on the specification sheet.
Beefy anti-ovalling joints and super-tough sections give the impression of the pole being bulletproof. Its brawny fighting action spreads across the top five sections, leaving the angler in no doubt as to who’s in charge.
Rated to a 20 elastic, it can be used with heavy hollows and generates enough fire-power to see even the largest commercial fish wave the white flag. Having this unbridled stash of munitions at your disposal does come at a price – but in this case, not a particularly high one.
Yes, it’s undoubtedly easier to fish with at 11.5m than at 13m. But it remains reasonably well balanced and easy to handle at its full length, and there’s no hint of a droopy stick of rhubarb when all sections are put together.
A bit of post-strike bounce and wobble doesn’t interfere all that much with the pole’s action, which remains more than angler-friendly considering all that pulling power.
Weighing in at 1,250g, it isn’t the lightest power pole I’ve ever handled. You need to adopt a good firm posture on your seatbox, with the pole’s downforce weight spread over your knees or across a bump bar, then it won’t feel uncomfortably heavy.
Although the Power Carp is designed to be a cold steel ‘they don’t like it up ’em’ sort of weapon, Daiwa has been clever enough to throw in a few sweeteners – so along with all that power come pleasantries such as alignment arrows, which ensure you are always using the pole at its optimum stiffness.
Pre-bored side puller carbon reinforcements on the second sections are nice enough, although I have to say that it’s high time all Daiwa top kits came with factory-fitted side pullers as standard.
A pleasing slide-easy matt tape finish makes for speedy, painless shipping, while a super-robust mini butt comes as standard and fits into the eighth and ninth sections, giving that little bit more length if and when you need it.
Live-testing this type of pole is not always that simple – to get the best from it you need to subject it to some serious grief without actually smashing it to pieces.
However, the first couple of pegs on Decoy’s Beastie Lake are fringed by a huge bed of Norfolk reed that houses many of its largest residents. Barbel and carp abound here, and both need a fair degree of persuasion to quit their lairs.
So, rigging one of the Power top kits with a size 16 hollow elastic, and attaching a 0.18mm line and size 16 hook baited with a banded 6mm pellet, fight-time was here.
A steady stream of carp and barbel close to double figures were duly extracted with the minimum of fuss and bother, and the pole did its job faultlessly. Who could ask for more?
Our Verdict: Pretty much as its name suggests, this is a no-frills pole that won’t win any beauty contests. But then it doesn’t need to. It is what it is, a reliable branded Daiwa pole with a more than half-decent spare top kit package, at an absolute steal of a price.
Mark Sawyer
Price: £299
Daiwa Tournament Pro XLS 16m
FEATURES
• Choose between More Power or More Match kit packages
• Integral taping system on
sections 5, 6 and 7
• Diamond Satin slide-easy paint on sections 8, 9, 10 and 11
• Supplied with Air XLS holdall
Arguably the most iconic pole of all time, Daiwa’s legendary Tournament Pro has been refined to meet the exacting demands of modern match fishing.
The new Tournament Pro XLS combines reliability you can stake your life on with a proven track record. Such is its reputation that if you draw next to someone using one it’s a racing certainty that you’ll be in for a tough match – as long the workman is even half as good as his tool, that is.
So why would Daiwa even attempt to fix something that clearly isn’t broken? The fact is, the 100 per cent UK-built Tourney Pro has been re-worked with cutting-edge carbon advancements. These include integral taping on its fifth, sixth and seventh sections, a Diamond Satin slide-easy paint job on sections eight, nine, 10 and 11, and extended length 13m, 14.5m and 16m butt sections – albeit by only 10cm in each instance.
Despite these improvements from Daiwa nothing particularly earth shattering has happened to the overall feel of this, its latest incarnation. Instead, minimal advancements add in small increments to the pole’s overall performance.
Elongated butt sections help to shift the pole’s fulcrum point further down towards the butt, reducing its downforce. This means more responsive handling, with a more rapid tip speed and recovery rate. The latest Diamond Satin slide-easy finish on the larger sections makes shipping in or out at any length a super-slick operation, so long gone are the days of the infamous Tourney Pro ‘sticky squeaky’ effect.
Integral taping on the top sections sees them fairly rattle through your hands, something to make the silver fish speed freaks hug themselves in delight.
But the new model isn’t all about shipping speed, as proved on the live test at Decoy’s carp-rich Six Islands Lake. Pinging pellets long is currently the in method at Decoy, so that’s just what I did.
At 13m (nine sections) there is no mistaking that this pole is a chip off the old block – just a stiffer, quicker, easier-to-handle chip! The unmistakable steely feel of the original is still there as you ship it out to 14.5m, and at its full 16m it remains a joy to fish with.
Feeding accurately with a catty, using a short-line rig and holding the pole was not a problem, despite a nasty side wind. Its linear rigidity and balance is up there with the very best.
Its strength comes through in abundance when you lean into a fish that doesn’t wish to go in the direction you want it to. It also seems that Daiwa has sorted out the irritating joint-sticking that had been known to accompany its new poles. Not once during the test did any section even threaten to come apart, and they came together with a reassuring swish.
When the Tournament Pro was introduced in 2004 it came with six spare Match and Power top kits and cost £3,999. This latest version has exactly the same price tag, but you have a choice of eight Match or Power kits, making it even better value for money than the original, the performance of which it matches and then surpasses.
Price: £3,999
Angling Times Says: The go-to top-end pole for discerning match anglers, the latest Tourney Pro has improved technical specifications and spare kit packages. A true all-rounder in every sense, it’s more than capable of snatching silvers at speed, bagging commercial carp, or running a long line down a river. It’s an iconic pole with a proven track record which, just like a fine wine, only improves with age.
Mark Sawyer
Daiwa Match Winner Competition C5 16m fishing pole
TECH SPEC
All Match Winner poles developed using the same mandrels plus section alignment system
Top kits pre-bushed with UK-made PTFE bushes and pre-bore wrapped for side pullers
Slide Easy matt paint on cosmetic sections
Daiwa ITS tape finish on sections 5, 6, 7, 8
All poles come with high-grade mini extension fitting sections 9, 10, 11
Supplied with cupping kit and cups, holdall and tubes
Daiwa Match Winner Competition poles. A new range unmistakably from the Daiwa stable with butt sections resplendent in the eye-catching silver livery we've come to associate with its flagship Tournament and Airity models.
Staying in line with their thoroughbred counterparts, all new Match Winner poles have fully interchangeable sections. This lessens pain in the wallet area, should you wish to upgrade to a higher spec pole. Daiwa hasn’t skimped on the spares packages either – even the 13m introduction-level C1 comes with two Power top-3 kits, a short Daiwa Phex extension (giving the pole a tad more length than stated), and a cupping kit.
The top-of-the-range 16m C5, the pole on live test duty, is supplied with a whopping four Power top-3 kits; a Match kit inside the pole; cupping kit; two mini extensions that fit on to the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth sections; and a Phex mini extension that takes the pole to its true 16m length. All models are fitted with 3mm (Match) and 4mm (Power) pre-cut pure PTFE bushes, and boast pre-bored wrapped areas for fitting side puller kits. Considering the classy carbon build of these poles, and their generous spares packages, they’re actually a bit of a bargain!
With prices starting at just £499, going up to £1,199, there’s a model to suit most pockets. If you shop around, I bet you can find them all for less than the RRP, too. So much for what you get, but how a pole performs on the bank is what really matters. Where better to start than at the top of the pile with the Matchwinner C5?
This resilient pole has areas of reinforcement only where they are required, keeping the weight right down. This means the fourth and fifth sections, which get the most use, are also the strongest. This is what you might expect from any pole with a price tag of over a grand. But the C5 Competition has that little bit extra – it oozes class, elegance and poise, and reminds me very much of my very first Daiwa Tournament X pole.
Steely rigidity is backed up with superb balance and handling speed to knock out silverfish at a rate of knots. Of course, there’s also ample power to deal with carp of most sizes. This I discovered during the live test at the superb day-ticket Stretton Lakes complex just off the A1, north of Peterborough. The pole does dip a bit at its full 16m length, but not enough to pose a problem. It’s really good at 14.5m, even better at 13m. The two short mini-extensions allow for plenty of tactical flexibility, and as they are thicker-walled than the sections, they will avoid breakages when fishing at shorter ranges.
THE VERDICT
One of the best all-round poles I have handled for some time, Daiwa’s Match Winner C5 Competition comes with a good spares package, plenty of add-ons, and mini-extensions that suit it perfectly to modern day-ticket venues. For my money this 16m pole is reminiscent of the original Tournament X, which is held in dewy-eyed awe by many of the UK’s top matchmen.
Mark Sawyer
PAY AROUND
£1,199 (C5)
Daiwa Yank 'n' Bank 950 Power Margin pole
PAY AROUND
£225
FEATURES
Top kits
The pole comes with three Power top-2 kits with 4mm internal diameter tips and second sections that are fitted with a carbon-reinforced area to drill and fit side-puller kits.
Elastic Rating
The new Yank ‘N’ Bank 950 has a manufacturer’s elastic rating of 20. This means it can be used with Red Hydro and the heaviest of hollow elastics when big carp are the target.
Wall strength
Despite its ability to absorb heavy lunges, each section of the pole has a virtually impenetrable wall strength. This makes it ideal for heavy hauling tactics on commercial fisheries.
Section aligner arrow system
Each joint is marked with alignment arrows. Keeping these straight helps to align the pole’s spine, providing optimum performance at all times.
Graphics
The new Yank ‘N’ Bank 950 pole has had a makeover for 2016 and now has the same graphic style and colour as Daiwa’s top-of-the-range Tournament range of poles.
Finish
Each section is finished with Daiwa’s Easy-slide paint job that makes shipping a quick and smooth operation in any weather conditions.
So far 2016 has been a bumper year for the release of margin poles.
A trend has been to replace an ‘old school’ all-through action – which sees the pole bend like a tree branch – with a far stiffer, more aggressive build that relies heavily on the elastic to absorb lunges and bring in fish.
Such new-breed margin poles, with improved linear rigidity, faster tip speed and superior
all-round handling, work best for big fish in snaggy swims.
However, with an appropriately matched top kit the old-fashioned bendy poles allow anglers to tame hefty commercial carp in the margins, and have worked a treat for years, saving the shattering and explosive end of many an expensive carbon section.
This nicely sets the scene for the introduction of Daiwa’s latest
Yank ‘n’ Bank 950 Power Margin pole, launched 10 years ago and now in its third incarnation.
Lifetime Daiwa rep Simon Wheeler can lay claim to coming up with the name Yank ‘n’ Bank, and although it’s not a lot to show for 25 years of service to the firm it seems to make him happy!
The new 950 Power Model is definitely of the old school bendy persuasion, but has undergone a full cosmetic and materials makeover. The silver-on-black graphics on the 8m and 9.5m butt sections remind one of Daiwa’s top-end Tournament poles, giving it a thoroughbred look.
It boasts numbered section alignment, top kits with pre-bore reinforcements for drilling and fitting pulling kits, and decent-sized 4mm internal tips – although fitting larger hollow elastics (it’s rated to 20-plus) does mean trimming a bit off the tip ends.
The new Yank ‘n’ Bank is reasonably light, with pleasing handling qualities, but in reality it’s all about the power. Its seven super-strong sections have impenetrable wall strength that almost beggars belief when they are put under severe pressure.
I found this out while live testing the pole in a quiet corner of Six Island Lake at the Decoy complex near Peterborough. The large carp and barbel in the margins here are far from stupid, so you need to present a bait tight into the bank or against a feature. In this swim it happened to be a paddle aerator.
I was not taking any chances with these doughty denizens, rigging up a beefy 16/18 elastic with a matching take-no-prisoners pole rig. I would rather not have a single bite than get one, only to lose the fish.
Tipping a potful of pellets and corn tight against the reeds at the back of the paddle, it didn’t take long before the mettle of the new Spank the Plank was put to the test. A full-throttle bite was met head-on with a pole-tip travelling in the opposite direction, and there could be only one winner. The fish was dragged unceremoniously out of harm’s way and into open water.
Time and time again the pole performed the fishy equivalent of dragging a reluctant Rottweiler from its kennel, and as my confidence in the Yank ‘n’ Bank grew apace, even barbel were won over in the twitch of a whisker.
VERDICT
Daiwa’s latest Yank ‘n’ Bank has all the outstanding hallmarks of the originals, and plenty more.
It’s super strong, and is safely usable with the heaviest of elastics. Its ability to soak up punishment is truly impressive, if a tad daunting at first. But once mastered it’s a dangerous commercial fishery tool – think of it as a Lightsaber, and may the Force be with you.