Daiwa TDR Competition 11ft Waggler

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£225.00

Daiwa are one of the few tackle companies who are adding several new match rods to their comprehensive portfolio this year.

One of the most eagerly anticipated of them will surely be their TDR Match and Feeder rod range. Up until now, TDR has only ever been emblazoned on the firm’s best-selling all blue reels which have become legendary among Britain’s match anglers for their superb performance and reliability.

The new seven rod TDR range has been primarily built with commercial fisheries in mind and has no doubt been created with plenty of input from Daiwa’s two world champs and senior consultants, Will Raison and Steve Ringer. Between them, these two have probably forgotten more about how to catch commercial carp and silvers than most of us would even remember.

They’re priced well beneath the Daiwa Airity Match and Leger models and its awesome flagship Tournament range, but its finished specifications are still exceptionally high and include a luxury gloss finish, original Fuji reel seat, quality lined guides, cork and EVA handle and Daiwa’s trademark Armlock rear grip.

However it’s the manufacturing process which really sets these rods apart, as it uses a special High Volume Fibre carbon which combines lowered amounts of resins and an increase in carbon content, the idea being to deliver more strength and power to the blank but at a much reduced weight.

And boy are these rods light! The 11ft model I tested tips the scales at a featherlight 6.3oz which makes it perfect for fishing the pellet waggler. Holding any rod while firing out pellets with consistency and accuracy requires balanced as well as easy-to-use tackle and this rod has both in spades.

If anything, the surprising amount of lightness and feel that you get when first handling these rods - well at least the 11ft Pellet Waggler model that I used - does lull you into thinking that perhaps it all going to be a bit ‘weak willed’, lacking in backbone and that maybe it would be a real struggle to pull a really hard-fighting carp away from potential snags such a platform and into a waiting landing net.

But after spending a few hours using one at Makins Fishery in Warwickshire, I recommend you don’t be too hasty to judge it by simply wiggling it around and pushing its tip against the ceiling of your local tackle shop.

The pencil thin blank’s tapered progressive action kicks in from roughly half-way along its top section and keeps powering-up all the way through the middle and start of the butt section. It certainly couldn’t be classed as being overly savage, but neither should it be ignored.

It’s best likened to being a bantamweight, but carrying a heavyweight knockout punch.

Daiwa’s claim is that all the rods have the ideal action for ‘fast fishing’ and while I cannot vouch for the rest of the range, the 11ft TDR Pellet Waggler has a turn of performance that made the old adage of ‘never judging a book by its cover’ seem very apt indeed.