Maver Genesis Black Ice 11ft Match rod
• EVA twist grip
• High quality lined guides throughout
• Quality graphite screw reel fitting
• Folding hook keeper ring
• Action: Tip; Through action
• Casting Weight: 60g-90g
• Line Rating: 3lb-8lb
• Weight: 185g inc tips
• Featuring the stunning ‘Black Ice’ carbon finish and top quality fittings throughout. Supplied with three carefully graded tips.
Sometimes tackle can suffer from being labelled ‘one method and one method alone’. Margin poles are one example.
Pellet waggler rods are another, leading the customer into thinking that they can only be used for very specific tactics. The truth is often very different.
Match rods are a case in point. The tag may evoke images of stick float fishing on rivers with 2lb hooklengths, but with modern design, materials and build techniques your standard match tool can actually achieve a great many things. Maver’s Genesis Black Ice 11ft Match rod falls nicely into that category.
Don’t let the ‘Match’ part of its name put you off – this rod has been designed for pellet waggler fishing on well-stocked commercial waters, but its action and softness make it perfect for a spot of roach bashing on lakes and rivers too. It’s the ideal all-rounder for the angler who may only be able to afford or want one rod in their rod bag.
Made from high modulus carbon, the two-piece Black Ice packs a lovely through action, with ample softness in the tip to allow you to fish with light lines when needed.
However, Maver had both eyes on carp when building this rod, and it’s when you gear it up with a 6lb mainline and a loaded pellet waggler that the Black Ice really comes to life.
Soft it may be, but it’s not so sloppy that your casting will be all over the place. There’s enough poke to pick up line to hit fast bites, and more than enough guts to land big fish.
It’s also very light, weighing just 185g, so you can fish with it in your hand all day with no fatigue at all.
Testing took place on Magpie Lake at the up-and-coming Rookery Waters in Cambridgeshire, chucking a loaded 8g waggler to a bed of lily pads at around 40 yards.
Despite a brisk Fenland cross wind, the control that the Black Ice gives you on the cast sees the float landing time after time in the right place, essential when you’re building up a swim.
Landing the float is only part of the battle, though – some rods can fall down on the strike. Too sloppy an action and you simply can’t pick up the line in time, but the Black Ice is deceptively good at doing this.
Even with a bit of a bow in the line, a forceful strike made short work of those lighting bites that often come just as the waggler settles.
There’s also enough grunt to get carp away from snags quickly when you need to ‘hit and hold’ as soon as the hook is set. Get a fish within netting range, though, and the rod takes on a very soft action, bending right the way through the blank at times but never leaving you with the feeling that you’re in any way undergunned!
Finished with top-quality SiC guides, graphite screw reel fitting, EVA twist grip and folding hook keeper ring, the Maver Black Ice is the ideal rod to carry made up in a rod sleeve, all ready to take on whatever your summer of fishing is about to throw at you!
Richard Grange
