Free Spirit Hi-S 8ft Feeder rod review
This flagship 8ft rod is ideal when casts of 20m-25m are called for. Like all short rods it’s relatively easy to compress, making it super-accurate even at those tricky shorter ranges.
The Free Spirit Hi-S 8ft Feeder rod is a classy product
In fishing terms, this means you shouldn’t be afraid to cast it properly overhead as you would a normal length feeder rod.
As a top-end model it’s furnished with high quality anti-frap guides, has a cut-away Fuji reel seat that’s said to give the rod more feel, and is supplied with two unique Free Spirit hollow carbon quivers of 0.5oz and 0.75oz.
Supplied with two unique Free Spirit hollow carbon quivers of 0.5oz and 0.75oz.
Longer than standard push-in quivers, these are far less prone to movement post-cast, and they give the blank a highly distinctive fish-playing action.
I’ll make no bones about it, like other models in Free Spirit’s award-winning Hi-S range this is a classy and well-bred rod.
It has plenty of feel when playing a fish, and a casting potential that belies its modest 8ft length. It also packs more than enough backbone to dissuade a big carp from getting underneath your platform.
Price: £269
Free Spirit CTX 8ft Short Range Feeder Rod Review
As its name suggests, the CTX 8ft Feeder comes into its own when accuracy of cast is more important than chucking great distances, making it the perfect rod for snake lakes, small commercial ponds, canals and most short-chuck venues.
It’s equally useful for straight lead tactics just beyond the pole line, or as an alternative to the pole itself when high winds make other options impossible.
The unique action powers up the blank from tip to butt, and an anti-locking fighting curve allows light terminal gear to be used for big fish.
The two-piece blank is of quality carbon, with a Bi-Axis weave. Features include Fuji High Stand Off match guides, original Fuji VSS17 lock-down reel seat and a cork handle with EVA thumb grip. It comes with 1oz and 2oz carbon quivers and another glass tip of 0.75oz.
It comes with 1oz and 2oz carbon quivers and another glass tip of 0.75oz
A great all-round rod, and I wouldn’t hesitate to have one in my holdall. If you like your rods with a bit of action, you’ll love the CTX, and it’s ideal for hooklengths down to 0.10mm and small hooks.
Price: £114.99
The CTX is the perfect rod for snake lakes
Free spirit high ‘S’ Power feeder special 12ft review
Multi award-winning carp rod manufacturer Free Spirit has added eight new Power Feeder models to its top-end Hi ‘S’ match range.
Two years of input from some of the UK’s best feeder anglers have gone into the design of these long-cast rods. Specials are two- and three-piece blanks in 12ft, 13ft or 14ft lengths, all rated to a maximum 120g (4oz) casting weight. The souped-up Distance versions of the Specials will whack out up to 160g (5.6oz) – a really hefty payload.
In terms of build, High ‘S’ Feeder rods are up there with the best. High-end Kigan anti-frap guides and cut-away Fuji reel seats not only give the rods plenty of transmission and feel, but will accommodate larger big pit reels.
All Free Spirits rods are made from super-slim, ‘perdurable’ (non-scratch) Japanese low resin 40-tonne and 24-tonne carbon cloths with a 1k weave, which results in a sensational matt finish.
The blanks boast wickedly responsive casting actions, super-fast tip recovery and ultra-chuckability for bream and carp on big open waters.
Other key features on the new Distance Feeder models include long, hollow quivertips in the same material as the rest of the blank. These ensure a smooth, even power transfer, and longer casts can be made with smaller/lighter feeders. This suits the rods to situations when less feed at long range is called for.
Handles – abbreviated or full cork – are a standard 22ins but can be customised by Free Spirit to whatever length best suits you.
As you might gather by now these are high-class performance rods with a price tag to match, but then the best is never cheap. Overpriced they are not.
For the live test I chose a noted big bream water, Earlswood’s famous Yachting Lake. The bream run large, are no pushover to catch, and are regularly targeted in matches. They tend to feed quite a long way out, making them the ideal subject for live-testing a distance-casting bream rod.
My chosen Free Spirit model was the new two-piece 12ft Power Feeder Special – a first-rate bream weapon with enough backbone to chuck Method feeders at carp.
Put this rod together and you already know you’re on a winner. The sublime slimline blank, with its demure carbon weave and matt finish, is a thing of beauty, while the perfectly spaced Kigan guides add to its aesthetic qualities.
The long hollow quivertips (3oz and 3½oz) arguably add a touch too much stiffness to the action. But in full casting flight you realise that this is all part of Free Spirit’s intended package, a feature clearly adapted from the company’s distance casting carp rods.
The Power Feeder whacks out any type of feeder with no tip bounce, and indeed instant tip recovery. Cast, my word it certainly can cast…. 30g weights don’t even register on the blank, 40g weights power out without a hint of a wobble, while 50g weights, thanks to the blank loading quite high on the second section, still get blitzed.
I stopped at that weight, wanting to concentrate more on the fishing, and getting a feel for how the blank copes with bin-lids on match tackle. My set-up was a 10lb fluorocarbon shockleader to a 5lb reel line, a 0.17mm hooklength and a size 14 hook baited with two small pieces of worm.
Not a single fish was lost during the test, and a progressive action decidedly on the tippy side was no problem. The rod has enough cushioning through its mid-section to cope with headshakes and last-minute lunges without the hook pulling.
Verdict
Expensive, yes, but if you’re seriously into your distance bream fishing this rod could be for you. Classy looks and furnishings are matched by a high-octane casting performance that may well give you an added edge.
I would have been happier with a 2oz quivertip, but having spoken with Free Spirit’ boss Simeon Bond I’m told that these will be available very soon.
Price: £339.99
Free Spirit Hi S Carp Feeder fishing rod
If fishing rods came with a pedigree, Free Spirit’s new Hi S Match rods would be pinnacles of the tackle trade aristocracy.
The company’s equally well-connected Hi S Carp rods have long been considered be the best that money can buy.
Free Spirit entered the match, pleasure, and specialist arena around three years ago with its mid-priced CTX range. But it was surely only a matter of time before match rods with the same top-spec build and quality carbon as the Hi S Carp rods entered the fray.
The comprehensive 16-rod Match range first saw the light at last year’s The Big One show, where those that saw them – me included – were wowed by their modern looks, quality fittings and almost frightening transmission of ‘feel’ through the blanks.
All are constructed from ultra-low-resin 40t carbon with woven butt sections. This makes them extremely light to hold, yet extremely strong.
The unique ‘Perdurable’ finish does away with paint or lacquer– it’s just the carbon, which is made to be ultra-resistant to damage and helps the rods to retain their showroom looks.
Hi S Carp Feeder rods (the 11ft version of which was on live test duty) are all fitted with high-end Kigan Z guides along the blanks themselves, while the quivertips bear anti-frap MZ rings that reduce the chances of the reel line or shockleader catching in them and causing a crack-off.
Something else that makes these rods that little bit different is their unique hollow quivertips. These eliminate any flat spots, since there is no abrupt transition from solid tip through to hollow blank – instead you get a seamless, progressive action.
To that lot you can add Fuji skeletal-style reel seats with a cut-away forward finger area, giving added feel and control when playing fish. Carp rod-style abbreviated handles allow easy directional changes when playing a hard-fighting fish close to the net, and ‘fold-friendly’ guide spacing allows you to break down a rod with reel and rig in situ.
Add all that up and you have to agree that Hi S Carp Feeder rods are a bit special.
Not only do they look classily different, they also feel and behave differently in the hand.
This was instantly apparent on the live test. The two-piece 11ft Carp Feeder rod is so slim in the butt section just above the handle – just 150mm in circumference – that it doesn’t look capable of casting a small float, never mind a feeder. How wrong can you be!
Not only will it chuck 3oz (85g) feeders with some ease, but it will propel them an awfully long way, certainly far enough to cope with most commercial venues.
The rod’s progressive action is equally admirable – the hollow quivertip gives it a seamless curvature, and it has enough power in its locker to cope with everything from F1s on light gear, through to big girls on heavy Method tactics.
The cut-away reel seat allows you to feel every movement of a hooked fish, and while the abbreviated handle may not be to everyone’s taste, it balances perfectly with the blank and is just the ticket for winding up a cast or piling on the pressure when it’s needed.
Mark Sawyer
PAY AROUND
£280 (abbreviated handle)
£300 (full cork handle)
Free Spirit CTX 10ft carp waggler rod
PAY AROUND
£94.99
On September 5, five Carp Waggler, five Carp Feeder and two Multi-Feeder rods from Free Spirit will hit the tackle shops.
All use the company’s tried and tested CTX specification, which has proved so successful in its carp and barbel rods.
The 40 tonne carbon blanks’ Bi-Axis weave makes them exceptionally light and immensely strong, and their brilliant paint and lacquer-free Perdurable finish is impossible to mark.
Other key features include reduced length handles (although the stepped-up SU Waggler and BW Feeder rods retain long handles for distance casting). The action of all the new rods gives an even build-up of power from tip down to butt, more than enough to stop powerful fish on light gear without the blank bottoming out.
Fast forward to the Oaks Strip at Decoy Lakes, near Peterborough. An early numbered peg at the top end of the Oaks, with the wind off my back, would in all likelihood prove to be a good testing ground for the CTX 10ft Carp Waggler rod.
Fitting the two sections of the rod together, it immediately struck me how slim and light it is. It doesn’t feel or look like an ordinary pellet wag chucker, either, being almost reminiscent of the featherweight old-school rods we used for squatt fishing on the Grand Union Canal.
There’s enough whip in it to be used with floats weighing as little as 3AAA. But the elfin 10ft blank still has more than enough poke to propel a waggler headlong into the strongest of winds.
This I discovered when, mesmerised by its all-round casting, fish playing and handling, I walked the rod round to the other side of the lake where my work colleague Ben Fisk was
live-testing a new margin pole.
Ben, one of the best young match anglers in the UK, is normally a man of very few words. But after just a few casts, and a couple of lucky early mug fish, he turned to me and asked whether he could ‘borrow’ the rod for his forthcoming weekend matches.
That alone should tell you how good the CTX 10ft Carp Waggler is.
VERDICT
Well, occasionally you just don’t see something coming. The comfort of its handling, the tip speed, faultless non-locking parabolic action, classy guides and woven carbon blank make this by far the best 10ft waggler rod we have seen, and at a price that won’t cause credit card meltdown. Go to your nearest tackle shop and have a look at one if you think I’m kidding.
Free Spirit 11ft Barbel Tamer rod
PAY AROUND
£104.99 (1.5lb tc), £119.99 (2lb tc)
This is one of the best small-river barbel rods ever made. The two-piece 11ft blank is very light, and its shorter length makes it easy to manoeuvre in awkward, overgrown swims.
The Free Sprit brand has been synonymous with top-of-the-range carp rods for years. But the company produces classy barbel rods too, and its latest Barbel Tamer, in 1.5lb and 2lb test curves, offers outstanding quality at a very reasonable price.
The high modulus 30 and 40 tonne carbon X-wrapped blanks have a very low resin content, and being twin-tipped, they offer either a traditional Avon-style top or one with a 2.5oz push-in carbon quivertip.
A full-length cork handle, original Fuji DPS 16 reel seat and Free Spirit S-Lite guides all contribute to the rod’s natty looks.
VERDICT
Ideal for straight lead set-ups, freelining and smaller weighted feeders up to 3oz, the blank is wonderfully crisp and generates a seamless, almost through type of fish-playing action on smaller waters.
Free Spirit Surface Creeper 'E' 11ft rod
TECH SPEC
- Perdurable blank finish
- 40T carbon weave
- Free Spirit machine-cut aluminium reel seat ion-plated with a blue-grey finish and with a milled isotope slot available as a build option - please enquire
- S-Lite 3-leg rings
- Fuji DPS reel fitting
- Full EVA handle
- Ring sizes (mm): 30 to 8
- Custom build options
- S-Lite tip ring designed to minimise the chance of tangles (and crack-offs) on the cast.
- The Fuji DPS 18 reel seat is light, ergonomic and totally secure – reel seats don’t get much better than this.
- The test rod came with a full EVA handle, but there are cork and shrink tube options available as well.
PAY AROUND
£109.99
Disappointing summer fishing weather is as British an institution as mother-in-law jokes – and has about as much grounding in fact.
More typically, the sun will put his hat on – and that’s when big carp show an interest in floating baits.
Surface fishing can be thrilling yet frustrating as every single bait (except the one with your hook in it) slips silently under the surface, seemingly drawn inexorably downwards by an unseen magnet.
Tricky and nerve-tingling, fishing with floating baits is stalking at its most primeval level – man pitting his wits against crafty fish that have seen it all before. It can drive you half mad. “Why won’t they take my bait?” you ask a passing moorhen as you strike far too late at yet another half-chance.
But when it all goes right, as it did when I live-tested the two-piece 11ft Free Spirit Surface Creeper ‘E’ on Mitre Pool at Bishops Bowl fishery in Warwickshire, all the earlier frustrations are quickly forgotten.
This specialist floater tool has a soft, sensitive tip suited to small controllers and light nylon hooklengths. It is also more than handy for margin stalking and freelining.
The classy chequered 40 tonne Perdurable (non-scratch) all-carbon blank is typical of the aspirational Free Spirit brand. With understated white graphics on the butt section, a Fuji DPS 18 reel seat and braid-friendly S-Lite guides throughout (starting with a 30mm butt guide), the rod on test had a full EVA handle, although full cork or full shrink tube options are available for a small additional charge.
In action, the Surface Creeper ‘E’ takes the biscuit – as indeed do the carp it snares. No, it doesn’t have the casting clout to belt out a weighty controller 100 yards, but it wasn’t built to do so. However, it will cast smaller floats up to 20g well over 50 yards with ease, making it an ideal choice for medium-sized lakes and pits. Its tippy action will flick out a freelined mixer a fair old way, as long as you’re using light reel line.
The live test went well, and the rod’s L plates were off in no time at all.
Feeding some freebies, then hiding away behind some reeds, gave the carp confidence, and soon one made the error of slurping down a mixer with a hook attached. Quick as you like the Surface Creeper took on its full fighting curve, best described as all-through but with steel running through the mid-section. This gives the soft-tipped blank enough poke to deal with hefty lumps without it feeling overgunned.
Soon a scale-perfectmid-double mirror was laid on the unhooking mat… don’t you just love it when a plan comes together!
VERDICT
What a month for live testing fishing rods it’s been! First came Browning’s awesome new 12ft Sphere Feeder, the ultimate bream rod. Then it was the 11ft Free Spirit, perfect for surface fishing with its soft, forgiving tip that allows it to be used for freelining mixers or controller work. It’s ideal for all but the very largest open-water venues.
Mark Sawyer
Free Spirit CTX Carp Rods
PAY AROUND
£99.99-£139.99
Those of you who already know their Tempests from their Titans and their Delkims from their Microns should also be familiar with the company Free Spirit and its Hi S Carp rods.
These have been star products for many years – hardly surprising considering that Free Spirit boss Simeon Bond, as well as being a top carper in his own right, boasts more than 25 years of rod-building experience.
Just a few months ago his brand launched its, let’s say, slightly more affordable CTX range of rods, and these have gone on to become arguably the fastest-selling specimen rods around, finding favour with the budget-conscious big-carp angler.
The CTX series covers a dozen models in all, catering for just about every scenario, from small runs waters (as used for the live test) through to extreme-range casting venues, where the special S.U. models are called for.
With test curves starting at 2.5lb and progressing up to 3.5lb, with 12ft and 13ft models as well as matching Spod and Marker rods, there really is something for everyone.
Without going too deeply into the technical blurb, it’s safe to say that each rod is built to exacting specifications, using a complex manufacturing process that integrates two different tonnages of carbon cloth before an X-Wrap goes on for additional strength.
The process results in an extremely strong, ultra-light and slim blank, much as you would expect from a firm whose products are so much in demand.
The new CTX rods’ cosmetics and furnishings are impressive by anyone’s standards. Understated graphics are tastefully positioned on the non-scratchgunmetal Perdurable-finished blanks. Fitted as standard are original Fuji DPS reel seats incorporating stainless steel collars and 40mm and 50mm ‘S’-Lite butt guides. These lend a great modern yet classic chic to the range.
Looks are all very well, but these days carp rods needs to to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. With a huge upsurge in day-ticket runs waters, all carp rods these days are likely to catch lots of fish, and those with little or no fish-playing or casting clout ge found out double-quick!
Now, it just so happens that close to the Angling Times offices is a cracking little runs water called East Delph, just outside the Fenland town of Whittlesey. On this type of smaller fishery I focus on fishing fun and enjoyment, so I always choose a light test curve rod – in this instance it happened to be the 12ft, 2.75lb Free Spirit CTX. This type of rod should serve a multitude of uses, having just enough backbone to cast 2oz leads with small solid PVA bags and being ideal for all chods, margin work and middle-distance casting.
It should also have a very tactile and softly progressive fish-playing action, to make the playing of a big carp an unforgettable experience. This CTX 2.75lb rod did the lot at a canter. Okay, I know it’s more in vogue these days to use 3lb or even 3.25lb test curve carp rods, but believe me, this one not only has the build credentials to match its top-end Free Spirit Hi S stable-mates, but it offers a performance to rival that of most other rods in its class.
Fishery details: www.eastdelphlakes.com
