Frenzee Pro FXT Match+ rod
Frenzee's latest 10ft 6ins Pro FXT Match+ rod, at £78.50, is easily one of the best I’ve used in this modest price bracket.
The two-piece carbon composite blank isn’t made for casting heavy pellet or splasher wagglers to the horizon on big open waters, but it chucks their smaller relatives out very proficiently. What’s more, it’s lightweight and comfy in the hand, something hugely important in a pellet waggler rod. Otherwise, constant casting, along with regular feeding via a catapult, can quickly become an irksome chore rather than the fun pursuit it should be.
The need to feed while holding the rod is a vital element of pellet waggler fishing, and proved a very necessary skill when I was live testing the Frenzee rod on Decoy’s fish-packed Beastie Lake. At 5ft-6ft deep, Beastie is an ideal pellet waggler venue. Sadly, though, it’s often plagued by an annoying side wind sweeping down the lake, making presentation a bit of a mare.
Once the float hits the water, it’s almost instantly dragged out of position by the wind – and carp, no matter how hungry or daft they may be, aren’t going to chase sideways-moving pellets with a life of their own. I started the day by fishing a 6g straight crystal waggler at mid-depth (around 3ft) with a hair-rigged 6mm banded pellet.
The wind was behaving true to type, and although I did foul-hook a few fish which shot off like finned cannonballs, every one of them parted company with me. They did, though, make me appreciate how much power this rod has in reserve, and that’s despite its pleasing through action – you can feel the blank bending all the way through to the handle.
With a few fish swirling on the feed pellets as soon as they hit the water, a change to a shorter, dumpier float, and a reduction in depth to just 12ins, was called for. I could only get bites on the drop, which meant casting and feeding every 15 seconds. Not only did the rod never leave my hands, but I needed lightning-fast strike reactions to zip line from the surface in the blink of an eye. Only then did I connect with the bites.
Neither constraint proved much of a problem for the FXT Match+, which was indeed a comfy rod to hold and quick to pick up line on the strike. But it’s not much use having the right rod if your reel’s not up to the job. This is where Frenzee’s new FMR MK2 3000 comes in. Used with its single handle option, it’s the perfect pellet waggler partner for the FXT.
Its large but lightweight Airlight bail-arm flicked open and closed every cast, and the clutch was soon fizzing as Beastie Lake’s strain of lean, fit carp made spirited runs and fought like fish three times their size. The reel’s double handle is more of an advantage when feeder fishing, helping to balance the reel when setting the quivertip.
THE VERDICT
This is an ideal pellet waggler rod for most commercial carp fisheries. Its through action is capable of safely handling the largest fish without worrying about hook-pulls or snapped lines. It will also cast wagglers up to 15g without a problem, and can be matched with hooklengths as fine as 0.14mm. All in all, for the price it’s one of the nicest pellet waggler rods currently out there.
PAY AROUND
£78.50
Mark Sawyer
Frenzee Match Pro FXT 10ft Feeder Rod
PAY AROUND
£54.99
From the Welsh valleys, Frenzee has just introduced three quality rods for the commercials, starting at a very modest £55.
The Pro FXT series includes 9ft and 10ft Feeder rods and an 11ft Waggler. All boast cork and Duplon handles, screw-down reel seats, and high quality SiC lined guides.
How does Frenzee do it for the price? It’s all down to the blanks, which are a blended carbon composite material that is much cheaper than carbon itself. But before you dismiss these tidy little rods as being inferior or second-rate, let me tell you that under certain circumstances a composite material is every bit as good, and at times even better, than thoroughbred carbon.
You do have to accept that the Pro FXT rods aren’t power casters, but that said, most modern commercials are not vast expanses of water. Casting accuracy, rather than chucking over the horizon, is of more value.
One such venue where this type of rod comes into its own is the tiny day-ticket College Lake at Aynho – handily close to my Oxfordshire home, although I must confess I’d never fished it before. However, I’d always seen anglers dotted along its banks whenever I drove past, so I reckoned it must hold a fair few fish.
So when the opportunity arose to live test a short-range feeder rod I thought I would take a closer look at the venue. A quick walk round revealed a comma-shaped lake several hundred yards long, fishable only from one bank, and 20m-40m wide, peppered with beds of rushes and lilies. However, despite all these obvious fish-holding spots, many years of match fishing on snake lakes has taught me that casting up to a bare bank with a Method feeder tends to work well on narrow watercourses like this.
So, ignoring the obvious fishing spots – much to the amusement and disbelief of Angling Times cameraman Lloyd Rogers – I opted to fish a short section of featureless open clay bank. Faced with a cast of around 30m, the two-piece Frenzee 10ft Pro FXT Feeder rod felt quite soft in the hand, without being floppy, and proved more than capable of casting a 30g feeder the required distance. The carrier section is stiff and quick enough in its recovery to make very accurate casts at short range, perfect for my far-bank tactics.
A few casts and half-an-hour later, while Lloyd was still chiding me about ignoring the blindingly obvious spots to fish, the tip simply dropped back as the feeder slipped down the shelf. In response I wound down quickly – the line pick-up was quick and clean as the Frenzee Pro FXT pulled into the fish. It has a seamless fighting curve without flat spots, and what could be best described as a softly progressive action.
There’s enough grunt in the blank’s bottom end to deal with big carp, and it has lots and lots of pulling power, but this is not at the expense of ‘feel’, which is why this rod is such a pleasure to use.
Frenzee Match Pro FXT 9ft Feeder
PAY AROUND
£49.99
This petite 9ft two-piece feeder and straight lead tool makes casting and rod placement much easier in parrot cage swims.
Its short length also lends itself well to being used down the edge. The Match Pro FXT packs a fair punch, and is more than capable of holding its own in a fight with a big fish.
The low-profile lined guides help to give the blank an expensive appearance, and it comes with one spare push-in-quivertip.
Frenzee Match Pro FXT 11ft Waggler
PAY AROUND
£49.99
The 11ft Match Pro FXT’s two equal-length sections make it easy to transport ready made up. The butt section has three double-leg guides which give it a sturdy feel, while the top section features eight lightweight single guides to save on weight and add to a reasonably crisp response. Other features include a Duplon and cork handle and quality screw-down reel seat.
Frenzee Precision FXT 9ft Feeder Rod
PAY AROUND
£109.99
Short feeder or bomb rods are still very much in vogue on commercial fisheries this winter. Their reduced length means that they are easy to get down the side of the peg and out of the wind, and they are that bit easier to manipulate when you’re perched on a seatbox underneath a brolly.
As long as you are not faced with a serious chuck, short rods can be put to good use as close-quarter tools for fishing up to islands or far bank margins. Such is their accuracy, they can drop a feeder or bomb on a sixpence time after time.
Most match anglers have come to accept them, although some would argue that a 10ft rod is as short as you need to go.
Unlike a number of little rods that I have seen and tested over the past few seasons, the Frenzee Precision 9ft Feeder does not have the power to propel a great deal of weight. I would suggest that a 20g flatbed Method feeder (weighing best part an ounce when fully loaded) is roughly on the limit of its casting potential. The rapidity of the blank’s taper, and the lack of wall strength along the last foot or so of the carrier section, simply cannot cope with anything heavier.
However, that needn’t be seen as a negative quality as the two-piece, high modulus, pencil thin carbon blank boasts a perfect fish-playing action that more than compensates for its modest distance-casting credentials. When necessary, the Frenzee Precision is quite capable of handling the odd rogue lump of a carp, which is very impressive for a wee rod that was primarily designed with small carp and F1s in mind.
For me, though, it seems most at home when used with tiny open-end feeders and bombs, rather than Method feeders.
How do I know this? Well, I had the chance to test the rod at Boddington Reservoir, while instructing an up-and-coming young match angler called Steven Ringer in the ways of the carps.
Joking aside, I did gain a very clear insight into what this this rod can do when pushed to its limits. ‘Impressive’ is the bottom line – the flawless anti-lock parabolic action instils in the user a confidence in its ability to cope with very big fish. You can even dish it out to the carp by leaning into them, which for a rod with modest casting capabilities is quite something.