Fishing Rod Review: Tri-Cast Excellence 8ft Power Wand
Tri-Cast’s rod-building reputation is built upon two core values – power and strength.
So when the Lancashire company’s new 8ft Excellence Wand dropped on to the Angling Times tackle desk, more than a few eyebrows were raised.
The word ‘wand’ conjures up images of flicking a little maggot feeder down the edge of a river to catch a quality roach or a big perch – not, as Tri-Cast bills its new arrival, a rod for banging out hefty carp and F1s from a modern UK commercial fishery.
Could the Excellence lay claim to both finesse and power without compromising both? I’m happy to report that a thorough going over at the remarkable Decoy Lakes fishery, near Peterborough, confirmed that appearances can be highly deceptive.
Before getting on to the fishing, though, let’s look at the history of the Excellence Wand and how it came to be. The initial idea was for Tri-Cast to work with multiple Matchman of the Year Andy Bennett to create a short, light bomb rod for winter fishing when the fish don’t pull that hard. It ticked all the boxes, and at that point both parties thought beyond the January and February chill.
Could the Excellence deal with high summer, when fish go like the clappers?
There’s a gap in the market for a short tip rod that can let you chuck a bomb on top of your long pole line or down the margins when the wind makes fishing the pole impossible... and that’s what got Tri-Cast and Andy interested.
A few tests in search of big summer carp soon proved that the rod could indeed take a hammering and give as good as it gets. At this point the Excellence began to be marketed as the perfect short rod for all seasons.
So, on to Decoy and the Horseshoe Lake’s big carp and F1s. With unseasonal gales to contend with, this looked set to be the ultimate test! Clearly the rod is extremely light in the hand, as a wand should be. The two pieces weigh just 108g and are rated to a 5lb line and a 30g casting weight. You’re not going to throw miles with the Excellence, but that’s not what it was built to do.
Supplied as standard are three carbon push-in quivertips in matt black, as opposed to having a coloured end. I prefer the latter, but thinking about it, a carp bite is savage so you’re not going to be striking at little knocks.
Plopping a 15g Method feeder tight up to the far-bank reeds was easy enough, and despite a stormy cross wind the Excellence had sufficient backbone in the cast to direct the feeder just where I wanted it to go.
Too soft a casting action and you’d not be in control, but that’s not going to happen with this rod. In fact, I’d say a good cast could be achieved if you were to fish a 30g feeder and put plenty of welly into getting it on to the spot.
A bite wasn’t long in coming, and immediately the rod hooped round almost all the way to the handle. That did set an alarm bell ringing. It’s a lovely action to behold, but how the hell would I guide a fish away from all those lily pads dotted around the lake?
The moment of truth came 30 seconds later, when the carp decided enough was enough and ploughed off to inspect the pads. Winding down, I pulled and pulled hard, and the fish stopped stone dead.
It might not look it at first glance, but there’s an acre of power in the bottom half of the rod, and that was even more evident at netting time. The 6lb mirror was bundled in with the minimum of effort.
Several more chunky F1s followed before it was time for a look in the edge.
A bait tub of micro pellets had been chucked in, and the boils and waving tails weren’t far behind. First drop in and the rod ripped round to the bite of a 3lb barbel before the first of a trio of big carp followed suit.
At such short range, a savage bite can bust you if the rod is too stiff, but owing to the beautifully soft action of the Excellence, there’s never any danger.
That, to my mind, makes it the ideal rod for edge fishing or chucking on your pole line – exactly what Tri-Cast built the Excellence for!
Our verdict: I’d happily use this rod on the river in winter with light hooklinks, such is its finesse, but the Excellence is built for carp and it puts a lot of its rivals to shame. There’s silk and steel in equal measure right throughout the 8ft of carbon, and if you invest in one, I’d say sit back and enjoy your fishing with this rod because it really is head and shoulders above anything else out there.
Price: £179.99
Tri-cast excellence feeder rod review
The Tri-Cast excellence is of the many impressive commercial fishery rods to hit the market, everything from refined snake lake and pond models through to powerful creations that will graze the horizon. Within Tri Casts range there is something to suit everyone’s depth of pocket.
At the topmost pinnacle of Tri-Cast’s latest feeder rod releases is the new Excellence range developed in conjunction with match ace Andy Bennett.
These top-drawer rods, as you might expect, are not cheap. The new 11ft Excellence on live test duty will likely set you back around £209, but you definitely get what you pay for.
So what exactly will you have in your hand in return for your herd of eight little Cockney ponies?
Well, on the face of it you’ll be getting a great looking ultra-slim, ultra-light rod with lightning-fast reflexes and superb high-end furnishings.
Tri-Cast’s design flair and technological genius come together in a blank with both beauty and brains. In a nutshell, the rod enjoys a high resin-to-cloth ratio, which contributes to its non-locking action
In addition, Tri-Cast has used its not inconsiderable aerospace knowledge to realign the way the carbon fibres are wrapped together. This all adds to the rod’s lightness, rigidity and post-cast recovery speed.
Other luxury touches include three push-in carbon quivertips with coloured whipping bands – yellow (fine) 1oz, green (medium) 1.5oz, and red (stiff) 2oz.
Low-profile single and double-legged ceramic-lined guides, and a dependable Tri-Cast reel seat and full cork handle, complete this impressive package.
Tri-Cast claims the rod will cast bombs and feeders of around 50g using mainlines up to 8lb, which is standard manufacturers’ marketing speak for a commercial feeder rod of this ilk.
In my humble opinion, though, top-end or flagship rods should always have the ‘wow factor’. Yes, you’re shelling out for classy furnishings, fittings and carbon technology, but without that noticeable ‘edge’ all that alchemy counts for nowt.
And so, to discover the aforementioned edge, on to the live test. A favourite water of mine is the peaceful day-ticket Stretton Lakes complex, just off the A1 north of Peterborough.
The fish here are all of a decent size, and respond to open-water tactics, which makes them ideal helpmates for testing feeder rods.
As you put this Tri-Cast Excellence Feeder rod together you can’t help but be impressed by its pencil-slim profile. Its sections are pretty much of equal length when the carrier section’s quivertip is in place, so it can be moved around ready made-up.
I was not, though, wholly convinced by its suggested 50g maximum casting weight and, for me, the top end of the carrier section has a little too much play. There’s no denying its impressive recovery rate, but this rod is clearly not of the ‘give it a whack’ breed. An over-enthusiastic miscast could prove very costly in more ways than one!
But there the criticism ends. The performance of Tri-Cast’s aristocratic feeder-chucker will have you purring with satisfaction. It has a wondrous amount of torque and feel, and a handling performance up there with the very best.
The immaculate gunmetal grey blank has a phenomenal pick-up speed, and its responsiveness to any size of hooked fish is as smooth as peaches and cream.
Verdict: A GENUINE high-performance rod for the commercial fishery connoisseur, this top-end Tri-Cast Feeder will handle most weights of flatbed feeders and straight leads to 30g-plus. It’s as much at home using a maggot feeder with light lines and small hooks for F1s as it would be targeting far bigger fish with bread discs in winter.
Price: £209.99 (but shop around)
TRI-CAST excellence waggler 10ft Review
Latest to join the Tri-Cast gallery of excellence are new waggler and feeder rods.
The latest Excellence Commercial series (see what I did there?) has been masterminded by the seemingly unstoppable match juggernaut that is Andy Bennett.
He had the boffins at Tri-Cast burning the midnight oil in pursuit of rods with perfect casting and fish-playing actions – and the results were, well… excellent!
The blanks feature the best possible carbon cloths and ultra-light resins. After all, Tri-Cast also produces parts for the aerospace industry, so the company’s extensive knowledge of all things carbon has been called into play to tweak the angles of the fibres, and how they are wrapped in multiple directions. This gives different actions in various areas of the blank.
Tri-Cast also spent time playing with the placement of guides and whippings to get the very best performance from its new family.
The 10ft (on live-test duty) 11ft, 12ft and 13ft waggler rods, Tri-Cast tells us, have a totally new through parabolic action that bends from the butt right through to the tip. As a result, anglers can feel every movement the fish makes and stay in full control.
The rods behave like a soft cushion when a big fish is acting up, by absorbing its lunges and soaking up the pressure while still piling on the power.
The tip section, I’d been told, reacts as swiftly as a striking mamba, setting the hook firmly without risk of snapped hooklength tragedies.
All that sounds almost too good to be true, but then, these are no ordinary rods. As ever, the acid test was to get one out on the bank and see if the reality measured up to the manufacturers’ claims.
One of the busiest complexes in my area is the fish-packed Portland Fishing Lakes. This mature, very nicely kept day-ticket fishery in rural Nottinghamshire is renowned for its peace and quiet, comfortable easily accessible pegs and superb clubhouse.
Here, I made a beeline for Long Island Lake. At just over 20m wide it’s beyond the reach of a far-bank pole attack, but responds well to a small waggler and hard pellets. Its stockie-sized carp lap these up.
Terminal tackle was simple – a 5lb reel line attached to a straight 3AAA peacock waggler, 0.17mm hooklength, and a size 18 hook with a banded 6mm pellet.
The short 25m cast tight to the far bank, often a tricky distance for a waggler approach, proved ideal for the 10ft Excellence which, I later discovered, could push out heavy-ish kit towards 35m without many problems.
I was also pleased to find that the Excellence was adept at casting my lightweight 3AAA float, especially given its hollow tip.
The rod cast straight enough most of the time, maybe wandering slightly to the right (or slicing, as a golfer might say), but nothing to get too peeved about.
And, just as Tri-Cast had predicted, the rod showed lightning-fast line pick-up which, for a two-piece blank with a through action, is quite something.
The real joy of fishing with this new Excellence, though, kicks in when a fish is hooked. Be it a small F1 or a proper zoo-creature, this rod will handle both – and everything between – to the manner born.
I reckon this ‘one size fits all’ attribute has a lot to do with
Mr Bennett, who is widely believed to be the best F1 angler on the planet and would be looking for a rod with subtle tippy softness, yet enough steely backbone to cope with larger fish.
As is often the case when lots of stockie-sized fish are present, I overfed the peg with pellets, which resulted in a number of foul-hookers.
Most of these pulled out before the net, but the exaggerated fight of fish hooked this way gave the rod a chance to shine.
Handy for a waggler rod, the 10ft Excellence will handle most weights of floats, within sensible limits of course. The only limitation I can see is in its casting distance – anything much past around 30m and I’d plump for the 11ft or 12ft model instead.
What's not to like? The Tri-Cast Excellence 10ft commercial waggler is one of the best rods you can buy, funds permitting. Light in the hand, it’s easy to manoeuvre, super-fast on the strike, and has an extraordinary capacity to cope with fish of all sizes.
My only very minor nit-pick is the dull-as-ditchwater graphics. C’mon, Tri-Cast – this is a state of the art, cutting edge bit of kit, so why not dress it up to fully look the part?
Price: £189.99
Tri-cast trilogy 13ft feeder review
The latest Tri-Cast Trilogy Long Range Feeder rods target those who fish big open waters for bream and skimmers and cast heavy feeders a long, long way.
There are three versions – Medium (12ft), Long (13ft) and Extreme (14ft). As you’d expect from a company that designs and builds carbon rods right here in the UK, Tri-Cast has again pushed the boat out, with quality materials and the best possible furnishings. Add to this high modulus and high tonnage carbon cloths and we are talking rods that are close to perfect.
All three models have stiff butt and lower sections to help power out big feeders and pick up line at distance. At the same time, the softer tip sections make for easy bite detection and the confident playing of fish. These rods can handle small hooks and reasonably light hooklengths – you are unlikely to pull out of soft-mouthed bream and skimmers.
Tri-Cast kindly sent me all three of these new rods for live testing. The 14ft Trilogy Long Range Extreme, I reckon, would be ideal on very deep, wide European canals where you need to chuck to the horizon.
That left me a choice of the 12ft Medium or 13ft Long rods, and as I wanted to test their distance-casting properties I opted for the 13ft model.
I was somewhat strapped for a suitable venue, with most local rivers and lakes being out of sorts, but Decoy’s ever-reliable Beastie Lake holds shedloads of skimmers and F1s. If I cast up the lake, either side of the island, I was sure to get more than a decent feel for the way the Long rod would perform.
Out went a 20g Drennan maggot feeder into open water 50m-55m away to my right. The 13ft Trilogy is supposed to be able to handle a 120g (4.2oz) casting weight, a tad optimistic perhaps, but 20g was on the light side to get the best from it. Anything around 3oz, though, and the blank’s old-school fast taper construction kicks in.
Be in no doubt, properly loaded the blank will help you to fairly sizzle out a feeder or straight lead past the 100m mark.
When you play a fish the stout backbone and a softish top section free of flat spots makes the rod seen quite tippy in the hand. But take it from me, it copes beautifully with the headshakes that big bream are so prone to.
All three rods come with 1oz, 1.5oz and 2oz push-in carbon quivertips, enlarged diameter guides that can be safely used with shockleaders and braid, and new winch reel seats that will withstand intense casting pressure and remain rock steady.
Price: £249.99
Verdict
With an upsurge in the popularity of feeder fishing (we can thank the England Feeder team and the exciting FeederMasters series for that), the demand for top-class distance-casting rods has never been greater.
Sadly, for those on tight budgets, the carbon content and high design specifications of rods that measure up to the job mean they don’t come cheap!
That said, the Tri-Cast Trilogy, although quite expensive, is not stupidly priced, yet it’s up there with the very best.
The blank’s old school fast taper design results in an impressive amount of casting grunt, nicely balanced by just the right amount of cushioning that ensures hooked bream stay hooked!
Tri-Cast Trilogy F1 10ft Waggler Rod Review
The latest British-built rod in Tri-Cast’s prestige Trilogy series is light in the hand but heavy on performance.
Weighing just 132g, the Trilogy F1 Commercial Waggler 10ft (a bit of a mouthful, that) has to be one of the most technically advanced short float rods ever made. It’s built from the same carbon cloth currently used in the aerospace and F1 motor racing industries.
A phenomenal line pick-up speed, matched with a thoroughly forgiving, progressive action, allows the angler to strike at lightning-fast bites without fear of snapping off a light hooklength. The cushioning effects of the rod’s top section sees to that.
The pencil-slim, two-piece blank’s equal-length sections are furnished with 10 featherweight single-leg SiC ceramic lined guides. These, whipped on with electric blue and silver-tipped thread, are spaced at carefully calculated decreasing distances towards the tip of the rod to give it a seamless fish-playing curvature under stress.
I was rather hoping to see this in action while live testing the rod on the banks of Norwich’s finest commercial, the F1 and carp-stuffed Willow Lake at Barford Fisheries.
It’s obvious from the moment you slide together the two sections of the new Trilogy F1 that this is a very special, if somewhat specialised, fishing rod. Clearly aimed at the commercial match angler looking to bag up on F1s and stockie carp, the blank feels crisp and almost rigid in the hand. But, as Tri-Cast claims, it does indeed give sufficient cushioning through the top section to alleviate breakages.
This I discovered when attempting to connect with the super-fast bites F1s give, especially up in the water.
I had tackled up with a 4lb reel line and a 0.13mm hooklength terminating in a size 18 hook, baited with a banded 6mm pellet pretty much standard F1 kit.
I started the session on a slim 6g balsa pellet waggler, which the blank handled easily enough, although I ended up using a stubby 4g model once I felt the fish were becoming wary of the longer float.
Maximum casting range with the Trilogy F1 if you want to keep things super-accurate is around 40m. Floats with a casting weight of 8g-10g would be as heavy as I’d fancy loading up with.
As it turned out, the fishery was deluged by a storm of Biblical proportions, with thunder, lightning and torrential rain – and the lake’s sturdy F1s became even more fidgety and difficult to catch.
However, swings and roundabouts – the larger carp, always up for a shallow-fished pellet, went on the rampage and tested the rod to its limits. You can’t help but be impressed with a 10-footer that casts arrow-straight, is easy to hold in one hand while feeding, and can deal with F1s and carp to double figures on reasonably light gear.
On the day I was accompanied by Angling Times features editor Richard Grange, a colossus of a man not noted for his deftness of touch. As he said: “Right, mate, give us a go with that rod,” I had visions of splintered carbon shards in his shovel-like hands and a ‘sorry but’ email to Tri-Cast’s Steve Hopkinson.
But as I sheltered from the monsoon under the rear door of my car I watched in awe as Sid
(for so he is known by his colleagues) slid the net under half-a-dozen great big carp in double-quick time.
The little rod bent almost double, and in keeping with his almost Vicious (see what I did there?) style there was no messing about from the old boy.
As the sixth fish was deposited in the keepnet, a sodden Sid turned to me and said: “Well, that’s a bit special isn’t it?” That seemed to sum up the rod’s performance brilliantly.
Angling Times says:
This super little rod is aimed squarely at the commercial match angler. It’s very well thought out, brilliantly built, and furnished with top-end fittings all round.
But where the Trilogy F1 really scores for me is in its flexibility – you can fish pellets in summer and switch to autumn/winter wag and mag tactics with equal success.
Ideal for use with reel lines from 3lb-6lb and hooklengths down to 0.11mm, this little beauty is bound to be gracing the holdalls of many anglers who appreciate pure class.
Price: £169.99
Tri-Cast Trilogy Commercial Pond Wand
PAY AROUND
£109
I must confess that as I slid this single-sectioned rod from its transit tube my first thought was: ‘What am I supposed to do with this thing, then?’ No emails please!
To the very best of my knowledge the quaintly-named Tri-Cast Pond Wand (it only says Trilogy on the blank) is the only one-piece match/pleasure fishing rod I have ever come across.
At only 4ft 10ins long, without one of its two 21ins supplied quivertips fitted, it’s also got to be one of the shortest.
But my question was quickly answered when I rang Tri-Cast’s brand manager Steve Hopkinson. He told me he had designed the Trilogy Commercial Pond Wand himself, to be used on the pole line when weather conditions make pole fishing difficult.
Apparently Steve had lost out on a probable match-winning peg when the wind had picked up so strongly that it made fishing at 16m nigh-on impossible for him – let’s face it, we’ve all been spun round on our seatboxes by the wind at some point in our career.
What Steve thought he needed to combat the elements was a diminutive wand-like tool which could be used to accurately swing a small feeder or straight lead underarm and on to his pole line without having to tighten up to it and risk moving his bait offline.
The construction of a single-sectioned rod isn’t quite as easy as you might think, mainly because the length of taper is vastly reduced. This doesn’t give the technical design team much to play with in terms of the casting and fish-playing performance of a blank.
But, as you might expect from one of the UK’s leading carbon manufacturers, Tri-Cast appears to have cracked this conundrum with ease.
The ridiculously slim blank is built from the same high modulus carbon cloth as the firm uses for the other members of its Trilogy Commercial rod family. It’s fitted with five low-profile Ultra-Light lined guides (which, incidentally, are made in the USA), and is nicely furnished with electric blue whippings, with an additional whipping at the end of the carrier section to prevent the fine-walled carbon from splitting when fitting its 1oz or 1.5oz push-in quivertips.
So, without further ado, let’s find out how this tiny terror performs on the bank. The strip lakes at Decoy are rightly renowned for two things – the large size of their occupants (great) and the endless Fenland easterly wind which seems to blow non-stop (which isn’t that great). But in this rare instance the hooley provided ideal testing conditions.
Without a doubt, the first thing you notice will be an almost overwhelming reluctance to cast it as you normally would – overhead. Yes I agree, that might sound a bit far-fetched, but believe me it isn’t. You WILL want to flick it out underarm.
I have used plenty of petite drop shot rods, overhead casting them without a problem using light lures or jigs. But not so with this rod. It just seems to lend itself better to a gentle swing-out.
It’s not as though the blank won’t cast properly, as later on during the live test I chucked a fully loaded 15g Method feeder 25m with no problems.
The single-section blank manages to generate a completely perfect flat-spot-free parabolic fish-playing action, and considering its diminutive dimensions it has all the tenacity of an angry Jack Russell, happily hanging on to anything you might hook into.
As my confidence in the rod began to rise I actually clipped up the reel at 16m to keep my feeding and accuracy really tight, and to see if I’d get away with it if something really big came along.
Yes, I did indeed manage to bank a near-double, but it was all bit too heart-stopping and not something I would recommend.
There simply isn’t enough stretch in the mono at that distance, so you’re more likely than not to be snapped off if there are real zoo creatures about.
Basically it’s easier and much safer to tie a little bit of fine pole elastic on to the reel line as a distance gauge, or have a set of wrap sticks set up behind your box – which for 16m distance is about 4.3 wraps on 12ft markers.
VERDICT
Basically this delightful little rod is likely to be the most fun you’ve ever had with 6ft of carbon fibre. It weighs next to nothing, is easy to transport once you’ve removed the quivertip, and it easily fits inside a standard ready rod holdall. The short handle makes it easy to manoeuvre, and if you set it up with the tip pointing virtually straight out in front of you, there’s no need to adjust the line after casting to keep you bang on the money every put-in.
Tri-Cast Trilogy 11ft 6ins Commercial Waggler rod
TECH SPEC
11ft 6ins version
Casting weight: Up to 20g
Line rating: 2lb-6lb
12ft version
Casting weight: Up to 30g
Line rating: 2lb-8lb
PAY AROUND
£179.99
This new two-piece 11ft 6ins Tri-Cast Trilogy Commercial Waggler rod offers the keen match angler something rather different to the usual 10ft, 11ft or 12ft rods of this general type.
It is quite capable of casting pellet wagglers up to 20g, but it can handle lighter straight wagglers from 3AAA upwards just as well.
When you first pick up the rod the pencil-slim carbon blank feels a little too light in the hand, and you could be excused for thinking that it would be best suited to F1s, small carp and big silvers, rather than ‘proper’ carp. However, you would be mistaken – as I was after a few hours of boisterous activity on Cedar Lake at Peterborough’s fish-packed Decoy Lakes.
The latest Tri-Cast model took on and beat everything thrown at it, from double-figure carp to barbel almost as big and twice as aggressive. Yes, this rod really is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
The progressive action has a wonderful degree of elasticity that enables it to bend almost double when put under heavy stress, but there is no suggestion of twist along the guides. The blank simply soaks up the punishment, and what’s more it’s great fun to fish with.
With its low-profile guides set off by bright blue gloss whippings it’s a bit of looker into the bargain.
VERDICT
Don’t imagine that this new rod is nothing more than another version of Tri-Cast’s famed XRS-2K4 model. The Trilogy Commercial has an altogether different fish-playing and casting action, not to mention looks and feel.
It would also make a better ‘all-rounder’ as its lightness and elasticity make it a very versatile rod indeed.
Mark Sawyer
Tri-Cast 11ft Trilogy Feeder rod
TECH SPEC
8ft version
Casting weight: Up to 20g
Line rating: 2lb-6lb
10ft version
Casting weight: Up to 25g
Line rating: 2lb-6lb
11ft version
Casting weight: Up to 30g
Line rating: 2lb-8lb
PAY AROUND
8ft £145.99
10ft £182.99
11ft £196.99
Who remembers (and probably laments the passing of) Carbotec Fast Play Feeder rods? They were so good that they retain their old face value, or even more for the right model.
This new Trilogy Commercial Feeder shares more than a few of its traits. The two-piece blank is probably a bit lighter and slimmer, and doesn’t have quite the same degree of casting clout, but it still has an extraordinary amount of fish-playing elasticity. There’s not a sign of flat spotting, nor does the rod form anything other than a perfect hoop when put under strain. The more you pressure it, the better it gets.
The casting action has a fair bit of hidden backbone spliced into it, and the 11ft model on test threw a 40g flatbed Method feeder more than 40m with little more than a swish.
The rod comes complete with light, medium and heavy push-in carbon quivertips that do nothing to mar its seamless flat-free fighting curve – very commendable of Tri-Cast.
But why on Earth they didn’t add an inch of blaze-coloured paint to the end of each quiver defeats me. Irritating, but that small detail wouldn’t stop me buying one.
VERDICT
I can’t wait to try the shorter 10ft version of this Tri-Cast rod.
I have a feeling it just might be the ultimate snake lake, small pond F1 and big-fish lead rod.
Meanwhile the 11ft model on test casts straight and well, is light in the hand, and has what seems to be a limitless supply of progressive fish-playing clout – it’s pretty special.
Mark Sawyer
Tri-Cast Trilogy X4 Specialist Feeder Rod
PAY AROUND
10ft-11ft model - £244.99
11ft-12ft model - £249.99
I can’t remember the last time I used a swingtip. For that matter, I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone else using one either.
This retro method that was once synonymous with bream fishing on big lakes and slow-moving rivers seemed to fade away without so much as a whimper, replaced by the more versatile and easier quivertip.
So when I heard that Tri-Cast were producing what they billed as a ‘better-than-ever’ swingtip rod based on the best models from that bygone period, I was half unsure but half excited with dewy-eyed nostalgia. There’s never been anything to beat watching a swingtip nod a couple of times before sailing majestically upwards as a bream takes the bait.
The rod that arrived was labelled the Trilogy X4 Specialist Feeder. In truth it is a multi-purpose feeder tool, coming complete with two separate top sections.
One of these can be used with the supplied 1oz or 1.5oz glass quivertip, while the second is completely dedicated to the swingtip, of which two are supplied. One measures 11 inches with a medium-stiff right-angled rubber connector making it ideal for most fair-weather fishing conditions. For windy conditions, the shorter 8ins swingtip is better. In fact Tri-Cast refers to this one as their ‘wind beater’ model.
So accompanied on the drive by the soundtrack from The Who’s Quadrophenia album from the late 1970s - when swingtip fishing was all the rage - I was really getting into the vibe and looking forward to some proper bream action at the majestic Ferry Meadows complex just down the road from the office
This is prime swingtip territory, consisting of two large windswept lakes full of ‘proper’ bream and millions of skimmers that needed a fair chuck to catch. I also had some inside information from deputy editor Kevin Wilmot - permanent peg 101 on the Gunwade Lake was apparently the place to be!
Now for the uninitiated amongst you, using a swingtip can be best likened to attempting to fish with a broken rod end. It doesn’t feel quite right, it certainly doesn’t look right and for the opening hour of the live test it just wasn’t right.
Hitting the reel clip with any sort of consistency seemed nigh-on impossible, partly due to my own rustiness with the job in hand. But slowly, I got used to the feel and action of the rod and with confidence growing, accuracy and casting at distance became more acceptable. Never has the phrase practice makes perfect been more apt than when applied to using a swingtip!
Tri-Cast has been quite clever with this rod’s design as it has enough stiffness through the swingtip section to cope with the additional weight and movement caused by attaching a tip to it. The high-modulus carbon blank has been built with enough backbone to cast a decent sized fully-loaded feeder while a bonus is that this mid-sectioned casting power has been combined with a sweet parabolic fish-playing action.
The Trilogy X4 is never going to be a long-cast tool but then it doesn’t need to be. It’ll cope with hand-sized skimmers up to huge dustbin lid bream with equal aplomb.
The only unanswered questions are why and when you would use a swingtip? The answer to the first question lies with the way that bream feed. They upend to pick up bait and at this point you will get a solid enough indication on the tip.
However, now is not the time to strike. This is when ‘sitting on your hands’, so well described by the master of the swingtip, the late Ivan Marks, comes into play. Wait until the fish starts to right itself and then moves off. The swingtip moves slowly and inexorably toward its horizontal plane, and it’s at this moment that the bite becomes unmissable. Using a swingtip defines this movement in a way which no other bite indicator will; it is visually exciting and something which all natural venue anglers really should experience.
Where would you use it? Well, the method was invented by Boston matchman Jack Clayton for use on slow moving bream waters such as the Rivers Witham and Welland where a forward-facing rod was perfect for pointing through gaps in the nearside weed as well as ‘reading’ those bream bites. And the same holds today. In fact, Peg 101 on Gunwade was a tightly-enclosed swim and ideal for the swingtip if you didn’t fancy wading several metres into the lake.
The only drawback with a swingtip I think of would be for very long casts, which are better suited to a quiver. However, for moderate, easy casts, or chucking down the middle of a slow river, this rod comes into its own.
Tri-Cast XRS Short Method Feeder
PAY AROUND
£159.99
This 10ft, two-piece Method feeder rod is more than a match for big commercial carp.
The ultra-light blank made from XRS (Xtra Reinforced System) carbon will fish lines from 2lb to 8lb and land double-figure fish with ease.
Supplied with two colour-coded push-in glass quivertips rated at 1.5oz and 2oz, the remarkable blank will happily fish everything from 0.5oz straight leads to 4oz feeders.
Tri-Cast Trilogy X Feeder
PAY AROUND
£259.99
This is an awesome casting machine capable of blasting a 4.5oz feeder over huge distances.
The outstanding class of the high carbon Trilogy X is reflected in its price tag but, if you can afford the best, you’ll need to look at this one before buying.
The 13ft 6in rod is officially classed as a ‘Heavy’ feeder incorporating more power in the middle section for all you horizon hitters. However, with the lightest 3.5oz carbon quivertip in place, it still retains a surprising degree of sensitivity when catching smaller species.
It’s fitted with large diameter guides throughout to enable the use of shock leaders and reduce the danger of debris blocking the end eye.
There is also a slightly lighter, Medium/Heavy 13ft version available.
Tri-Cast XRS 24K Carp Power Wand
PAY AROUND
£129.99
It's essential that fishing tackle should be both effective and enjoyable and this excellent little rod overdoses on both qualities.
The feather-light Carp Power Wand is just 8ft long and comprises a butt section, a tip carrier and two very fine quivertips.
To look at, and to hold, it resembles a light bomb rod – the kind of thing you’d pull out of your bag for delicate skimmer duties or winter F1 work, and it will certainly perform these specialist tasks brilliantly.
But, run an 8lb reel line straight through it and you’ve also got a tool capable of landing double-figure carp from snag-pit swims. It’s properly impressive!
Made from superior carbon cloth using Tri-Cast’s XRS system of production, the anti-lock blank boasts a glorious, parabolic through action that smoothly drops the anchor on a big running fish every time.
The rod is a perfect choice for tight commercial fishery swims, especially in high summer when the reeds have grown upwards and outwards, producing a ‘parrot cage’ where it’s difficult to manoeuvre regular length rods.
It’s deadly when fishing a small feeder just beyond normal pole length, or even down the margins and tight into reed-fringed bays to pick off pressurised carp.
Put a 3lb or 4lb mainline through it and it becomes a finesse tool for silverfish work with double maggot on a size 18 hook to 1.5lb bottom. It’s that versatile.
The two fine glass tips supplied are rated at 1oz and 1.5oz and are capable of highlighting the slightest bites.
They’re slightly unusual in that they are ‘push-over’, rather than the more traditional ‘push-in’ design.
This makes them stronger under load and helps create a seamless curve through the tip carrier section.
I used my test rod with a 6lb mainline, and a straight 0.5oz lead with a piece of breadcrust popped up on a size 10 hook to take ghost, mirror and common carp to 6lb, just below the surface and I loved every minute of it!
Even with heavy line the rod will easily cast leads weighing up to 1oz over ranges to 30m, which is enough to hit fish-holding areas in most modern commercial fisheries.
Connect with a powerful carp and I guarantee you’ll love the refined action of this cock-on piece of kit!