Maver MV-R 9ft Mini Feeder review

The new MV-R Commercial Mini Feeder rods from Maver are the perfect tools for anglers fishing venues where short-range casting for carp and F1s is required.

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The 8ft and 9ft models are part of the MV-R range that consists of nine rods. There are four float fishing models and three feeder rods on top of the two Mini Feeder rods. All the rods feature ultra-slim high modulus carbon blanks with a jet-black gloss finish.

Boasting a seamless, progressive fish-playing action and top-grade ceramic guides, cork and EVA handles and screw-down reel seats, their good looks are matched by their superb performance.

For this test I decided to give the 9ft Mini Feeder model an outing. This rod has a wickedly fast progressive action that will easily cast a feeder or straight lead of up to 30g to 35 yards without too much effort. 

If you think you will need to cast further than this then the 10ft version is what you want. For real long distances take a look at the MV-R 11ft and 12ft rods.

The first thing I noticed about the nine-footer was that it felt a tad tippy, but it’s just the job for F1s and smaller carp, minimising the likelihood of hook-pulls or snap-offs at close range. The blank is well suited to reel lines from 3lb-8lb, and hooklengths of 0.13mm and upwards.

The pencil-thin carbon blank breaks down into two 48ins sections with one of the three supplied quivertips – 0.5oz, 0.75oz and 1oz – fitted. This two-piece design means you can have it ready-to-go with a reel attached in your holdall, saving you the time normally reserved for setting up when you arrive at the venue.

For this test I headed to Willows Lake on the Decoy complex at Whittlesey, just outside of Peterborough.

The plan was to fish a small maggot feeder, which I was confident would produce bites from F1s. This tactic requires minimal feed and accurate casting, which is exactly what this rod delivers.

I found the wand very much to my liking. It cast, as expected, straight as a die, and on a small platform it was nice and easy to get into position. 

Tippy it may be, but that suited me fine as I landed several fish up to about 3lb. Had anything bigger come along I would have been confident of landing it because I have handled enough short feeder rods to know that this one had more than enough steel in its backbone to handle it. 

A weak-willed wobble wand it certainly isn’t, so well done Maver.  

Verdict:

The 9ft rod is free of flat spots, with an impressive fish-playing pedigree to suit commercial waters. It would also make a handy summer margin Method tool. 

It’s not cheap for such a short rod, but you get what you pay for. For me, a big plus point is the equal-length sections, making it a doddle to transport already made up in a carryall.

Price: £120

Contact: www.mavermatch.co.uk

Daiwa Tournament pro feeder review

In match fishing you can test yourself against the very best, using the same equipment as the stars.

Not so in other sports. Try popping down to your local Mercedes dealer and asking if you can have an F1 car like the one Lewis Hamilton drives. Or see if you can get on the Etihad pitch just because you’re wearing new Adidas footy boots! 

Spiky accusations of having ‘all the gear and no idea’ are often levelled at match anglers, but there’s lots to be said for using tackle chosen by world-class anglers. If it’s good enough for them, it’ll be good enough for you!

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So when Daiwa launched its Tournament Pro Feeder 10ft and Tournament Pro 9ft-10ft Feeder rods late last year I was itching to get my hands on at least one of the pair. But before revealing my thoughts on the new Tournament Pro Feeder 10ft that landed on my desk, allow me to dispel any false news that you may have heard about Daiwa’s latest Tournament Pro Match and Feeder rod range. 

The only changes are improvements to their spec – the handles are sexier than ever, with a new cutaway design and ‘Tournament’ embossed EVA foregrip. That, plus an improved matt black Tournament reel seat and new guides, is the sum total of the changes. Bias V-Joints, HVF Nanoplus materials and Megatop quivers remain exactly the same.  

Anyway, on a wickedly cold late January day came my chance to have a closer look at the new Tournament Pro Feeder 10ft. The weather, need I say, was brass monkeys, but Westwood Lakes near Boston are always good for a few bites. I chose Swallow, a narrow snake lake packed with F1s, carp and skimmers, and the ideal venue for a rod like this.

Rob, manager of the on-site tackle and bait shop, advised me to fish peg 4, where you only need to cast a small maggot feeder two foot from the far bank to have them lining up – or so Rob said!

Three hours later, as Angling Times staff photographer Lloyd sat in the car with the heater full on for fear of his long lens freezing and dropping off, the rod tip finally moved. 

A fractional twitch of the super-sensitive 0.75oz Megatop quiver was enough to strike at, and the first fish of the day came grudgingly to the net. 

The rod, like all Daiwa Tournament Pros, has a blank built in Scotland, delivering flex and action without compromising accuracy or casting power. The pain barrier is in the wallet. The full asking price of £415 works out at around £41.50 per foot… and well worth it. 

The blank’s outstanding forgiveness is a wonder to behold, yet it can shift up several more gears if necessary and pile on the pressure without recoiling, twisting or locking up. 

As a bonus, this year’s Tournament Feeder rods come with three (as opposed to two) virtually unbreakable Daiwa Megatop carbon quivertips. 

On the 10ft rod these are perfectly graded to suit the blank at 0.75oz, 1oz and 1.5oz.

This world-class all-round feeder rod has no equals in its 10ft class. It’s better suited for use on small commercials and natural venues than to long chucks on open water, as it doesn’t have the length to pick up line fast enough, or cast to the horizon. But other than that, the only negative I can find is its price.  

Price: £415  

Preston Innovation's Tyson Rods

Preston Innovations is all set to launch more new tackle items than ever before in 2019, Angling Times can reveal. 

The Telford-based firm, along with sister brands Avid, Korum and SonuBaits, will unveil tens of dozens of exciting new lines for next year in a couple of weeks’ time at its annual international trade show. 

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However, in this exclusive preview Angling Times offers you a sneaky peek at just a few of match brand Preston’s ‘must have’ new gear offerings for next season. 

Included in a cornucopia of new kit are three new XS Response poles, delectable new Superfeeder and Tyson rods, and two outstanding reel ranges –Extremity and Inertia.

TYSON MODELS

Preston’s Tyson branding tells you these rods are up for a fight, and built to take on all-comers! 

A wide range of lengths and styles covers all scenarios, but common to all is a progressive action, dependable furnishings and a classy finish – all, needless to say, at knockout prices!

9FT CARP FEEDER 

Designed for casts of up to 25m, the 9ft Carp Feeder can be used with confidence to target match-sized carp and F1s. You’ll be glad of it on small snake lakes when fishing to the far bank in windy conditions. 

Price: £49.99

10FT CARP FEEDER

Perfect for slightly longer casts of around 30m, the 10ft Carp Feeder is a great all-rounder for commercial carp up to double figures. The soft action blends into the butt section, which powers up progressively. 

Price: £54.99

11FT CARP FEEDER

The 11ft Carp Feeder is powerful enough to beast carp well into double figures, but is a beauty for playing smaller F1s and skimmers too. It’s suitable for casting Method feeders out to around 50m. 

Price: £59.99

12FT METHOD FEEDER

Roll out the big guns – this is a distance-casting rod that will propel Method Feeders beyond the 60m mark and take on any carp. Perfect for large open-water lakes, with its soft tip action it will handle smaller F1s and skimmers too. 

Price: £64.99

11FT PELLET WAGGLER

Suited to pellet waggler fishing with floats of up to 10g, its slightly through action will ensure that carp and F1s are easily tamed, while its responsiveness helps to hit bites at range. It can also be teamed with smaller standard wagglers for closer-range work. 

Price: £54.99

13FT WAGGLER

A great all-round rod for mixed species, this one is also capable of handling bigger carp. 

Ideal for use with standard wagglers at long range, its tip speed and responsiveness will help to hit shy bites. It is also an excellent river rod for use with wagglers and stick floats. 

Price: £69.99

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.

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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. 

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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

Preston Innovations Monster Wandzee Review

Preston Innovations’ monster wanzee is a rod that’s just the thing to pub chuck a bomb or feeder beyond the pole line.

This joint-free 5ft 9ins commercial cutie can be fitted with 1oz, 1.5oz or 2oz Monster push-in carbon quivertips which take it to a tad over 7ft in total.

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Still quite a rarity on the bank, single sectioned rods have plenty of positives. Remove the quivertip and the Wandzee can be transported inside virtually any fully-zipped rod or pole holdall. Match it to a smaller 2500/3000 sized reel with a flat-fold handle and it can be slipped unobtrusively between your top kits in their plastic tubes. 

Fair do’s, this rod isn’t going to cast much beyond 30m, but its seamless and flat spot-free parabolic action suits it to everything from small F1s through to fatso fish with attitude. Those of you not normally able to hit a bottle-top area every chuck will be be surprised how accurate you can get with the Wandzee.

This week’s live test took place at Decoy’s fish-heavy Horsehoe Lake which, at around 20m wide, is ideal for this type of short-range lead rod. 

Straight off the bat, I’d say that the Wandzee would be more likely to find its way into my holdall for winter leagues, rather than midsummer matches. But this newest member of the Monster clan did turn in a jaw-dropping performance, and undeniably has year-round talents.    

The rod feels reasonably crisp and very light. Some may find its through action a tad bouncy on the cast, but unless you’re clattering out a feeder to the horizon does that really matter? 

It will comfortably handle most anything that swims, yet it can be used with light lines and small hooks with no fear of premature evacuation if something hefty tugs your line.  

Preston tags the Wandzee with a 35g maximum casting weight, which is there or thereabouts for a fully loaded 30g flatbed feeder, and the rod is indeed on its limits with that.

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Bite registration has to be seen to be believed. I’d kitted up with a fast-sinking pre-stretched 6lb mono reel line, and bites were nothing short of savage. 

Watching them develop was interesting. With the tip very much in view, I could see all those little plucks and twitches as fish moved in to feed close to the bait… an early warning system before the tip hooped round. 

For winter F1 tactics with a maggot feeder and matching hookbait, timing of the strike on those niggly little knocks you tend to get could be helped greatly by this rod’s shorter length.  

The playing action is sweeter than a Wagon Wheel dipped into a jar of syrup and dusted in icing sugar, and will leave you drooling for more. In the wonderful world of non-locking parabolic actions, the Wandzee re-writes the book, handling anything from a newly-stocked F1 to a grumpy war vet of a carp with equal aplomb.

Verdict: I can foresee Preston’s new Monster Wandzee becoming a must-have rod. 

It will find a place in my winter pole holdall, for times when the pole line is made unfishable by the wind. 

It would be as much at home casting a straight bomb with bread discs for bigger fish in open water as it would be pinging a maggot feeder up the far bank of a snake lake for F1s. I suspect a certain Mr Des Shipp had a hand in its development, and the boy done good! 

Price: £74.99

First Look: Maver's new signature rods

Commercial match anglers who insist on the best will welcome Maver’s new Signature rods. 

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Coming in at 11ft and 12ft, the Pellet Wagglers deliver a full parabolic fish-playing action to target carp and F1s of any size.

Superbly lightweight at only 141g and 157g, respectively, they really come into their own when lightning-fast strikes are required. Both will cast floats of between 2g and 8g, and can be used with reel lines from 3lb to 8lb. 

Classy rod furniture includes high-quality SiC guides on the high modulus carbon blank, Fuji graphite screw reel fitting, EVA twist grip and a folding hook keeper ring.  

Maver’s new 13ft, 14ft, 15ft and 16ft Classic Float rods have been designed and extensively tested by Welsh International Lee Edwards. They are intended primarily for river fishing, but will handle conventional waggler or sliding float tactics on deeper natural stillwaters too. 

With their fine, hollow tips they are a dream to fish with when teamed with light lines and small hooks, and have already accounted for many winning match nets of dace and roach. 

Although finesse is paramount, the three-piece rods’ middle sections have enough power to cope with chub and barbel from pacy swims. Instant response on the strike combines with a crispness that lifts line from the water in the blink of an eye. 

Key features at all four lengths include comfortable EVA twist grips either side of the reel seat. These are slightly oversized to leave no gap between the handle and the user’s palm.

The upper reel seat grip is moulded to enable perfect placement of thumb and forefinger while holding the rod. 

Contributing to sleek looks and understated cosmetics, the guides, whippings, blank and reel seats across the Maver Signature range are of a uniform black – sure to attract admiring glances.

Price: Pellet Wagglers from £189.99, Classic Floats from £229.99

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. 

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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

Middy Arco-Tech K-335 11ft/12ft Carp Waggler rod review

At long last the carp on commercials are up in the water and ready to be targeted using float tactics. 

The obvious choice is the pellet waggler, a tactic that will dominate matches all over the UK in the next month or so. 

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Few things are as satisfying as building up a pellet waggler line. Feed little and often, keeping the pattern tight, and fish will start to swirl at your feed pellets as soon as they hit the water. 

Then, if you can deftly land a waggler by feathering the cast so your hookbait lands behind your float with an enticing little ‘plop’, you’ll reap the rewards.

If you ever get a chance to watch master pellet waggler anglers such as Perry Stone or Warren Martin conducting their way through a symphony of pulled strings, you’ll know where I’m coming from.

All this brings me nicely on to Middy’s latest Arco-Tech K-335 11ft/12ft Carp Waggler rod. Like all those in the range it has a soft, parabolic action to subdue large commercial carp. Key features include a slim, full cork handle and KTS smooth flow guides. 

‘Match This’ winner Chris Cameron helped develop the Arco Feeder rods, while Kieron Rich is behind the Waggler versions – hence the rigid mini-butts with a Kevlar wrap, which strengthens up the section to pile on some real stopping power if need be. A foot-long extension which can be added without tackling down is another feature of Arco-Tech rods.

I wasn’t surprised that Middy has come up with something a bit special in the pellet wag department. Since the launch of the quite exceptional 3G X-Flex rod a few years ago the standard has been upheld with super fish-playing actions, lightness in the hand, super-fast line pick-up, accurate casting, and an all-round performance better than most. 

On the live test at the impressive day-ticket Stretton Lakes my plan was to put the 12ft Arco-Tech through its paces on the carp lake with a heavy pellet waggler at distance, then drop down to the smaller match lake in the afternoon to target its stockies with the rod in its 11ft mode using smaller floats, hooks and baits.

The morning session was a bit of a disaster as far as fishing went, as three hours of non-stop pellet pinging with a rod that cast straight as a die failed to interest the carp, which were preoccupied with spawning in the margins. 

I can, though, report that the blank will handle reel lines up to 8lb (just about, as the guides are quite small) and floats up to 10g with some ease.

A change to the match lake saw its stockies queuing up for a 6mm pellet, hung 18ins below a 2AAA straight peacock waggler. Using a smaller, less obtrusive float with lighter lines and smaller hooks seems to be the way forward on commercials these days, and in this respect the new Middy Arco-Tech is sure to gain many friends.

It has just about enough whip in the tip section to propel a lighter float, as long as you drop down the reel line diameter accordingly. 

The blank, although admittedly not the fastest in the world, is still nicely responsive, with a softly progressive action across the top section that morphs into steely carp-stopping power going into the butt. 

Constant feeding while holding the rod proved painless on the wrists, and the handle was just the right length to manoeuvre effortlessly around my body

The verdict: 

The new Arco-Tech 11ft/12ft Carp Waggler is right up there with Middy’s best. With a softly progressive action but just the right amount of backbone, it’s light and comfy in the hand, and casts straight and true with enough tip-whip to hit the 40m mark with larger floats. 

Line pick-up speed isn’t the fastest, but there’s enough finesse to handle light lines, hooks and floats even when big fish are on the cards. 

Price: £119.99 (multiple deals)

Sonik SKSC Commercial Feeder 10ft Review

The Sonik Sports brand is very familiar to pursuers of big carp, less so to commercial match and pleasure anglers. 

All that is set to change, though, as the company is about to introduce an impressive new rod collection dubbed the Sonik SKSC commercial range.

The six rods comprise 9ft, 10ft, and 11ft Commercial Feeder rods, and three Pellet Waggler rods in the same lengths. 

I’d originally intended to live-test a matching pair for both disciplines, but a recent spell of cold weather had well and truly put paid to fishing up in the water using pellet waggler tactics – so it was a case of feeder or bust. I chose the 10-footer.

However, before we move on to the bank, let me tell you a bit more about Sonik’s new SKSC range. 

The rods have been thoughtfully designed, and are nicely constructed to meet the basic needs of the pleasure or match angler. They have modern, progressive fish-playing actions with plenty of backbone, making them ideal for commercial carp – a bit of added steel provides enough grunt to tame the odd zoo creature. 

The slim, two-piece equal-length blanks are built from a high-grade 24 tonne carbon cloth and furnished with quality titanium oxide lined guides and a screw-down reel seat with EVA thumb grip. The decent length handle is a cork and EVA combo. 

I’ve left the best bit till last – the price. If you want performance on a tight budget, you’ll need to fork out just under 40 quid!

So, what’s the rod capable of? It’s the ideal tool for short to medium-range casting, comfortably chucking 45g weights 40 yards-plus. Anything more and the rod will start to overload, which affects distance and accuracy. 

It will handle mono reel lines between 5lb and 10lb, and can be safely used with hooklengths down to 0.12mm and hooks as small as an 18.

I kicked off the live test at Horseshoe Lake on Steve Gregory’s Rushfield complex, using a 30g flatbed Method feeder loaded with micro pellets, and a banded 6mm pellet hookbait – which proved to the liking of a string of stockie carp and F1s. 

Although bites were at times quite savage, the fish responsible for whipping the rod’s top section round were at best bantamweights. However, I can happily report that nothing came unstuck as I quickly reeled them in – the 10ft SKSC has more than enough tip cushioning to deal with smaller fish without pulling hooks, even when you’re bagging.

Main Image Sonik Feeder 10ft.jpg

A change to a lighter feeder, so as not to spook the fish, and a larger 8mm pellet hookbait cast down the margin, came up Donalds!

Two commons, one just over 10lb, put a serious bend in the rod, allowing it to show its full fighting curvature. 

As you can see from the brilliant image captured by Angling Times staff photographer Lloyd Rogers, all the power in the rod is loading from just above the mid-section area, proving the blank’s steely resilience. In my book, that makes it the ideal commercial carp Method feeder rod.

Price: £39.99

SHAKESPEARE AGILITY 2 11ft PELLET WAGGLER

Ever since pellet waggler tactics evolved to help anglers catch more and bigger carp from commercial waters, Shakespeare has had a top-selling rod for the job out there on the market. 

Main image Shakespeare Agility.jpg

Shakey’s award-winning Mach 3 XT Micro Pellet Waggler, for example, was a cutting-edge tool of its time, to be found in the holdalls of pleasure fishermen and matchmen of every skill set.

The tactic has stayed much the same over time, requiring a repetitive ‘feed, cast, feed’ sequence. Any changes revolve mainly around the type of venue we are now targeting, rather than anything more fundamental with the tackle itself. 

Larger open-water venues such as Boddington, Larford, Barston and Meadowlands require longer, stiffer-actioned rods that will cast heavy floats and pack enough punch to play and subdue big fish.

Smaller commercial venues, such as snake lakes and 20-peg pint-sized pools pools, tend to be tackled with shorter 9ft, 10ft and 11ft rods, many of which are two-piece graphite blanks with a non-locking progressive action. 

Even so, these can feel that bit heavier in the hand, and are not quite as quick at their tip-ends as all-carbon rods when it comes to lifting line from the water.

All this brings me nicely to this week’s live test rod, Shakespeare’s second generation Agility 2 Pellet Waggler 11ft, which is as close to an all-round pellet waggler rod as you’d wish to find. 

At a push it will mix it up with heavier floats and big fish, while at the other end of the scale it can be used with small hooks and light floats for winter F1 fishing.

The live test at Decoy’s Beastie Lake proved the rod’s all-round mettle. I started in an open-water peg using 6lb mainline, a 0.17mm hooklength, size 16 hook and a 6mm banded pellet, all suspended beneath a hefty 10g pellet waggler to combat a nasty side wind.

Trying to keep the float still long enough to attract a bite proved nigh on impossible, and from experience I know that carp (no matter how daft) will not chase down a hookbait being dragged sideways across a swim!

So, despite my best efforts, all I had to show for an hour’s fishing was a couple of F1s, whose appetite obviously outweighed their intelligence. However, despite that niggling easterly, the rod cast the float straight and true and fairly whipped line from the surface on the strike. 

A move to a quiet corner with a small island opposite proved just the ticket, and a much lighter 3AAA float proved no problem to cast for the Agility 2 Pellet Waggler 11ft. The rod’s reduced length handle is easy to manoeuvre around the body when feeding with one hand – an essential attribute – and the blank is impressively light and comfy. 

Casting range I would put at 40m tops with a 15g float, that being as heavy as I’d want to chuck around with this rod, although Shakespeare does give it a 30g maximum casting weight. 

Line pick-up speed is quite exceptional, thanks to its all-carbon build and fast taper design. 

Seaguide double and single-legged stand-off lined guides, a quality cork and EVA handle, secure screw-down reel seat and a keeper ring add to the joy of fishing with this rod. 

Its progressive, not to say slightly tippy, action gives it plenty of grunt, and helps make it an absolute pleasure to use.

Our verdict: It never fails to amaze me how Shakespeare has this happy knack of pulling something a little bit special out of the bag every year. The new Agility 2 Pellet Waggler 11ft looks, feels and performs every bit as well as rods costing three times its asking price. Slim and very light to hold for long periods, it makes easy work of feeding with a catapult. A viper-fast strike speed will help you connect with equally rapid F1 bites, even a respectable casting distance away.    

Price: £84.99

Hyper Carp Method rods from Browning

In a recent trip to Browning’s impressive HQ in Germany I was shown a range of Method feeder rods not originally designed or intended for the UK market. 

Browning Hyper Carp Method.jpg

However, their pedigree says otherwise. Start with a fast-taper, high modulus carbon build, giving a flat spot-free and progressive fish-playing action. 

Add an array of impressive fitments such as graded push-in carbon quivertips and perfectly spaced lined guides capable of being used with shockleaders. 

Top that off with long cork handles that generate the power to propel a feeder an awfully long way. No wonder it quickly became apparent that these rods were spot-on for the senior inhabitants of our commercial fisheries. 

Happily, I am able to report that after a re-think by Browning, the quintessential big-fish quartet of Hyper Carp Method rods are now available here in the UK in lengths of 10ft, 11ft and 12ft. 

A souped-up 12ft distance casting model is also available. 

Their eminently affordable pricing should appeal hugely to anyone fishing matches or enjoying pleasure sessions at venues such as Boddington, Larford and Clattercote – in fact any open expanse of water holding decent-sized fish. 

Watch this space for the exclusive live test next week on these superb new Method rods. Going from shortest to longest, maximum casting weights are 2oz, 2oz and 3oz, with 3.5oz for the Distance model.

Price: 10ft £125, 11ft £129, 12ft £139, 12ft Distance £149    

Drennan Red Range Carp Feeder/Carp Waggler rod and Method Feeder/Pellet Waggler rod

Drennan's introductory Red Range rods are comfortably affordable, well-appointed and perfectly designed for the job in hand.

That said, I was somewhat perplexed when the two latest family members – the Combo Method Feeder/Pellet Waggler and Combo Carp Feeder/Carp Waggler rods – arrived on my desk. As first glance the pair, finished in Drennan’s trademark burgundy colour, looked like Tweedledum and Tweedledee – identical twins. 

What’s more, it wasn’t that many years ago that combination rods only graced the sports pages of your mum’s Kays or Grattan catalogues. Such ‘one rod does it all’ tools were hideously heavy, multi-sectioned and multi-handled affairs, claimed to be suitable for everything from fly-fishing for trout to boat fishing for pike. In reality they were useless for everything.

Thankfully, such horrors are well behind us. Modern-day combo outfits are mainly well thought-out, intelligently designed and fully usable for all their stated applications. Most importantly, they are affordably angler-friendly, and all these praises can indeed be heaped on the Red Range Combo pairing. 

As you’d expect from Drennan, both rods are very nicely furnished with lined guides throughout, secure screw-down reel seats, hook keeper rings, and a single push-in glass quivertip – 3oz for the Carp Feeder and 4oz for the Carp Method. 

These rods are clearly targeting novice and junior anglers with limited tackle knowledge, and yet choosing between the two could be a confusing process. So, having fished with both, allow me to state the differences between them. 

The Method Feeder/Pellet Waggler Combo has a bit more power, and is ideal for big fish using heavier kit. With its feeder top section fitted it will easily handle 30g-plus Methods, while with the Pellet Waggler section fitted it will cast floats weighing up to 15g.

The Carp Feeder/Carp Waggler model has a lighter action, suiting it to maggot, pellet, open-end and small flatbed feeders. 

Fit its waggler top and it will cast floats upwards of 4AAA, offering a little bit more tactical flexibility.

For the live test, I decided on a joint appraisal, setting up both Combo models – the Carp Method in feeder mode and the Carp Waggler as a float rod. The chosen venue was the ever-productive Stretton Lakes just north of Peterborough, just two minutes off the A1. 

The carp lake here holds decent-sized fish, and while it’s not as easy as your normal commercial day-ticket fishery, the carp here are always scale- and mouth-perfect, and fight like demons. 

The Carp Method Combo with a 30g flatbed loaded with micro pellets has a maximum casting range of around 60 yards. Much further and you are going to lose some accuracy. However, once a fish is hooked the blank has a resolute flat spot-free progressive action, with enough backbone to give double-figure fish nightmares. I’d suggest reel lines from 5lb-10lb, matched to hooklengths of 0.15mm upwards.   

The Carp Waggler Combo has just about enough tip flexibility and whip to cast normal straight wagglers carrying 4AAA or more.

The blank’s soft, semi-through action makes it ideal for taking on smaller carp and F1s, as well as tench, chub and big bream, using reel lines from 4lb-8lb and hooklengths of 0.14mm and beyond.

Our Verdict: These latest additions to Drennan’s Red Range are sure to be hugely popular with the solar-powered pleasure angler. 

If you are reading this as a tackle shop owner, and you get a potential new customer that wants to have a go at commercial fishing, or someone on a tight budget looking to invest in new rods with commercial fishery potential, than I doubt there is anything better than this pair of beauties currently on the market.

Price: £85.95 (both models)

Daiwa Yank n Bank 9ft Mini Method Rod Review

Yank & Bank.jpg

Yank n Bank is a brand you might well associate with out-and-out hauling power – the name says it all, really. 

Yet the latest rods of this ilk to be released by Daiwa are not all in the bruising doorman class. 

There are four Match/Float rods, three of which (10ft, 11ft and 12ft) are Pellet Waggler models. The other is a lightweight three-piece 13ft rod aimed at the silver fish angler. 

Six Feeder models include 9ft and 10ft Mini Method rods, and of the two 11ft Method Feeder rods, one is a Power model to tame feisty commercial carp.

They are all light in the hand, with a rapid line-pick-up and a crisp, progressive action. 

From comments made to me at a recent trade show, Daiwa is expecting great things from these latest incarnations of its famed Yank n Bank rod range. 

Sure enough, all 10 rods are a significant improvement on their predecessors (which were themselves no slouches). Certainly the finish is far better than that on all previous Yank n Bank models.

Live testing a rod, no matter how good it may be, always tends to be a hit-and-miss affair in winter – after all, the fish are shoaled up tightly, and can be somewhat reluctant to have a munch. 

However, if you can find them you’re always in with a chance, and it was with knowledge gleaned from recent Decoy winter leagues that I knew a few fish could probably be found out in the middle of the Elm strip lake.

That suited me, as I had wanted to get a much closer look at Daiwa’s latest 9ft Yank n Bank Mini Method Feeder rod since first clapping eyes on one. It struck me at the time that it could be the perfect tool for fishing at 18m-25m, just beyond pole range, and be very well suited to taming the odd bigger fish – Decoy has its fair share of these Gruffaloes. 

However, there’s a huge selection of short feeder rods out there now, so what would make this 9ft Yank n Bank offering stand out from the crowd?

For starters, the asking price of just £89.99 is pretty impressive, and you’ll be able to get it even cheaper if you shop around. 

Technically it’s extremely well built from high-grade carbon cloth, with a one-tonne carbon weave along its classy gloss black butt section. 

This combination not only helps to firm up casting distance and accuracy, but ups the weight it can comfortably handle and provides added steel through the backbone for extra fish-playing control. 

The geeky stuff does not end there – the blank’s carrier/tip section boasts a low-glare tape finish. This, although completely at odds with its shiny butt section, imparts a light feel matched with a crisper line pick-up and post-cast tip recovery .

To all that you can add quality furnishings such as stainless steel guide frames with lightweight lined guides, aluminium hooded screw-down reel seat, woven carbon butt frame with rubber cap, ready rod carry case, and a keeper ring as a nice final touch.

On the bank, all this carbon alchemy morphs into a pleasingly lightweight tool which is more than capable of casting 30g with little sign of strain.

Casting performance is further enhanced by its high weight loading point – this enables it to achieve pinpoint casting accuracy, ideal for tricky short distance casts to just past the pole-line. 

Obviously it is hugely important to keep your feed pattern tight, and the short 9ft rod is perfect for this, enabling you to keep the bites coming once the fish have been located.  

The Yank n Bank’s three graded 1.5oz, 2oz and 3oz push-in carbon quivertips are all well matched to Method feeder use (as it name suggests), although the supplied lightest quivertip is just about soft enough to be used in conjunction with a half-ounce bomb.

Personally I prefer the heaviest, stiffest tip for Method fishing, as that way the fish hook themselves.

The fish-playing action is rapidly progressive, with most of its curvature spread across the top couple of feet, very much in keeping with all modern style short rods. 

The seeming lack of playing action should not be taken as a criticism, though, as there’s still enough bend in the rod to absorb the lunges of the heaviest fish, with enough cushioning effect not to drop smaller fish. 

However, the purist F1 fanatic may find the rod a tad overgunned for hook sizes above an 18, and hooklengths under 0.12mm.

Price: £89.99

VERDICT

If you're in the market for a quality Method feeder rod for use on smaller lakes, or casting just beyond pole range for decent-sized fish, the new 9ft Daiwa Yank n Bank Mini Method is the ideal tool. Surprisingly steely, it will handle the largest commercial carp while retaining just enough softness to make it usable with lighter set-ups for smaller fish.

Maver Diamond Feeder fishing rod review

SHORT feeder rods are still very much in vogue on commercial fisheries and the 10ft 6ins version of the new Maver Diamond Feeder rods are no exception.  

BUY NOW from £179.99 from Chapmans Angling

Super-accurate on the cast, they can be tucked down the side of a platform out of the wind, and are that bit easier all round to handle when elbow room is at a premium.

Provided you’re not faced with a seriously long chuck, rods like this will cast far enough to put you on the fish on most commercials. And, needless to say, they are ideal for Method tactics in the margins where really big fish are about.

Maver’s latest Diamond Feeder 10ft 6ins rod, in two sections, is the perfect length for most commercial feeder and straight lead tactics.

It’s one of four in the range, all boasting high-modulus carbon, cork handle with EVA casting and thumb grips, low-profile lined ceramic guides and the ever-handy folding keeper ring. You also get three graded carbon quivertips. 

Unlike a number of other shorter rods that I have tested, Maver’s 10ft 6ins Diamond Feeder has the casting clout to propel a 30g flatbed Method feeder a decent distance with a fair degree of accuracy. I proved this during a live test at Decoy’s mixed-stock Horseshoe Lake… and before any of you familiar with this venue clamour that this lake hasn’t got a long cast on it, I also spent some time casting different weights and distances on the much larger Beastie Lake. 

My findings weren’t all that different from Maver’s recommendations, but in my opinion the blank’s limits are being pushed with anything over 60g (2oz) chucked 60 yards. 

To be honest, that’s more than enough power and distance for most day-ticket fisheries. A huge plus point is the rod’s non-locking, progressive action with no flat spots. 

As you can see from the picture, it tightens up really quickly from a third of the way down the top section, putting you in command when a fish is at the net. 

Despite this the rod is not overly stiff, and you’d need to be really clumsy to suffer many hook-pulls. As Dame Shirley Bassey sang, ‘Diamonds are forever’…and sure enough, this rod’s a keeper!  

THE VERDICT
The delightful jet black Diamond Feeder gets a huge thumbs-up from me. It’s everything you could wish for. It’ll cast a fair distance when you need to, it’s super-accurate at short range, and it can be used with a wide choice of weights for tactical flexibility. At just 181g it’s very light, and its progressive action combines controlled pulling power with enough softness to make it suitable for reel lines from 4lb to 8lb, with hooklengths down to 0.12mm. 

Mark Sawyer