Daiwa Harrier Match 13ft rod
PAY AROUND
£54.99
There was a time not so long ago when a three-piece 13ft float rod was standard issue for all match anglers.
Sheffield, Leeds, Rotherham and Birmingham all boasted legions of matchmen whose angling clubs were linked to massive national industries and working men’s clubs. Every weekend would see charabanc outings to the banks of the Witham, Welland, Trent or Severn, where floatfishing was still king and legering came a very poor second.
The best float rods of the day were mainly built on a Golden Jubilee blank, reappearing as WB Clarke’s
All-England, Milbro Enterprise or Billy Lane Match rods.
The first carbon rods weren’t far away, though, and when Fothergill and Harvey’s carbon blank appeared in 1975 they cost a king’s ransom at £133. The early carbon rods, nowhere as good as today’s, cost the equivalent of over £3,000, as much as you’ll pay for a modern flagship pole.
This history lesson earns a place here because 13ft float rods, once the most popular on the market, have evolved tremendously and are available at a steal of a price.
One such model is Daiwa’s 13ft three-piece Harrier Match, which can be found for as little as £44.99.
The rod is built on a decent enough lightweight blank, making it easy and comfy to hold. Its medium-fast action will cast small 3AAA wagglers with no trouble, and it boasts a full cork handle with an EVA lock-down foregrip, lined guides and a matt low-glare finish.
It isn’t the crispest float rod I have ever come across, and it may lack a bit of finesse. But what it can do in spades is handle whatever comes its way – something I was to find out while I was live testing the rod at Boston’s Westwood Lakes.
I had set my stall out for a net of roach and ide, or maybe the odd bream, but the tea-stained Kestrel Lake looked that dirty, I’d have been content to get a bite from anything.
With Storm Imogen racing with unstoppable force across Lincolnshire, this was far from being the best of conditions for floatfishing.
Still, with a 0.10mm hooklength and size 20 red maggot-baited hook on a slow-falling rig, something would surely have a go… wouldn’t it?
It seemed like an age for the bite to come, but eventually it did, and the blaze-coloured float tip sank slowly beneath the surface.
The strike was met by a little more resistance than I had expected, and the rod instantly took on an alarming fighting curve. This action, best described as on the through side of progressive, is pretty much what you want from a float rod if you’re likely to encounter bigger fish.
At first I thought I’d hooked, or even foul-hooked, a carp, hardly what I wanted from a silverfish session, and especially since I was using such lightweight terminal gear.
But as the scrap progressed it became obvious that I had hooked into one of the lake’s legendary barbel.
My balanced tackle was never more welcome than when I slipped the net under a pristine winter Bertram!
The Harrier Match, a long way from being one of Daiwa’s most expensive rods, had absorbed every lunge without my ever breaking sweat that I might get busted up and lose the fish.
Yes, it can be used for small silverfish, but take it from me, the Harrier is capable of an awful lot more when called to battle stations – just like its aircraft namesake, in fact.
VERDICT
On a day when everything but the roach wanted to feed, the Daiwa Harrier proved itself as a great silverfish all-rounder, with enough backbone to cope with much larger quarry when the need arose.
The rod would be well suited to a mixed commercial fishery, where the next bite could come from a matchbox-sized rudd, a powerful carp or, best of all, a belting barbel.
Mark Sawyer
Browning Sphere 10ft Bomb rod
TECH SPEC
Length: 3m (9ft 10ins)
Sections: 2
Max recommended casting weight: 50g
Spare quivertips: 0.5oz, 0.75oz, 1oz, 1.5oz.
Weight: 133g
PAY AROUND
£249.95
Those who regularly read my tackle review pages will be aware that I have been raving about Browning's top-of-the-range Sphere Feeder rods since first clapping eyes on them a year ago.
I adored them at first sight, and was bowled over by their lively, springy and steely feel and seamless non-locking parabolic curves. Live-testing them has proved to be nothing short of stupendous. They have casting power to burn, with recoil-less rigidity matched with a high weight loading area that will propel a feeder or lead a very long distance, even in the hands of a 'standard' distance casting angler like myself.
But - and here's the best bit - somehow the technical boffins at Browning have been able to produce blanks which blend all of that sizzle-factor with an almost imperceptible finesse which only comes into play when you hook a fish. Clever eh?
Faults are hard to find, other than the weight of their price tags, but they are right up there among the best.
Plaudits aside, there was one model left in the Sphere range that I had been waiting patiently to live-test, until the leaves started falling from the trees.
In the comfort of Browning's showroom, this rod felt ideal as a cold-water commercial-fishery tool, ideal for targeting F1s using light lines and small hooks, as well as being able to cope with the odd bigger fish. So as I tackled up on Decoy's unit-packed Beastie Lake, I was hoping for a live test encounter which would live up to my ambitious expectations.
I wasn't disappointed. The first thing you notice is that the blank has a long butt section at 5ft 2ins and a short a (3ft 4ins) carrier section, although when one of its four 23ins glass quivertips are fitted the two sections become equal length, making it easy to carry around as a ready-made.
Browning rates the rod as optimised at around 30m casting distance, which for me was under-gunning its true potential somewhat. My chosen peg was opposite an island end with a paddle type aerator as an added feature. My guess would have been it was around at least a 50m chuck, well above the rod¹s rating, and made even more difficult by the somewhat less than streamlined shape of the 20g pellet feeder I had tied on.
Not a problem! I even had to feather the line a little to avoid an overcast, and once clipped the rod hit the distance every time without fail. All very impressive, but not as impressive as what went on over the course of the next few hours. It¹s called Beastie Lake for a very good reason. Barbel, carp and F1s all grow fat healthy in this fabulous lake, and the Sphere handled them all with consummate ease, even when I had a dabble down the margin.
The resident barbel know every root-end and snag, but the rod pulled them away quickly and cleanly without a creak of complaint. I purposely over-loaded the stress-factor by pulling directly from above in an attempt to make the blank rotate, which in turn makes the guides twist out of alignment but they stayed die-straight throughout the ordeal.
I went through the card with this rod - maggot feeders with small hooks and 0.10mm hooklengths, pellet feeders with heavier lines and hair-rigs, straight lead and pellets - it was faultless. It would happily cope with main lines or braids from 4lb to 8lb and will cast up to 30g weights easily enough. Plus, you can use it with light lines and small hooks as its soft action is very forgiving, so hook pulls are kept to a minimum.
The four push-in glass quivertips are rated 0.5oz, 0.75oz, 1oz and 1.5oz which helps to provide it with sensitivity and durability.
Although it carries a bomb rod tag, the Browning Sphere model shouldn¹t be thought of as an old-school whispish wand designed for winkling out silvers from flooded rivers or canals. It¹s a very modern model with the casting backbone and parabolic fish playing action required for nearly all standard commercial fishery feeder and lead work.
The pencil slim blank has a superb transmission and steely feel, perfectly matched with the forgiving softness that is a hallmark of the Sphere range. If you¹re into the commercial fishery scene then you owe it to yourself to have a closer look.
Daiwa Airity Match and Feeder rods
PAY AROUND
£375-£450
Daiwa has used its tried and trusted Tournament blanks to create this new nine-model Airity series. The extra performance of the latest X45 carbon material is said to offer improved torque and power conversion.
The Airity hybrid 10ft/11ft is every bit as much at home casting a pellet waggler as it is a Method feeder, and will be of great interest to commercial matchman. Look out for an exclusive live test here soon.
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
Browning Commercial King Micro Waggler 9ft rod
PAY AROUND
£49.95
Fish on commercials are in the mood for food. They’ll pounce on virtually any bait, and even the crudest tactics will catch them.
But all too soon, as autumn arrives, everything changes. To succeed in cooler water a polished and more refined style of angling is needed, and you need to think very hard about your fishing to carry on reaping the rewards.
Finer lines, smaller hooks and smaller baits are all part of the equation, but to match the finer end tackle you need a suitable rod– and this is where Browning’s latest Commercial King Micro Waggler puts in an appearance.
With its abbreviated length, this nine-footer is obviously tailor-made for short-range casting on small commercial pools and snake lakes, rather than wide expanses of water.
But don’t let its lack of inches mislead you into thinking it’s probably a bit too short to handle anything weighing more than a couple of pounds.
The super-lightweight (160g) two-piece carbon blank dishes out more than enough clout to cope with the odd beastie or two.
Ideally, though, the Micro Waggler should be paired with a 2500 or 3000 sized reel loaded with a good sinking 4lb mainline, and used in conjunction with wagglers weighing no more than 15g. With such a set-up, the rod would be ideal for all maggot and 4mm-6mm pellet hookbaits with appropriately sized hooks and hooklengths.
The pencil-slim blank has a fabulous action that allows it to bend through most of its top section, with plenty of power feeding in via the middle and butt, just perfect for putting carp and F1s on the float in their place.
When it comes to playing and landing bigger fish on a shorter rod you’ll be pleasantly surprised – the reduced length seems to give you more leverage, and quickly brings them within easy range of the net.
Casting accuracy is good too (leaving aside ‘operator error!’), making it ideal to work with in typical parrot cage swims hemmed in by reeds.
In the right hands it will cast 35 yards-plus but, as you might expect, line pick-up at this distance isn’t the fastest.
This rod is at its brilliant best when presenting a waggler with precision just beyond your pole line.
We tested our sample rod at Decoy Lakes’ very scenic Willows Lake which is jam packed with F1s, with the odd bigger fish to keep them company. These larger carp have seen it all before, and can prove frustratingly difficult to nail. The best way is to feed 4mm pellets little and often – these fetch them up in the water pretty quickly. Then it’s a case of picking out your target, taking aim, and landing the banded bait right in front of the fish. Sooner or later one will turn and swirl on the bait, giving an instant and very often explosive take – exciting stuff. It’s really dobbing with a waggler, and patience and accuracy are key.
Now I can’t vouch for your patience, but I certainly can vouch for the casting accuracy of the Browning Micro Waggler!
VERDICT
This tiny waggler rod may seem a bit of a specialist tool, but when it’s too windy for the long pole it comes into its own. With its unerring casting accuracy it’s also ideal for far-bank snake lake work.
Mark Sawyer
Middy Nano-Core XZ65 World Elite 10ft Feeder rod
TECH SPEC
- Three special blank graded carbon push-in quivertips of 0.5oz, 1oz and 1.5oz test curves ensure a flat spot-free action, and make the rod suitable for a multitude of feeder applications.
- The rod comes with an original Middy aluminium hooded reel seat ideal for most reel sizes.
- The super-slim 20ins full cork handle makes the rod comfy to hold even when it’s under stress.
PAY AROUND
£209.99
Middy produces some mighty impressive commercial fishery rods these days – everything from short snake lake models to horizon-hitting beasts.
What’s more, there’s something to suit everyone’s pocket.
At the very pinnacle of Middy’s feeder rod range sits the new 10ft Nano-Core XZ65 World Elite, yours for a jaw-dropping £293.99. But panic not, as it can be found at a more realistic price if you shop around.
That said, it’s still a lot to lay out by anyone’s standards, so what exactly would you be shelling out for?
Well, for starters you get an ultra-slim (just 11mm at the butt section), ridiculously light, two-sectioned carbon fibre blank, the result of the very latest Nano-Core technology. This translates into a rod with lightning-fast reflexes, immense strength and flexibility.
The blank has undergone a unique high-pressure vacuum curing process that forces out any tiny air bubbles, ensuring a consistent performance and a flawless finish.
Other luxury touches include three push-in carbon quivertips rated at 0.5oz, 1oz and 1.5oz, seven ceramic-lined double and single SiC Ultra-Flow guides, and a thin full cork handle furnished with a screw-down reel seat.
Middys claims the rod will cast bombs and feeders up to 50g with mainlines up to 12lb and hooklengths up to 8lb.
So far that’s pretty much standard manufacturers’ marketing speak for a commercial feeder rod of this ilk. But in my humble opinion top-end or flagship models should always have that bit extra, the ‘wow factor’ if you will...
You’re already paying for the classy furnishings, fittings and carbon technology, but without that noticeable edge to the rod’s performance all that counts for nowt – and that applies to all tackle brands, not just Middy.
And so to the live test. A favourite water of mine is the peaceful day-ticket Stretton Lakes, just off the A1 north of Peterborough. The fish here are of an average size, and respond to most open-water tactics – ideal helpmates for tackle testing.
Assembling the rod, you cannot help but be impressed by its pencil-slimness – in fact I found the full cork handle a tad too skinny for my own assortment of butt rests, and would suggest that any prospective buyer should look for a small U-bend abbreviated rear rest of the sort favoured by carp anglers.
The sections are not quite equal in length when the carrier section has a quivertip in place, so you need to be extra careful when you’re putting it away ready made-up, even though the classy Middy padded carry bag is more than long enough for the job.
I was not wholly convinced by its suggested 50g maximum casting weight. For me, the top end of the carrier section has a little too much play, and while there is no denying its impressive post-cast recovery speed, this rod is clearly not of the ‘give it a whack’ breed – face it, if you miscast and take out the top section that’s a very expensive mistake to make.
And there end my criticisms. The fact is, the performance of the 10ft World Elite will have you purring with satisfaction. It has a wondrous amount of torque and feel, with a handling aptitude right 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 actually takes a bit of getting used to. It’s a bit like stepping straight out of your old family saloon and into a works rally car, but once you adapt to the change it’s all systems go – only you won’t have to strap yourself in!
VERDICT
A genuine high-performance rod for the commercial fishery connoisseur, this top-end Middy model will handle most weights of flatbed feeders and straight leads up to 40g (1.5oz). It is equally at home using a maggot feeder with light lines and small hooks for F1s as it would be targeting much bigger fish with bread discs in winter.
Mark Sawyer
Korum 11ft Quiver rod
TECH SPEC
• Line rating: 4-10lb.
• Two piece construction.
• High quality cork handle.
• Screw reel fitting.
• Ideal for feeder work or straight lead.
• Supplied with two quivertips: 1oz & 2oz.
PAY AROUND
£49.99
The rod has a full cork handle and two equal-length sections with a line rating of 4-10lb. There's plenty of power to comfortably launch 2oz feeders when you're targeting fish over the pound mark.
The 1oz and 2oz carbon quivertips are well-matched to the rod with the stiff 2oz tip first choice for using with a Method. The lighter tip would be great on rivers.
If you're the sort of angler who likes to divide his bankside time between rivers, natural lakes, large canals and commercial pools, wouldn’t it be great to have one rod to suit them all?
This super-versatile tool has two equal-length sections and comes with two spare 1oz and 2oz push-in carbon quivers. It really does have a multitude of uses and will turn its full cork handle to anything, from maggot feeder and straight lead fishing on rivers for chub and barbel through to open-ender tench and bream tactics. It’ll also chuck a Method feeder for commercial carp.
Having spent a few hours using the test sample from Korum, I can report that it won’t necessarily lend itself particularly well to finesse feeder tactics using tiny hooks and gossamer hooklengths. So if you’re after a net of roach and skimmers, it sadly won’t fit the bill. However, it is very impressive with fish from 1lb upwards, which is probably why it carries a manufacturer’s line rating of 4lb-10lb, which seems about right to me.
Although this is a rod with multi-venue possibilities, time was somewhat against me for my live-test day so I chose a water containing all sorts of fish, in all sorts of sizes. The picture-postcard day-ticket Stretton Lakes near the A1 in Rutland fitted the bill.
I started the session using a 28g pellet feeder with a banded pellet hookbait, cast tight to an island. This soon caught me a string of stockie carp of 2lb-3lb, which all put a healthy and progressive fish-playing bend in the rod.
Its action is geared towards hard and fast playing power, as opposed to a fancy and forgiving one. But whatever it loses in guile is certainly more than made up for in its casting performance. For an 11ft model it has plenty of poke, can withstand a proper whack, and will easily launch at least 2oz of lead.
The carbon quivertips both work perfectly with the rod, with no sign of flat-spotting or making the blank feel top heavy. I have long been an advocate of using stiff carbon tips for all my Method feeder work and the 2oz tip worked a treat when I switched to a 30g flatbed Method cast towards the far-bank reeds.
Unfortunately for me – and the live test – it was one of those days when the carp were really ‘on the munch’, and despite several hookbait changes the greedy stockies devoured all that was thrown
at them. While emptying it, or as photographer Lloyd Rogers so eloquently put it, ‘hook a duck time’, I pondered as to why it’s never like this in matches…
It also struck me that the Korum rod would be very much at home on snag- strewn small rivers, where the stocks of chub and barbel succumb to straight lead, bread/cheese and meat tactics.
VERDICT
What a great little all-rounder of a rod this is, and it comes with a very reasonable price tag! Ideal for a multitude of legering tactics, it really is every angler’s flexible friend.
Mark Sawyer
Browning Sphere Feeder M 3.90m rod
PAY AROUND
£249.95-£399.95
Browning’s new Sphere rods are aptly described by the European tackle giant as being ‘from a different world’.
Made from the very highest quality carbons, every aspect of their design is engineered to produce a finished product that is as near perfect as it can be.
The Sphere blanks are said to be the slimmest and lightest high-modulus carbon rods available, and features include superb ultra-low-friction ‘skeleton’ SiC guides throughout, plus an ergonomic, weight-reducing handle which transmits more ‘feel’ through to the angler.
Between them the seven Sphere Feeder models cover every possible aspect of feeder fishing, from lightweight two-piece silverfish models through to 4.2m (13ft) firm-actioned rods capable of handling heavy leads in raging torrents.
Browning claims the rods will add yards to your cast, yet remain responsive enough to safely play soft-mouthed fish like skimmers and withstand the thumping head-shakes of really big bream without fear of hook-pulls.
That is quite some claim. I have seen and used many really good bream rods in my time, but nothing has ever been absolutely perfect – until now, that is!
From the moment I first handled these rods in Browning’s German factory I knew they were a bit special. The first clue to their excellence came during a conversation I had with Bob Nudd at this year’s Big One show. Bob excitedly handed me one, proclaiming: “This is the best feeder rod I have ever seen.” Praise indeed from a five-time World Champ with a lifetime of match and festival wins.
Recent sellout match attendances at open-water bream venues such as Peterborough’s Ferry Meadows had brought me a spate of ‘which rod?’ emails. These, along with questions from anglers on the bank asking about distance feeder rods, were all the excuse I needed to ask Browning to send in a Sphere for review.
This they duly did, and I received a 3.90m (12ft) three-piece Feeder M that I was assured would be ideal for long casting to big bream in open water.
Now, let’s clear one thing up, these rods are eye-wateringly expensive, with prices from £249.99 right up to £399.99, so you would expect them to be more than reasonable. However, they do come with four matching push-in tips which offer the ultimate in bite detection.
Settling into permanent peg 127 on Ferry Meadows’ Overton Lake, it was time to get some bait in. Clipped up at a modest 60 turns on the 4000-sized reel, the rod delivered a fully loaded 30g feeder bang on to the spot every time. Even a niggling headwind did nothing to affect accuracy or distance.
After 20 minutes of constant casting to get some feed out, I unclipped the reel, tied on a heavier feeder and unleashed the beast – ‘awesome’ is the only the word that does this rod justice.
The power kicked in through the middle section, the carrier was virtually recoil-less, and 90 turns later the feeder was back in my hand. Now I wouldn’t claim to be the best caster around, probably only just better than average. But never before had I chucked a feeder so far with so little effort.
But would this rod prove too stiff to play a big bream on? We’ve all been there – up pops the feeder, the bream starts shaking its head, and the rod doesn’t cushion the weight of the feeder being tossed around, so out comes the hook.
It’s the saddest sight in match fishing, staring at an empty landing net head with a big swirl behind it.
Suffice to say, this rod handled the situation with consummate ease – every fish was brought to the net early, apparently increasing the likelihood of a hook-pull, but everything stuck fast.
I could go on and on about the virtues of this rod, but I’ll leave you with this thought… don’t buy any other distance feeder rod until you have seen a Sphere.
VERDICT
Without doubt these Spheres are the best rods Browning has ever produced. Casting with breathtaking performance and accuracy, they have unequalled fish-playing powers, and are aesthetically unlike any others. If the rest of the Sphere Feeder series is anywhere near as good as this 12ft medium test model than Browning has created something out of this world.
Mark Sawyer
Matrix Method Master 11ft Feeder rod
TECH SPEC
In this range, there is a choice of 9ft, 10ft, or 11ft, all with casting weights of 20gms to 50gms.
• High modulus carbon blank.
• Semi-parabolic fish-playing action.
• Designed for up to 25m.
• Casting weight: 20gms - 50gms.
• Ideal for fishing the method on the pole line of on snake type lakes.
• Short handle for easy manouvering when casting and playing fish.
• Lightweight, strong double and single leg guides positioned for easy made-up transportation.
• Cork/EVA handle with soft-touch screw down hood reel seat.
• EVA transport holder block holds all sections parallel for easy made-up transport.
• Ideal for all method feeder\pellet feeder fishing.
• Rods break down into two equal lengths.
• Supplied with two (3/4oz, 1oz) interchangeable tips.
• Line rating 4lb - 8lb.
PAY AROUND
9ft £59.99, 10ft £64.99, 11ft £69.99
Matrix has added three new Method Master feeder rods to its range designed to tackle commercial fisheries.
In 9ft, 10ft or 11ft lengths, all three blanks will cast Method feeders weighing between 20g and 50g (0.7oz and 1.7oz), which will cover nine out of 10 pools you’re likely to find yourself pegged on.
At a time when quality short feeder rods can set you back a considerable chunk of wedgeit’s quite refreshing to find that these superbly appointed rods can be had at under £70 a chuck.
So, what’s the catch – if indeed there is one? To find out, and hopefully make a decent catch of my own, I settled into a peg fringed with Norfolk reed on the day-ticket Kingsland Reservoir, just outside Peterborough, equipped with the 11ft version of the Matrix Method Master.
The fish in this deep lake – mainly carp – show a definite taste for baits presented on the Method, especially close in to the margins. This tactic obviously doesn’t test a rod’s casting attributes, but it does put its fish-playing mettle under the spotlight.
Before you even wet a line, one of the first things you will notice when putting together the two equal-length sections of this 11ft blank is its fast taper from butt to tip.
This gives it a high weight loading area toward the tip end of the carrier section and enables the rod to hold pretty much rock-steady before casting.
There’s none of that bouncing around of the feeder that can be such a pain in the butt section – yours!
This lack of movement improves the rod’s distance casting and accuracy, and after half-an-hour of trying out different weights of feeder I can happily report that it will handle 30g flatbed models with very little effort. That said, I felt that the manufacturer’s recommended maximum casting weight of 50g would be overstretching the rod.
No matter, the plus points way outstrip this small negative. The blank is a composite of carbon, glass and resins which together produce a rod lacking in flat spots, and with enough backbone and grunt to tame the odd Barney Rubble.
This rod is immensely enjoyable to use. Bend it like Beckham and it will put fish in the net time and time again.
Indeed, if you’re into your commercial match fishing, it should help you score a good few points over the opposition.
VERDICT
The new Matrix Method Master casts accurately and sufficiently far to cope with the majority of commercial fisheries. The equal length two-piece blank has lots of feel and transmission, and its controlled progressive bend will cope with fish big and small.
This very affordable rod can be used with reel lines between 3lb and 8lb, and is destined to become a firm favourite with all club match anglers on a budget.
Mark Sawyer
Preston Innovations 12ft Pellet Waggler rod
PAY AROUND
£169.99
This 12ft Pellet Waggler rod is the latest addition to the best-selling Carbonactive Mini Plus commercial range from Preston Innovations.
Honed to perfection for casting splasher-type floats and big pellet wagglers on open-water venues such as Viaduct, Barston and Meadowlands, this rod was developed with input from talented match angler Andy Power.
Andy can list wins in the Maver Match This and UK Champs, as well as qualifying for three Fish O’Mania finals, in a long line of achievements.
In a chat I had with Preston’s brand manager Scott Geens about the ins and outs of the blank’s construction, he told me that Andy had netted fish to over 20lb from Viaduct during its field trials, so no worries on that score!
I was lucky enough to be given an exclusive preview of the new Preston tool, and I never pass up the chance of chucking a big pellet waggler around – besides, the sun was shining.
So I found myself pulling up in the car park of the Canal and River Trust’s day-ticket Engine Pool on the Earlswood complex, armed with little more than a few bags of 8mm pellets for bait and feed, and a box of distance-casting wagglers.
Engine regulars will know just how fickle this water can be. It’s very much feats or famine, but with rock-solid information that the pegs in the high 70s were rammed with fish, my confidence of nailing some proper lumps was riding high.
It was less buoyant after three-and-a-half hours of constant casting and feeding, feeding and casting, swapping between wagglers of the splasher, pellet, clear, loaded and unloaded kind, even some with popper discs.
Having gone through every permutation of floatfishing up in the water, all I had to showfor my endeavours was sore knuckles from what must have been a thousand raps from the pouch of my catty.
You could say my interest was flagging somewhat.
My photographer, Lloyd, had taken to doing ‘wildlife’ snaps – well, that’s what he called them, but I never realised that insects wore Lycra shorts and went jogging round lakes!
With time pushing on, what had I learnt? Well, the Preston 12ft Pellet Waggler rod has quite a fine tip for what is basically an animal tamer.
It will cast just about anything you care to tie on to the reel line, bar possibly a bagging waggler – anything else isn’t a problem.
Even the largest vaned pellet waggler from John Bonny (the Mad Hatter of float makers) can be cast completely out of sight.
I had matched the rod with a 6lb reel line – with 8lb your casting distances would suffer as the guides are all of standard match size to handle thinner diameter lines better. I’d recommend you to play your cards right and stick to 6lb line, not going higher or lower.
Then it happened. The float landed with an angel’s caress, to be greeted with a swirl as an Engine Pool brute couldn’t resist what was obviously my above-standard banded pellet presentation – or perhaps it was down to the fact that it was now getting dark. It matters not – the blank swept the line up in a none too sloppy manner from the surface, then kicked into its progressive fish-playing action.
Now I could finally see the benefits of all that field-trialling. Yes, the rod has unbridled power, but it’s all been channelled into the blank’s middle section. When you lean into a fish it absorbs then dictates… you know you’re in charge.
It’s a strange thing with carp that sometimes, if they feel they are on the losing side from the start, they all but give up. Right at the net, the Earlswood projectile made a half-hearted bid for the legs of the platform, but a smart side swipe from the rod brought it straight up on top and into the pan.
How good is that?
VERDICT
This classy rod from the Preston Mini Plus stable has plenty of brutish power tempered by just the right amount of finesse, and the build and finish are both top-notch.
It’s quite capable of dealing with the largest of fish, but it’s fun to use and sure to become a favourite with anglers visiting big open-water venues this summer.
Mark Sawyer
Browning Commercial King 8ft F1 Wand
TECH SPEC
Length: 8’/2.45m
Sections: 2 + 3 Tips
Casting weight: 2 – 4 lbs
Travel length: 1.27m
Weight: 150g
PAY AROUND
£59.99 both models
If you feeder fish snake lakes that don’t require massive casts then this wicked little rod should have your name on it. And here’s why…
Browning has further improved and refined its Commercial King Rod range to include these two gossamer 8ft Carp and F1 Wands, both of which eradicate hook-pulls while having the capability to land any big bonus fish.
The pencil-slim, through-actioned blanks bend all the way from their tips through to their cork handles. The F1 model, on live test duty, has the more forgiving action and is rated at around 20 per cent softer than the slightly beefier Carp Wand.
I favour short rods with actions like this because they can transmit every flick and flutter from fighting fish of all sizes, yet effortlessly cushion the most fragile hooklengths and tiny hooks.
They allow an angler to present really light rigs to finesse bites from shy-biting winter F1s and skimmers that have seen it all before, and they more than justify the asking price for use on hard winter commercials, where you might be fishing for just half-a-dozen bites in a match. Their reduced length allows you to easily tuck them out of harm’s way down the side of a platform, well out of the wind.
The F1 Wand is built to fish with reel lines of 2lb-5lb, while the Carp model can handle slightly heavier mono from 3lb-8lb, with appropriate hooklengths, but I wouldn’t go much below 0.10mm even with the F1 version.
I paired my test rod with a 4lb mainline that blended sweetly with the two-piece, 8ft blank. Three fine glass quivertips of 0.5oz, 1oz and 1.5oz come with each rod. These will register delicate bites while still managing to accurately throw feeders and bombs of up to 2oz. Reduced length rods are reckoned to give much greater accuracy over long ones when making the short-range casts required on many commercials these days. They’re also definitely easier to use in tight swims hemmed in by vegetation.
I took the test rod to the prolific Greensands snake lakes fishery near Sandy, in Bedfordshire, to fish a small 15g flatbed feeder loaded with dampened 2mm pellets and fine fishmeal goundbait with a 6mm hair-rigged banded pellet and size 16 hook.
The first thing you notice is how light the Browning Commercial King F1 Wand feels. The next is how easy it is to cast overhead, plopping the feeder accurately hard up against the far bank, or features such as islands or aerators, at distances from just beyond pole range to around 30 yards. On many day-ticket venuesbeing as little as 12ins off target makes all the difference between a good day and an average one.
No worries – it’s my bet that with this pint-sized belter sitting on your rod rest, you’ll be bang on the money every chuck.
VERDICT
This super pair of 8ft Wands from the Browning stable are ideal for commercial snake lakes and small pools. The F1 model, in particular, would be hard to better for this kind of fishing. It would make an exceptional winter maggot, feeder and small-hook F1 tool.
Mark Sawyer
Shakespeare Sigma 10ft Commercial Feeder Rod
The Shakespeare Sigma Commercial rod range features two-piece carbon blanks with powerful, but progressive, actions. These rods are designed to allow for accurate casting and making the playing of hard-fighting fish easier and faster.
THE RANGE
Sigma Commercial 11ft Float
Sigma Commercial 10ft Float
Sigma Commercial 11ft Feeder
Sigma Commercial 10ft Feeder
PAY AROUND
£39.99
Every match or pleasure angler who catches big fish on commercial pools should have a rod like this in their holdall.
Carrying a full recommended retail price of just £39.99 (although you’ll find it even cheaper if you shop around a bit), it’s eminently affordable.
With two equal-length sections, the 10ft rod is easy to carry ready rigged for action. Its composite carbon and glass construction generates a fast casting action, and it plays fish firmly yet forgivingly.
I was soon to experience its qualities at close range as I ran the rule over this Shakespeare 10ft Feeder, part of the famous firm’s new four-rod Sigma Commercial range.
The kind of venue I would choose for a feeder/lead rod of this type is a small to medium-sized commercial pool of between 20 and 40 pegs, with required casting distances of 15m-40m. The open-water strip lakes at fish-filled Decoy Lakes near Peterborough fit the bill perfectly, and so armed with some timely advice from Angling Times deputy editor Kevin Wilmot, I aimed for a peg at the top end of Oak Lake.
A few exploratory casts down the lake with different weights of feeder confirmed the casting credentials of the new Sigma, which are amazing for such a short rod. The fast tapering blank has a high weight loading point, matched with impressive poke from its butt section, and will cast feeders and straight leads of up to 40g more than 35 metres. This is more than enough for most commercials.
My casting target on the day was actually little more than 25m, enough to position a 15g flatbed Method feeder tight up against the only feature in the lake, a paddle-type aerator. Pinpoint accuracy was needed, and the sparky little Sigma didn’t disappoint.
The blank is recommended for use with reel lines up to 8lb – quite heavy, in other words – and hooklengths from 0.12mm upwards.
The rod’s most outstanding asset, though, has to be its splendid progressive action. Far from being wetter than a haddock’s bathing costume, it manages to blend a soft tip with a fast-tapering mid-section, which makes the playing of big fish quick and easy, never stiff or overpowering.
My first fish of the day proved the point when the quivertip (two graded carbon tips of 1.5oz and 2oz are supplied) slammed round hard as a big kipper made off with my double corn hookbait. The rod did its job nicely, absorbing every lunge and run all the way to the net.
This is normally when most big fishtend to come off the hook, but not this time! The blank kept the fish under close arrest without any worries that it was about to slip the handcuffs and escape.
VERDICT
A very impressive rod from Shakespeare, and impossible to fault, given such a low asking price. It casts well, has a super power-playing progressive action, and could turn its cork handle to conquer most feeder and straight lead commercial fishery situations.
Mark Sawyer
Middy 4GS Micro Muscle Waggler Rod
TECH SPEC
- 11ft Super slim Supplex high-modulus carbon two-piece blank
- Soft-touch EVA thumb grip
- Ergonomic lock-down reel seat
- Hook retainer
- SIC Feather-Lite gunsmoke guides
- Max mainline 12lb
- Max hooklength 8lb
- Casting weight 25g
PAY AROUND
Price (RRP): £139
Shop-around price: £99.99
I take my hat off to Middy, and I’ll tell you why. Not that long ago, very few serious matchmen would have believed the Derbyshire firm capable of producing commercial fishery pellet waggler and float rods to the high standards they demanded.
However, that’s all water under the bridge. Since Middy introduced its original, superb and hugely successful X Flex 3G Pellet Waggler rod series the company has firmly established itself as a market leader for rods of that ilk.
The all new Middy 4GS offerings definitely continue the tradition, with several key improvements, including Supplex carbon technology.
This leads to a refined tip action, allowing fish to be landed even more quickly, as extra power is available through the butt section without risking hook-pulls or snapped hooklengths. Other improvements include an upgraded, progressive fish-playing action and better handling and balance.
All very impressive – but why would Middy need to make changes to a model that was voted rod of the year a couple of seasons back?
Any doubts along the lines of ‘has Middy mended something that clearly wasn’t broken in the first place?’ were all laid to rest as I spent a few hours putting the new 11ft 4GS Micro Muscle Waggler through its paces at Oakfield Fisheries’ day-ticket Red Kite lake.
The ultra-wary carp in here grow big, really big… which is handy, as the new Micro Muscle is rated more than capable of dealing with zoo creatures into double figures.
At first glance the ultra-slim and very lightweight 11ft blank didn’t look capable of dealing with an awful lot more than disorderly dace, rampant roach or badly behaved bleak. But, as they say, looks can be deceiving, and beneath the rod’s cold gunsmoke grey finish beats the heart of lion. Here we have a lean, mean, mauling, brawling battler – disguised as Clark Kent.
It has power to burn through its middle section, and just look at the main picture – have you ever seen a sweeter, more progressive fighting curve in a rod? Certainly not on one that can be found for just under a hundred quid, as this one can.
Another thing that had bothered me a bit about this rod also resolved itself during the live test. Why didn’t it get the obligatory ‘Pellet Waggler’ label? The answer was simple enough – and it was no oversight on Middy’s part. Basically, the softer tip allows it to be used with a much wider range of floats, and it will cast normal and pellet wagglers up to 25g.
Casting distance was pretty good too. With full compression, a maximum range of around 25m can be achieved. Middy gives it a mainline rating of up to 12lb, way too high in my opinion. You’ll get far more performance out of it with 6lb-8lb line.
Fittings are all top-notch, with a comfy lock-down reel seat on a cork and EVA handle, and quality matching gunsmoke grey SiC Feather-Lite lined guides. Ideal for all short to mid-range work on commercial fisheries, this rod is without a doubt another winner from the Middy stable.
VERDICT
THE 11ft Middy Micro is one of the finest rods released this year. Its almost elastic ‘never ending’ progressive fish playing action is right up there with the best I have used,
but at a price that belies this lofty accolade. If your mate owns one, and lets you have a go with it, it’s a given that you’ll have one in your holdall by the following weekend.
Mark Sawyer
Maver Genesis Black Ice 11ft Match rod
• EVA twist grip
• High quality lined guides throughout
• Quality graphite screw reel fitting
• Folding hook keeper ring
• Action: Tip; Through action
• Casting Weight: 60g-90g
• Line Rating: 3lb-8lb
• Weight: 185g inc tips
• Featuring the stunning ‘Black Ice’ carbon finish and top quality fittings throughout. Supplied with three carefully graded tips.
Sometimes tackle can suffer from being labelled ‘one method and one method alone’. Margin poles are one example.
Pellet waggler rods are another, leading the customer into thinking that they can only be used for very specific tactics. The truth is often very different.
Match rods are a case in point. The tag may evoke images of stick float fishing on rivers with 2lb hooklengths, but with modern design, materials and build techniques your standard match tool can actually achieve a great many things. Maver’s Genesis Black Ice 11ft Match rod falls nicely into that category.
Don’t let the ‘Match’ part of its name put you off – this rod has been designed for pellet waggler fishing on well-stocked commercial waters, but its action and softness make it perfect for a spot of roach bashing on lakes and rivers too. It’s the ideal all-rounder for the angler who may only be able to afford or want one rod in their rod bag.
Made from high modulus carbon, the two-piece Black Ice packs a lovely through action, with ample softness in the tip to allow you to fish with light lines when needed.
However, Maver had both eyes on carp when building this rod, and it’s when you gear it up with a 6lb mainline and a loaded pellet waggler that the Black Ice really comes to life.
Soft it may be, but it’s not so sloppy that your casting will be all over the place. There’s enough poke to pick up line to hit fast bites, and more than enough guts to land big fish.
It’s also very light, weighing just 185g, so you can fish with it in your hand all day with no fatigue at all.
Testing took place on Magpie Lake at the up-and-coming Rookery Waters in Cambridgeshire, chucking a loaded 8g waggler to a bed of lily pads at around 40 yards.
Despite a brisk Fenland cross wind, the control that the Black Ice gives you on the cast sees the float landing time after time in the right place, essential when you’re building up a swim.
Landing the float is only part of the battle, though – some rods can fall down on the strike. Too sloppy an action and you simply can’t pick up the line in time, but the Black Ice is deceptively good at doing this.
Even with a bit of a bow in the line, a forceful strike made short work of those lighting bites that often come just as the waggler settles.
There’s also enough grunt to get carp away from snags quickly when you need to ‘hit and hold’ as soon as the hook is set. Get a fish within netting range, though, and the rod takes on a very soft action, bending right the way through the blank at times but never leaving you with the feeling that you’re in any way undergunned!
Finished with top-quality SiC guides, graphite screw reel fitting, EVA twist grip and folding hook keeper ring, the Maver Black Ice is the ideal rod to carry made up in a rod sleeve, all ready to take on whatever your summer of fishing is about to throw at you!
Richard Grange
Preston Innovations Carbonactive Mini Plus 11ft 6ins Method Feeder rod
PAY AROUND
£169.99
Preston Innovations has given its best- selling Carbonactive Mini-Plus rods a significant makeover and added this two-piece 11ft 6ins Method feeder tool to the range. Right from the start Mini-Plus rods were a hit with commercial match anglers, as the reduced-length blanks, with their trademark forgiving yet powerful action, were ideal for getting carp to the net very quickly.
Despite significant changes, all the new Preston Mini-Plus rods retain their non-locking action and trademark ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’ feel. However, they do appear to have been built around slightly faster tapering blanks. This, far from being a negative quality, gives them more casting speed at the tip when they are wound up, always a useful quality when going for extra distance.
Cosmetics and furnishings on the new rods have been upgraded too. The whippings on the glossy jet-black blanks now boast classy red trimmings, and depending on the model you get either single or double-legged low profile ceramic-lined guides.
The cork and EVA handle is fitted with a soft-touch reel seat which is not only pleasingly comfy to hold, but clamps the reel stem close to the blank. This is handy if, like, me you have short fingers. To round off the technicalities there’s a fold-down keeper ring, always nice to see.
So how did the Carbonactive Mini-Plus actually perform? After all, the two-piece 11ft 6ins blank is an unusual length for a Method feeder rod, which would more commonly be found in standard 12ft and power 13ft versions. Yes, even shorter method feeder rods are available, but these are really designed for fishing down the edge, not for distance casting.
A rare creature our test rod may be, but with the help of match aces Des Shipp and Tommy Pickering Prestons has come up with something that’s absolutely spot-on for commercials with islands and features at the 30m-60m mark.
That point was brought home to me when live-testing the model at Suffolk’s day-ticket Hinderclay fishery. Like so many others, this complex has centre islands on a couple of its lakes, and accurate 40m chucks to these are essential from the relevant pegs.
The Mini-Plus will cast a small 30g fully loaded feeder with little effort on the angler’s part, and I would suggest that at a push it could propel a large 45g Method feeder a fair distance. That said, don’t buy it if you are just looking for an out-and-out power casting tool, which it isn’t.
The blank has enough backbone to keep a straight cast, even if you need to lean into the cast in the teeth of a strong headwind, and the lack of tip recoil and bounce helps as you approach the casting distance limit.
I am fast becoming a fan of the longer-than-normal quivertips Preston is using these days on its feeder models, blending as they do into the blanks with no flat spots. The Mini-Plus comes with a glass tip rated at 2oz and a 2.5oz carbon tip. In truth, because bites are usually bold wrap-rounds as the fish hook themselves against the weight of the feeder, I reckon an even heavier 3oz tip would be useful, and contribute to longer casts.
That said, the softer glass tip does make the rod a little more flexible, should you want to use it for open-end feeder work for bream. Thanks to the blank’s forgiving action, it is well suited to this tactic.
Preston Innovations Classic Series 11ft-13ft Feeder
PAY AROUND
£139.99
If you had to choose just one feeder rod to handle all legering situations, it’s my guess many would go for an 11-13ft configuration.
This versatile combination blank was, I believe, originally launched by Daiwa and made available in both medium and heavy versions, green or red whipping denoting the rod’s specification.
Since that time similar rods have been produced many times over, and not just by Daiwa – just about every tackle company includes an 11-13ft feeder as a ‘must have’ rod in their range.
The very latest to hit the market has just been introduced by Preston Innovations as part of its new three-model Carbonactive Classic Feeder series.
These versatile rods are intended for the seasoned angling journeyman and – dare I say it? – are almost old-school. Classic retro traits include fast tapering high-gloss jet black carbon blanks with matching 25ins extra-long push-in glass quivertips, full-length cork and EVA handle and, most importantly, a seamlessly soft, progressive action free frpm flat spots.
My original plan was to take the Preston Classic to a medium-sized mixed stock fishery and run it through its paces with open-end and Method feeders of varying weights, fished at different distances, using a variety of baits. This strategy would in turn hopefully attract fish of many species, proving the rod’s worth as an all-rounder.
That was until almost every sheet of water, from lake to puddle, froze absolutely solid. Obviously the rivers would still be a Plan B option, but the tea-stained raging torrent that passed for the idyllic meandering Thames around Oxford looked about as inviting as a cold bath in January.
And so to Plan C. What you need when everywhere else is iced up is an inland ocean, a vast sprawling open expanse of water that the wind ruffles enough to prevent the ice from forming.
There was a very good reason that the car park at Boddington Reservoir was devoid of angler’s cars for the first time in its history. It was so bloody cold that you’d have to jump start a reindeer. I’d also heard on the grapevine that bites here right now were rarer than a Ringer snap-off.
Still, needs must, and after setting the kit up in the early 70s, with freezing cold hands I threaded the line through the rod’s sturdy double legged ceramic lined guides. Rigs would need to be simple affairs, as open-end feeders were hardly likely to bring much action my way. Relying on small but heavy Method feeders and straight lead set-ups, I began the test.
With the rod set in its full ‘three section plus handle’ 13ft mode, Preston claims it is capable of casting Method feeders and is equally suited to heavy work in fast-flowing waters. I reckon it is more than capable of doing both reasonably well, but despite the fast-tapering blank it’s definitely not a long-range Method feeder tool. It’s all a little bit loose and languid for full-throttle distance work.
It is, however, ideal at its full length for all deep-water bream and skimmer fishing. With the dolly butt section – which houses a single guide and fits above the handle – removed, the blank takes on an altogether different feel and casting action.
At the 11ft length (11ft 2ins to be precise) it will easily cast weighty Method feeders and has a lot more casting aggression. The fast taper kicks in when the blank is fully compressed, and will propel any type of feeder a surprisingly long way for an 11ft rod. It certainly isn’t poker-stiff, so it’s still capable of coping with soft mouthed fish.
I also rather fancy this would make a super river rod, perfect for hooklengths down to 0.12mm, smaller hooks and any species of fish. This very much keeps it in the mould of the classic 11ft-13ft design.
Stillwater Pro Matchstix 13ft Float Rod
PAY AROUND
£34.99
A traditional three-piece waggler rod, this is perhaps the most versatile of the Matchstix rod range. It will punch out long-range pellet wagglers for large carp and yet has the subtlety to fish fine hooklengths for silverfish.
Light, slim and responsive, there is plenty of power reserve as you get into the butt section of the blank.
Stillwater Pro Matchstix Mini Float Rods (10ft and 11ft)
PAY AROUND
10ft Mini Float £27.99, 11ft Mini Float £29.99
The two Matchstix Pro Mini Float Rods are so slim and light you can barely feel them in the hand, and yet are so crisp on the strike as to defy belief.
The rods take up a faultless curve when bending into powerful fish. They have a line rating of 8lb mainline and up to 6lb hooklengths. Both the 10ft and 11ft versions are two-piece blanks with equal length sections to allow them to be easily stored made up.
Matrix Horizon S Class 12ft Feeder
The three-piece Horizon S Class Feeder is a traditional tool for bream and skimmer fishing. The high gloss black blank has a softly progressive action, but with enough power in the lower butt section to achieve casts up to 60m. Large-diameter guides throughout (quivertips too) allow the use of shockleaders with no fear of the leader knot jamming into a guide and causing a crack-off.
PAY AROUND
£149.99
THIS rod owes many of its superb specifications to the fishing talent and knowledge of Matrix boss Ricky Teale, who has spent years match fishing for bream here in the UK and in Europe, where long-distance bream tactics are seen as the pinnacle of angling achievement.
The Horizons S rod’s middle and tip sections are both longer than you would find on a standard three-piece feeder model, helping it to deliver a seamlessly smooth progressive playing action while maximising tip speed when going for a really long cast. A short butt section with an extra-long spigot joint adds to its casting clout.
During the live test Angling Times editor Steve Fitzpatrick, not noted for his smooth distance-casting style, had a go with the set-up and was so shocked at the instant extra yards he attained that he wouldn’t give it back.
During the trial it handled Method, open-end, cage and maggot feeders with equal aplomb, as well as dealing with casting weights from 15g-45g.