Rods

Here you find a list of the rods we’ve used and tested during this project…

Lamiglas XMG50

At the advice of Peter De Cock, from hengelsport De Cock, we purchased and tested this rod. And we’re happy to have done it!! We tested a rod from the XMG50-series.The EXS92MC, a 9’2’’ two-piece rod desigend for casting weights from ¼ OZ (7 gr) to 5/8 OZ (18 gr). This is an American 8-15 LBS rod.
What can we say about this beauty ? It was superb !!A very light rod that I tested while spinning for sea trout in Danmark. The rod easily casted 12 gr weight headwind. I even tried little shads up to 28 gr without any problems!
The spinning reel I used on this rod (a Shimano stradic 5000 FB), was in perfect balans! This is a combination that you will appreciate even for fishing a whole day.
The rod has a nice top action while casting and can – according to the load—show a parabolic curve. You can feel the slightest vibration through the blank onto your wrist. The rod has many eyes (more than you would expect) that show the real strength of the blank…nice nice nice. Certainly a rod that will give me years of pleasure!
A small disadvantage from this expensive rod is that it’s sold without a case rod which is a shame, especially for such an expensive rod.
The biggest disadvantage of all is that I haven’t had the pleasure yet of catching a big fish wiht it but when I do, you’ll read it here – and by now (juli 2011) this problem has been solved – I caught a 63cm seatrout on the rod and my conclusion is still: “waoow – what a great rod!”. It was really nice to drill such a fish on this rod, no dissapointment whatsoever about the result, or the experience – this is just a great rod.
Pay attention: once you used these kinds of rods, chances are big you won’t use any cheaper models anymore.
You can find more information concerning these excellent rods by Peter De Kock from “hengelsport Decock” in Belgium.

Vercelli-Enigma

The salesmen from “Vents et Marées” in the village “le Verdon Sur Mer” in the provence “La Gironde” in France brought us to the notice of the Italian Brand “Vercelli”. We were looking for two light surfcasting rods and the salesmen of this store advised us the 3 parted “Enigma extreme SC concept line” from 80 to 13 grams. By looking at the rod we noticed the minute finish. The 4,30m rod had our preference…and we couldn’t resisit testing it very thorougly with very pleasant results. It was just what we were looking for! Light, good finishing and perectly in balance.
The rods contain a movable weight in the butt. With this you can adjust the rod to the situation (wind, castingdistance), your line (weight, sort of lead,…) and your personal preference to cast as good as possible (furhter and/or more precise).
We tested this rod in situations wich don’t require more than 150 grams and it’s a beauty to fish with. Much better, in such situations that don’t necessitate heavy weights, than the heavy “Overseas” from Penn. We tried the rod with a shad and this also gave no problems, but you wouldn’t last fishing Shads with this rod for hours because of its weight.
The brand “Vercelli” is not known in Belgium. Too bad because they have other nice rods as well.
Perhaps I should tell you this: many Vercelli rod have Fuji eyes. The price-quality of these rods is very good.
One small disadvantage: most of the Vercelli rods arent’t sold with a quiver. It’s a detail but still a disadvantage.
If you’d like more information concerning these rods, go to the Vercelli Website, where you can find their catalogue.
On this day, we’ll have to wait to find these rods in the Belgian stores but Robby Fish is dealing with this….if you want, you can contact him for more information.

Guideline – Reaction

It is on the recommendation from teh shop “Villmarks” from Oslo that we tried out this fly-fishing rod. We have a 10 foot, line number 7, 4 pieces rod. And are we glad with it!
This rod is very well adapted to the kind of fly-fishing that we are doing in the sea, much more than the T3.
It is a quick and pleasant rod with which you can enjoy the fight with a smaller fish but also have the strength to drill a bigg one. The line number 7 is heavy enough for all possible situations on shore and sea and the lenght of the rod (10″) is also very well adapted to the salty sop. This is certainly not a rod that we regret buying! You can find more information on this website.

Orvis T3

At the advice of the former owner of fishingstore “Leeuwlandsport” in Deurne we bought this fly fishing rod.
It is a 9’ long rod made for a number 9 line and weighs 2kg320 gr. The metal parts are made from Titanium, really the better stuff for saltwater-flyfishermen. The rod was made for a number 9 line but you can also cast a number 8 with it.
This 4 part fly fishing rod was a little bit stiffer than what I was used to but after half an our the stiffness allows you to get a little bit more out of the WFT line, surely when you’re casting “double traction”….
This is a super rod that comes with a rodcase and….you get the 25 year Orvis guarantee !!!!
I admit, it’s one of the more expensive rods from Orvis but when you look at what you get for your money, I think it is a good investment for the fishermen who use it more than 5 times every year at sea.
But, sadly, this rod is not longer delivered by Orvis (at my knowledge), so you’ll have to look for similar rods in their catalogue or buy it second hands…

Penn-Overseas

At the advice of Robby Florus – from Robby Fish Belgium – we bought and tried this rod (model 2010).
We tried the 4m20 and 4m50 rod from Penn with castingweights between 100gr and 250 grams.
The 4m50 rod is super for all the surfcasters among us. Firm as it should be, good registration at the top, delivered in a rod case. Everything how it should be and you throw the (heavy) leads where you want it!

The 4m20 rod is – au contraire – not that good. The real disadvantage is the bad registration at the top ! The rod is deliverd in a bag were all the parts of the rod are in and not – like the 4m50 version- with a seperate compartment in the bag for each piece. People who travel a lot with their rods, know this is important. I wonder why Penn has choosen a different rodbag depending on the rod that you buy (anno 2010). The rod case however is superbe!
A small disadvantage of these rods are the fragile eyes. For those who fish in the harbor or jetty beware!! Beacause when your rod falls, the eyes could brake.
A really big disadvantage is the long waiting when a rod needs reparation. We’ve waited now 3,5 month and we still have to wait another 2 months!! I think this is unacceptable and this coming from a brand like Penn…