Post by snapper on Aug 9, 2013 0:26:09 GMT
“You know Mark, it would be very interesting to list out which kit you chose for both fresh and salt in terms of a brief review or marks out of ten type of thing.”
So sayeth Philpot…so here goes; blame him for the gratuitous plug! I changed all my gear this January, having used Shimano and Rapala for the last twenty or so years. I changed to Fladen which surprised some as the general opinion is based on their budget kit and therefore a target for snobbery but with a 324 page catalogue it’s not hard to find some good kit: www.fladenfishing.org.uk/catalogue With such a huge range it’s no surprise that the company motto is ‘Anyone Can Fish’ and that’s true, from kids with pocket money to the more performance-oriented oldies. Being conscious of gear reccomendations on forums where people end up being told a £500 rod and reel is idea for kayak fishing I had no qualms about reversing this; after all, I’ve caught plenty of fish, good ones at that, on nothing more than a spool of mono and a hook in the past.
Of course that’s all well and good and can look like propaganda so let’s look at the results after using it since January 2013.
Personal Bests: starry smoothound, whiting, dogfish, rudd, gudgeon, chub, eel, thornback, perch
Probable PB’s: bronze bream, mackerel
New species: minnow, stickleback, brown trout; I guess they’re pbs as I’ve had more than one of each…
Some PB’s and newbies:
In that time I’ve had only one breakdown on a reel – I got oil on the drag washer, couldn’t tighten it enough so forced things the wrong way and damaged the anti-reverse. Fixable and my fault entirely. Stripping to clean and service is no more often required than on my previous gear. So let’s have a look, bear in mind that the spinning rods and reels as well as the lures get used on salt and fresh, for bass, pike, perch etc and I mix between the Vantage spinning and Xtraflexx for float / ledger fishing
Freshwater Kayak
Rod: 10-40g Vantage Spinning 240cm. Used for float/leger fishing mainly. Over powered for silver bashing but casts well, even down to 3bb floats. Plenty of power for big fish, especially in reeds. Superb spinning rod for casting, butt too long for trolling.
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Rod: 10-30g Xtraflexx 210cm. Unbelievable spinning rod, have had the rod tip past the reel and still it came back. Lovely action, casts well and good for trolling. Passable for close range floatfishing but overpowered.
Rod: Maxximus IM10 2-16g 198cm. Special order and on the way, not currently available in UK; looks promising for floatfishing though quite short so may be for close range only.
Reel, Fixed spool: Maxximus DX2000 5BB, Maxximus Tournament Bronze 4.4lb. Cracking little reel, line so bloody thin my eyes need upgrading.
Reel, Fixed Spool: Vantage FX30 5+1BB, Maxximus Braid 20lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. Marvellous fixed spool spinning reel, smooth, casts well, good drag.
Reel, Baitcaster: Maxximus LP Magnet 6BB, Maxximus Braid 20lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. best baitcaster I’ve used in over twenty years with them. Good drag, fine adjustments, casts well and cast control accurate. Holds plenty of line. Braid is okay but a soft, flat braid and I prefer the harder rounded ones. Flouro is very good, not too stuff, resists abrasion well and is great for knots.
Saltwater Kayak
Rod: Maxximus Sea Range IM7 12lb 225cm. Best boat rods I’ve used, reel seat is solid, heavy duty stuff and secure, action superb, plenty of power for rays and hounds and sensitive enough for whiting and dabs.
Rod: 10-30g Xtraflexx 210cm as above
Reel: Warbird 3700R 3BB, Maxximus Braid 40lb + 90lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. Smooth, long-casting, simple to clean and lube, powerful. Spool release doesn’t always click into place, light lines can go over the spool edge, drag can be difficult to tighten if oil on it. Loaded with mono backing then 40lb braid, then 90lb braid then flouro to avoid the thinner braid cutting through the flouro leader on big fish.
Reel, Baitcaster: Maxximus LP Magnet 6BB, Maxximus Braid 20lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. as above
Reel, Fixed Spool: Vantage FX30 5+1BB, Maxximus Braid 20lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. as above
Saltwater Boat Fishing
Rod: Maxximus Sea Range 12lb IM7 225cm. used downtiding. As above
Rod: Powerstick Uptider 300cm. Casts very well, slightly soft rod – good for bite detection and deceptive in its strength, could do with a couple more rings, has plenty of power and has taken thornback ray to 10lb in 2 knots and 50ft of water with heavy leads attached.
Rod: Celtic Trolling Uptider 240cm. Good for up and/or downtiding. Quite stiff but shows bites well
Reel: Warbird 3700R 3BB, Maxximus Tournament 30lb, Flourocarbon 21.3lb. reel as above, loaded with mono as my skipper says this works better for uptiding; have yet to put this to the test.
Reel: Warbird 3700R 3BB, Maxximus Braid 40lb + 90lb, Flourocarbon 21.3lb as above
Lures – I have the full range of patterns in each of these plus some one-offs not mentioned.
Warbird Jointed Minnow 13cm. Brilliant. Slightly shorter than the rapala, hollow plastic instead of balsa but has bearings inside which gives an edge in dirty water. Has taken bass and pike.
Eco Mini Fat 7cm. Not yet used, should do well for jacks
Eco Narrow 7cm. Banker. Pike, perch, bass, beats everything so far.
Eco Minnow 11cm. Superb.
Eco Double Jointed 13cm. casting lure, too slow for trolling, good action but barely used so far.
Eco Minnow 11.5cm. Good for a faster troll or trolling against current, taken bass and pike.
Eco Snake 12cm. catsing lure, too slow for trolling. Unreal action, like an eel. First cast, ten turns, 3lb perch. A few more casts and it ended up in a tree.
Eco Fat 13cm. large hollow plastic with bearings. Yet to trial properly, should take pike in winter.
Some lure captures:
Hooks
Maxximus Jig Hook 2/0 and 4/0. Brilliant; wide gape, strong, sharp, baitholder spikes. Great replacement – and better – for my Mustad Vikings
Fladen Treble Hook Bronze 4. Standard trebles used for live/deadbait traces and to replace thinner red hooks on some lures. Do the job fine.
Vantage Match Hooks to Nylon, 16 and 20. Standard barbed hooks. Fine lines, knots sometimes need clipping.
Rigs
Various feathers, hokkis etc in 1/0. have always used Fladen for this, wide range and very effective – bass, mackerel, Pollack, coalfish, cod, bream, smoothound etc Knots sometimes need clipping/checking.
Swivels, beads, shot, zip sliders, floats, trace wire etc. Not much to say here really, all standard stuff.
So…I chose well and the results speak for themselves. Sure, sticking a bait or lure in water is needle in a haystack and luck plays a huge part as does skill and knowledge or research and some of what I had could well have happened with my old gear BUT the fact remains it was on my Fladen tackle and it’s coped with everything.
Oh, and the main thing is the hat. It’s the luckiest fishing hat in the East Anglian Region.
So sayeth Philpot…so here goes; blame him for the gratuitous plug! I changed all my gear this January, having used Shimano and Rapala for the last twenty or so years. I changed to Fladen which surprised some as the general opinion is based on their budget kit and therefore a target for snobbery but with a 324 page catalogue it’s not hard to find some good kit: www.fladenfishing.org.uk/catalogue With such a huge range it’s no surprise that the company motto is ‘Anyone Can Fish’ and that’s true, from kids with pocket money to the more performance-oriented oldies. Being conscious of gear reccomendations on forums where people end up being told a £500 rod and reel is idea for kayak fishing I had no qualms about reversing this; after all, I’ve caught plenty of fish, good ones at that, on nothing more than a spool of mono and a hook in the past.
Of course that’s all well and good and can look like propaganda so let’s look at the results after using it since January 2013.
Personal Bests: starry smoothound, whiting, dogfish, rudd, gudgeon, chub, eel, thornback, perch
Probable PB’s: bronze bream, mackerel
New species: minnow, stickleback, brown trout; I guess they’re pbs as I’ve had more than one of each…
Some PB’s and newbies:
In that time I’ve had only one breakdown on a reel – I got oil on the drag washer, couldn’t tighten it enough so forced things the wrong way and damaged the anti-reverse. Fixable and my fault entirely. Stripping to clean and service is no more often required than on my previous gear. So let’s have a look, bear in mind that the spinning rods and reels as well as the lures get used on salt and fresh, for bass, pike, perch etc and I mix between the Vantage spinning and Xtraflexx for float / ledger fishing
Freshwater Kayak
Rod: 10-40g Vantage Spinning 240cm. Used for float/leger fishing mainly. Over powered for silver bashing but casts well, even down to 3bb floats. Plenty of power for big fish, especially in reeds. Superb spinning rod for casting, butt too long for trolling.
[
Rod: 10-30g Xtraflexx 210cm. Unbelievable spinning rod, have had the rod tip past the reel and still it came back. Lovely action, casts well and good for trolling. Passable for close range floatfishing but overpowered.
Rod: Maxximus IM10 2-16g 198cm. Special order and on the way, not currently available in UK; looks promising for floatfishing though quite short so may be for close range only.
Reel, Fixed spool: Maxximus DX2000 5BB, Maxximus Tournament Bronze 4.4lb. Cracking little reel, line so bloody thin my eyes need upgrading.
Reel, Fixed Spool: Vantage FX30 5+1BB, Maxximus Braid 20lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. Marvellous fixed spool spinning reel, smooth, casts well, good drag.
Reel, Baitcaster: Maxximus LP Magnet 6BB, Maxximus Braid 20lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. best baitcaster I’ve used in over twenty years with them. Good drag, fine adjustments, casts well and cast control accurate. Holds plenty of line. Braid is okay but a soft, flat braid and I prefer the harder rounded ones. Flouro is very good, not too stuff, resists abrasion well and is great for knots.
Saltwater Kayak
Rod: Maxximus Sea Range IM7 12lb 225cm. Best boat rods I’ve used, reel seat is solid, heavy duty stuff and secure, action superb, plenty of power for rays and hounds and sensitive enough for whiting and dabs.
Rod: 10-30g Xtraflexx 210cm as above
Reel: Warbird 3700R 3BB, Maxximus Braid 40lb + 90lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. Smooth, long-casting, simple to clean and lube, powerful. Spool release doesn’t always click into place, light lines can go over the spool edge, drag can be difficult to tighten if oil on it. Loaded with mono backing then 40lb braid, then 90lb braid then flouro to avoid the thinner braid cutting through the flouro leader on big fish.
Reel, Baitcaster: Maxximus LP Magnet 6BB, Maxximus Braid 20lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. as above
Reel, Fixed Spool: Vantage FX30 5+1BB, Maxximus Braid 20lb, Maxximus Flourocarbon 21.3lb. as above
Saltwater Boat Fishing
Rod: Maxximus Sea Range 12lb IM7 225cm. used downtiding. As above
Rod: Powerstick Uptider 300cm. Casts very well, slightly soft rod – good for bite detection and deceptive in its strength, could do with a couple more rings, has plenty of power and has taken thornback ray to 10lb in 2 knots and 50ft of water with heavy leads attached.
Rod: Celtic Trolling Uptider 240cm. Good for up and/or downtiding. Quite stiff but shows bites well
Reel: Warbird 3700R 3BB, Maxximus Tournament 30lb, Flourocarbon 21.3lb. reel as above, loaded with mono as my skipper says this works better for uptiding; have yet to put this to the test.
Reel: Warbird 3700R 3BB, Maxximus Braid 40lb + 90lb, Flourocarbon 21.3lb as above
Lures – I have the full range of patterns in each of these plus some one-offs not mentioned.
Warbird Jointed Minnow 13cm. Brilliant. Slightly shorter than the rapala, hollow plastic instead of balsa but has bearings inside which gives an edge in dirty water. Has taken bass and pike.
Eco Mini Fat 7cm. Not yet used, should do well for jacks
Eco Narrow 7cm. Banker. Pike, perch, bass, beats everything so far.
Eco Minnow 11cm. Superb.
Eco Double Jointed 13cm. casting lure, too slow for trolling, good action but barely used so far.
Eco Minnow 11.5cm. Good for a faster troll or trolling against current, taken bass and pike.
Eco Snake 12cm. catsing lure, too slow for trolling. Unreal action, like an eel. First cast, ten turns, 3lb perch. A few more casts and it ended up in a tree.
Eco Fat 13cm. large hollow plastic with bearings. Yet to trial properly, should take pike in winter.
Some lure captures:
Hooks
Maxximus Jig Hook 2/0 and 4/0. Brilliant; wide gape, strong, sharp, baitholder spikes. Great replacement – and better – for my Mustad Vikings
Fladen Treble Hook Bronze 4. Standard trebles used for live/deadbait traces and to replace thinner red hooks on some lures. Do the job fine.
Vantage Match Hooks to Nylon, 16 and 20. Standard barbed hooks. Fine lines, knots sometimes need clipping.
Rigs
Various feathers, hokkis etc in 1/0. have always used Fladen for this, wide range and very effective – bass, mackerel, Pollack, coalfish, cod, bream, smoothound etc Knots sometimes need clipping/checking.
Swivels, beads, shot, zip sliders, floats, trace wire etc. Not much to say here really, all standard stuff.
So…I chose well and the results speak for themselves. Sure, sticking a bait or lure in water is needle in a haystack and luck plays a huge part as does skill and knowledge or research and some of what I had could well have happened with my old gear BUT the fact remains it was on my Fladen tackle and it’s coped with everything.
Oh, and the main thing is the hat. It’s the luckiest fishing hat in the East Anglian Region.
