Live Test - Curtousy of Angling Times:
Rod of the Year 2007 & Still Brilliant in 2012!
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Tri-Cast XRS 2k4 Pellet Power Waggler |
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EVER the sceptic, the
thought of playing
carp on a 10ft
6ins rod seemed
a gimmick with no logical
benefi ts. Like most anglers,
I’ve been brought up on 13ft
rods for pretty much all my
fishing, and unless something
pretty spectacular was thrust
into my hands I couldn’t see
this changing. Would the new
Tri-Cast XRS 2K4 Pellet Power
Waggler rod win me over?
I decided to fi sh the Willows
Lake at the superb Decoy
complex, targeting carp shallow
just past pole range by casting to
a small channel between two
islands. My aim was to catch
small carp to 1lb, with the odd
five-pounder a possibility. |
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Setting up the rod, I noticed
how slim the blank was – and
very light, too. For a rod
great feature. I hate using ‘power’
rods that are heavy and thick –
they are very effective, but for me
they just lack fi nesse.
I started feeding 6mm pellets to
bring fi sh up in the water,
epeatedly casting out my pellet
waggler in hope that the fl oat’s
splash would attract them to my
6mm pellet hookbait. My usual
‘fl oat landing anywhere in a
20yds radius’ casting was
replaced with pinpoint accuracy.
I was hitting around 25yds every
time, just off the point of the
island. Surely this would attract
fish to a focal point in my swim,
rather than spread them around?
I was beginning to enjoy the
benefi ts of a shorter rod.
On my very fi rst cast I hooked a
6oz chub that put a nice bend in
the rod. I love this kind of feature
on a power rod. Often, you’ll fi nd
yourself hooking small silvers or
carp early on in a session, before
the lumps move in. While I’d
prefer my net to be brimming
with 5lb carp, any match angler
will tell you that an extra few
pounds of silvers can be the
difference between winning and
It wasn’t long, though, until I
was into carp averaging 1lb. This
was when the short rod made a
difference. My peg was quite
confined – with a small tree just
1m to my right that would have
made it awkward to apply
side-strain with a 13ft rod. With
this shorter rod I could keep my
tip low and pump the fi sh all the
way to the net. Then I brought my
rod up to see my quarry surface
just a few yards from the bank.
Had I been as good as Will Raison
at scooping carp it would have
been netted in seconds. As I’m
not, it took a little longer. No
matter, the short rod was proving
its mettle.
Bagging small carp after small
carp, my confi dence grew, and so
did the speed at which I was able
to land the fi sh. I managed to
tempt just a couple of ‘proper’
carp, the bigger one being 5lb
which the rod tamed with ease.
As I’ve said, it has a lovely soft tip
action to cushion fi sh on the
strike, with loads of power in the
middle section for keeping bigger
fish under control – it really is the
ultimate commercial water tool.
Since that session I have used it
again, but this time I was casting
a little further, so I added the 1ft
extension supplied in the
package. With many dual-length
rods, when an extension is used
some of the action is lost. But the
difference with this was so tiny it
was hardly worth a mention!
As with any rod of this quality,
top-notch fittings are found
throughout – from the Tri-Cast
screw-fix reel seat through to the
RDX guides. But how do I rate the
company’s latest baby overall?
Prior to using this rod, I
really didn’t expect my 13ft
waggler rods to become
redundant. Now? Well, the
Tri-Cast XRS Pellet Power
waggler is the only rod in
my holdall! That’s how
good it is. |