Henry Gilbey - The World of Fishing

All Fishing Tackle

• Fishing Tackle companies
• Fishing Rods
• Fishing Reels
• Fishing Clothing
• Fishing Lures
• Fishing Accessories
• All other Bits and Pieces

• Daiwa Morethan Branzino 80ML lure rod

  

  French designed and Japanese built, this 8’ long Daiwa Morethan Branzino rod is right at the top end of lure rods that we can easily get our hands on. I can guarantee that the first thing you will say when you pick this Daiwa rod up is “it can’t be this light”. I did. But it is this light – a mere 127g. I have used all manner of rods over the years, but I don’t remember a rod that so instantly brought such a big grin to my face. One side of me wants to find fault with a lure rod that costs this much, but it is just an absolute delight to fish with. It has a wonderfully responsive tip that seems to blend seamlessly into a powerful mid-section. I don’t know how Daiwa have done it, but the sheer amount of feel and “understanding” that I get back from my lures is just off the scale. It is not an out and out lure blasting machine. I have never fished surface lures for example for such long periods and felt not one bit of fatigue in my wrist or arm. The rod seems to just work with you rather than against you if that makes sense. Much as I would agree entirely with effectively using lures as light as 8g with this rod (and even lighter), personally I do not like really power-casting much more than about 30g with it. But can a lure rod possibly be worth this much money ? Well I personally reckon it represents outstanding value for money if that is any help. It really is that good. To me it does virtually everything I need when out lure fishing, and therefore this stops me having to take more than one rod to try and cover all avenues. In my opinion this 8’ Daiwa Morethan Branzino 80ML is one of those rare, “do it all” lure rods.

• Daiwa Morethan Branzino 90MH

  

  The longer brother of the scarily-good 8’ version. An out and out shore fishing rod that will do a huge amount for you. At a price of course, but then it is a Branzino. My blog post here says what I want to say about the rod. Awesome.

• Grauvell Teklon Concept Spin 802ML

  

  I am really pleased that more and more “modern bass rods” are trickling onto the UK market, and at all kinds of prices. The 8’ Grauvell Teklon Concept Spin 802ML is just an outstanding “do it all” kind of lure rod for bass fishing, and the fact that it’s close to the £100 mark means that more and more anglers can start using proper lure rods for their bass fishing. I seriously can not fault this rod for fishing all kinds of hard and soft lures – surface, sub surface, hard and soft, this 8’ wand has a huge amount of power but also feel to allow you to stay in constant touch with your lure. When anglers ask me what bass rod they should be looking at for “sensible” money, this is the one I tend to point them towards. A lot of rod for not that much money. A very fast action, but with plenty of life in the tip. The slightly longer 8’3’’ version (832M) is also a very good lure rod, but it has a more powerful tip that lends it better to out and out hard lure fishing.

• Greys BZe

  

  I do a lot of light-style, touch-ledgering for bass these days, chucking baits out into very specific areas. So far I have not found better rods for doing this than the two Greys BZe models, and specifically the 11’9’’ 2-3oz one. I have used this one for ages now and I love it. Both work really well, but the slightly lighter model suits my own fishing a little better. I am happy to use a 3 or 4oz lead plus bait on both of them without any problem.

• MegaBass XOR Shadow XX SXX-85L

  

  I can’t say much more about this rod than what I wrote in a blog post here. If you don’t want to read it then to be brief, this is one of the best lure fishing rods I have ever had the pleasure of fishing with. Staggeringly good value for money.

• MegaBass XOR Shadow XX SXX-90ML

  

  It is only fairly recently that I have started to play around with some proper Japanese lure fishing rods, and so far I am just blown away with them. This 9’ MegaBass XOR Shadow is rated 8-28g. If you are only happy with a very “French” style of lure rod then these Japanese rods are going to feel a bit alien, but somehow these rods creep up on you until it then seems strange fishing with something else. Just an awesome lure rod. So easy to fish with and I can’t find one style of lure fishing that it struggles with. The recovery on these good Japanese lure rods is quite something.

• Sakura Mazzera 742ML

  

  For some strange reason this Sakura Mazzera 742ML 7-21g has not really become one of those “talked about” lure rods here in the UK, and for the life of me I can’t work out why. If the Tenryu Injection in my opinion stands at the top of the pile when it comes to the more “finesse” style of lure rods then this somewhat cheaper Mazzera 742ML comes a close second. A very serious fishing rod for very sensible money if you ask me, and it is a sheer delight to lure fish with. It strikes me that you can strap a smaller spinning reel on this and easily get away with most of the lures and methods we might use on bass especially, but also when chasing say wrasse and pollack on lures.

• Sakura Mazzera 802M

  

  If the price of this Sakura Mazzera 802M 10-30g rod was the maximum amount that I could spend on any lure rod out there then there would be no hesitation. The Mazzera 802M every time for me. What a rod. I genuinely can not work out how a company such as Sakura can go and make a lure rod feel so incredible to fish with for such comparatively sensible money. As a length of lure rod, 8’ suits me down to the ground as it is, and this Mazzera just seems to fish with almost anything you ask of it. A very fast action but nowhere close to being a “poker” of a rod, you can hurl all manner of sub-surface and surface hard lures with this thing, and it does just fine with many of the soft plastics we are increasingly using for bass fishing. One of the truly great modern lure rods now available in the UK.

• Sakura Shinjin lure rods

  

  I just can’t believe how much rod we can get for the money these days. These Sakura Shinjin rods have to be some of the out and out best value for money “proper” lure rods out there. The 782 LR-M (7’8’’, 10-35g) and the 862 LR-MH (8’6’’. 15-50g) models are particularly well suited to the kinds of lure fishing we get up to, and I have watched as one of the best lure anglers I know has smashed bass after bass on the 862 version. Hell, these rods even come with genuine Fuji K-guides as well.

• Tenryu Injection SP 73M

  

  One of the great modern lure rods, the Tenryu Injection SP 73M 5-28g rod is a marvel of modern rod design. As much as the Injection is known as a more “finesse” kind of lure rod, I know plenty of bass anglers who carry this one and this alone when they go out fishing. I have heard rumblings from various ill-informed anglers that perhaps this “little” rod is not up to some of the bass fishing we might do, but I guess that rubbish flies out of the window when you watch a guy horse a 10lb lure caught bass through some of the nastiest conditions you would actually want to go lure fishing in. The Injection deals with it all. A truly “proper” lure rod that excels with soft plastics, yet this does not remotely do justice to how much the Injection does so very well indeed with all manner of hard and soft lures.

• Tenryu Red Dragon Express

  

  In my view there are no better out and out plugging (or bass lure fishing) rods than the Tenryu Red Dragon Express (around 10’ long) and the Tenryu Rod Bar 270 (around 9’ long). They are not cheap, but if bass fishing is your thing then these are the best that I have seen so far. I own and use the Red Dragon Express all the time and I simply can not find one single fault. I have also used the Rod Bar 270 extensively and it is without doubt the ultimate 9’ lure fishing rod for modern bass fishing. You can see a review I did on the Red Dragon Express here and here, and my views have not changed one bit, indeed I enjoy fishing with it more and more every time I go out. If you fish for bass predominantly with hard plastic sub-surface and surface lures (minnows, poppers, sliders etc.), then these rods are just about perfect.

• Tenryu Super Mix 240

  

  I have recently started to use the Tenryu Super Mix 240 for a lot of my bass fishing, and specifically those situations where I might be using a mixture of more “conventional” hard plastic surface and sub-surface lures and of course the ever expanding range of modern soft plastics that are proving so successful for our fishing. The Super Mix 240 fishes really well with virtually whatever you hang on the end, and it has a more forgiving and responsive tip than an out and out ultra-fast action plugging rod like my Tenryu Red Dragon Express. The butt section is as you would expect - hugely powerful, and something I am in favour of. It just feels very "steely" if that makes sense - pick up a more typical UK-style (floppy, slow, spongy) spinning rod after handling something fast like a Tenryu and it just ain't anywhere close. This new one gives me a whole load of extra “feel” when it comes to working with all the bass lures we might use (and it's perfect for soft plastics), and the length of around 8’ feels perfect in my hands for both shore and boat fishing. One thing I am really noticing is that this new Super Mix 240 is not at all tiring to fish with for long periods - the more powerful rods can take it out of your arms and wrist a bit if you are really imparting a lot of action on lures especially, but the shorter length and the more forgiving tip really makes the Super Mix 240 seem almost "wand like". The red Tenryu rods are not on the cheap side, but you get what you pay for in fishing - the more I use different kinds of fishing tackle, the more I have to stand by this. Of course you can get some excellent fishing gear these days for not very much money, but once you have fished with a top of the line rod like a Tenryu, there's no going back. If you are really into your bass fishing, take a look at one of these things - but be warned - every angler I have met so far who has picked up or cast and fished with a Tenyru has gone and bought one.