A Sea Angler's Notebook - Fishing Tackle Reviews

Imax Bait Bag

2008-06-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

I purchased my medium size Imax Bait Bag last summer on the recommendation of one of my fishing friends and it has turned out to be a very handy little addition to my collection of fishing luggage, helping to keep live worms and frozen bait in top condition throughout some very hot summer fishing sessions.

The bags size (9 in x 7 in x 9 in) is perfectly adequate for most anglers and the well thought out design provides three separate compartments which makes this bag much more useful than if it had just had one main compartment. The lower and top compartments are fairly small (the bottom one is apparently designed to hold the freezer blocks and the top one is for your sandwiches) however I found that the main compartment is plenty large enough to hold bait for a days fishing and still has room left for some cool blocks so I prefer to use only the larger of the three for my bait which then leaves space in the remaining two compartments for items of tackle, rags, fish bags etc.

As with the Imax Waist Bass Bag the quality of the materials used to construct the bag is very good and on my example the stitching has remained sound despite a great deal of abuse. The compartments are sealed using heavy duty zips which have behaved impeccably not giving me any trouble at all so far and as well as using heavy duty rot proof material for the outer construction of the bag, Imax have included an inner thermal lining to each compartment made from some kind of silver cloth. Quite what the lining is I don't know but it does seem to work as an insulator and has the benefit of adding additional strength to the bag.

To finish off the bag Imax have added a very practical and sturdy carry handle, constructed out of webbing and hyperlon foam which is attached to a webbing reinforcing on the top of the bag and this, along with the adjustable webbing shoulder strap, make the whole thing a doddle to transport up the beach even when it is fully loaded. At £7.99 this little piece of kit won't break the piggy bank, represents extremely good value and is likely to withstand a good few years of use and abuse.

Overall Mark: 10 / 10 - Well worth £7.99 of anybody's money.

Wychwood Riot Carp Rod

2008-06-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realise that I'm no Carp angler so it might seem a bit strange to find a sea angler reviewing a Carp Rod. Truth of the matter is I spend an awful lot of my time chasing the local Bass with light gear and so, although I have not the slightest inclination to get involved with boilies or bivvies, a carp rod is my weapon of choice for a lot of my summer fishing. An unfortunate accident which wrote off my faithful old graphite carbon carp rod last summer put me in the market for a replacement and after a lot of thought I put my lot in with a 12 ft, 3lb test curve Riot.

Wychwood seem to have built up a name for affordable, quality gear and, judging by the examples I've seen, its a reputation that's well deserved. The Riot is built on a fairly sturdy carbon-fibre blank which counteracts the inherent weakness typical of slimline blanks by increasing the wall thickness and although the blank is not as light as you would expect from a top end manufacturer, the rod is still light enough to be held all day and has a crisp but forgiving action. The spigot fitting is of the traditional tapered type (with reinforcements) which means if it starts to wear it can repaired simply by cutting a fraction off the female section and, on my example at least, was a very good fit from day one.

Given the rod's price range I was expecting the whippings to be of questionable quality but was pleasantly surprised to find that its plain black wraps were of a good quality with a nice epoxy finish, which ensures that its five braid-friendly intermediate rings are well fixed to the rod. Wychwood seem to have got the ring sizes and spacings just right and the rings themselves look sturdy enough though unfortunately they are not genuine Fuji and do seem to rust when exposed to the saltwater environment if they are not cleaned in fresh water.

The butt is built in the now standard "bare bones" style with a plain Fuji carbon reel seat to hold the reel in place. Wychwood seem to have got the reel position about right and with collars at each end of the reel seat, a slimline foam bottom grip and anodized end plug the butt continues the generally smart appearance of the rod, although for the salt water environment I found putting a small plastic butt cap over the end of the blank offers the it much more protection than the aluminium plug, particularly when I'm fishing from the rocks.

Overall I'd have to say I'm really pleased with the Riot. It's performance and build quality are much better than you could expect from a rod in this price range. I've used mine to fish lures and plugs of various weights up to about 1.5 oz and have have also used it for light ledgering on a number of occasions with a 2 oz lead and it has handled everything I've thrown at it. It's only real weakness is the rings, but in all fairness to Wychwood it has been designed to be used in a fresh water environment and considering that the rod also comes with a rod bag and a lifetime warranty I think it's £50 price tag is absolutely staggering; how do Wychwood manage it?

Overall mark: 10/10 - I can't really blame Wychwood for the rusty rings as it wasn't designed for salt water use. If Wychwood had used genuine Fuji rings they would have got a 12/10 at the £50 price tag.

Abu Garcia 6500 C3 CT Mag (Gun Metal Grey)

2008-05-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

When it comes to reels I'd have to admit to being more than a little biased. In the 1970's the reel of choice for most serious anglers was the ABU 6000 or 6500 but in those days they cost more than two weeks wages to my father and so for me, a young lad on very limited pocket-money, owning one was just a dream. My first week's wages were life changing in more ways than one; not only did I enter the adult world of work but it finally gave me the opportunity to make the long-standing dream of owning a 6500 come true with the purchase of a 1980 black 6500c, a reel that cost me my entire first weeks wage but which I still own (and use) to this day. Since that day I've owned a number of 6500s of various models and colours and, with the exception of the very cheap and nasty mid-eighties models, I've always found them a joy to use. Over the years I've built up a bit of a collection and last year, impressed with my Green Mag Elite, I decided to purchase the latest Mag Elite, which comes in a very nice Gun Metal Grey colour.

The first comment about this reel is standard for all 6500s, old or new. If you want a reel that doesn't require servicing then don't buy a 6500; like any fine piece of engineering 6500s will only give their best if they receive regular maintenance. Provide the required amount of TLC and they'll run like a dream and give years of service, abuse them and they'll feel like a sack of lard and suffer premature death. Quite frankly if you are a stranger to a pot of oil then there is no point you reading any further - you are just a heathen, forget the ABU and go buy a Diawa.

Although it looks very different on the outside, inwardly the reel is almost identical to the rightfully very popular Green Mag Elite that came before it. The 5:3.1 retrieve ratio is perfectly adequate for a reel of this size (the faster the gearing, the more strain the gears suffer) and the gearing mechanism seems identical to the Green Elite. Internally the mag brakes are the same although ABU have done away with the numbered gauge on the slider. Although this makes the reel a bit prettier it is a bit inconvenient as instead of using the gauge to adjust the brakes, you now have to count the clicks; two clicks equals one increment on the Green Elite's numbered gauge. The other minor difference in the braking department is the fitting on the gear end of the spool which allows you to fit multiple combinations of centrifugal brake blocks. Quite frankly, this addition is a complete waste of time unless you intend to do away with the magnets; if you can't cast the reel using just magnets alone then you are never going to get it. The mag brakes are so good that most average casters will probably never need more than half the adjustment and I normally start off with them set to about four (eight clicks from zero) and work my way down to two.

This reel sports the now well familiar and very reliable ultra cast spool, which holds ample line for most casters (250 to 300 yards of 15lb depending on how neatly you lay your line) and rotates on a loose spindle rather than one built into the spool. This has cured many of the problems with spool distortion that the old fixed-spindle models suffered, although like all the ultra cast models to date, it still has an Achilles heel in the plastic circlip which attaches to the gear end of the spindle and prevents the spindle from falling out when you open the reel. These circlips break with annoying regularity and it really is about time that ABU got to grips with the problem!

Looking at the outside of the reel ABU seemed to have changed the material used for the end-plates which are now thicker and seemingly heavier than on previous models. Time will tell if corrosion is still a problem, but certainly they don't seem any worse than the old ones and the paint finish seems very good. The cage is of the same design as the Green Mag Elite with the flat support bars. It's extremely strong and won't warp but the design of the flat bars makes them a sod to clean (the older 1990s design with the rounded support bars were much better) and the quality of the chrome on this latest model is not a patch on the one fitted to the Green Elites, which is maybe something to do with the etched ABU Garcia emblem on the front bar. Somehow I don't think the flat bars were made in Sweden!

My final comment is about the part of the reel that stands out like a (very) sore thumb: the handle. I've never understood what was so appealing about the so-called power handle and quite frankly it seems utterly ridiculous to take a lovely light, balanced reel like the 6500 and attach a cement mixer handle on it. Not only do they weigh a ton, they encourage the user to just keep on winching when they should be pumping, putting needless stress on the gears. I can only assume that ABU see this as a way of selling spare gear parts, there can't be any other reason because they are as ugly as sin. For my own part I decided that the power handle had to go and replaced it with a CS type paddle handle which gives all the winching power you are going to need, looks much prettier and strips about 4oz off the weight of the reel.

So when all is said and done is this reel worth buying? The simple answer is yes. While its build quality is not up to that of past incarnations it is fundamentally a very good reel that generally performs well and if this is your first 6500 then your unlikely to be disappointed. If, like me your an owner of previous models from the days when the 6500 reigned supreme as a casting reel then you will probably be a little disappointed with the reels finish, but even then you can't fault the silky-smooth performance of this little beauty. While Penn and Diawa both now produce reels that are true competition for the 6500 in the performance stakes neither have, in my opinion managed to emulate the "classy" feel of a well maintained 6500.

Overall Mark: 7 / 10 - put a 1990s cage and the smaller handle on it and it would rate a 9 / 10.

CT Reel Tuning - John Holden

2008-05-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

I already have a few of Mr Holden's books in my collection, including a well thumbed copy of the very excellent "Beach Angler's Compendium", and I have to admit that I'm a bit of a fan. Sure enough his writing is not up to the poetic standard of the great Clive Gammon but John is a very technically excellent writer and you simply can't fault what he says about rods, reels and casting.

I got a copy of this publication on CD simply because it updated much of his work that I already have and I have to say it was worth the money I paid for it. The book covers the popular models of casting multipliers (ABU 6500, Penn 535 etc) and covers everything from the history of CT tuning to how to tweak that extra little bit of performance from your reels, including correct servicing and even how to lay on your line properly.

As well as the reels themselves, John goes into how to hang on to your reel, evaluating problems that occur with a tuned reel and even down to explaining, in intricate detail, what is happening when things don't go quite according to plan. Rather than encouraging the reader to go full tilt with the tuning process he very sensibly advocates accessing your own abilities and tuning the reel accordingly, so as not to end up with a reel beyond your capabilities - it's this point that I think makes John a good read. He encourages those that want to try to wring out every last yard on the tournament field but at the same time suggests sensible compromise for those that just want a nicely performing fishing reel.

Regardless of whether your an 80 yard "overhead thump" kind of person, or an experienced tournament hand I reckon you would get something out of this books 98 pages and its definitely one I intend to hang on to.

Mark: 9 / 10

IMAX WAIST BASS BAG

2008-05-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

I forked out for one of these a year ago and, having used it over a full season now, I reckon its an excellent piece of kit. The bag comes ready kitted out with four lure tubes (that I thought were useless and just wasted space) a very useful plastic lure box and a plastic drinking bottle, which fits neatly into its own pocket on the side of the bag. Personally I don't do lure tubes and I've replaced them with another cheapo plastic lure box which I reckon makes better use of the space available but there is so much space in this bag I doubt most anglers would complain. With the two boxes and the various pockets I reckon I've managed to fit just about every lure I'm ever going to need into it and the bag is so well designed that I've also managed to fit my light line gear in it so I've got the floats and the light ledgering gear there if I decide to try bait whilst I'm out with the spinning gear.

The bag is made from extremely strong material, the stitching is of very good quality (I've not had one piece of stitching fail to date) and the zips all seem to be heavy duty and of very good quality. The waist strap is exceptionally comfortable and having just the waist strap is a vast improvement over the more traditional shoulder bag or rucksack if, like me, you prefer to move around rather than sticking to one spot. When you consider that the bag comes with a tackle box, lure tubes and a plastic drinking bottle all included its very reasonably priced at £19.99, and is a well made piece of kit that should last you for years. If you fancy one check out the Veals website.

Mark: 10 / 10 - Unbelievable quality for £20.