Over the course of the last year I have accumulated 2 heavy feeder rods and haven’t used them at anything other than short range.
Recently there have been several threads about distance casting and what rods should be able to do in terms of distance....
So yesterday, as I had some time on my hands and didn’t fancy a trip to a cold river I decided to do an experiment. More specifically test several different rods with different reels/lines and feeders.
The rods were:
Matrix XD 4m 100g (heavy quiver fitted). Bought brand new after advice from Nicky Dodds.
Daiwa 13ft WKL 11-13 QTF heavy combo quiver. Heavy quiver fitted. bought used (for £32!!) on ebay after an alert from ‘nocarpplease’.
Drennan IM8 12ft superfeeder (heavy quiver fitted). bought used about 20 years ago.
Harrison 12ft Chimera rod. 1.75 tc test curve - my standard tench/bream feeder rod.
Harrison Torrix 12ft 2.75 tc carp rod. - My standard ‘heavy’ carp rods.
Reels:
Shimano 4000 Gt - my standard tench reels (a ‘small’ reel). Loaded with 8lb mono.
Cadence CS8 4000. Ano ‘small‘ reel. Loaded with 10lb mono.
Shimano 5500 baby big pit (‘big’ reel). 3 spools:
1x12Lb mono.
1x15lb mono
1x 0.12 mm braid with a nylon shock leader.
Weights and feeders:
50 gram distance lead.
50 gram window feeder (actually weighs 50g; and full with ground bait weighs 60g).
60 gram pear lead.
70 gram distance lead.
70gram rocket feeder weighs 70g empty despite being labelled as 60g ! Loaded with ground bait weighs 100g.
90 gram pear lead.
casting ground was a local field and I laid out a 100 metre tape.
About me:
im an experienced fisher who can cast to a good standard. I have had one afternoon’s distance casting tuition (with Mark Hutchinson) and with him coaching me I could do 130m with a heavy 3.25 tc carp rod.
I am emphatically not a distance caster and I didn’t abuse the rods in the course of this test. the casts were simple overhead thumps with a bit of weight transfer -nothing more.
Results:
1. chimera 12ft 1.75 tc.
I know this rod well and so started with this one as I know what it can do....
With my small Shimano 4000 reel and 8lb line I could consistently put a 50 gram lead 75 metres.
A 50gram window feeder went almost exactly the same distance.
I tried a 60gram lead and it felt as if the rod was slightly overloaded and the result confirmed that - 67m.
2. Torrix 12ft 2.75 tc.
Again a rod I know well.
Big (5500) reel and 15lb line straight thru’.
70 gram lead. Rod felt under loaded and result was 83 metres.
90 grams. rod was working properly and the result was better - 92 metres. Far enough for my style of carp fishing. I can definitely sell my heavier rods now.
3. Drennan 12 ft Superfeeder.
A rod Ive had for ages, but never used at any sort of range. others on here have recommended it for longer casting situations....
Small reel (cadence 4000) and 10lb mono straight through.
50 gram lead and a pleasant surprise - the result was 71 metres. The rod was well loaded and more weight would have been detrimental.
4. Daiwa 13ft Heavy feeder.
Big reel and thin braid:
50 grams - lovely ‘springy’ action and the lead went 70 metres.
60 grams, loaded the rod just right and 91 metres was the result. A real surprise to me.
same rod but a change to big reel and 12 lb mono:
50 grams - 65 metres.
60 grams - 72 metres. Both results considerably less (10-20 percent) than those achieved with braid.
5. matrix XD 100 gram rod.
Big reel and 12 lb mono.
70 gram lead - felt the right sort of load and went 85 metres.
Then tried the same rod with the thin braid:
70 gram lead went 103 metres. Again an uplift of nearly 20 Percent over the (heavy) mono.
I then tried a 50g window feeder and that went 85m - but felt well under Loaded. obviously a full one (60g) would have gone a bit further.
I chickened out of trying the 75 gram rocket for 2 reasons: I didn’t want to wreck an expensive feeder and also I didn’t trust the thin shock leader.
Conclusions:
It was pretty obvious what weight suited each rod. The rod will cast the furthest when it is properly loaded.
A better caster could cast a fair bit further. I was casting within myself as evidenced by the consistency (casts with the same weight/rod/reel were usually within 2 metres of each other) and accuracy I was achieving.
Thin braid makes a real difference to the distances achieved.
There are lots of similar tests that could be done. for example a big reel with 8lb mono on it would be a good one to try.
Thanks to several maggot drowners for the inspiration.
It has certainly been useful to me, I hope some of you might find the results helpful....
Recently there have been several threads about distance casting and what rods should be able to do in terms of distance....
So yesterday, as I had some time on my hands and didn’t fancy a trip to a cold river I decided to do an experiment. More specifically test several different rods with different reels/lines and feeders.
The rods were:
Matrix XD 4m 100g (heavy quiver fitted). Bought brand new after advice from Nicky Dodds.
Daiwa 13ft WKL 11-13 QTF heavy combo quiver. Heavy quiver fitted. bought used (for £32!!) on ebay after an alert from ‘nocarpplease’.
Drennan IM8 12ft superfeeder (heavy quiver fitted). bought used about 20 years ago.
Harrison 12ft Chimera rod. 1.75 tc test curve - my standard tench/bream feeder rod.
Harrison Torrix 12ft 2.75 tc carp rod. - My standard ‘heavy’ carp rods.
Reels:
Shimano 4000 Gt - my standard tench reels (a ‘small’ reel). Loaded with 8lb mono.
Cadence CS8 4000. Ano ‘small‘ reel. Loaded with 10lb mono.
Shimano 5500 baby big pit (‘big’ reel). 3 spools:
1x12Lb mono.
1x15lb mono
1x 0.12 mm braid with a nylon shock leader.
Weights and feeders:
50 gram distance lead.
50 gram window feeder (actually weighs 50g; and full with ground bait weighs 60g).
60 gram pear lead.
70 gram distance lead.
70gram rocket feeder weighs 70g empty despite being labelled as 60g ! Loaded with ground bait weighs 100g.
90 gram pear lead.
casting ground was a local field and I laid out a 100 metre tape.
About me:
im an experienced fisher who can cast to a good standard. I have had one afternoon’s distance casting tuition (with Mark Hutchinson) and with him coaching me I could do 130m with a heavy 3.25 tc carp rod.
I am emphatically not a distance caster and I didn’t abuse the rods in the course of this test. the casts were simple overhead thumps with a bit of weight transfer -nothing more.
Results:
1. chimera 12ft 1.75 tc.
I know this rod well and so started with this one as I know what it can do....
With my small Shimano 4000 reel and 8lb line I could consistently put a 50 gram lead 75 metres.
A 50gram window feeder went almost exactly the same distance.
I tried a 60gram lead and it felt as if the rod was slightly overloaded and the result confirmed that - 67m.
2. Torrix 12ft 2.75 tc.
Again a rod I know well.
Big (5500) reel and 15lb line straight thru’.
70 gram lead. Rod felt under loaded and result was 83 metres.
90 grams. rod was working properly and the result was better - 92 metres. Far enough for my style of carp fishing. I can definitely sell my heavier rods now.
3. Drennan 12 ft Superfeeder.
A rod Ive had for ages, but never used at any sort of range. others on here have recommended it for longer casting situations....
Small reel (cadence 4000) and 10lb mono straight through.
50 gram lead and a pleasant surprise - the result was 71 metres. The rod was well loaded and more weight would have been detrimental.
4. Daiwa 13ft Heavy feeder.
Big reel and thin braid:
50 grams - lovely ‘springy’ action and the lead went 70 metres.
60 grams, loaded the rod just right and 91 metres was the result. A real surprise to me.
same rod but a change to big reel and 12 lb mono:
50 grams - 65 metres.
60 grams - 72 metres. Both results considerably less (10-20 percent) than those achieved with braid.
5. matrix XD 100 gram rod.
Big reel and 12 lb mono.
70 gram lead - felt the right sort of load and went 85 metres.
Then tried the same rod with the thin braid:
70 gram lead went 103 metres. Again an uplift of nearly 20 Percent over the (heavy) mono.
I then tried a 50g window feeder and that went 85m - but felt well under Loaded. obviously a full one (60g) would have gone a bit further.
I chickened out of trying the 75 gram rocket for 2 reasons: I didn’t want to wreck an expensive feeder and also I didn’t trust the thin shock leader.
Conclusions:
It was pretty obvious what weight suited each rod. The rod will cast the furthest when it is properly loaded.
A better caster could cast a fair bit further. I was casting within myself as evidenced by the consistency (casts with the same weight/rod/reel were usually within 2 metres of each other) and accuracy I was achieving.
Thin braid makes a real difference to the distances achieved.
There are lots of similar tests that could be done. for example a big reel with 8lb mono on it would be a good one to try.
Thanks to several maggot drowners for the inspiration.
It has certainly been useful to me, I hope some of you might find the results helpful....
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