Innovator Nitro Kamikaze and Widow maker rods

A company well know for their out there names has done it again, with the Nitro Kamikaze and Widow Maker series. Nitro have really pulled out the Swiss Army knife of rods with these two big game all-rounders, designed to tackle just about anything you can throw at them.

Heavy duty spinning reels such as the Stella or Saltigas are designed to be versatile and reliable in any fishing conditions. Nitro has made the Kamikaze and Widow Maker rods to suit this versatility. From Trolling and Cubing, to Jigging or Popping these rods can take it all.

On the lighter end of the scale, we have the Kamikaze which is a 15kg, 6 foot rod. With a lure weight of 57 to 368 grams it can be used to throw light weight metal slices at tuna right up to dropping medium to large jigs for Samson and Kingfish.

The heavier of the two is the Widow Maker. With its 24kg line rating and equal 6 foot length this is the whopper stopper you have been looking for. With a capable lure weight of up to 624 grams this rod is ideal for working those bigger jigs in the depths, or throwing those dumbbell sized poppers for Giant Trevally. Drag weight on Nitro’s widow maker is a respectable 18kg @ 45 degrees.

Both rods are fitted out with the best componentry, including fuji silicons and hypalon grips. While still retaining Nitro’s famous simplicity or the black on black finish. Both rods are two piece making them easily transportable to those far away locations we all love to fish.

After using a few Innovator Nitros in my time and never failing to be impressed, I’m sure these two new additions to the ever increasing family of Innovator rods will be just as impressive. Check them out at your local tackle store today.

Berkley EGI Master Rods

Berkley have just announced their new EGI Master rods to compliment there ever increasing Squidding range. This includes the new EGI master braid and the Powerbait jigs that I have touched on before.

Designed by Adam Royter and complete with JDM theme, they are fitted out with Fuji Low rider guides and extended split grip. As with all squid rods they are a parabolic action which helps with setting the hooks gently, rather than ripping the jig back away from the squid.

They have two models including an 7ft 6 inch 2-4kg model and an 8ft 4inch 3-6 model. You can check them out soon at your local tackle store.

Shimano Jewel rods

I’ll be the first to admit, when I first saw these rods listed in a Shimano Catalog I was a bit skeptical. A rod with a name like Jewel left me thinking it was designed for female anglers and that no right man would consider owning one. But after seeing one in the flesh the other day I was pleasantly surprised.

The Jewel series don’t look as tacky up close as they do in the photos. They are actually finely crafted pieces of fishing equipment, and you can tell as soon as you pick one up a lot of work and thought has gone in to them.

The few rods that I had a quick play with all felt well designed and balanced which is really what won me over. Too many times have I seen these “over the top” rods look great but feel terrible, but this is not the Jewels. All the rods feature extra hard EVA split grips, aluminium winding checks, gun smoke coloured Zirconium ringed guides and Fuji VSS reel seats.

The lighter rods designed for the like of bream, whiting and flathead are the perfect all rounders and I can see them being quite successful in the mid-range bream circuit. Priced at well under $200 the Jewel series is a good example of not judging a book by its cover.

Gloomis Pro Green rods hit Oz shores

I have always been a fan of the Gloomis Pro Blue series. The perfect medium tackle rods for tackling anything the deep blue can throw at them. To complement the Pro Blue range, the lighter inshore saltwater rod series the “Pro Green” were released. With a variety of lengths from 6′10″ to 7′10″ there will be one for you.

While they were primarily designed at species like Redfish, Permit, bonefish etc, they can be adapted easily to our local species like Spangled Emporer, Pink Snapper, Kingfish, Tailor and even Barra.

The first shipment has just recently landed so check them out at your local tackle store.

They aren’t meant to replace the softer, more delicate action of the popping rod, but to give the angler an option for aggressively fishing artificials. The faster actions of the Pro Green Series give wading and boat anglers, alike, more positive line and lure control. Designed to create quick, accurate “snap casts” to visible targets or long prospecting casts where covering water is more important, these rods have powerful butt sections to move big fish with ease and are still light enough to fish them all day long with minimal fatigue.  Source - Gloomis.com

Model number	Length	Line Weight	Lure Weight
PGR822S	6′10″	6 - 12	1/8 - 3/8
PGR823S	6′10″	8 - 12	3/16 - 5/8
PGR824S	6′10″	10 - 17	1/4 - 1
PGR882S	7′4″	6 - 12	1/8 - 3/8
PGR883S	7′4″	8 - 15	3/16 - 5/8
PGR884S	7′4″	10 - 17	1/4 - 1
PGR942S	7′10″	6 - 12	1/8 - 3/8
PGR943S	7′10″	8 - 15	3/16 - 5/8
PGR944S	7′10″	10 - 17	1/4 - 1

Daiwa Saltiga Spartan - Get yourself some JDM History

Daiwa has recently released a limited edition addition to the Saltiga range. The Saltiga Spartans come in two models and are destined to turn heads.

Daiwa has kept the distinct original Saltiga Blue/Black theme but have jazzed it up a bit using some fancy workmanship on the reel seat and butt sections. The reel seat features a carbon fibre and checkered aluminium body, making the most of strength and lightness.

The blank is apparently one up from the normal Saltiga series and the price reflects that with a retail of around $1000AUD. (Normal Saltiga rods $699AUD). Both rods are relatively easy on the angler thanks to a lighter action but that doesn’t mean they can’t handle some serious string.

Both PE5 and PE6 models have a max drag of 17kg+, allthough Daiwa has covered their rears by stating a much lesser drag rating at most angles. The rods are finished off with Fuji Silicon Carbide guides and a fancy leather-like bag.

Daiwa Australia is proud to release the limited edition of the Saltiga Spartan jigging rods. Hand made in Japan these new rods represent the latest rod technology and the future of heavy duty rod development.

The Spartan series is designed as the high strength model of Saltiga. To attain such incredible power Daiwa use the special “HLT” High Lift Torque” construction, this creates an incredibly high lift power and high torque rod. The internal section of the blank utilitizes HVF “High Volume Fiber” carbon with BiasWrap carbon construction to create a thick layer powerful core tubular blank similar to the other Saltiga rods. To increase the power even more for high lifting technique the outer part of the blank is then wrapped with SVF – “super volume fiber”, this unidirectional fiber creates extra high strength, high reliability and torque, yet the blank is incredibly light and exhibits a radical parabolic curve with low down power.

The new Spartan series introduces Daiwa’s specially designed heavy duty reel seat, which features a high strength CRT carbon body with aluminum, titanium coated hood with a CRT carbon/ aluminum nut and machine cut special aluminum locking ring. Also featuring Fuji’s silicone carbide guides and ultra tough EVA grips the Saltiga Spartan rods are the ultimate jig rods for the enthusiastic game angler and is a must have record breaker for big fish anglers.

Source www.daiwafishing.com.au

Hearty Rise EGI Force EC-832E

The Etuoh rod range have only been available on Australian shores for under a year, but have been making some big news amongst fisher’s around town.

Hearty Rise EGI(squid) rods have been the most popular models and after getting an invite from the distributor to test one for myself, it was too hard to resist.

After a lengthy drive through peak hour traffic to our location, I met up with one half of Urban tackle imports, Honsu Chin.  Honsu has long been known around West Australia for his love of enthusiast fishing gear and if he was putting his name behind some rods, they were sure to be good.

After rigging up a few outfits it was time for me to trial a HR(Hearty Rise) EGI Force EC-832E. These are a long egging rod designed to cast jigs a mile and still be soft enough to not pull the jig back out of a squids mouth.

They were balanced up with 2500 size reels, and in particular the Daiwa Certate 2506 Finesse custom. At first glimpse the rods seem unnecessarily long, but upon closer inspection and after your first cast those thoughts are all but gone. The extra length gives you an amazing increase in casting distance over more conventional shorter spin rods.

The added length is not just for casting. The EGI Force rods are designed to be a long and slow tapered, in order to absorb the initial impact of a squid hitting a lure.

For those of you who haven’t seen how the crazy Japanese EGI fishermen retrieve their jigs, it it reminiscent of Jigging for Samsonfish or Amberjack. Hard, fast and aggressive jerks give the jig an erratic action that gets the attention of passing squid.

The rod is finished off nicely with a white blank and exposed split rear grip. The componentry varies from model to model and on the EC-832E they had Pac Bay low rider guides which still performed flawlessly with braid lines. The Type A and B models are available with low rider Fuji Silicon guides but this also comes as an added cost.

The EC-823E are modestly priced at ~$250AUD retail. The Etuoh HR EGI Force rods performed superbly on the day and no doubt can drastically increase your EGI catch rate by giving you the upper hand against your calamari counterparts.

For all trade enquiries contact : Honsu Chin - Urban Tackle Imports

New Saltiga S-Extreme rods - 76GT and 76 GAME

Daiwa’s S-Extreme range was specifically and exclusively designed for Australian fishing conditions. Two new models have been added to the family, the 76 GAME and 76GT. Both rods are two piece and feature the same colour scheme as previous S-Extreme models.

The 76 Game is a 7′6″ rod designed for general spinning use. Soft plastics, Metals, Poppers and Stickbaits are all going to work this all rounder. Rated in at PE 2-4 and a cast weight of 15 to 90 grams its a well suited to a 4000-4500 size reel and has a max drag rating of a whopping 14 kilos.

The 76GT is again a 7′6″ 2 piece , rated to a powerful PE8 and capable of handling a back breaking 20 kilos of drag pressure. Designed to cast lures weighted 150 to 300 grams it will cast most XOS Gt lures and stick baits. This is well suited to a S-extreme 6500 or the new 6500 Maverick(but more on that later…)

Gan Craft Dead Sword Magnum

Gan Craft are a well known Japanese fishing tackle manufacturer. They made big news with there range of lures in 2007 at ICAST and compliment their lure range with some amazing rods. Recently they have added a new Heavy duty swim bait rod to Gan Craft collection, the Dead Sword Magnum.

With a name that sounds like a badly translated kung fu movie, the Dead Sword magnum is one serious piece of equipment. At 7′6″ in length and rated from 20-30lb its designed to have some bullish stopping power.

The rod is finished off superbly with black and silver styling and hypalon grips. A fuji reel seat with a custom paint job gives an added personal touch to the Dead Sword Magnum. The rod’s butt also has a customized 10g Fuji WBC knob to keep the rod balanced and the rod uses Fuji titanium framed silicon carbide guides.

Truly a work of art, and if it performs as good as it looks I’m sure it will be worth every cent.

E21 Jigging Rod at ICAST 2009

E21 Sports released their range of Carrot stix a while back, and with the unique look and feel they were instantly a cult hit. Well it looks like they are expanding the E21 rod range into other markets besides just Bass and lighter saltwater fishing.

Rumors are E21 will reveal some new Jigging and carp rods officially at ICAST 2009 in Orlando, Florida. In the meantime, here’s a pic of the old carrox stix for those who haven’t yet seen one…Interesting huh?

Tackle tester’s new look

As some of you might have noticed, the website has just undergone a make over. Its only in its early stages so please bare with us. Hopefully will have it up and running fully within the next few weeks.

The forums are still up as normal. www.tackletester.com/forums if you have any questions or comments.

Thanks for your patience

See you on the water,

Josh

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