Rod review : HTO Rockfish 73

Following the destruction of my Corto Tronixpro HQ were quick to send me a new rod,with the summer season getting into full swing it was imperative that I had an LRF rod.

The rod I got my hands on was the HTO Rockfish 73 1-8g  solid tipped LRF rod.

When George said he was sending one up I was nervous as I had been used to using my tube tip Corto and with the difference in price being over £100 between the rods I was frankly very worried about stepping down to a budget model rod. That aside when looking at the catalogue pics I also thought the rod looked pretty cool I do like the new graphics and paint job, reminds me of a USA muscle car! ( I think that may just be me though!)

on the Tronixpro catalogue they describe the rod as such :

The Rockfish rod is a new addition for 2014. Sitting in between the older UL and L models the 73 has a casting range of 1-8g. Ideal for general light rock fishing this rod is equally as happy fishing finesse jig heads, small metals and drop shot. A real all rounder at a price to suit all pockets.

As soon as the rod arrived I was out playing with it and the first mission was Trout. I paired it up with my Technium 3000 reel and it balanced the outfit almost as well as my Corto.

It felt comfortable to hold which surprised me as the threads for the reel seat run onto the blank but don't run under your hand when you are using the rod. As with its predecessor the rod rings are still quite large and chunky but at least they are saltwater proof and tough enough for the job.

The solid tip is again the same as its predecessor but the overall blank is stiffer giving a much crisper feel and making the rod that bit more reactive.

Going from a tube tip rod to a fine solid tip did take a few minutes to get accuracy under control but as far as distance goes it was flicking a 1gram jighead just as far as my previous rod if not further.

After about 5 minutes of using it I had forgotten I was using a "cheap" rod as it was performing all the tasks of my previous rod. I was using a 1gram HTO light game jighead and knight worm combo casting across and downstream, allowing the lure to swing around before twitching it back upstream.When I hooked into a trout the soft tip really helped to cushion the mad dashes of the trout and soon it was landed and released.

So it passed the trout test admirably and the slightly shorter length ( my last rod was 7'9") was ultimately that bit more handy for fishing in and around the overgrown small trout rivers that I like so much.

Its next test was dropshotting in the kelp forests which uses much heavier techniques and as the ultimate target was wrasse at close range it was a much sterner test!

The end tackle was my standard dropshot rig, 8lb fluro, size 8 offset hook rigged with gulp Sandworm and a 7gram dropshot weight.

There was no difference in casting distance with the rod effortlessly casting the rig as far as my previous stick. The rod  does have a soft tip so I had to slightly over emphasise the lifts and twitches to the lure to get the action I wanted but it was all pretty sweet feeling. The rods stiffer blank really suited the way I was working the dropshot rig and felt a lot better than the Rockfish UL.

One of the great things about the soft tip was that when I started to get those electric plucks from wrasse it really made for positive bites. The wrasse up here can sometimes be very timid biters and I am sure the lack of resistance when they suck the lure into their mouths caught me more fish.

The other good thing was that even the subtlest of bites can be seen and felt before the fish realises its mistake!

Sure enough the session was a great one with pollock up to 4lb, wrasse up to 2.5lb, codling coalies and flounders the rod caught and dealt with them all perfectly!

When it comes to fighting large fish on it It did just as well as my previous rod and despite the fine tip it has plenty of power low down the blank.

Dropshotting in the kelp produces some big wrasse but the fight is brutal. With the drag tightened up you really have to hit ,hold then really bend into the fish quickly pumping the fish up beyond the kelp. Then you have to keep it from getting back into it. I am pleased to say that the rod again copes perfectly with this extreme fight and it has landed me my new PB Ballan Wrasse of 4lb1oz and 49cm.

  

Since I have been using the rod it has caught me lots of 3lb+ wrasse from the harshest of ground, Coalies, Flounder, Pollack, Scorpion fish, Sea Trout, Brown Trout, Pike, Perch and has dealt brilliantly with it all.

The rod really is a good all round LRF tool and can cope well with big fish as well as being sensitive to feel mini species at range. It does everything my Corto did at a fraction of the price and even although it lacks in high grade fittings it still looks the part too.

Retailing at under £35 everyone should have one of these, whether your starting out with LRF or just need a back up for your other expensive rods, you can't go wrong!

Tight Lines

Jake

Tackle Review : HTO Rockfish UL 0.5-7g LRF rod

I first heard of this rod a few months ago on the lure forum as a couple of members were testing it, formerly known as TronixPro Rockfish UL it has since been re branded HTO Rockfish UL. It instantly grabbed my attention as it was a budget model LRF rod and they are few and far between! So when we were asked if we would like to review the rod we jumped at the chance!

First off the rod specifications.

Length : 6'11"
Casting range : 0.5 - 7g
Solid carbon tip

The first thing that struck us was the overall look of the rod is very good indeed. The red ,black and silver whippings and overall finish were neat and tidy and the join where the carbon tip meets the matt black carbon blank is nice and neat too.The abbreviated handle is a similar length to my Graphiteleader Corto and is very comfortable as well as looking good in a low profile sort of way . There is no fore grip as such but the reel seat is set up so that its easy to rest your finger on the blank in order to feel bites.The rings are good quality and tough enough to handle saltwater and rocks. The carbon tip is ultra fine and finished in  a nice visible white but it is a very fine diameter tip, ultra sensitive but also delicate too so it will require a bit of care when transporting!The rod definitely looks the part so it was onto seeing how it performed. 

We tried the rod in various different scenarios with both fluorocarbon and braid as a mainline. Our first run through with it was exploring some vertical presentations, bouncing lures down into gullies and next to large boulders. The ultra fine tip worked as an excellent visual bite indicator, registering the tiny bites of blennies and sea scorpions very well indeed and bending right over when they grabbed the lure and made off with it.

Next test was casting and seeing how it registered bites at distance, this we did down at St Abbs  with flounder as our target species. It really does cast little jig heads as well as any of my more expensive LRF rods, which was great for getting to the resident flounder. The rod allows you to feel the contours of the bottom well allowing you to differentiate between rock , sand and weed and when the bites come they are transmitted directly to the hand with the fine tip also giving a great visual indication. There were a few flounders where we got to observe the take and we found that they were able to suck the lure into there mouth while we still had tension on the line. This allows the fish to inhale the bait with confidence as there is hardly any resistance, however we could still feel these bites and I don't think any were missed ! Once the fish were hooked the action of the rod came into play, it has a regular fast action when working the lures but a nice soft action when playing a fish. It certainly has more of a through action when compared to my some of our other LRF rods , this however makes playing fish rather pleasant as the through action cushions the light line very well from head shakes and sudden dives and controls the fish in a soft but firm manner.

A lot of flounders were caught on the rod from 0.5lb to 1.25lb and it was great at registering bites and playing the fish in, I also "swung in" all the fish to land them and the rod coped well with it. I would stress however that due to the ultra fine tip it would be preferable to have used a drop net and I would advocate the use of one just to keep that tip safe. It is also a great little trout rod too and before the season had ended I managed to have a quick session fishing soft plastics for trout. The rod casts and works the 1g jig heads well but came into its own for hooking and landing the trout, where the soft action really worked at keeping the trout hooked no mater how they tore about in the current!

Overall I have to say that there is nothing that compares to this rod in it price range. It is a genuine little LRF rod designed for the sea and it does what many much more expensive rods do at a fraction of the price. I think its a great little rod and the highest praise I can give it is that when I recently broke my GraphiteLeader Corto EX tip section, I went to my rod holdall to grab the TronixPro only to remember that Scott had taken it to Jersey. I was gutted! The rod would have done everything my Corto would have and would have kept me fishing.

That being said it won't replace my Corto but it will stay in my rod bag for friends to use and as my spare LRF rod. It certainly is an excellent rod for those that want to sample the joys of Light Rock Fishing but it also doubles as a great rod for trout and perch and there is simply nothing else that comes close in this price range.

Tronix have also informed me that they will be making a "deluxe" version of the rod with Fuji fittings and a slight redesign of the handle, they have done such a good job with this one I for one cant wait to see what the new model is like!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Shimano Technium 3000SFC : Trout Test.

On Tuesday I took delivery of my new reel, a Shimano Technium 3000SFC. After spooling it up with some new 6lb Sunline Super PE braid I was itching to test it out.

Shiny new tackle!

Time has been very limited for me this week so I opted for an hours fishing on The Water of Leith. The reel marries very well with my 7'9" Graphiteleader Corto EX rod and is only a couple of grams heavier than my Exage. Recently I have been experimenting with trying to keep the trout deeper in the water when hooked as they have an uncanny habit of throwing the hook when they come to the surface and thrash about. This is where a lightly set reliable drag comes in and I hoped to test the new reels capabilities.

I attached a Gulp! 1" Minnow in watermelon/pearl to an EcoGear Shirasu fine jighead and I was ready to rock! 10 minutes later I was at the Water of Leith in Stockbridge and after a brief wade had reached my first pool. Technique was pretty straight forward just cast across current and with a slow twitchy retrieve allow the lure to swing back across the current towards you. This particular pool was full of features, a fast flow of water under some trees into a deeper slower glide with a ledge running down the full length of the pool. I started at the top and began working the lure downstream. Sure enough when I was about a third of the way down the pool a trout dashed out from under the ledge and seized the lure. The jighead hooks are amazingly sharp and even with the drag set lightly the fish was hooked well. Keeping the rod low as I was playing him persuaded the fish to stay deeper in the water and the light drag allowed him a foot or so of line each time to soak up his little darting runs. He stayed deep till he was level with me then calmly came up to the surface where I brought him to hand! Another beautifully conditioned Water of Leith brown trout of about a pound.

Feeling rather pleased with myself for playing the fish as I had planned I waded up stream a bit to find a dry area to take a picture. A large stone presented me with a good place and the trout was duly laid down whilst I fumbled for my camera. I continued fumbling with my camera as the trout, with a gleeful flick of its tail, flipped back into the water and sped away down stream. Oh well camera shy trout, but at least I managed to catch from this new pool. I headed further upstream and again using the same technique caught a couple more lovely brownies and managed to get a picture of these ones!

Brown trout in a fast current was great fun on the new reel.

Another brownie caught and released after a fun fast water fight.

I had a final 10 minutes in the weir pool and again hooked another trout who when landed had obviously heard of the first trouts strategy and promptly jumped back into the water whilst I was yet again fumbling for my camera!

Not to worry though, whilst my hour was up, it had been a blast! The new reel performed admirably and testing the light drag did add a new dimension to fighting the humble Leith trout! I cant wait to see how it handles some other fish!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Awa-Shima Q-Lite Spin 220 Ultra Light Rod

Rods for ultra-light lure fishing/LRF come with either a solid carbon tip or hollow tubular tip. I was already using the tubular tipped Cormoran ULF Ultra Light 2.45m 3-15g rod for my LRF when I decided that I would like a second LRF rod as a “guest” rod so started to have a look at the cheaper end of the rod price scale. I hadn't tried a solid tipped ultra-light rod before and was interested to see how it compared to my Cormoran ULF.

I originally rang Ben Field at Art of Fishing about the Quantum twister rod as I had seen it on a German tackle site and thought it may be the type of rod I was after. However when talking to Ben about its merits he recommended the cheaper Awa Shima Q-Lite Spin 220. I went with his recommendation as he really knows his stuff! The Rod is 2.20m long, weighs only 109g and has a casting range of 1-5g.

The Awa-Shims Q-Lite Spin 220. A fantastic entry level LRF rod.

When it arrived I was totally stunned! It's a great looking piece of kit. I couldn't believe it was priced under £50. After using this rod solidly for 5 months I have caught countless fish on it from fresh and salt water. The biggest being a 5.5lb pike and the weirdest being a 3lb Tiger Moray Eel whilst I was on holiday in Crete. It does deal quite well with larger fish as it has a surprising amount of power low down and cushions violent head shakes very well indeed. Here's a summary of what I like about this rod...

• It has a really comfortable abbreviated handle and is just right for resting your forefinger on the blank when retrieving.
• The butt is EVA Foam and the length of the butt section is just right for a two-handed cast.
• The reel seat is nice and secure and comfortable to hold.
• It has a natural olive low glare finish which eliminates "flash" and if I am fishing for spooky fish at close range it can give me an edge.
• The rings are nice, smooth and surprisingly tough. I am quite rough with the poor rod and lay it down on the rocks a lot.
• The blank has a lot of power in the lower section as well so can cope with snags and bigger fish easily!
• Full carbon blank/ solid carbon tip, prefer the feel of this compared to the graphite ULF.
• Solid carbon tip is great as a visual bite indicator but it also transmits little bites through the blank and is more sensitive than my Cormoran ULF. It’s great for feeling bites on the drop.
• It can flick a 2.3 gram jig head along way with minimum effort.
• It’s very light in the hand. It balances very well with my Shimano Nexave 3000.
• I have used it with a variety of soft and hard lures one of my favourites being a the 5g Yo-Zuri Pins Minnow and the smaller 2g version. It can cast the 5g version really far with very little effort and I was able to apply the jerks and twitches to the lure with ease.
• It has a good stiff action and really makes little jerk baits come alive.

...and apart from a few minor cosmetic details...

• The varnish on the whippings isn’t the neatest.
• The join where the solid tip meets the blank is visible and there is no spigot just a "put over” join.

...and the fact the you have to limit your abuse of the rod because...

• Being a solid tipped rod the tip is relatively fragile.*

...I have really enjoyed fishing with this rod it's a fantastic bit of kit and it will help people get into LRF on a budget. Also it's a great intro to the solid tip variety of LRF rods and is a great spare rod if you already have more expensive models. I believe that for under £50 you can’t get better!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

*I have fished this rod to its limit and broken two top sections in the process, I must stress that this is more down to my constant use (or maybe that should be abuse) as admittedly I haven’t been as careful with it as I should have!