Rods

If you have a boat or a bait boat for dropping your baits in the water, you probably don’t need to get the best casting rods on the market. You would rather look at rods suited to playing fish well.  Rods able of landing anything from small fish up to monsters without hook-pulls etc. Stick with 12-13’ rods as the length of the rods help when setting the hook, especially if your baits are quite far out(150m +).  I am not going to go into too much detail regarding branks and models as there are too many to mention and personal preference also play a factor.

For casting, i would recommend going for 12-13’ graphite/carbon rods with a strong backbone, but that is not too stiff.  Stiff rods make playing a fish somewhat more difficult as it is much easier to get hook-pulls.  If you do have to go extreme distances it is advised to go with something a bit stiffer, but landing the fish means one must get used to holding the rods with soft wrists as to compensate for any sudden movement the fish might make. One rod currently on the market that is setting a standard for decent casting rods is the are 13’ Sensation Rockets and the 13’ Sensation DC rods. For better rods, one must start looking at custom built rods with a Purglas 400/0 blank or even their slimline blanks. Blue Marlin and Loomis also make some excellent blanks and if you talk to a good rod builder they will be able to assist you.

Roodeplaat Dam Carp approx 3.5kg