Abu Garcia is a name synonymous with quality reel developments. Dave Harrell checks out the company’s latest two offerings…Abu Garcia Cardinal 504i SDH FD & 506i SDH RD ReelsThe first thing that struck me when I took these reels out of the box was how impressive they looked. In terms of cosmetics and finish they seemed like much more expensive reels, but of course it’s what’s under the cover that really matters. Cardinal reels are famous for being reliable and strong and I reckon these reels will be able to take some serious punishment.
Dacron connectors are all the rage at present and these versions from Maver look great. They are available in three sizes to suit elastics from a tiny No1 right up to a 20+ Dual Core, so no matter what elastic you prefer there will be a connector here to suit. Supplied with three in a pack. RRP: £2.
Joe Carass inspects a new range of hooks that might just take the market by storm. . . H ooks are hugely personal things, and for most anglers their choice of patterns tends to come from a variety of companies.
The G-Max feeder rod range was a massive hit in the Match Fishing office, so when the float rod range came in we all got a bit excited! But are they any good? Joe Carass took a closer look…After being hugely impressed with the G-Max feeder rods that we tested a couple of months ago I could not wait to get my hands on the new float rods from Garbolino. I have long been a fan of Garbolino rods having used several of them from the Super G range for quite a long time. They have always been great value and top performers, so when Garbolino’s main man Darren Cox told me that these new offerings were in a different league then I must admit to getting rather excited!First up in the range is the 11ft 6in Commercial Waggler. This rod is a two-piece model that has been designed for commercial-fishery situations.
Joe Carass checks out a new flagship pole that’s set to become a big seller in 2011… Preston Innovations has managed to raise the bar in pole design yet again with the GiS 14 Absolute. In an era where every pole we see is aimed at carp fishing, it makes a refreshing change to find a pole that is beautifully light and stiff, yet still retains plenty of strength for those situations when you need it. Preston has worked closely with Tommy Pickering and Des Shipp to produce the ultimate match pole. With the GiS 14 Absolute you get an excellent package of two match top fours, three power top twos, one short No4, one Kup Kit and Kups and a 10-tube GiS holdall.
Well it has just been that time of the year when hundreds of anglers make their pilgrimage to sunny Cornwall (well sometimes anyway) for a crack at the White Acres festivals. I try to do at two festivals a year but after missing last years Preston festival due to work commitments (the one where sharing partner Lee kerry netted a cool £29K) I was really keen to get back. I have quite a good record at White Acres so I always give it my all to make that continue. The main thing about the ‘Acres’ is that you need a run of draws that give you a chance to compete.
It has been a while since my last blog, but it has been a couple of months filled with activity here at DHP towers! First we said goodbye to Dave Harrell who left his post here at Match Fishing to pursue other interests. This was a shock to us all and I know that many people will miss him. Luckily we have managed to snare Alex Bones, who I’m sure plenty of you will know for his hair cut, and the bit of fishing that he does occasionally! Alex will be a great asset to the mag and hopefully we can go from strength to strength and keep improving the mag! Anyway I have had an up and down few weeks fishing. Spawning fish have made lakes fish poor and go very peggy and I seem to have avoided the fish more than normal! I have managed a win and a second up at the Oaks but this week saw the frustration return!Saturday saw me on Cedar Lake.
Welcome to my first blog entry as I’ve now returned to Match Fishing magazine as editor, after leaving just over 7 years ago. From the September issue onwards I’ll be at the helm with the highly respected Joe Carass as my wingman. I’ll be making some considerable changes to the magazine and you’ll see the return of some faces who’ve not appeared in MF for a while. So what’ve I been up to over the last few weeks?.
Well I promised to give you a ‘warts ‘n’ all’ account, and even tell you when I haven’t caught a lot. Well that’s precisely what I did this weekend, caught very little!Saturday saw me visit Woodland View nr Droitwich for a practice match for the following weeks Sensas/Garbolino match. Now I would love to tell you that this was a 100 peg sell-out, but in-truth it was a very poor 13 pegger! When you consider that the five members of my team that took the effort to go, all went through a 350mile+ round trip (except Denty who would have had a shorter journey had he decided to fish on the moon) it was pretty poor. In fact everyone who attended had travelled for miles, it just proves that as popular as I maybe think it is, commercial fishery silver fish fishing isn’t so!Back to the match and we had a very interesting match, I drew on Back Deans pool and was told that there were hordes of small roach in there.
This week has seen me have a fantastic weekend! I really do put a lot of effort into my fishing so it’s always nice to get some good results!If any of you have followed my blog so far you will know that the final round of the Sensas/Garbolino was to be fished this week at Woodland View. After the practice match the week before we were heading into the match very confident, and felt that we could get a good result. We had a slender four-point lead over Daiwa Dorking, so every point that we could score would be vital. Lee Kerry was to draw our pegs and put three of our five anglers on end pegs, High pool 27 was to be my home for the day.
