Colmic Emperor Pro Whip

Whip fishing may well be a bit of a niche, underused method in the UK, but it is very common all across Europe. Many of their matches are short sprints where anglers try to get fast out of the blocks by starting for smaller species like bleak, before moving to roach, bream, chub or even carp and catfish after their initial bombardment has settled!

Being a giant Italian company, Colmic of course has its own range of whips, but with two different actions! The cheaper is the Record; these are made out of a cheaper grade of carbon, are strong and designed for hefty sized fish. The whips that we are likely to be more interested in in this country however, are the lighter and stiffer Emperor Pro!

As you would expect, the Emperor Pro is lovely and light, with a stiff crisp action running down to a super fine and soft glass flicktip. Getting the balance of a whip right is tricky as it needs to be light and stiff for flicking rigs out and hitting fast bites, but with no internal elastic needs to have a soft enough flicktip to prevent small hooks from bouncing out of fishes’ mouths. In my opinion, Colmic has got it dead right with the Emperor!

The one I have been testing out is the 4.5m model, which best suits the fishing I do throughout winter on the fenland drains. I’ve tried it at both ends of the spectrum, having caught tiny little fish with it on the Twenty Foot Drain right up to lumpy great roach on the Town Welland stretch at Spalding.

With the amount of silly bites you get on the Twenty Foot and being in real danger of becoming a ‘super-fast idiot’, slashing a whip around and missing a million bites, I had even mastered the art of just flicking the float to set the hook, meaning no wasted time in recasting the rig when a bite is missed. The super-fine and soft flicktip was perfect for this and a tiny bend in the end signalled that a fish was hooked. Too soft and the hook wouldn’t have been set; too stiff and the hook would have fallen back out again!

The Town Welland was a completely different beast, and to be honest I was asking a lot of the whip using it there. After my first visit, I did swap to an elasticated whip as some of the roach I was trying to swing must be nearing 6oz! Despite expecting to hear a crack and being hit on the head with falling carbon, the whip stood up to the job and I hardly bumped a fish.
The lengths the Emperor Pro comes in are what I would call all-inclusive, with every half metre covered from two metres right up to five metres in length. I have been asked before why odd length whips are needed such as 3.5m or 4.5m models, as surely the extra half metre doesn’t make any difference?

Well, the answer is simple. Add half a metre to your whip, then you need to add half a metre to your rig too, meaning you are fishing a full metre further out! At March for example, which is five feet deep, you will find that a 3m whip reaches your top-four pole line, while a 4m whip reaches your top-six pole line. The normal line there however, is on a top five, which means a 3.5m whip is the one to use! And as you would expect from me, yes, I did measure the whip and it did come up exactly as stated as bang on 4.5 metres long.

When it comes to attaching your rig, a small whip connector could be glued on to the end, but the tip is so slim and fine on the Emperor that I’d personally use fine silicone tubing. Simply thread a piece on to your rig, then use the loop method to secure the rig behind a second piece already threaded on to the whip (like you would with a Dacron pole connector). Push the original piece on to the tip again and your rig is secure. To save time when setting up, the rig can be left attached to the whip with the help of the supplied soft cap that can be used for pinning the tip in place and prevent damage to the line.

Verdict: As good as it gets. A super-fast action blended with the perfect taper super-soft flicktip, perfect for all small-fish whip fishing.

RRP: From £35.99
WEBSITE: www.colmic.it

 

X