Joe Carass reveals his thoughts on Browning’s new Xitan Z7. 5 pole. Will it be another success for the tackle giant?With Browning’s Xitan range of poles growing in popularity, I couldn’t wait to have a look at the latest addition to the range – the Z7. 5 – to see if it could live up to the standard set by its predecessors.
A quality cool bag is an essential item of tackle, and this massive version from Ultimate looks fantastic. Holding 18 two-pint bait boxes, there is ample room to store all of the bait you need. RRP: £19. 99.
We’re in an era when good-quality seatboxes are arriving at our offices every few weeks, so just how good is the new Sensas 700? Joe Carass checked one over to find out… For the past few years Sensas has been trying to make a name for itself in the seatbox market, and several models have been brought out since the company’s first designs. Now, though, I think that a product of a quality synonymous with the Sensas name has finally hit the tackle shops. The 700 box really is the perfect example of what the modern match angler is looking for in a seatbox. It has a modular design so that trays can be added for extra storage, along with a slide-out rig section where anglers can house hundreds of rigs or various other bits and bobs.
Featuring a zip-top lid, this bait bowl will be perfect for transporting your bags of groundbait to the bank. It is also the ideal size to mix groundbait well. RRP: £6. 99.
After developing a successful range of gear that all started with pole pots, the Frenzee design team has now turned its attentions to rods. Dave Harrell checks out the initial range of seven… Having worked in the fishing-tackle industry myself in a previous life, I know more than most exactly how difficult it is to break into the marketplace with a new range of angling products. I went through the exercise just over 20 years ago when I created the MAP brand, and while taking on the big boys in the industry was challenging I sometimes found myself wondering if I could make products like rods any better than (or even as good as) what was already available from long-established companies. Thankfully, at that time at least, the answer was yes and sales were good for several years before the big influx of rods from China put paid to any competitive developments I could achieve in the UK.
Sonubaits has had huge amounts of success with its Fibre Paste and One to One Paste since their launch. New for 2011 is a Tiger Fish version of the two pastes. The Tiger Fish is a blend of crushed pellets and crushed tiger nuts that have been blended together to produce a mix that carp find hard to resist!RRP: £3. 99.
Joe Carass takes a close look at a new family of hooks that is already gaining favour with many top anglers on the match circuit… Even though I’m very young (well, compared to editor Dave Harrell) my angling career stretches over more than 18 years, and the original Preston PR range of hooks seems to have been available for as long as I can remember! There were many cult hooks among that range and I’ve had loads of success using several of the various patterns available. They were hugely popular but, as with all things, technologies move on and hooks can be produced nowadays that are even better than when the original range was first produced. So, having used so many of the old PR range I couldn’t wait to see what the lads at Preston had come up with in their new range. It comprises five hook patterns, which is quite a small range, but it complements the existing PR competition range of barbed hooks and the PR eyed range perfectly.
It’s that time of the year again when the team all get together to practice for the Angling Times Winter League semi final. This year it is up at Woodlands Lakes Nr Thirsk. Saturday saw me visit the venue for the first time this year, I was kind of hoping to draw on a pile of carp but that hope was short lived when I pulled out Peg 7 on Partridge. My end of the lake was flat calm when setting up, whilst the other end had a lovely ripple on it and I was sure that end would be where the carp were.
After last weeks poor draw at woodlands I was really looking forward to getting back up there and was looking for a good draw. There were plenty of anglers on the match so Kamasan points were on offer and also I’m doing well in the County Champs tables so was looking for a few points. I drew peg 15 on Skylark, HAPPY DAYS. This has been a consistent area all winter and the main shoal lives in that area.
Well Saturday was the big day for my Ultimate Barnsley Blacks team as it was to be one of our most important matches of the year. Semi finals are always tense affairs and with this one being at Woodlands Nr Thirsk it was always going to be a peggy match to say the least! All we could hope for was a decent draw and a good team performance. We got the good draw that we needed and one that we were confident of qualifying from. I got massively luck and actually drew Skylark 15 AGAIN! I was almost embarrassed when Lee handed me my draw but I had a job to do and with the pegging being very tight I didn’t think I would need a big weight to win the section.
