By Jamie Simpson;
I managed to get out for an overnight session at the weekend as I had been invited to a water by a good friend. As we were sat discussing everything from fishing to politics, a subject came up that brought back a few memories and one that I now dont even need to consider.
The subject was the balance between rod and reel, now most people may not see this as important but trust me when you have spent as long and as much money as me being unhappy that my casting is not quite right for one reason or another, then you will see the importance.
For quite some time I had been more than happy with my 2 1/2 lb Armalites coupled with baitrunner 4500gt reels, but I knew they had seen better days and was planning on fishing a few waters where they would probably cost me fish so a new set up was required.
I went out and I purchased a set of Harrison Chimera 12ft 3 1/2lb rods and balanced these with Shimano big pit baitrunners.
Not a bad set up were my thoughts when I got them set up at home, yet on the bank they just weren’t right for me. I stand at 5ft 7in and I just couldn’t get the set up moving how I wanted. Now there wasn’t anything wrong with the gear at all, but it just didn’t suit my style and height. I also found playing the fish awkward and not really enjoyable.
This got me looking into what my real needs were as I didn’t want to waste a fortune again!
The first thing I did was change the rods to a set of lighter 2 3/4 Century SP’s which I felt sure I could compress properly and would give me a better feel when playing a fish.
Then when I got some money together I managed to get a set of Daiwa Tournament TS5000t reels to go with them, which are quite a few ounces lighter than the big pits.
At last I had found my balance for my general all round fishing. An absolute pleasure to play fish on and I always feel in full control with this set up.
I have since added a set of FMJ lites to my set up for my big pit and continental fishing and have found that these have not affected the balance of my set up at all. They perhaps lose a little of the pleasure of playing the fish, but they are that little bit more powerful when fishing with bigger leads and PVA bags at range.
This set up suits me but I would imagine other people would find no problem at all with bigger reels and longer or heavier rods.
At the end of the day my requirements will no doubt be different to somebody else’s, but I really do think it is vital to get a set up you are happy with as it can be an expensive mistake if you purchase the wrong gear.
Another piece of the puzzle is the length of the butt as if it’s too long for your arms you will like me be losing that final push through and losing valuable yards in some conditions.
Perhaps Shaun will post a blog on this as he pointed this out to me recently and he knows a lot more on the subject of distance casting than I do.
Cheers, Jamie
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