First impressions.....

I had been toying with the idea of getting a new light/medium rod for quite some time.
While I am more than happy with the solpara which is an outstanding rod for the price
and has never let me down the only thing was its range which is 0.5-5g and recently I found myself
wanting something capable of 6g or sometimes 8g.

So I set about looking at what was out there in midrange rods and there is quite alot with more
appearing online and in various shops almost weekly.
After a bit of looking and picking a few brains I eventually settled on a Graphiteleader Tiro GOTS762L
1-12g

I contacted Cian in Absolute Fishing and he said that it would be no problem to get me the rod and after a
week or so I had my new rod.

My first impressions of the rod are very good it has a very high quality of finish coupled with what appeared to be a very nice blank.

I couldnt wait to get out and fish with it but unfortunately I had to wait until the next day.

So I decided to go and try for some wrasse and I arrived at the mark glorious sunshine and blue skies
I rigged up a 2g cone with a size4 weedless hook texas style and began to search the various gullies around
and it wasnt long before i was into my first wrasse of the session

A lively little ballan of about a pound it put a nice bend in the rod which handled it no problem.

I continued searching and found several more ballans all around the 1 pound mark but bites were
obviously not as plentiful as they had been in recent weeks.

I went back to trying to find a better stamp of wrasse but the pollock had come on the feed and
it was almost impossible to get to the bottom without getting struck by a fish on the way down even
with heavier weights the speed of the drop still didnt deter them

Average sized fish for the gullies in this area annoying when I wanted a wrasse but a welcome change all
the same

I fished a much deeper gully and felt a tap and missed the fish then recast and in the same place another
much more solid tap and zing there goes the drag on the caldia a much better fish and a definite wrasse
after a couple of good runs and a bit of prising from the kelp. I eventually surfaced a lovely ballan of just
under 3lb

A very nice fish with plenty of spirit which put a good bend in the Tiro but again I never once felt in any danger of loosing the fish.

My initial thoughts of the rod are that it has a superb through action which cushions the line much
better than any other rod I've used meaning that I can give the fish a little bit more stick than I was
previously able. The finish as I have already said is superb. It's bite transmission is awesome with the
slightest tap registering as a shock throughout the length of the blank something that I think will come in handy in the coming months when fish tend to be a little bit more subdued.

I'm really looking forward to fishing with this rod alot more in the future and a big thanks to Cian in Absolute Fishing for getting the rod for me and to John at Lure Heaven for his advice and help in choosing the rod.


I hope you enjoyed the read,

Tight Lines,

Jay

A quick update..

After my session on the saltwater in my last post I decided to head to
the freshwater for a change and the species I had in mind were Dace
and Perch.

I arrived at where I intended to fish and I could see shoals of smallish
dace with some bigger fish a bit deeper down swimming up and down
the canal. Having never caught a dace I initially tried a small float setup with
a small hook size18 or 20 and a small section of power isome. I fished this way
for a good two hours with a few small taps here and there just to get my hopes
up.

I was then approached by a pair of fisheries officers asking a few questions like
what are you fishing for?  etc... Which was good to see them out and about doing their
job.

A change of tactics then stil trying for a dace a 0.5g jighead with a small section
of isome slowly retrieved at various depths but again nothing.


So I then decided to go after perch and these little guys were more than willing to take
whatever they could get their mouths around in the hour that I fished for them I must
have had around 20-25 all caught on varying lures from curltail grubs to power isomes

One thing i did notice however was that the weight of the jighead made a massive difference to
whether or not the fish came at the lure. I started with a 1g head and was getting fish after fish although
it was difficult to get down through the leaves on the surface of the water. Switched to a 2g head with the same lure and getting through the cover on the surface was no problem but the fish didnt want to
know switched back and fish on. I suppose the lure fell through the water column at too fast a rate and wasnt in the strike zone long enough, I've had the same with Pollock and Bass but this was the first time I had seen it make a difference to Perch which are normally very obliging.

Anyway I headed home and called it a day. The next day on my break from work I decided to head to my local pier for a quick half hour session.
I rigged up my gear dropshot style and began to fish down the sides of the walls I managed a few small
coalies straight away and then got a much better bite which turned out to be a nice corkwing

All quite then for a little while and I moved spot dropped the rig to the bottom and almost immediately
felt some bites which I had never felt before a very fast series of tiny bites. I didnt know what it
was so after some patience I eventually hooked the fish causing this

A tiny Scad(horse mackeral) or ''Aji'' as they are known in Japan this is another first for me and I have
to say I was delighted with it albeit small but perfectly formed.

I hoped you enjoyed reading,

Tight lines,

Jay