THE RODS AND REELS

CARANX KAIBUTSU S.T.C ROD
STC* = Shimano Travel Concept

Before this trip, I already heard that Shimano is developing a multi section version of the popular Shimano CARANX KAIBUTSU rod, the answer from Shimano to frequent travelers who wishes to pop for fishes such as the GTs on the go.

I would like to side track a little on this paragraph as I would like to highlight on the Shimano AXIS S.T.C travel rod, a multi-section and multi-purpose light to medium heavy fishing rod. As with all multi-section fishing rod, it is very difficult to engineer one that comes with a nice blend of action and bending. What’s more, it’s even more difficult to produce one that is powerful with great resistant of bending and lesser prone to failure.

Over the years, there has been a great improvement in Shimano’s multi-section rods as there have been increased demands from all over the world. Shimano has grown to realize the hassle of the frequent traveler and in order to aid the traveling angler. The company is paying a lot of attention and making every effort to improve on multi piece section rod limitation.

In theory, a multi section rod can be made as good as a 2piece rod and not to mention a single section shaft. But, in practical it doesn’t seems convincing as there has been tremendous failure during the early days.

During the early days, most manufacturers deployed almost the same technique in making the fishing rod. Material technology is simple and advances were slow and unsustainable.

But, today you see more countries developing carbon fiber technology, more were flying into the orbit and cars were made so much lighter with great fuel economy. If you take note, it’s the same that goes to fishing rods. In the recent years, we have seen surfcasting and fishing rods that came in 3sections. They are very tough, durable and as good as a common 2pc rod. However, these hassle free and performance rod came with a hefty price tag.

Back to the Shimano AXIS S.T.C travel rod, with its price tag, nice bending with no flat spot and distortion at the joints, ultra tough bending strength and holding power. Nothing in the market today beats Shimano to it. That’s because tons of material and design flaws have already been corrected numerous time before it was allowed to be release in the market.

This explanation is telling you that it is possible to make a multi-section rod as great as 2pc rod and it does possess the elements of a 2pcs rod as well. The main challenge now is to keep the weight of multi-section rods down to match that of a 2pc rod. Other than that, S.T.C has already achieved the other factors in a fishing rod!!! If you have tried the new Shimano AXIS S.T.C travel rod and have been observance enough. You will find that its extraordinary performance and price tag apart from other brands.

Focusing on the new travel popping rod that I tested, it was named “Caranx Kaibutsu S.T.C”. From all my explanation on the AXIS S.T.C, this newly developed 5pc Caranx Kaibutsu S.T.C rod can be spotted with its plus factors in this field test.

The CARANX KAIBUTSU S.T.C has all the functions of its 2pc version except that it was made in a 5pc configuration. What’s more, it doesn’t lag behind the first generation of the Caranx Kaibutsu at all.

What a full range of Shimano reels you can find in Bangkok !

THE CHALLENGE OF THE GIANT MEKONG CATFISH


Few years back, I came to learn that Thailand has a very popular freshwater fishing site called BUNGSAMRAN. Till Today, fish tales about the enormous and powerful Mekong Catfish is still ongoing as it remains as one of the best places to test your newly purchased fishing tackle. Some were simply there to try catch the biggest while there’s many more with different agenda.

Previously, I heard so much about the hard fighting Mekong Catfish and I have also seen videos of my friends fighting it. To be frank, I didn’t really consider it to be powerful by the sightings and sound in the video. Apart from its enormous size and weigh, there’s nothing else that really impresses me. Liked I said, there people who went back with different agenda.

In this field-testing trip organised by Shimano South East Asia- Head quartered in Singapore, I had two agenda before I left Singapore for Bangkok. The first was to test the new products and give feedbacks to Shimano personnels. The other was to set myself a challenge to prove that my impressions of the fish being slow and weak.

It set the fire in my heart raging as I already know that BUNGSAMRAN pond has Mekong Catfish that can grow as huge as 50kgs. I was full of anticipation to meet the great one and I gathered anxiousness in regards to testing the new products. In terms of bending the rods and tightening up my drag, I know for sure that I won’t be giving myself a second chance and I won’t let the fish gain the upper hand due to my virgin trip.

Initially, the take upon setting the hook is slow. The giant Mekong catfish doesn’t strip line liked a GT used to. However, when the fish is near the structures where we are standing. It fought liked as though it’s the end of the world, struggling, splashing and pull with all its mighty strength and mass.

I put in quite a bit of effort in landing the first 3pcs of the Mekong Catfish ranging from 20kgs to the 30plus kg range. As I was using Shimano’s powerful setup, the battle made me change my opinion of the fish been weak because I felt that it fought decent with good stamina.

I got to admit that I was impressed by the fish’s persistent and brutal pulling strength. We were fishing from 9am till around 6pm in the evening. Sometime in the early morning, I have already lost count of my catches and all I ever know is that my back is almost breaking up.

The fishing guide Prokik which was attached to us was very knowledgeable and he was experienced enough to get fish biting in a matter of minutes. That’s one of the reasons why most of us were shack out before the fishing ends. Mekong catfish fought well, high catch rate and brutal style pulling by the fisherman to prevent line snapping off the snags.

SHIMANO CARANX KAIBUTSU S.T.C
With SHIMANO BAITRUNNER 12000D

We were fishing pre-mixed bread with some special liquid substance. According to our fishing guide, it’s some secret recipe which is proven to work all the time at the pond. I didn’t bother to ask what it is made of as it’s their proprietary methods of catching fish for customers.

Using the unique Baitrunner function, a gentle push on the lever is what it takes to set tension for approaching take when a fish strikes. The first strike came almost immediately after the first cast and I calmly picked up the rod with a turn on the handle on the baitrunner. In no time, I was ready to set hook and I did it a couple times before all hell broke loose.

The Caranx Kaibutsu S.T.C which I was using wasn’t a soft rod at all!! But, the fish managed to arc the rod and keep on going outwards upon setting the hook. All I could feel is a very heavy weight fish at the end of the line. Tension was really tight on my reel and I could really feel as everything was tasked to work to the max.

The fish didn’t really speed out at the pace I expect it to set and I was rather disappointed that it was considered slow in stripping line off my baitrunner. However, I had very high drag settings as I do not have a choice. Probably, that’s the reason why it went out slow and another reason is that this fish can only go at that kind of speed.

I had to push everything to the max in order to pass judgment on how far the outfit can go. Fishing under these conditions was certainly no kid’s play and the fish really showed me what it is capable of. Or should I say what I am not capable of?

I would say the only challenge is the tug of war when the fish is coming near towards the platform where we are standing. There is a tendency of the fish heading straight underneath the platform and cut the line. Therefore, the challenge of holding it and pulling it out from the snags sets a very big challenge to the angler and his equipments.

There are no railings which you could rest your feet on, nowhere for you to fight using body weight and no fighting chair for you to plug your rod in stationary position. All that I can ever depend on is a gimbal belt harnessed to my body and my endurance to the battle. This game is all about how physically strong you are, how good is your tackle, your endurance and a little mind games.

I managed the first 3 pcs of the giant Mekong catfish ranging from 20-30kgs and I had already changed my opinions of it in the first place. Shortly after, I lost count of my catches as we were fishing from 9am to 6pm on that day!!!

All that I could remember now is that it was a back breaking session, muscle aching torture, stress and begging forgiveness as I lost stamina and strength due to fatigue. After fishing on that night, we went for the world’s famous Thai massage. But, I could barely hearing cracking of my bones and I could see the disappointment of the one that attended to me. I am guessing that all parts of my body, all the bones have already cracked long ago and it was done by the GIANT MEKONG CATFISH!!!

The rod was exceptionally powerful and it holds up very well, no distortion, no flat spot and all that I could gather about it are near perfection. As for the new BaitrunnerD reel, the body frame is tougher and rigid than the old school baitrunner, has much better torque than the latter and is made much lighter now. Basically, everything for the baitrunner was redesigned for better performance. Spot one in the shops and you can tell the difference between the new and old Bait runner.

KEEPING THE BARRAMUNDI AIRBORNE

Another popular fishing site in Bangkok is the Barramundi pond located in BungHuang. During our second day field-testing trip, we went to this freshwater pond to test Shimano’s latest shore luring and bait casting rods.

In Singapore, I used to frequent the Catch and Release pond at Pasir Ris park, catching Barramundis on light tackle. What’s more, it’s very interesting to watch barramundis perform spectacular acrobatic jump above the water.

Over in Thailand, I was eager to reach out for the pond as I haven’t been catching barramundi for some time. My experience with the Barramundis in Singapore is that I can make it perform acrobatic jump above the water most of the time given the right technique.

It didn’t take too long to travel to the freshwater barramundi pond from our hotel. Along the way, I felt relieved that we are going to fish for barramundi only because I still suffered from backache after the Mekong Catfish expedition.

When we reached the pond, although there isn’t much breeze, the weather over there is nice and cool. Water “boiling” could be seen from the surface and I could tell that it’s an indication of fish activities underneath, a good sign for all of us as we anticipate catching good numbers of barramundis.

Our fishing guide bought us to a private pond whereby we had the entire place for ourselves only. I was happy that we could concentrate on catching fish with the rods that we are supposed to test without any disturbances from anyone else.

Using rubbers and artificial lures, the barramundis in the pond wasn’t shy at all. It took almost anything that was presented to them. Mostly were weighing in the range of 4-7kgs and they are very healthy and put up a great fight on our rods.

I was using my own Shimano Sustain 2500 with 12lbs PowerPRO braided line on the yet to be launched Shimano Exsence rod. The reel was exceptionally smooth, drag was powerful and the fishing line that I was using is very strong and resistant to abrasion when the fish was taking line. Since I knew that I can depend on my fishing reel, my main focus would be on the rod as I wanted to maximize its fullest potential to match up with the power of my reel.

SENSITIVITY

In my humble opinion, a great fishing rod is one that possesses the power to pull a fish out from snags, has the holding strength when the fish is making a dash, light, well-balanced, nice ergonomics, sensitive and easy to cast.

Initially, I thought that if there were obstacles and if the fish decides to head for it, I can use my experience and fish fighting technique to pair up with the powerful Shimano rod and reel combination to test the rod. Since the pond have no obstacles that the fish could depend on for cutting off our line, it would be too easy on the rods as I can’t set a challenge for it. After I landed the first few fishes, it came to a point that I find that it’s useless for me to carry on what I am doing. Even though the fish is big and strong, it is simply too easy on the tackle as there aren’t any obstacles at all. I can’t fully utilize the full potential of the rod and I can’t tell exactly what it’s made of.

Later on, I came out with an idea which I had improvised based on this circumstance to test the rod. Since, this was a paid pond and there’s plentiful of fish waiting to be caught. I knew that I can afford to miss hookups and catching lesser is not my concern as I came here with a purpose. To test fishing tackles and give feedbacks for further improvements.

So, my plan was to buckle up my teeth, feather the rod, crank gently and twilit slightly to get the most feel out of the full carbon rod, let the lure hit the muddy bottom and hope for a strike from the fish. Sensitivity was the first property that I took this rod for a test.

This method worked very well because I could tell how my lure is behaving at the bottom of the pond. When I am using the rod in this manner, I chanced a few attempts to strike when the slightest “tuck” can be felt. It came back with roots and some other organic object belonging to earth.

Finally, I realized that the rod is very sensitive through this test, partly because of the high carbon content in the rod shaft. The other few reasons are the rod been light in weight, geometry settings with the ideal placement of guides, reel seat and grip on the rod. It’s very well-balanced considering the length of the rod. I took note of all these as I have been an amateur rod builder since young age and I have tested many fishing rods since then.

CASTING

Been a land based fishing rod, a shore luring rod, surfcasting rod and practically almost every fishing rod. Today, fisherman gathers together to practice and exchange pointers regarding casting rods. The amount of flexibility on a fishing rod has also become a deciding factor when one wishes to purchase a new rod.

Hence, I took note of this throughout the years as I had always been a tournament caster. Casting is in my blood and I fully understand the fundamentals of a good cast. In order to fish efficiently, accuracy and distance in a cast makes it possible to improve productivity. Although, it doesn’t always relate casting further means catching more fish. But, having the ability to cast further is always a better option as you get to choose the range.

In one of my tests on the Shimano Exsence, the latest and most advance fishing rod in Shimano products. As many might not be aware, feel is a very important element in casting as well as fishing. The components which you use on the rod are the contributing factor to feel.

Over the years, we have seen fishing rods that come with standard Fuji DPS reel seat. Those were standard items that can be bought in bulk and fitted easily onto fishing rods. Reel seats liked these were general usage items but not everybody likes to use them.

More often, anglers do not realize that a good reel seat serve more than 1 purpose. Other than to clamp the reel tight in place, styling, feel and ergonomics are equally as important as well.

With regards to this, Shimano has redefine the way anglers use their reel seat and what they truly lookout for in redesigning this simple component. Shimano has engineered a master-piece reel seat made with a material called CI-4 which is very comfortable to hold, light in weight, sleek and stylish. CI-4 is a material created by the interfusion of cardon and polyamide. Initially created by Shimano’s cycling division brake bracket, this flagship technology will be transfer to Shimano’s fishing tackles products such as the upcoming fishing Reels body and also Reel seats for this Exsence Rod.

When I am holding onto the new CI-4 reel seat, I could feel that the entire rod’s sensation change dramatically. The hard EVA grips were positioned just at the right spot and it blends well together with the reel seat.

The entire grip is comfortable for a long cast, the rod is very responsive to whipping action and with the implementation of Fuji’s new guide concept. Casting with this rod is really a joy. Currently, Shimano is the first launch customer for Fuji’s new guide concept. This new guide concept is used on some of our rods.

With the introduction of Shimano’s new CI-4 reel seat and Fuji’s new guide concept, I felt that Shimano has redefine the way we want our rods to look and work.

THE PATIN EXPEDITION


The last day of the field trip was to fish the Patin fish located in Bangkapong – Bangkok,
This is an affordable pond for anglers whom want to fish for respectable sizes fish at a fraction of cost as compared to all other fishing ponds that we went to the previous two days.

SIENNA FD WITH LESATH ULTRA ROD




The day’s first pair up is the affordable yet effective Sienna FD reel coupled with the upcoming Lesath Ultra Rod. Even though it’s just a 4000 size Sienna FD, however it does not stop Jeffrey in getting his prized catch after a mere 15 minutes fight.

BAITRUNNER D WITH LESATH ULTRA ROD

Catch today was not particularly good , however I also managed to get my prized catch using another set of tackles – the newly launched Baitrunner D 4000 size reel with the highly rated Lesath Rod

Catch was not particularly good for the last day, however, we managed to have to few more hook ups before we reluctantly pack up to catch our flight to Singapore and Malaysia respectively with the feeling of wanting to stay a couple of day more to enjoy more of the fun and excitement of catching those fishes knowing what kind of ‘Weapon’ we are equipped with!.




Writer’s note: At the point of time when I penned down this article, I was sitting in front of my PC in Singapore with my heart and mind still in Thailand. I am writing this article with great interest and joy hoping to share one of my greatest experiences with fellow fisherman.