THE Australian agent for Fuji rod building components, Jeff Frogley Agencies, also imports a small range of graphite rod blanks - the Samurai range.
Aimed at providing a reasonably priced high quality graphite blank, the range originally consisted of 10 lightweight spin and bait cast blanks. This range has been fine-tuned a bit and at present there are eight models, most of which are suited for two to four kilo work.
One of our most popular has been the 1 - 3 kilo spin blank. The blanks are thin and very light yet have proved to be quite durable in the caring hands of the owner.
No doubt the popularity of these rods has increased due to the number of people fishing their local waterways, in particular fresh water which has been stocked with many native species.
The pleasures of slipping out early in the morning or late in the afternoon and throwing a few lures around the snags speak for themselves. Even if you don’t catch a fish the outing is enjoyable.
Samurai blanks, being nice and fine at the tip can cast very small lures with ease yet still have that capacity to handle a good fish.
Over the past few months Fuji has introduced a few new products onto the Australian market. Some are a great addition to this little spin blank.
The first is a high frame single foot guide, BYLG. My line of thinking is that you have a nice light blank to start with complemented with a fine crisp action, so why overburden the rod with heavy cumbersome guides?
There are some beaut little spinning reels around the place today which are ideal for casting small lures. Daiwa certainly make some top line stuff in this range which are a dream to use, as do Shimano.
The reels with the long cast spools are well matched to this style of guide. The size 20 BYLG is ideal for the stripping guides and see that cone of line coil nicely off the reel and through the guides of the rod.
From the stripper guide we graduate down to a number 7 BYLG and a number 6 PST on the tip. We double up on a couple of guides which you will see on the recipe.
We have kept the binds nice and simple as well with the stripper under and over bound and a single end trim in metallic thread. I’ve also under bound the guides, though these have been kept to a bare minimum extending just a little further than the ends of the guide foot.
Down at the butt end of the rod we slipped on six inches of cork and shaped it to fit into the palm of the hand. The foregrip is four inches long and tapers down at the top.
The reel seat is another new addition. The hoods have a checkered look to them with light and dark patches of grey on the hood. The centre section of the reel seat, instead of being graphite, is made of rosewood which looks very smart against the gunsmoke colour of the hoods on the reel seat.
This new reel seat, an SKD, is available in two sizes, a number 16 and a number 17. It comes in three sections, the two ends and the centre wood insert. At this stage it is only available as a standard seat, though I dare say a few custom rod builders will play around and place a trigger fitting on the timber insert to use with bait casters.
Aside from being used on spin sticks these SKD reel seats will be ideal to use on fly rods. They certainly look the part and the materials they are made from will not corrode. The graphite hoods on the reel seat certainly hold the fly reels in position better than many of the alloy reel seats used on fly rods.
Assembly of the SKD reel seat is quite easy and all you need is a little 24hr Araldite. Make sure you clean away all the excess glue that squeezes out to ensure a clean smart job that the rest of the rod deserves.
I’m sure you’ll be happy with this little spin stick and while not all shops will stock the blanks and components we have mentioned, Jeff Frogley Agencies has good stock of all these fittings and can usually get them out to your local dealer within a few days of ordering.
Good fishing!
SPECIFICATIONS:
Blank: Samurai 002
Butt: Cork 140mm X 9mm
Winch: Fuji SKD 16
Foregrip: Cork 100mm X 8mm
Cap: Fuji BRC 19
Tip: Fuji PST 6/2.0
Guides: Fuji BYLG
