THE Samurai range of rod blanks brought into Australia by the Fuji Rod Component people, Jeff Frogley Agencies, are gaining quite a following as anglers discover the versatility and performance that these little blanks are delivering. In past rod building columns, we have had a look at a few recipes on these blanks and the feed back we’ve had has been pretty good.
One of the smallest blanks they produce is the No. 11 and No. 12. Both four feet eight inches long, the No. 11 is suited to line classes of one to three kilos, while the No. 12 is slightly heavier and fishes three-kilo line nicely. At 4’ 8”, they are quite a small outfit; nonetheless, they are quite deceptive in the power that they produce.
Freshwater fishing in dams and creeks is one of the fastest growing sectors of fishing these days. Many anglers walk small creeks, fishing tight snags along the bank, or work their way along in canoes. It is often the case that a long rod can be awkward, catching on bushes or handling in a small canoe. These rods have proved superb for this type of fishing and we sell quite a few of them for this purpose.
Chasing the likes of bream, flathead and whiting around the estuaries is not out of the question for these sticks as they deliver small lures such as the little Crawdads, Micro Mullets, Attack Lures and Classic Woods beautifully.
Once anglers have used these little sticks, they love them and rarely leave them behind on a fishing trip. They are ultra light, sensitive and a pleasure to use.
When building up these rods, cork grips are the best way to go as you want to try to keep the outfit as light as possible. Cork, being a natural product and the density that it is, passes on vibration significantly better than soft EVA rod grips, giving you a feel for what the lure is doing. Even the vibrations of small swimming lures are transmitted. The beauty of this sensitive outfit is that you can quickly tell if your lure is not swimming quite right, has picked up a bit of weed or, with a bit of practice, you can tell when the fish are hitting the lure lightly but not hooking up.
We have two rod recipes here for you, one as a baitcast and one as a spin. Both have only small butt grips as they are Tom Thumb-sized single-handed units. I’ve actually built my young feller one of the No. 12 Samurai spin rods up and, even though he has only just turned one, he can hold the rod and the little Silstar GFX spinning reel I have on it in one hand. He is still coming to terms with what it is and how to use it, but I’m working on it and getting just as much pleasure out of using it as he is - although I don’t seem to be able to get away with swinging it about and hitting mum in the head like he can!!
The outfit isn’t really for him, but I use that as an excuse to have another rod and reel for myself - just what I need for my ever-growing collection !! I enjoy using it and often slip over to the dam behind home and throw a few of those tiny little Yozuri Snap Bean lures about. Black’s my favourite colour and it resembles the many small beetles that are found around the fringes of the dam. Being such light lures, they are quite difficult to cast with any great accuracy and attain significant distance - that is, unless you drop it on the end of one of these little Samurai blanks. It becomes a precision little instrument that you’ll love using.
The build of the rod has been kept pretty straightforward, utilising single foot Fuji BLVLG guides and minimal binds to hold them in place. The blanks are easy to get hold of at your local tackle store and, should the shop not have one, it is only a matter of a few days before they can have one in stock.
If you fish with small, light lures around the estuaries, dams or hiking along rivers, then you will soon appreciate the value of having one of these little sticks in your collection.
SPECIFICATIONS:
012 SAMURAI SPIN
Butt: 12cm cork
Reel Seat: Fuji DPSM 16 - fixed hood up
Foregrip: 7.5cm cork
Tip: BPLT 6/1.8
Guides: BLVLG #7 - 95mm; #8 - 105mm; #10 - 145mm; #12 - 175mm; #16 - 245mm.
012 SAMURAI BAITCAST
Butt: 90mm
Reel seat: Fuji TPSM 16 trigger
Foregrip: 75mm cap: Fuji BRC 19mm
Tip: Fuji BPLT 6/1.8
Guides: Fuji BLVLG #7 - 65mm; #7 - 75mm; #8 - 95mm; #8 - 115mm; #10 - 130mm; #12 - 155mm; BSVLG #16 - 225mm
