THERE was a time when the vast majority of anglers that headed up the beach did so with big heavy surf poles loaded with a minimum of 30 pound line. There were a couple of reasons for this, firstly there were plenty of big tailor and jewfish in the gutters and the blokes could really slay into the fish. Secondly, the sport or the gear used was nowhere near as refined as it is today.
Like golf, tennis or squash participants in the sport are just looking for that lighter gear that is a pleasure to use. We see the same in the fishing rod trade with a tendency these days to lighter gear. The surf is no different to freshwater fishing in this respect. Today we see more people heading up to the beach for just a general fish in the pursuit of bream, dart, whiting, flathead and perhaps a few tailor.
Two of the most popular surf rods that we make are for such fishing situations, both of which are made on Snyder Glas blanks. Snyder Glas go right back to the early fifties where they started off as Len Butterworth. The reputation of top quality surf and estuary blanks continues on to this day and you will be hard stretched to find someone that doesn’t agree that today's Snyder Glas blanks set the standard in these fields.
The two blanks that we will have a look at and make up are the MT 4144 and the MT 6144. The first rod being suited to ten pound line and the second one to fifteen pound line.
Both are rolled up on multi tapered mandrels which gives them the sensitivity in the tip for feeling those bites yet the butt section has enough strength to cast baits well out. Weights of up to 40 grams will suit the 4144 while 60 gram weights can be cast on the 6144.
The lighter of the two rods is ideal for general surf fishing while the 6144 makes a good all round surf rod capable of handling a few good tailor as well.
These rods are going to be made up a little different to the standard rod. We actually build these two up in two different formats - a standard surf style and one which has been formulated over many years by club fishermen and myself. There was a day when only clubbies would buy these made up sticks.
Today many of the shops carry these as standard items and find that keen anglers are buying more than the clubbies. It is not much different, just a little more specialised.
Queensland is die hard Alvey country so that is what they have been balanced up to match. The MT4144 is a perfect match to the Alvey 650B and the MT6144 can be used with this reel or the 650BC drag version. Both of these reels are the newer graphite backed Alveys which are light and durable.
As mentioned, the changes are minor but do seem to make a difference to the overall rod.
Butts are kept to six inches with ten inch foregrips and a Fuji FPSM 30 reel seat. An Alvey open runner is placed just above the grip.
The only difference after this is the stripper guide of which we have used a high mount Fuji 40 BHVLG. These one piece guides are a lot stronger than the traditional 60 or 70mm wire stripper and offer less resistance when casting and minimise line slap against the blank.
You will find that you can cast quite well with this set up. Unlike the wire guides there are no welds in the guides so they are less prone to breaking and will last a lot longer.
SPECIFICATIONS:
SNYDER MT4144
Blank: Snyder MT4144
Butt: 6" x 1" eva
Winch: Fuji FPSM 30 thread up
Foregrip: 10" x 1" eva
Cap: 30mm
Tip: Fuji BPLT 8/2.6
Guides: Fuji BSVLG: 10 - 170mm; 12 - 215mm; 16 - 325mm; 20 - 455mm. Fuji BHVLG: 40 - 625mm.
SNYDER MT6144
Blank: Snyder MT6144
Butt: 6" x 1" eva
Winch: Fuji FPSM 30 thread up
Foregrip: 10" x 1" eva
Cap: 30mm
Tip: Fuji BPLT 10/3.2
Guides: Fuji BSVLG: 10 - 165mm; 12 - 170mm; 16 - 225mm; 20 - 315mm; 25 - 385mm. Fuji BHVLG: 40 - 630mm.
