NO matter what field you look in, you will usually see a few prominent names or companies - those which are continually striving to lead the market place. To do this they need to be developing products and products that are good enough for others to aspire to.
The names that you see that have been there for a long time become so because they produce the goods and present the product to the market well.
In rod building circles one of the innovators and leaders in componentry is the Fuji company from Japan. They have been building rod components seemingly forever (well, since 20th January 1945 at least). It is a family business with quite a substantial staff and hence is a very proud company. Its product has to be good.
Many of us would have seen how the way we fish has changed a lot over the past few years - graphite rods, braided lines and more than just the odd angler using lures.
New fishing techniques and new fishing accessories need new developments in the rod building field. This maybe as simple as a new style of guide material to resist corrosion, line scoring or a frame shape that aids in casting.
We see it in the reels we fish with so it is only natural that rod componentry improves as well.
The people at Fuji have been doing their fair share of research and development to build components that are suitable for light weight graphite rods, that help casting distance, are sensitive, resist corrosion and guides which can handle braid yet still be light weight.
Last month we had the trade tackle show here in Brisbane and several of the Fuji people including executive vice president Mr. Kazuhito Ohmura attended. Prior to their arrival I'd been passed on a few new design in guides and concepts of rod building, along with a few other rod manufacturers around the country to put to use.
The one we will have a look at this month is Fuji' new CW BSG guide.
As the rod we made up was going to be on display at the tackle show, I wanted to make it up into a rod that would cater for a specific field of fishing and be cosmetically appealing at the same time.
The guides are chrome finished with the highly polished silicon centre ring, actually it is not a ring in the centre it is an oval shape insert. The oval shape ring allows you a small centre and narrow guide frame which is helpful in the thinner lighter graphite rods that we have today. The guides comprise of a number of single foot style guides and a number of double foot guides.
The lure casting / trolling anglers that use braid are the anglers I had in mind to build this new stick up for, of which the guides lend themselves ideally for.
The new single foots were nice and strong and I felt quite confident that they could support braid being fished hard over them. A six kilo baitcaster is perhaps the most popular size rod being used in this area.
I needed to make the rod from graphite to keep it light and it had to be a strong and robust graphite. There are some great graphite sticks around but one of the hardest wearing ones that I've come across are those from the Composite Developments people in New Zealand.
I'm quite a devotee of the seven foot Albagraph spin rods and have accounted for a few records on these rods. Last year they released a new blank into the range - an Albagraph 8 rated at four to eight kilos.
The tip is a bit lighter than the Albagraph 5, for those that are familiar with these blanks. The softer tip would aid in lure casting and still pick up the action of the lure as it bumped or swam along.
The bottom of the blank was cut with the tip untouched to give us an overall length of 170cm.
Cork grips were added, a number 17 Fuji deluxe reel seat and a mix of the new guides as shown.
I have to say that I was a lot more impressed with the finished rod, having now fished with it, than I thought I would be. It casts lures beautifully, responds well, offers great feel and has the power to pull good fish, tow big lures and is ideal for fishing with braid.
Being a deep blue blank the chrome finish on the guides is complimented well with the addition of blue under binds, silver trims and a black overbind.
I 've built a few more of these rods up since, some of you may have seen them at the Brisbane Boat Show in late August. The new concept for guide location and the style of guides we have used on this rod do make up into one of the best mid to heavy bait casters that I have built.
There is no problems using it to troll for flathead, chase mangrove jack or even snapper out on the reef.
Fuji are going to release these guides onto the market over the next couple of months including a number of new sizes and a gun smoke finish.
The double foot versions will very likely be used on a lot of boat and reef rods on their own, while the single foots are the strongest I've seen and offer themselves to a variety of uses.
Keep an eye out for them.
SPECIFICATIONS
Blank - Composite Developments Albagraph 8 cut to 170 cm from the butt.
Rear Grip - 5” Cork
Reel Seat - TPSD 17
Front Grip - 4” Cork
Butt Cap - BRC 19
Guides and spacings
Tip - PST 8/2.6
DBSG 5.0 - 70 mm
DBSG 5.0 - 73 mm
DBSG 5.5 - 85 mm
DBSG 5.5 - 99 mm
DBSG 6.0 - 105 mm
DBSG 6.0 - 120 mm
WDBSG 6.0 - 140 mm
WDBSG 6.0 - 163 mm
WDBSG 10.0 - 188 mm
