Drennan ESOX Spinflex 1.5lb TC 7' 2 piece.

**Giles**

Well new rod, new line and I couldnt have picked a worse reel from my arsenal to go with it. The rod is so light and the reel I used was a quality shimano item but just way too heavy in contrast to the rod. My angling mates Craig (Craigus7) was on his first drain trip for Pike and along with my usual winter Pikeing and devoted Carp angler mate Andy we had good hopes for the day. Perfect weather and a water myself and Andy have fished for what seems like forever. Good times ahead but not for me.

The rod coped well but the heavy reel almost made the rod feel dull with no feel. This lack of feel and a butt heavy rod made a nice recipe for some classic chinese recipies:

"sour and miffed, lure in the reeds" when casting along margins.
"Green weed and stick soup" when going deep.

Not a good day!

I can take solice only in the fact that I made the wrong choice of reel and the drain we fished had recently (the day before) had its marginal reeds cut back and the cuttings were floating along all afternoon. To top this Craig caught his PB Pike and Andy got the worst crows nest ever on his reel which ended his day. (i also caught the biggest fish of the day which made up for everything).

If you do buy this rod make sure you get a lightweight reel for spining or all of the feel will be lost. I've been out since with a lighter reel and the rod is perfect and well worth the money and out performed my (broken) old faithfull. Infact I may buy one of the lighter ones too for Perch during the winter. Not to mention i'll be buying a devoted reel for the rod.

Giles.

**marcelxl** · Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:50 pm Post subject:

Its all a question of balance, my personal choice for a spinning outfit is for the reel as small as you can get away with so it just balances above the reel on your finger.
Failing that be a real man and get a multiplier set up!! LOL

hmmmm, healthy debate time me thinks!

My old feller has the original spinflex- has had it for years they are a wicked if a tad lightweight classic spinning rod.
I had one too but a fat Lancastrian fell out of a boat on to it!

**Mart** · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:35 pm Post subject:

looks like this posts a bit old but i'll add to it anyway Big Smile

i've got 3 spinning rods at the mo although i'm gonna get rid of my single handed baitcasting outfit wilson makes it look so easy on telly but even tho i can do it it just doesnt feel comfortable, along with that i've got a wychwood rogue plugger 30-60g and an old i mean really old shakespeare ugly stick perfect for little perch spinners and light plugs someone had chucked it out, one mans rubbish is another mans treasure and all that Cool

**marcelxl** · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:49 pm Post subject:

I`m a massive fan of the multiplier/baitcast combo.
I think you may have the wrong reel, the john wilson one is s**** to use, thumb trip too high up.
I will drop an article later about this, but get yourself on ebay and get a smaller low profile reel from the states.

**Mart** · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 10:53 pm Post subject:

its not the reel its just casting single handed that feels out of balance with the amount of weight required to get the spool spinning well enough for a good chuck my wrist flexs but not as it should to punch the lure if that makes sense, think a double handled trigger grip rod would be better for me

**marcelxl** · Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:15 pm Post subject:

years ago i saw a talk by a bloke called spence petros (famous US angler) at a PAC conference and he said that single handed rods should not be used for pike and I tend to agree. You need a slightly longer handle only if its just a little for the other hand to help on the snappy casts and to overlap the wrist whilst playing fish. fail ing that do some wrist exercises (WKD can give you pointers there!)
I`ve been sold on these outfits for yrs now and use them for the majority of my pike fishing, spinning set up only get used now for most saltwater, lighter set ups (ultralights which is impossible to do efficiently on the multi) and occasionally spoon/spinnerbaits.
BUT it is down to preference with the exception of BIG lures, all other lurefishing can be done comfortably on the fixed spool outfit.

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