I really enjoy the tradeshow, it’s time to catch up with the Daiwa staff and have a leisurely, but in depth, look at the full range of Daiwa gear. As usual as you walk in you are immediately struck by the range of products on show covering all the various angling disciplines. As requested I sorted my camera out and meet up with Stephen for a guided tour.
First off, we headed straight for rods in ‘the outer limits’. Now if you want the ultimate in carp rods the new Basia AGS is something very special. The AGS stands for Air Guide System, incredibly strong, incredibly light, carbon guides that really do make the blank lighter and crisper. Their RRP’s start at £680!
However delivering awesome value is the new Emcast range. Slim, black and sleek the 12’ rods all have an RRP of £99.99.
For match and feeder fishing, four new ranges of rods; TDR, Yank N Bank, Harrier and the Daiwa Carp Match and Feeder, all with carbon quiver tips. I was very impressed, even more so when I saw the price tag on the Daiwa Carp Match and Feeder rod I was holding, you get a lot of rod for £35!
We moved on to the fly rods with the amazing four piece Wilderness and True Flight ranges, plus the value for money three piece Daiwa Fly catching my eye. There are three models to choose from in the Daiwa Fly range all costing less than £40. Amazing.
For the pike angler the new Whisker Pike range features a 12ft 3lb test curve and a 12ft 3 ½test curve plus a 10ft 4lb boat option.
As always I could only marvel at the range of poles, with Stephen telling me that there are 10 new poles in the range, including 7 new TDZR’s. They looked great.
Onto the reels and being a left hander myself it was nice to see a left handed multiplier in the shape of the Sealine Level Wind in 20HL and 30HL sizes. I couldn’t resist a detailed look at the all black Tournament. Called the Series Black it has all the features of the ever popular Tournament ST, which has long been acknowledged as a classic carp reel. Stephen was also keen to show me the Match Winner range. Sure to be popular on the serious match circuit there are 5 in the range for float and feeder fishing, featuring Hard Aluminium bodies same as the TDR, QD Drag and a High Impact line clip. Plus there are two handle options on the 2508 and 3012 models
Sure to be a popular addition to many match anglers gear next year the Steve Ringer/ Will Raison designed Tournament 500 Seat Box System looked very impressive and versatile.
We finished our walk round at a display of lures, the D Frog lure particularly attracting my interest. Five colours, a concave front to produce a popping action and a soft hollow body that masks the hook points, to reduce snagging on the retrieve, but collapses when a fish takes. I made a mental note to get some ordered.
I let Stephen get back to greeting visitors and continued to wander around. I’ve only scratched the surface of what was on display but I think it’s fair to say there is something for everyone no matter what they want to fish for, how they want to fish or what their budget is.
I left early evening, in the dark, in the pouring rain, where did I put that flask?
Brian Skoyles (Oct 14)
