Relax is one of the biggest and most respected soft lure companies in Europe. It started from Poland in the mid 90′s and extended gradually, soon to be reaching the United States. Every year their bait range increases with new items being added to the product family.

Relax Kopyto is one of their first model and maybe the lure they are most proud of. They call it a legend, a lure which has written history in predator fishing. A star lure, with an incredible action and fish catching abilities.

We taught that’s a pretty bold statement for any soft fishing lure and decided to put its name to the test.

When it comes to colors and sizes, Kopyto lures are all about diversity. They come in 7 different sizes, starting from 1 inch (2.5cm) all the way up to 6 inch (15cm). This size range offers versatility in terms of target species and techniques.

Relax Kopyto offers a huge range of over 200 colors, making sure even the most pretentious anglers find their desired patterns. It’s such a big color range that you can easily get lost and confused trying to browse all of it.

Softness & Material
We can agree that one of the biggest secrets of any soft bait is the material composition. It’s one of the key elements in the lure’s action equation. It has to be resistant, yet allow for a natural and appealing swim. The Relax team took this thing very seriously, when manufacturing their lures, and Kopyto is no exception.

It has a pretty tough body, yet the tail portion bends easily on each side.
There’s a simple test you can use with any shad shaped soft lure, that will give you a good clue about whether or not it has a consistent tail action. You only need to hold the lure in a vertical position, with the tail facing up. If the tail bends close to the lure’s body and the paddle is at a good angle, there’s a big chance that the tail will emit good vibrations even at the smallest traction.

This is exactly the case for Relax Kopyto. The tail construction and paddle positioning make this lure a really aggressive softie.

Kopyto initials covering the lure's body.

Durability
Kopyto has a really good material composition, which makes it resistant to predators teeth.
What may happen is that you loose the tail from time to time. The tail portion is pretty thin and because the paddle emits powerful vibrations, predators tend to attack and hold to this area, so it gets ripped off.
It happened to me on several occasions, when fishing for perch or zander (wallaye), to remain without the tail. This is really not such a big deal, as it mainly happens with small fish, not able to swallow the entire lure. Overall Kopyto has a good ratio between softness and durability.

Engineering and Design
Being born out of the European fishing market, Relax Kopyto was meant to address freshwater fishing using the classical jigging technique. Unlike the Japan market, revolving around bass fishing, this soft lure has nothing spectacular regarding packaging, details and finish. It doesn’t posses salt nor scent impregnation. Relax kept it simple, focusing only on action and material.

But if there’s one thing to give credit for, it’s the Kopyto original shape. Let’s be honest, this lure started a new design trend. Because it was so efficient it was copied by a lot of competing companies all over the continent. I think I’ve seen more than ten copycats out there and most of them are really far from the original, mostly due to the material used.

Application
Kopyto works its magic when fished on a jig. Jigging gets the most out of this bait. I caught pretty much all freshwater predators using this soft lure. Species like pike, perch, bass, catfish and zander simply nailed this lure, when properly presented.

If you improvise a little, you can really stretch its application range. I’ve also fished Relax Kopyto on weedless jigs, and the smaller models (2.5” and 3”) work excellent armed with an offset hook. This lets you easily cover techniques like Carolina or Texas with this lure.

Light jigs do pay off!

My favorite presentation with Kopyto is to fish it slowly, using minimum jig weight.
Even though it’s all-year lure, Kopyto really kills it in the spring, before spawning. Big females are protecting their nest, males are highly aggressive and Kopyto is the perfect solution to take advantage of their territoriality.

Big perch love skirt jigs

Action
The lure’s perfect proportions contribute to an amazing action. It’s not just the tail that emits underwater vibrations. Due to the perfect link between body and tail, the hole body moves and emits strong signals. Just pull it through the water and you’ll quickly notice the body movement. No wonder predators can’t resist it.

Kopyto's flexible tail and large paddle are "quilty" for its agressive action

Conclusion
I think the fact that you can find this lure in my personal Top 10 Walleye Baits pretty much sums it up.
Relax Kopyto is an efficient lure and over time has helped me catch more fish. If you improvise a little, it can be fished in multiple manners, using weedless jigs or offset techniques. The size and color range on this model is huge, much bigger than on any other soft baits I’ve used before. Oh, and yes, I think this comes pretty close to a legend.

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

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Tournament fishing has always been the perfect ground for innovations. Fishing enthusiasts from all over the world turn to fishing competitions media channels for fresh info on the latest techniques and tackle. We’re all avid learners, so we like to stay informed.

USA is, for quite a long time now, the perfect environment to aim for a professional fishing career. Bassmaster and FLW Outdoors are the two magnates when it comes to cash prized fishing tournaments. They took fishing to a whole new level, designing the biggest competing environment for pro anglers.

Even though I’m a European angler, I couldn’t stay away from fishing tournaments. It just felt like the perfect place to learn a lot, make friends that share your “disease” and test your limits.
Even though Europe fishing tournaments are still far from what’s happening in the US, they are gaining ground day by day. The technology hype makes it easy for avid anglers all over the world to stay in the loop and fishing tackle ships worldwide in just a couple of days.

Now, there’s a new player out there, waiting to gain ground in professional bass fishing tournaments. It’s called Major League Fishing.

What I like most about it is that it comes packed with a new set of tournament rules. Rules that will change the way you see tournament fishing. All putting a lot of pressure on the angler and getting them out of their comfort zone. They will need to adapt, think and react fast. Otherwise they will face disaster. It will be quite a show, to watch the best of the best competing in these totally new conditions.

The best part about it is that I pictured something extremely similar as the “close to perfection fishing tournament”. I thought about most of these rules before MLF was invented and said to myself…what if?

Well, gladly they’re here now, so let’s see what Major League Fishing adds to the table:

1. No practice days, no way-points

The anglers aren’t allowed any practice days, nor to use their GPS waypoints. This basically eliminates their start strategy and leaves them blind before entering the water. Besides, they are limited to fish on designated sections of the lake that will be disclosed to them 12 hours before the competition rounds begin.
I’m dying to see how the pros react without any practice conclusions.

2. Real time leader board in each bass boat

Now this is a real stress element. Imagine you will know instantly when someone else catches a fish. There are iPads that show a leaderboard with instant catches in every boat. You will know how you rank in any given moment of time.
It will be really hard to focus on your fishing under this circumstances.

3. No limits on the number of fish weighed

Remember the biggest 5 fish rule from FLW or Bassmaster? There’s no place for it here. Why have limits? I always thought that the 5 fish limit increases the percent of luck in this sport. That’s why this is my favorite rule. This comes as a real physical challenge. It will take speed and hard work to climb to the top of the leaderboard.

4. Smaller field of 24 competitors
What this rule does is increase the quality of fishing. Fewer anglers means better fishing and more catches, which is what the audience wants. They will put together 24 of the top pro anglers to compete in this tournament.

Major League Fishing will be available online through pay-per-view broadcast, beginning February 13. I see it as the first tournament fishing “soap opera”, so make sure you don’t miss it!

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

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Orka lures got my attention a few years ago when I walked into a friend’s fishing store and there was a shelf full of these lures waiting for me. Looking at the shelf, the first model that I picked up was the Shad Tail.
Its particular body shape quickly made me imagine its underwater action. And let’s just say, my first impressions were very close to the actual thing.

Orka lures are produced in Serbia, and have expanded rapidly in the lure boxes of many predator fishermen all across Europe. They manufacture over 10 models of soft baits, each coming in different sizes with a substantial color range.

Orka Shad Tail

Orka Shad Tail is a lure that easily stands out. This is mainly because of its shad body and a grub tail. It comes in 4 sizes, from 10cm to 21cm, each size having a 12 color range. Even though you can cover pretty much every situation with these 4 sizes available, I would have loved to fish also with a smaller Shad Tail, let’s say around 6-7cm. I think this size could have been interesting for light tackle and finesse fishing.

Good variety of sizes and colors

Softness and Material
The first thing you notice when you put your hands on a Shad Tail is the quality of the material. The good composition allows this lure to be both pretty soft and resistant. It’s not the softest material out there, but it does the trick. As you will see in the short movie below, this material has also a big influence on the lure’s amazing action.

Another plus of this resistant material is that the lure doesn’t get off the jig easily. This means you don’t have to use glue or other substances to fix the lure on the jig. For me this is pretty important because I really don’t like adjusting the soft lure on the jig every few casts. It’s pretty resistant to predator’s teeth also.

A downsize would be the fact that the material can get pretty sticky sometimes, and when you’re fishing the smallest model (10 cm), this can make the tail stick to the lure’s body during casts.

Durability
Again, judging by the material and having just a little experience, the first time you put your hands on a lure and feel its composition, you will also have a good clue about its resistance. And Shad Tail felt like it had durability written all over it.

With soft baits two things may happen. They usually get messed up when you try to arm them on a jig (or offset) and fail few times, or when they end up between the predators teeth. For me the second one is not that important, as long as they bring fish to the boat, but just so you know this softie handles excellent even the sharpest teeth.
The first one though can be inconvenient, but it’s not the case for the Shad Tail. It has a very resistant and dense shad body that will not allow several jig changes or arming attempts to mess up the lure.

Engineering / Design
You really can’t talk about this lure without giving some credit for its design. Sure, it’s not the only or the first shad body/grub tail lure on the market, but you must admit it has a significant amount of originality in it. This unique small shad body with a long and wide tail is responsible for an aggressive action and powerful vibrations.

The tail length increases significantly in bigger sizes (15cm, 17cm and 21cm) so you have to be careful what hook size you use. A small hook may loose you fish, while a too large one will affect the lures action. You can start with a hook size of 2/0 for the 10cm model and end up with 6/0 or 7/0 for the 17, 21cm sizes.

Regarding lure details, the only things that stand out on the lures body are the extruded eyes (not painted), a small back fin, and the Orka logo on the tail. Not that I would expect high quality finish from a soft bait.

Action and Applications
Shad Tail’s amazing action is a result of great design and good soft material. This lure puts out strong vibrations, making it impossible to get by unnoticed.

What I like most is that it works flawlessly at extremely slow speeds using light jigs. This tells a lot about how versatile this lure really is. The tail works hard at slow speeds, which kind of says it all when it comes to this type of soft baits.

In the movie below we made the test using jigs of only 7gr on 4/0 hooks and the 13cm Shad Tail worked like a charm. For an even more aggressive action you can use heavier jigs.

The versatility remains also when it comes to different fish species. This lure seems to have caught them all: walleye (zander), pike, catfish, perch and even bass. I personally caught four of the above, and I’m sure there are more to come.

I think the perfect technique for this lure to work wonders is the classical jigging. If you fish in heavy cover areas try a weedless jig head, maybe even equipped with a skirt, for more vibrations. The Shad Tail can also be fished on an offset hook, but from my experience, in this manner you don’t really get access to all of its potential.

Conclusion: Orka Shad Tail is a powerful soft lure. It has a great body shape that will put out pretty much the strongest vibrations you can get from a soft tail lure. The material is considerably soft and highly resistant, playing a key role in the underwater action. Besides, Orka Shad Tail offers great quality for the price. Don’t be skeptical, check these lures out, you might be surprised.

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

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Today we’re going to focus on a US based company with a long and successful history, founded by two anglers-turned-lure-designers about 65 years ago. They started producing different lure models which soon became favorites amongst anglers throughout the world, all this under the brand name Bomber.

Bomber lures are well known for their fish catching abilities and increased efficiency in bass fishing. They cover a wide range of crankbaits, minnows, jerkbaits, plugs, even spoons, in order to prepare you for every situation you’re about to face on the water.

One of the models that really got my attention is the Bomber Pro Long A – B15AP, Bomber’s ultimate jerkbait designed by the BassMaster professional Tim Horton. This lure features great action and exceptional components.

The B15A model, Bomber's professional jerkbait

Packing:

When it comes to packing, Bomber likes to keep it simple.

The lure’s packing is quite simple, nothing eye-catching, just the company’s logo and colors. It doesn’t stand out, but it keeps the lure safe and your fingers away from the sharp trebles, which by the way are not secured. The B15AP packing also displays the lure’s diving depth and the hooks brand, Gamakatsu in this case.

Now let's see what's behind that package...

Finish: Bomber lures are all made of plastic. This doesn’t mean they lack good looks. The first thing I noticed before putting the lure to work was the neat translucent finish and details on this lure. The Pro Long A model features some impressive details like 3D eyes, carved gills, carved and painted scales. The plastic finish has a top coat which is used for back and belly painting.

Two deadly pattern for clear waters.

When designing the Pro Long A, the guys at Bomber went for the classic minnow shape, but with incredible proportion and balance in mind. This lure is all about premium hardware. It has an internal bearing system designed to provide stability, great casting abilities and noise for attracting fish from a distance. You’ll hear in the video footage below just how noisy these lures can get underwater. I for one, couldn’t believe my ears.
The coating is pretty tough and resists well at all the hitting and dropping a fished lure can get. In time, it will get scratches, but nothing serious to affect the overall looks.

3D eyes, gills and carved scales make up a great realistic finish.

Terminals: Normally the Pro Long A model comes equipped with Excalibur Tx3 hooks, but the Tim Norton’s series went for nothing but the best components. They replaced the trebles brand with Gamakatsu, and attached a highly resistant Excalibur tear drop split ring to the front eyelet. These trebles are extremely sharp and resistant, so there’s no chance you’ll loose any fish.

Premium terminals, sharp Gamakatsu trebles and tear drop Excalibur split ring.

Even though I’m a fan of dark colored trebles, I still have to mention the sharpness and difficulty to bend these ones. Having a lure equipped with three trebles gives the fish less chance to escape. Also on the Pro Long A this thing has no downsize when it comes to casting or the lure’s swimming action. You can remove the middle treble for better snag resistance.

Casting: Bomber Pro Long A showed his excellent casting capabilities starting from the very first cast. It makes accurate casting sound easy. I was fishing a jerkbait that could be easily placed at impressive distances in specific spots. How’s that for perfect presentation? It is exactly what I need from this type of lure, especially if I want to keep it in the “hot zone” as long as possible.

Even though it doesn’t posses an actual long cast system (weight transfer system), the ingenious engineering of the internal bearing system stands behind the Pro Long’s A impressive casting abilities, this along with it’s actual weight. The bearings are positioned to provide balance and great horizontal posture when the lure is suspending underwater. If this posture isn’t right, and the lure suspends at a wrong angle, it may loose you many fish. Not the case for this beauty.

Bomber's internal bearing system, the key to perfect balance and great casting.

Action: OK, so I liked the looks but in the end it’s all about the action, right? Cause great action will give you confidence in a lure, and that’s what brings fish to the boat. Let me just start by saying that this isn’t a lure you want to fish using a linear retrieve. It will land you fish even so, but you won’t discover it’s true potential until you start fishing it like a true jerkbait, using a combination of jerk, twitch and suspend moves. This is when you start getting really impressed by it’s erratic and appealing action.

Looks and action, all packed in one efficient lure.

After just a few days of fishing, the B15A model climbed up significantly in my jerkbaits top. I noticed that the Pro Long A is also a really permissive lure, taking little practice until you master most of its moves. It will deliver magic even in a beginner’s hands. I think the video footage below speaks for itself.

Video:

Application: Bomber Pro Long A is a jerkbait primary designed for bass fishing. You can fish it near underwater structures or work the top of weed areas in shallow waters. It will definitely outperform it’s predecessors. I recommend using medium or medium-heavy baitcasting gear when fishing this baby.

I find it extremely efficient for bass and pike (musky), but I’m sure that if used properly it will land many other species. Some bass fishermen also use it as a wake bait, just to get an idea of it’s versatility. Just use your imagination and it will make fishing really fun.

Conclusion: I would say that if you’re into this type of fishing than the Bomber Pro Long A is a must have in your jerkbait tackle box. It has an excellent price and brings appealing moves and great looks to the table. Due to it’s amazing action it soon became one of my favorites, a lure with which I find myself fishing quite often. Good job Bomber on this one!

And away he goes...

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

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One of the reasons we decided to switch to a tackle review blog is that we felt there are a lot of lures that don’t get the attention they deserve. Extremely efficient and affordable lures, that people have no clue about. Now that got your attention, right?

Behind them usually stand small companies or even individuals that didn’t make it to the big markets, like US or Asia.

Krakusek is one of them. They design great hand made lures at a very good price. The polish company has 6 models of small to medium sized lures, targeting species like: trout, chub, asp, walleye or pike.

Our focus for today is the Krakusek No. 1 model, the first Krakusek lure to be produced.

Krakusek No. 1, the first one to make it to the market

As you can see it comes in 3 different sizes and you can choose from a wide range of 28 appealing patterns.

Finish: Krakusek lures are all made of foam. The No.1 shape was initially inspired many years ago by one the first lures out there, the legend called Rapala Original.

Legendary shapes that last... Krakusek No. 1 makes no exception.

Even though there’s nothing spectacular about the shape of these lures, the big difference is in the positioning of their lip, very close to the line tie, at a very sharp angle. Besides, the lip is concave, not flat like you would normally expect. I’m quite sure this is responsible for the lure’s aggressive action.

The lip shape and positioning is the key to Krakusek's incredible action.

The bill, concave shaped and very close to the line tie.

Krakusek lures come with two types of patterns, foil and photo finish. The photo finish features lifelike patterns, on top of which resides an appealing glitter layer. And as you will see in the video footage, the glitter really adds some sparks to the lure’s action.

Different models of Krakusek lures, with a wide range of lifelike patterns.

Foil is also nicely combined with carved gills and some back and belly paint, ending up in some nice flashes when this one dives in. Unfortunately, no 3D details on this lure.

Terminals: These lures come equipped with Mustad trebles and the old fashion round split rings. Even though their size doesn’t recommend them for big predators, I would totally suggest an upgrade on the trebles. They tend to bend quite easily. I had some unpleasant experiences with this type of trebles, fishing for asp, when after a powerful strike all my Mustad trebles became straight. The color is good though.

Mustad trebles, not the best option if you're planning to land a trophy fish.

Casting: Distance is one important aspect, especially when you are after cautious fish, like trout. Krakusek lures have a good weight/length ratio, and they cast quite well. Their shape and eyelets positioning make it pretty hard for the trebles to tangle with the line while aiming for that perfect cast.
Although, I think coming up with a sinking version will add some extra weight, which can be a big plus in casting distance. I’ve always been a fan of the sinking/suspending versions, especially when it comes to small sized baits.

Krakusek lures cast well, but a sinking version will definetely outcast the actual floating one.

The biggest model will dive up to 2m on a normal cast. Of course trolling will get them deeper, but normally you can get them easily around 1-1.5m.

Action: This is what I love about these lures. Their aggressive action and incredible stability.
I discovered these lures three years ago, while trout fishing in Norway. We were fishing in a pretty wide stream, around 30 meters and about 1-1.5 meters deep. I was using a small spoon, because it casts big time and you can explore every inch of water with it. One of my friends was using a Krakusek lure, and while taking a short lunch break he showed it to me. I loved the shape and colors on that one, so I decided to make a few casts.

All lures perform impecable right out of the box.

The lure’s action was incredible. It worked like a charm with or against the current. As you will see in the video it has a fast and aggressive swim, not wide at all. And it’s extremely stable even in the most powerful streams. I got about a dozen of them, and they all work like a charm, right out of the box. No exceptions. How’s that for a 5$ lure?

Video:

Application: I think these lures are just perfect for stream fishing. Forget spinners and spoons for a second and put these on. You might be impressed, most of the times they turn out to be trout catching machines.
I’ve also successfully used them for chub, perch and asp, and heard they tend to be quite effective on barbels, pike and walleye.

They look kind of hot, don't they?

Conclusion
If you can forget about the design details and features JDM lures accustomed us with, and want a lure that performs impecable at a very good price, than you definitely need some Krakusek lures in your tackle box. I guarantee they won’t let you down.

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

View all posts by Adrian →

Are fiberglass rods outdated? Will high modulus graphite take over? Can a graphite rod challenge fiberglass’s authority in cranking?

These are all common questions I bump into when discussing rod blanks with passionate anglers. And they are all pretty normal questions since fishing rods are tending to become more sophisticated day by day.

They aren’t just tools for landing fish anymore. Rods need to provide comfort, extreme sensitivity and amplify the adrenaline rush during fish fighting. That’s why they are becoming specialized, each one having a certain application in fishing.

Let’s have a look at some of the most important characteristics of a fishing rod, and see for ourselves if high modulus graphite will really make fiberglass disappear.

1.Blank Design and Presentation

The first thing you notice when you put your hands on a rod is the blank. Fiberglass blanks have a higher overall diameter, which means they are thicker. Being used to graphite blanks, you might find this unattractive. Get over it. You’ll find there’s more to fishing rods than just looks.
Besides, if you plan to go for a custom rod, there are many ways to hide this and transform the blank into an incredible looking rod. Split grip is just one option.

Two Seeker fiberglass blanks turned into beautiful split-grip rods

2.Sensitivity

This is graphite’s territory. Graphite rods are known to be extremely sensitive and delicate. In many situations this is a huge advantage. But sometimes, this extreme sensitivity can be fatal. Many tournament anglers complained that sometimes graphite can make you react too fast and lose fish.
It happened to me in many cases, when fishing for pike, asp, zander (wallaye), chub, even bass. Graphite made me set the hook too early.

In these conditions, fiberglass is the right move. It won’t loose you any fish plus it gives you the right amount of sensitivity so that you don’t feel like fishing blindly.

If you still feel like you need more sensitivity, you can go for a combination of fiberglass and graphite blank. This is meant to increase the sensitivity of the whole system.

3.Weight

Many people say fiberglass blanks are heavier that graphite. Technically, in most of the cases, this might be true. But for me this isn’t really an issue. I like to fish with custom built rods. In this case, a good rod builder will balance your rod in such manner that the extra weight will vanish.

Andrei working on a Lamiglas Skeet Reese blank

I have fished with old fiberglass rods that seemed lighter than other fancy graphite rods. We measured them on a scale and of course the graphite was lighter. The secret relies in balancing the rod. If your rod is balanced correctly, those extra grams won’t disturb you anymore.

Many of the new fiberglass series rods are built in the same manner. They’re not feather light, like you’d expect from graphite, but they won’t stop you from fishing comfortably.

4.Action

There is a common confusion made regarding the rod action. Fiberglass rods, because they seem soft, people put them in the moderate action range or below. This is very far from the truth. There are fast, moderate-fast, moderate or slow action fiberglass rods. And the same applies to graphite. Action has little to do with material, it depends more on the construction parameters.

A difference between fiberglass and graphite blanks is the comeback rate. Fiberglass has a slower comeback rate. This translates in more vibrations after the cast. I don’t recommend fiberglass to beginners, because it can take some time until you master the casting technique. But once you do, the advantages will start to show.

Fiberglass are wonderful rods for landing lightly hooked fish. You have less chance of pulling away the treble hooks out of a fishes mouth. Besides, it will help you tire a fish very quickly. It will absorb all the jerks in the fishes battle and turn the balance your way. This is one of the reasons why fiberglass rods are making a huge comeback among bass fisherman.

Lately I started using a fiberglass rod more often when stream fishing. There are some medium sized rivers near my home town, where I usually fish for zander, asp or catfish.

The Lamiglas blank did a great job tiring this catfish

I started out with… of course… graphite rods. In the strong current the fish weren’t able to absorb the lure well enough and this resulted in a lot of missed fish or bent hooks. When you wait a whole afternoon for that big one to strike, it can get pretty ugly when it gets away. No picture, no believers.

River zander gives up to the fiberglass baitcasting rod

The fiberglass rod helped me hook and land more fish. The fights were shorter and the number of hooked fish increased. Plus I lost fewer lures, due to line breaks. And this gets us to…

5. Applications:

What are the main applications for fiberglass? Fiberglass rods are recommended for crankbaits, spinnerbaits or suspending jerkbaits. You normally fish this lures in spring or late autumn, but the fiberglass applications range is much wider.

For example spoon fishing is amongst my favorites with fiberglass rods. It gives my lures a more natural presentation. Trout and pike are the main target when fishing spoons.

Beautiful trout I caught in Norway using a 6'6'' Seeker fiberglass rod

Professional bass anglers usually use fiberglass when throwing crankbaits. Some say that graphite cranking rods are also an option. I think this mainly depends on the fisherman. Try them both and see which one fits you best. Me, I’m all fiberglass for the above applications.

I also suggest you try jigging with a fiberglass rod. Sounds crazy, right? It is, a little bit. But you might find it interesting and useful in certain situations. I first tried it with a friend’s Seeker rod. We were on a lake with a lot of perch and zander. I had missed a lot of fish, because they didn’t attack my soft baits decisively. All I felt in my graphite rod were small taps. Every hook setting was a disaster. No fish at the end of the line. You can easily get frustrated after a while.

First cast with the Seeker, a perch. Sheer luck, I said. Second cast, bang…a 3 lbs zander. Damn! The graphite rod was just too stiff for the light, finesse presentations needed in that particular case. The 3” grub on a light jig was more successful with a fiberglass rod. The fish reacted immediately to the more natural and appealing lure presentation.

This situations are pretty rare though. Normally a graphite rod is all you need for jigging. Just keep an open mind, there are other options too.

5. Toughness

Every fisherman loves his tackle. I try to be very gentle with mine. But accidents do happen. And fishing rods are not immortal. There are a lot of cases when you drop your rod on the ground, fall on it or hit it hard with different objects. Usually with graphite, after this happens, you end up with a travel pack rod. You have no option but to buy a new one.

Seeker, Lamiglas and Batson, some of the fiberglass rods manufacturers out there

High-modulus graphite is more brittle than fiberglass. If you’re pretty clumsy, like I am, then buying a fiberglass rod can be a good decision. It is by far more resistant than graphite and I strongly believe the two of you will have a long journey ahead.

6. Price

Price is one big advantage that fiberglass has over high modulus graphite. Fiberglass is inexpensive. You can easily find fiberglass blanks at prices that range between 40-70$. I even bought some Batson blanks which I really enjoy fishing with, for less than 20$. Bottom line, fiberglass is more affordable than graphite.

This is another reason why I think you should give this material a try. It’s not a big investment, and even if you don’t like it, you can make someone happy by giving it as a gift.

Remember:
One of the most important things in the whole fishing experience is your rod. Try to match the material with the type of fishing.

Give fiberglass rods a second chance. They are far from the old fiberglass rods our grandparents were used to, which felt lifeless and insensitive. If you decide to use quality components, they can make fishing more pleasant than most graphite rods.

Do you fish with a fiberglass rod? Which type? Are you planning to get one?
I would love to hear from you in the comment section bellow.

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

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I’m a pretty fortunate angler. In the past 3 years I attended no less then 4 Fishing World Championships plus other fishing festivals or international fishing competitions. I did this from the angler point of view, as well as being the team’s captain. I got to observe a lot of crucial things on the water, as well as from the shore. Things like experience, preparation, practice, team strategy, lures and techniques, hot spots and much more.

The last competition I attended was the III-rd World Championship in Spin Fishing, which took place this October in Riga, Latvia on Kishezers lake. Romania, the country which I represent, obtained the 4th place at this event. It’s an honorable position, but I know we could have done more. The first 3 places were occupied by Ukraine, Poland and Latvia. They were all very organized teams and knew the lake well. They had a good strategy and knew how to stick to it.

All these things made me understand once again that professional fishing has nothing to do with luck.  Being able to observe the details behind the curtain of such an event, I finally came up with a list of specific elements that are crucial to your fishing success.

1.Team work

First thing you must understand is that the FIPSed World Championships are not individual competitions. Each nation is represented by a number of teams, depending on the targeted species/type of fishing. In bass competitions there are 3 teams per nation, plus one reserve team. Spin fishing has only 2 competing teams and one reserve team and in trout, shore fishing there are 4 persons competing individually and one reserve.

Garry and Beverly Yamamoto on Lake Garda

In order to act like a team, you have to fish like one. Team fishing is different from individual fishing. It requires a good understanding of the team strategy. And the team strategy revolves around having constant good results together, not just individually. In order to be on the top, all your teams must catch fish. Why? Because all the individual results will be summed up, for the nation result. If one couple (or individual) screws up, this will affect everyone. Remember the “all for one and one for all” principle? This is what team fishing is all about. Good individual results matter also, but are secondary to nation results.

2.Never underestimate training

All sports require this. In fishing, training helps you build the team strategy. Usually this sort of competitions have a limited number of practice days, mainly one or two. If you move fast and are well organized you might come up with a viable strategy. This means finding where the fish are and what are they feeding at. The short training period makes this pretty difficult, especially when you are facing a huge water surface.

In order to be prepared you need to spend more time on that water. So go there at least 2 weeks in advance and fish for several days. One week of fishing will be great. Book some local fishing guides. Also talk to the local fisherman, ask them questions regarding the type and size of fish, lures and fishing spots.

Before you leave your country search the fishing forums for tips and tricks regarding that lake or river. Also, don’t forget to print detailed maps. There are a lot of information sources out there, try to use as many as you can.

Good training will give you confidence. And confidence will make you a much stronger angler.

Andrei with a trophy perch, caugth on a Carolina rig

3.Know the fish

You must perfectly understand the type of fish you will be fishing for. You need to know how it reacts, how it feeds, where it hides, everything. Training can’t give you this, experience can. I discovered this in bass fishing tournaments. We knew very little about bass, because we don’t have it in Romania. After the Bass World Championship from 2008, which took place in Italy, on Lago di Garda, we thought we learned a great deal about bass fishing. But understanding a certain type of fish takes time.

2008 Bass World Championship start on Garda Lake

In 2009, in Mexico, on El Cuchillio lake the bass was acting totally different. We needed different techniques in order to catch it. We switched from finesse fishing which was successful in Lago di Garda to heavy cover techniques, more suited for Mexican bass.

One of the keepers I caught on El Cuchillio, Bass WCh 2009

In time you will face a lot of circumstances which will build your knowledge of that fish. Simply put, it’s called experience. Sure, you can be lucky one or two times, but a good fisherman makes his own luck.

In spin fishing competitions, you usually fish for pike, perch and zander (European walleye). You need to know how to catch all these type of fish and find out which one can take you to the top on that specific body of water. Then focus and adapt your gear on catching only one. This year, in Riga the winning fish was perch. All the winning teams caught huge quantities of perch. Pike and zander were collateral and risky catches. The best teams trained hard and found a good enough number of perch spots. A good perch spot is one that will give you a fish every one or two casts. They only fished in those spots during the competition. That means being efficient.

4.Build strong pairs

Each team is made of pairs. They need to perfectly complement each other. This usually takes time and practice. It’s hard to do a perfect team job in just a few days. You’ll probably lough, and think of your wives, but a good team mate needs to be your friend and understand your fishing. He needs to encourage you when times get rough, and you need to do exactly the same for him. Knowing how to select the pairs is the captains job, and there’s no winning recipe to it. It all comes from knowing and understanding each angler individually.

Replacing a pair during a competition is another tricky call. Usually the pair with the worse results will be replaced by the reserve team. It’s not something you can do automatically, because it comes with consequences. And by this I mean that the ones who were fishing already are familiar to fishing spots, lure presentation etc. If you change them, the new pair will have to adapt extremely fast. Can they do that? Not all of them.

5.Money matters

Professional fishing comes with a cost. Performance requires money and a lot of free time. For example being able to train in Portugal, few weeks before the Bass World Championship requires funds. To start with money are hard to get, mainly because they usually come after having good results. At first you need to be able to self-fund your fishing expeditions. If you’re really good, you will get noticed by the sponsors.

Portugal, Lake Alqueva, 2010 Bass WCh

Unlike the United States, Europe’s tournaments don’t usually offer large amounts of money. Being a professional European angler can be pretty difficult, if not impossible. I mean making a living out of tournament fishing. You can always become a consultant or distributor for some large American or Asian fishing brand wanting to expand to Europe. By attending all these fishing tournaments you get to know a lot of people and these connections will pay off some day.

The bottom line is that money can make a difference, so try to get funding before attending an international event.

Follow the above steps and results will show up. Don’t forget to be persistent and take Iaconelli’s advice: “Never Give Up!”.

Of course, a bit of luck never harmed anyone.

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

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