IN SHORT IT’S THE BEST OF ITS KIND

Tri-Cast’s Trilogy F1 Waggler rod can’t be faulted

THE latest British-built rod in Tri-Cast’s prestige Trilogy series is light in the hand but heavy on performance.

Weighing just 132g, the Trilogy F1 Commercial Waggler 10ft (a bit of a mouthful, that) has to be one of the most technically advanced short float rods ever made. It’s built from the same carbon cloth currently used in the aerospace and F1 motor racing industries.

A phenomenal line pick-up speed, matched with a thoroughly forgiving, progressive action, allows the angler to strike at lightning-fast bites without fear of snapping off a light hooklength. The cushioning effects of the rod’s top section sees to that.

The pencil-slim, two-piece blank’s equal-length sections are furnished with 10 featherweight single-leg SiC ceramic lined guides. These, whipped on with electric blue and silver-tipped thread, are spaced at carefully calculated decreasing distances towards the tip of the rod to give it a seamless fish-playing curvature under stress.

I was rather hoping to see this in action while live testing the rod on the banks of Norwich’s finest commercial, the F1 and carpstuffed Willow Lake at Barford Fisheries.

It’s obvious from the moment you slide together the two sections of the new Trilogy F1 that this is a very special, if somewhat specialised, fishing rod. Clearly aimed at the commercial match angler looking to bag up on F1s and stockie carp, the blank feels crisp and almost rigid in the hand. But, as Tri-Cast claims, it does indeed give sufficient cushioning through the top section to alleviate breakages.

This I discovered when attempting to connect with the super-fast bites F1s give, especially up in the water.

I had tackled up with a 4lb reel line and a 0.13mm hooklength terminating in a size 18 hook, baited with a banded 6mm pellet – pretty much standard F1 kit.

I started the session on a slim 6g balsa pellet waggler, which the blank handled easily enough, although I ended up using a stubby 4g model once I felt the fish were becoming wary of the longer float.

Maximum casting range with

the Trilogy F1 if you want to keep things super-accurate is around 40m. Floats with a casting weight of 8g-10g would be as heavy as I’d fancy loading up with.

As it turned out, the fishery was deluged by a storm of Biblical proportions, with thunder, lightning and torrential rain – and the lake’s sturdy F1s became even more fidgety and difficult to catch.

However, swings and roundabouts – the larger carp, always up for a shallow-fished pellet, went on the rampage and tested the rod to its limits. You can’t help but be impressed with a 10-footer that casts arrow-straight, is easy to hold in one hand while feeding, and can deal with F1s and carp to double figures on reasonably light gear.

On the day I was accompanied by Angling Times features editor Richard Grange, a colossus of a man not noted for his deftness of touch. As he said: “Right, mate, give us a go with that rod,” I had visions of splintered carbon shards in his shovel-like hands and a ‘sorry but’ email to Tri-Cast’s Steve Hopkinson.

But as I sheltered from the monsoon under the rear door of my car I watched in awe as Sid (for so he is known by his colleagues) slid the net under half-a-dozen great big carp in double-quick time.

The little rod bent almost double, and in keeping with his almost Vicious (see what I did there?) style there was no messing about from the old boy.

As the sixth fish was deposited in the keepnet, a sodden Sid turned to me and said: “Well, that’s a bit special isn’t it?”

That seemed to sum up the rod’s performance brilliantly.

Price: £169.99 THIS super little rod is aimed squarely at the commercial match angler. It’s very well thought out, brilliantly built, and furnished with top-end fittings all round.

But where the Trilogy F1 really scores for me is in its flexibility – you can fish pellets in summer and switch to autumn/winter wag and mag tactics with equal success.

Ideal for use with reel lines from 3lb-6lb and hooklengths down to 0.11mm, this little beauty is bound to be gracing the holdalls of many anglers who appreciate pure class.

“In torrential rain the larger carp went on the rampage and tested the rod to its limits”