Browning’s hot feeder rod
Browning’s Jens Koschnick 11ft Feeder rod is every bit as good as I thought
ON THE world feeder fishing stage, German international matchman Jens Koschnick is a real giant.
Wins in the World Individual Feeder Championship and the World Pairs Championship in Ireland have seen to that.
An appearance in last year’s two-day FeederMasters Final at Bough Beech was further testament to his ability.
I first met Jens in Germany, late in 2017, during the annual Angling Times visit to Browning’s Bremen headquarters. I was in the warehouse, having a waggle around with one of the nicest short-range skimmer feeder/ bomb rods I had ever seen, when this guy with a Doncaster accent appeared and insisted on telling me how it came into being. “So who exactly is Jens Koschnick?” I asked, looking at the inscribed signature. “I am!” he replied.
Had a bottomless pit opened up at that moment I’d have dived in. “But you sound like a Yorkshire lad,” I stammered. “Tha’s reet clever,” he said. “I fish a lot in England and my mate lives in Doncaster!” Sorted, then.
We quickly got to talking about what exactly Jens looked for in a feeder rod. He told me that the two signature rods he had developed for Browning were the best short to mid-range casting rods for general silver fish work he had ever used.
I did rather fancy that the 11ft model would make an exceptional winter commercial, maggot or small open-end feeder tool for silvers, F1s and the odd bigger fish. So I asked if I could have this rod sent in for live testing.
Unfortunately, I picked the windiest day of winter to put the rod through its paces. However, Northamptonshire’s day-ticket Oaks Lake at Wold Farm offers a couple of fairly sheltered swims.
The lake holds a large mixed fish stock, so I could play around with various feeder tactics. I kicked off with a small 20g flatbed Method feeder, with a 6mm pellet as bait. The rod handled the 30-yard cast to the centre of the lake without a hitch, and later proved well able to cast weights of 30g-plus.
My first bite saw the 1oz pushin carbon tip lurch round and stay round. Had I foul-hooked a decent carp in the tail? The soft blank isn’t noted for piling on the power. Never mind, its progressive fighting curve helped me play the big fish with no fear of a snap-off, and a final heave saw a big winter barbel slide over the net.
Next came a couple of lively carp on the Method, which again the rod dealt with – albeit in its
own time. However, a change to a 20g cage feeder with a long hooklength and double maggot hookbait moved the rod on to a completely different plane when a skimmer showed interest.
The lightest 0.75g quiver, which seems to almost tremble with anticipation, shows up the slightest of movements.
The transition from quivertip to carrier section is so smooth that it’s hard to imagine the rod isn’t built with a single hollow carbon top section. That’s hardly surprising, given the credentials of designer and honorary Doncasterian, Jens Koschnick. Price: £139