Hit the horizon with Daiwa’s help
Top-value Cast’izm rods offer huge casting potential
THE Cast’izm range of feeder rods was developed with World Feeder champ Steve Ringer.
Four models start at 11ft 6ins that will cast up to 60g (2oz) and is well suited to open-end, Method and pellet feeder work.
Next up, the 12ft 6ins rod is said to be Mr Ringer’s favourite Cast’izm model, and is very much at home on large open waters such as Ferry Meadows. It has a wide 80g (3oz) weight band, perfect for Method and Hybrid feeder tactics. With still more casting power are the two ‘horizon busters’ of the Cast’izm range. Both are proper longdistance rods that will handle 100g (3.5oz) plus with feeders of more than 100 yards.
The beefiest of the lot is the 14ft 2ins model, rated to cast up to 120g (4.2oz) and designed for
the biggest of venues and the heftiest of feeders.
In price terms, Cast’izms sit well below Daiwa’s flagship SLR and Tournament Pro ranges. But don’t think for a moment that these rods have just been thrown together. The latest all-singing, all-dancing carbon cloths deliver a clean, crisp casting action, with rapid tip recovery, all helping to add all-important extra yards to your cast.
Key features include a V-Joint system to give a progressive action with no flat spots.
Perfectly spaced large-diameter K guides help to prevent tangles
and crack-offs, even when using shockleaders. And each Cast’izm comes with three fully compatible carbon Tournament Distance quivertips, the same as those used on Daiwa’s top-end Tournament SLR rods.
And so to the live test. Woodland Waters, near Grantham, is a fairly large natural venue, very deep in places, that holds a good head of big bream and skimmers with a decent population of lively hybrids. A hefty feeder can work to your advantage when you want to get your feed quickly to the bottom, and, as this is quite an open expanse of water, it lends itself very well to distance casting tactics.
So, with the 13ft 6ins Cast’izm tooled-up with the latest Daiwa TDR reel spooled with 6lb line and a 10lb fluorocarbon shockleader it was game on.
Half an hour of constant casting to 50m with a large feeder, to get some grub down on the bottom, proved effortless. But it was how the rod performed with a fish on the end that really interested me, and I didn’t have very long to wait. Barely had the
Three quivertips cater for most scenarios.
ripples from my feeding barrage subsided when the carbon quivertip pulled round in that unmistakably ‘breamy’ way.
Sure enough, there was enough softness through the top section to absorb the powerful headshakes of a big bin-lid.
Despite its sublime casting power, the middle section of the blank has enough cushioning to soak up the lunges from big fish without cause to worry too much about hook-pulls. I caught loads of fish, including some very lively hybrids, without a hitch... in fact I lost only one fish all day.
Price: £169.99