Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Live test: Quantum Accurist
From drop shotting on a river to vertical jigging into 70ft of reservoir water, the Quantum PT Accurist Spin rod handles it all
QUANTUM PT ACCURIST SPIN 2.03m RRP: £129.95
LIGHT lure fishing has captured the imagination of UK anglers to an amazing degree in the past two years. This has seen an influx of tackle rarely spotted in British tackle shops as most kit designed to fish this style had been the preserve of European, American and Japanese anglers. One such manufacturer of fine lure fishing tackle is Quantum. Offering a huge range of different rods to cover all styles of lure fishing, it was towards the lighter end that I looked to test. The rod, a one-piece Quantum PT Accurist Spin is available in five different weights and lengths – from the shortest 1.98m (rated at a casting weight of 7g -21g) to the longest, twopiece 2.55m (CW 12g -74g) model. The 2.03m (CW 3g-12g) model I tested is a one-piece blank. This makes the rod more responsive when fishing lighter jig heads and hard baits, as there is no joining spigot to reduce the ‘telegraphing’ of the ‘working’ lure through the blank and into the angler’s hand. This is further enhanced by its new and improved build using lightweight HSX54 graphite construction. The handle is made from EVA and features ergonomic grips on both the reel handle and butt section.
Weighing only 95g ( just over 3oz) it is perfect for using all day without fatigue. All lure rods are rated between Very Fast through to Soft. This rating indicates the stiffness of the blank and how quickly it will recover after casting. Basically, the faster the rod, the less the tip shakes and wobbles after casting! Very fast rods are inclined to feel a bit like ‘broom handles’ while soft rods are great for playing small fish, but lack the butt power for casting distances. I found the Quantum PT Accurist Spin to be Fast, and combined with the light Casting Weight rating of 3g-12g, makes this rod a bit of an all-rounder for fishing light lures. To put the rod through its paces and to test its versatility, I decided to both drop shot on my local river Nene, before going to the other extreme, vertical jig fishing into depth of 70ft on the mighty Rutland Water, the biggest man-made lake in Europe. For drop shotting, the river was not in the greatest of trim, quite dirty and carrying an extra 2ft on its normal levels. This worked in my favour in some ways as I needed to use a drop shot weight of 12g to hold station in and around the river’s various features. With a handful of small perch and one getting on for a pound, the rod coped admirably with the prevailing conditions. For part two, it was on to a boat on a bitterly cold Rutland Water. Faced with depths of over 100ft in some areas, it is often necessary to use jig heads from 30g up to 50g. But, as you are vertical jigging – dropping the lure off the rod tip, and not casting – a light, fast rod like the Quantum PT Accurist Spin is ideal for targeting massive shoals of 1lb-4lb zander. The heavy jig heads enable you to keep bow in the braid to a minimum, so you are able to work the lure correctly and ‘keep in touch’ with the bait while bouncing it along the bottom. On a slow day, with a few missed bites, the best fish of the test was a 5lb 9oz zander, taken in around 70ft, a few yards off the pumping tower. It put up one hell of a scrap from such a depth, but was easily tamed.