TRY BEFORE YOU BUY

It’s easy to get lost in the forest of beach rods that are available today. It pays to visit a specialised and well-stocked tackle shop to be informed in practice about what is for sale

“Do you have a fishing rod yet?” at’s the first question that fishing shop owner Sjaak Verhage asks his customers when they come for a beach rod. “If that’s the case, and it is not an old fibreglass grandfather’s rod, then we are going to take this to the beach behind the store see their style and how the rod casts. You can buy an expensive rod, but if your casting technique is lacking, you won’t necessarily get more distance with a blank from a higher price range.”

TYPE OF FISHING

Furthermore, according to Verhage, it is important to know what exactly you have in mind with the rod. “What type of fishing do you do? Fish in deep or shallow water? Is there a lot or little current? Not every rod is suitable for everything.”

In order to be able to advise his customers in the best possible way, Verhage takes every type of fishing rod from the shelves to the beach. “I use fast and slow casts to determine the optimum casting weight – simply adding up the two numbers that indicate the casting range and dividing by two doesn’t work.”

BIG PICTURE

Finally, Verhage points out the importance of the overall picture. “In order to fish as comfortably as possible – and to be able to cast far – all rod components must be coordinated. erefore, choose a reel with a strong shaft, high retrieval rate speed and neat line winding. A high, well-filled spool that allows the line to run easily is also important.” Forget large diameter lines – narrow gauge lines are all that’s necessary: 30/00 to 26/00 nylon tapering to 50/00 so that there is no need for a leader (with no more knots in the line, the casting distance is increased).”