Rods, Reels & Poles

I was very interested in the relationship that was going to be formed when commercial fishing supremo Andy Bennett joined the Tri-Cast team. Tri-Cast makes some of the finest products available, and with Andy’s input I was genuinely excited to see what the duo would come up with as I have always been a huge fan of the brand.

The Tri-Cast Trilogy Commercial family of rods has been a range that I have personally used since they were released. I love the rod actions and for playing fish I believe Tri-Cast produce the best blanks. However, the blue whipping on the rods wasn’t to everyone’s taste and put a few people off buying what were some of the best rods available.

So when I got the call to say the new Excellence range was ready and that Andy had helped design them I couldn’t wait to see what the end results were.

There are eight rods in the range, four waggler, three feeder and a wand. The float rods are 10ft, 11ft, 12ft and 13ft, and all four rods are aimed at commercial styles. They feature lightning fast blanks with incredibly high tip speed and line pick-up properties. You would expect the shorter two rods to be sharper and quicker but the tip speed is throughout the four rods, which makes these unbelievable. They will help you hit more bites.

I think what is more impressive is the combination of tip speed and fish playing action. Normally you get one or the other. But with the Excellence range the rods bend through to the butt like no other! This gives you the opportunity to use lighter hooklengths, which in turn will get you more bites and catch more fish.

Moving on to the three feeder rods, 9ft, 10ft and 11ft models make up the range. All three offer incredible actions, you simply have to try one to appreciate how good the fish-playing action is. But as with the waggler rods the feeder rod blanks are incredibly responsive, which helps to achieve pinpoint accuracy with your casting. This is essential when trying to ping feeders tight to islands and casting into small gaps in the marginal cover. These rods will help you hit those spots with ease.

The 8ft Excellence Wand is an interesting tool. It’s a specialist rod that may only come out of the bag occasionally. But on those windy days where fishing the pole across on a snake lake is impossible then this is the rod to reach for. Also, having fished numerous feeder-only matches on commercials, this rod will be ideal for targeting the margins or ‘short pole’ type swims. Again the rod bends like nothing else, quite often you hear that a rod “bends to the butt”, well this actually does bend to the butt!

Having used the Trilogy Commercial rods extensively, I knew these rods would be good. But the improvements are obvious and the quality of these rods is superb. The rings, the handles and the graphics are all great and they are just so much better than the Trilogy Commercial range.

If this is what the future holds for the Andy Bennett and Tri-Cast collaboration, then the poles and rods to come will be something special.

RRP: From £179.99

Verdict: The best range of rods Tri-Cast has produced yet. Perfect for commercial-fishery work.

Website: www.tri-castfishing.co.uk