Latest News
This page is set out as a vehicle to voice some of
our latest developments and news, mostly in the rods that we build, but also on
some of the things going on at Excalibur Tackle. We point out that the opinions
expressed here are our own, and not associated with any of the companies that
we trade with. The opinions are based on our own experiences, and what we have
seen first hand, they are not designed as derogatory comments on what others
might be doing, but just our humble opinion – take it or leave it!
The page is set out in a date order with the most
recent at the top. With a summary of any month’s topics
listed below, to save folks having to read the entire page of ramblings.
We will try to keep it updated, hopefully on a monthly basis.
A note to would be mimics of our products, to save
you reading through all the text to garner any of our little rod building
secrets – they have been filtered out for the sake of commercial prudence. If
you have an honest question on how we are building our rods, then give us a
call.
August 2010 Ladies
Fixed Spool Rod
Play
time
July 2010 Dedicated
Shark Rod
Reel
Servicing
June 2010 Onwards
with Fixed Spool Rods
Fin-Nor
Reels
May 2010 Competition
Fixed Spool Rods
August 2010
Ladies’ Fixed Spool Rod
As mentioned last month, we picked this prototype
blank up at the show, and it needed a bit of thinking about, as on fixed spool
rods, the reel size can be very critical. Having decided on which reel we would
aim the rod at, we set about building it. Blue Marlin had sent the rod for Sue,
as part of their 50th Anniversary, and as part of their
ongoing development of these rods. We had asked for a lighter weight rod, to
cast 5oz sinkers + bait, maximum 13 foot, and with a softer action to take the
‘snap’ out of fixed spool casting ~ ideally a ladies’ rod. However, we didn’t
want something that would not perform.
The rod was built and preliminary tests with the
‘wrong’ reel were very encouraging, the 5oz criteria seems to be spot on, it just
loads with ease in the cast, and then launches. The softer action of the blank
and the build has virtually eliminated the snatch of the release of the reel.
It is in fact just a couple of inches over 13 foot,
but who is counting, and it is really as light as we would have hoped for. The
blend of carbons will remain a secret for a good while, as at the show we did
detect that there is a lot of activity among the competitors to copy the use of
fixed spool reels, but the roads they are going down will, in our opinion not
reap the best results.
The distances that we got from the rod, using the
‘wrong’ reel and fairly thick mono were very encouraging, we just now have to
wait for the delivery of the new reels, load them with braid and see what
happens. We have been discussing the idea of this rod with a number of clients,
and subject to their testing the prototype we have a good number of orders in
waiting – so we will have to see what transpires when we do the final tests.
We will be launching the new rod at the
The concept of the fixed spool is that it is easier
to cast for those not familiar with the control needed for a multiplier.
However, just overcoming the problem with shear strength is not the right
design criteria. The Europeans have been building these rods for many years,
and have ranges to suit just about every level of strength, casting technique
and build. The long handle approach to casting, with the reel in a ‘up’ position is optimum. This shear strength approach is
what we saw at the ‘trade show’, and it certainly did not impress us as rod
builders, and will hopefully fall by the wayside, as the performance figures
for the right designed rods starts to climb through the roof. Additionally, we
noted that there were a lot of ‘mimic’ rods using rings that were way too
small, as the size of the first ring has to be matched to the expected diameter
of the spool on the reel. The size of the first ring will either liberate the
cast or strangle it, and to this end there we a lot of
disappointing rods on display.
We really do think that this concept is going to
bring a lot of improvement for folks fishing the Namibian coast, especially
where edibles are concerned; though that is not to say that these rods won’t be
dealing with Bronzies soon enough, but just not the lighter versions designed
for ‘edibles only’. Additionally, the concept will add significant metres to
those casting artificials on the RSA coastlines. Gone
are the days of not being able to reach the shoals of predators, the long
handle approach will certainly give benefit to those throwing spoons and plugs.
Play time
Being a quiet month, we get a certain amount of free
time in the workshop, and apart from sorting through the probable stock
requirements for the end of the year, we ‘play’. We play with some of the
thread work that we are doing, try new colour combinations and develop some of
the new weaves that we are now featuring on our rods. This usually yields some
very pleasant surprises, especially in colour combinations, using a different
metallic tipping colour instead of one that we would usually use with a set
colour – the effect can be quite startling, as was seen on a recent rod, by
whipping a predominantly blue and black combination with some metallic orange –
the effect was amazing. Though only a small detail, it really did make the
thread work come alive, which apart from the pure performance design of a rod,
is an intrinsic part of what makes a custom rod special.
We do get to see a lot of work done by other custom
rod builders, and there are a couple whose work does stand out, and give this
feeling of pride, where the extra efforts that they have put in end up making something
special. While others, are just a slight variation on a factory built product,
a change in a few of the components, which the factory didn’t put on that
particular rod.
One aspect of the custom rod that at times seems to
get missed is the aspect of development, where the builders need to look at
what we have currently available, and how can it be improved. Sure this is
taking the rod building into the realm of the blank manufacturer, but as rod
builders we are perhaps the front line in development, speaking directly to the
upper level of anglers, and getting feedback on what they want from a rod, and
possibly how it can be improved. We saw this with our ‘TX2 ’ range of blanks, very much appreciated as a
new blank design, but some of the competitive anglers felt that it was
potentially a ‘little soft’ in the cast. So, rather than just offer the next
blank up in the strength range, we looked at the design of the blank, and had
discussions with the blank manufacturer. The result was the ‘TX3 ‘ blank, same power rating and casting rating,
BUT through quite minor changes in the taper of the mandrel, a new competition
blank was born, which really does overcome the original observation. The blank
has subsequently become one of our best sellers, as it also translates into
better casting potential. This was another result of ‘playtime’ last year, and
has now become a feature of our development as a company, using quiet times to
develop new products and techniques to offer better services to our customers.
The current ‘play time’ developments are underway,
these we will be building and testing in the coming months to perhaps become a
permanent feature of our range. Change is a good thing provided it does
actually offer some tangible improvement, change for the
sake of change is just a marketing issue; that probably comes from ‘sales’
orientated folks. We look at changes to be an instrument of evolution, whether
we can build a rod lighter for the same power output, or whether we can
increase the performance without the product becoming too specialist. This
evolution has become apparent to us with our changes in range of rods – we have
the rods for the competition anglers as well as rods for leisure anglers,
though that doesn’t mean that either range is limited to one particular type of
angler, but more a statement of the outright power of a particular rod.
Fishing has generally been improving, a lot of Kob
about – once you find them, and the increase in
numbers of Stenbras have been noticeable. A funny year with the fishing, as we
had so much ‘
Something that we have notice though is the decline
in fish being caught when we start to get larger numbers of visitors – a
personal theory is that the extra noise on the beach with the extra cars does
seem to drive the fish further off. That then in turn means that only those
that can put in the big casts can seem to get fish, especially the Kob. The
‘noise’ situation is exactly the same as on a river or a dam, just that we
don’t expect it to happen on the beach – that said, this is just a personal
theory.
July 2010
July is normally a quiet month for us, though this
year with the football happening we are seeing an increase in tourists around
Dedicated Shark Rod
A long term project rod has finally made it to our
range, it is the result of many discussions on the technical side of tackle,
and basically comes about because of leverage – leverage against the angler! Coming from a back ground in boat fishing,
and having been an early convert to low leverage boat fishing rods, it has been
in the back of our mind for some time.
Our thoughts on the matter started some years ago
when we first started building surf rods, we were told of the awesome power of
the Bronzies, and th ‘men’ that fished for them.
Well, we built a rod that we thought would tame any rod swimming, and it
probably could, just that during the past years we haven’t found an angler big
enough to cast it – we tamed the anglers as well!
We looked seriously at the actual dynamics of a
shark rod, and to get some hard figures on what is happening during a fight. We
developed a rig to actually test what anglers are pulling on a fish – via the
rod. We appreciate that there is a system called ‘straight stick’, but that was
not what we were looking for – but the actual loads during a fight. A large dial gauge spring balance connected
via a pulley, then through to the 14’ rod. The best figure that we recorded
with an angler standing on concrete, with arms quivering from the strain of the
pull was a mere 10.5kgs!!!! It makes you wonder if that is all we are exerting
by way of pressure on the fish, then it is little wonder Bronzies fight for so
long, and that figure came from a really big guy, most of our selection of
testers could barely top the 9kg mark.
It all started again, a year ago, when a long
standing client had a wish to equalise some of the disadvantage he was feeling
with his dedicated Bronzie fishing. The traditional long 14’ rod was just
knocking him out, so he brought us his rod, and said that we were to strip it,
shorten it by 2 feet, and then rebuild it. Well, it was perhaps the first
realistic step, we suggested that 3 feet might be a better solution, but it was
a step too far for our friend. The resulting rod was a blessing, when after over
4 hours he finally landed a new Namibian record Copper shark on our modified
rod.
Apart from the euphoria of the new record, he did
confide in us that he didn’t think he could have managed such a long fight on a
full length rod, nor could he have exerted enough power on the fish – leverage.
Our standard 14 foot surf rods operate as a reverse
lever on the angler when we fight a fish, the butt in the butt pad is the
fulcrum, and then depending on exactly where you hold the rod, the leverage can
be more than 7:1 against the angler. That means for every 7kg of pull by the
angler, the fish only gets 1kg. If the ratio could be reduce to say 5.5:1 or
less, then the angler’s 7kg pull would not translate to 1.27kg pull on the fish
– doesn’t sound much, but the comparison is that when this is all multiplied
upward that 27% increase in pulling power can certainly either increase the
pull on a Bronzie, or offer a reduced strain on the angler for the same pull
that the 14’ rod user is having to pull.
Our new rod is on a modified blank, built
specifically for us, to offer just that increase in pulling power, but what it
also does is allow the angler to cast just as far with heavy baits, as the
turn-over in the cast is also much reduced – because lets face it, there are really
very few people that really do ‘cast’ big baits serious distance, certainly not
the distances they would cast a bait for an edible species. That, as well as
the fact that Bronzies really don’t need baits cast huge distances, as they are
equally happy to come quite close to the shore line.
Our new rod was built, and field tested over a
number of months, it will cast a 9oz sinker and a 4oz satellite sinker (to
represent the bait), to well over 150 metres – in comfort!
The other changes that we made were purely based on
further refinements of fishing systems, a gimbel was
added to remove strain on the angler when fighting the fish, and this has
certainly proved very successful with our guiding clients, the strain reduction
on the wrists – to try and stop the rod twisting during the fight is immediate
– one party of clients wanted to know why we only had one test rod, and the
rest were traditional 14’ rods – they were almost fighting to use the 11’
prototype. Other refinements were to do with the failure of trigger grips,
mostly on rods dedicated for shark fishing, the Fuji fitting, that is the best
was originally designed for the US Bass fishing rods, it wasn’t really designed
for the loads extended to it from a shark fishing rod & reel. This remark
about the
I sometimes wonder whether it is ethical to try out
some of our newer tackle items on clients, them being ‘guinea pigs’ for some of
our strange ideas. That said we loaned the fixed spool rod to another guide for
a week, as he had a long term client that really just couldn’t get on with a
multiplier, and they had good fishing, and the client was very happy with the rod,
as he could do all his own casting. This seems to be a particular issue with
clients from
This month also saw our first article published in a
new angling publication – Rock, Surf & Boat. We have started a series or 5
or 6 articles on rod building, just our personal thoughts, written to perhaps
develop people to think about what they are looking for, and then how to take
that forward to building their dream rod. This return to writing articles has
been a refreshing move, as we used to write a lot for angling publications
around the world, and always enjoyed the prospect of starting a debate –
getting people thinking about new ideas, or just refining old ideas; as well as
sharing some of our thoughts with a wider audience. There are no hard and fast
rules in fishing, and as a group anglers are quite an
inventive lot. We feel that writing is a way to share thoughts, rather than to
just promote some manufacturers new product – that does have a place, but some
of the best articles share information on how to actually solve a perennial
problem, and usually just for a few cents.
The ‘few cents’ comment became pretty apparent when
we had a delivery from one of our European suppliers for some specialist end
tackle, and when ordering, we added an odd item, which would really not have
been worth importing otherwise. They are ‘micro crimps’, that
are used by European anglers to introduce stopping points on a leader – right
on the leader in fact. They use them to build traces, where each hook length
ends in a swivel that is swinging freely on the leader. The whole lot is fixed
in position on the leader with a small bead and crimp either side of the swivel
eye. The crimps being soft micro bore copper allow them to be gently squeezed
into position on the leader line, and act as a stop. The real benefit of
building rigs like this, is the fact that they now
have mobility and do not wrap themselves around the main leader like our
traditional way of tying traces. As you
no longer need a big top swivel to build the whole trace, it can be changed for
a smaller swivel on the hook branch, the cost of the beads and crimps is negligible,
so a new solution to an old problem can be cheaply solved. It is not a solution
to all fishing situation, but in most edible situations and smaller sharks it
will work fine – even for Shad or other toothy critters, a wire can now be tied
to the swinging swivel.
The end of the month saw our first visit to the
South African Fishing Tackle Agents & Distributors’ show – basically a big
indoor event of all the latest ‘new toys’. Through our contacts, we did know of
some of the new releases, and to actually see the products first hand was
interesting, and some reports on those will be filtering through in the
fullness of time. Our main interest in the show was the display of a couple of
our products in someone else’s product line, and a development of a concept
very close to our heart, rods & tackle specifically designed for ladies.
This theme will continue during the coming months, not just with the rods, but
also the end tackle and gear that is used.
Reel Servicing
A constant topic of surprise in our workshop is the
number of fishing reels that we get in for service, irrespective of whether
they are for surf rods or boat usage, is the fact that folks just love to fill
them up with grease. We even see this in reels that have been ‘serviced’ by
other retail establishments – and the end results. There seems to be a hangover
from days past, when reels had bushes instead of bearing, and you could pack as
much or as little grease into the bushes and the performance wouldn’t be
effected either way – however we now have bearings in our reels, ad the old
service techniques are totally inappropriate.
Bearings need oil to perform, and as we are all
looking for increased performance from our reels, especially as rod blanks
start to become available that exceed the spool speed performance, it becomes
even more imperative that we learn to get our reels serviced properly. The
problem lies with the fact that for the ball bearings to work properly, they
need to rotate freely inside the casing, they need in the case of a surf reel
to go from 0 rpm up to near 12-15,000 rpm in milliseconds, as the rod releases
the sinker to the flight. An analysis of the flight of a sinker cast from a
surf rod might be as follows:
1.
Static – still attached to the rod, during the cast
build up and swing.
2.
Release – as the angler releases the cast, the
sinker has maximum imparted power, and takes off at a tremendous speed – the reels starts spinning from 0 rpm up to near 15,000 rpm.
3.
Mid-flight – the sinker flies away up to maximum
height and then starts to achieve the maximum distance of the cast – the reel
is spinning at optimum speed.
4.
End-flight – the effects of gravity on the power in
the sinker start to take effect, and the sinker slows and starts to fall to
ground/water. The reel needs to slow slightly as the demand on line to the
flight of the sinker reduces.
5.
Static – the sinker stops moving at the end of the
cast, and the reel needs to be stopped from spinning further.
The time for the flight would be approximately 5
seconds for a 150 metre cast, and this would equate to an average reels speed
of about 10,000 rpm, however the maximum rpm is likely to be nearer 15,000.
For the reel spool to achieve these speeds, it needs
to be very free on the bearings, and the bearings need to be unhindered in
their rotation. Grease just slows down the whole process, while a fine oil would allow the balls in the bearing to rotate
freely, and the spool to achieve the high speeds necessary.
This does not mean to say that there aren’t places
where grease isn’t necessary, like the gears and operating levers, but
certainly not on the bearings. Choices of bearing oils is a matter of personal
development, there are those with smooth casting styles that allow for high
speed oils to be used easily, while others have a less smooth styles and a
slightly thicker oil might be more preferable. This a
matter for personal choice and development, though having got the reel spinning
properly, it is an easy matter of applying varying forms of braking. The most
usual is one’s thumb either pressed lightly on the spool rim or the line, while
others prefer to use the centrifugal braking system that the manufacturer built
into the reel. The usual manner is to install the small plastic beads onto the
appropriate arms at the back of the spool. Depending on whether you use one or
two brake blocks, or small or large is down to your casting style and
experimentation – what should not be used is the spool end float control, this
just brakes the reel through the whole range of its speed, a bit like driving
with the hand brake on! The brake block system just limits the maximum rpm of
the free spinning spool.
In all casts we are looking for the power transfer
from the rod to the sinker, and the initial flight to be as un-restricted as
possible, not clogged down with greasy bearings or friction pressure on the
spool spindle. To then set the maximum rpm of the spool with appropriate braking, is fine, as the spool has got up to the top speed,
and is now controlled.
This is the principle that we work on reels for
clients, the reels are serviced to achieve maximum speed, and then if they are
too fast, then we slow them down using proper braking. One last thought for
those that persist in following the grease principle, and this is particular to
the shielded bearing that are becoming the manufacturers choice, is how do they
think they are getting the grease into the bearing surfaces, it certainly won’t
flow past the dust seals, whereas oil does just that.
June 2010
The past month has seen us busy with further
developments of the Fixed Spool rods, we took delivery of a new 3 piece built
to a different specification to the original – competition blank, and the new
blank once built offered a slightly softer action for the angler, to the
stiffer full competition rod. We were looking for this slightly softer action
because of a trait of fixed spool reels. The release on a fixed spool reel is
very abrupt, very much more so than on a multiplier,
and this can be quite disconcerting for non-competition anglers, so the new
blank was a bit of a trial that worked out just fine.
The softer action is very much smoother on the
release, and will probably dampen out some of the no-stretch factor of fighting
fish with braided lines. Well we hope that will be the case, as the rod had
only been field tested a couple of times for casting performance before a long
standing customer came in and bought the only one we had. We have had this
problem before, buying just one prototype, and then a customer comes in and
buys it!!!
Well
We have some further refinements that we would like
to do with both the competition blank as well as the non-competition models,
which we will be discussing with the blank manufacturer – not that the current
blanks are wrong, just small adjustments to the blank composition as well as
some changes in the placement of fitting. A bit like mid-season upgrade for
Formula 1 cars – not a total redesign, just
refinements.
One of our customers with the competition rod
reckons that he is achieving over 180 metres with his new rod, when firing a
7oz sinker attached to the braid. There are also various experiments going on
with either bionic fingers against natural fingers –
as the release mechanism for these new rods. The fact that we come from a
background where natural fingers are the norm, the bionic fingers seem to be a
little lacking in ‘feel’; but then each to his own.
The design work is currently going on with a
completely new blank that we hope will be available by the time of the Fish
Fest at Henties Bay in late August, but that will stay under wraps until then,
suffice to say we are looking for slimmer and lighter blanks that still cast
like the ‘TX2’ & ‘TX3’
rods, but those we think we can
improve upon quite drastically, especially in the weight department. This idea has been bouncing around in my head
for a while, and having had a few conversations about it with both our blank
builders, they have both come up with similar practical problems in actually
wrapping the blank; though both agree it will be a radical technique if they
can get it to work – we will have to see. The new design will have to really be
something special, as the performance we are getting from both the ‘TX’ blanks has been pretty exceptional,
with both now approaching the 200 metre mark on the test field.
June finally saw an end to the shortage of Fin-Nor
reels in southern
The Fin-Nors are just such
a superb reel, we are now switching all our guiding reels over to them, so we
have a few 2nd hand Penns for sale if you
are interested, well serviced and carefully driven!!!
Not that there is anything wrong with the Penns, but the Fin-Nor is probably going to supplant the Diawa Saltist as the most common reel around. Built way stronger
than the Saltist (bigger gears and bearings), casts
further (big bearings) and has the same line capacity (huge) – but perhaps most
importantly, it is realistically priced, up to a third cheaper than the Diawa. They – Diawa, do seem to
want to get all the money back for their new factory in Vietnam within the
first year, well hope thay didn’t plan on it coming
from Saltist sales, as I think they might have a
problem with the Fin-Nor Offshore Stardrag. The 30
series is ideal for the shark boys, while the 20 series is an absolute dream
for all your general fishing, and the 16 series is eminently suitable for
ladies, as Sue will testify, she has relegated her Trinidad 16 to being a back
up, she is that impressed with the new 16. We just wish we had been rich enough
to be using Fin-Nor reels when we were doing all our big game angling – they
are absolutely superb.
May 2010
In March this year at the AGM, the Namibian Rock
& Surf Angling Association took some bold moves with the changes in our
competition rules, and no sooner had the ink dried on the paper we were
thinking about the new tackle that would be required by our fellow competitors.
Nothing particularly new except that we are now
allowed to fish throughout with braided lines, with the proviso that we use a monofilament
nylon breaking piece immediately after the casting leader, of no more than
0.60mm – basically equalising the line breaking capacity between braid anglers
and nylon anglers – a level playing field!
Well, the obvious solution to the average surf
angler when faced with this option is to ignore the heavy weight classes of
tackle for braid and use it for the lighter work – mainly because there are no
distance casting rods available that you can use realistically with a butt pad
(rod bucket). Well, that would have been
true back in March, but after a couple of quite technical discussions with our
blank manufacturer, and a little ‘gizmo’ that he had recently patented – we are
now pleased to announce there is a competition Fixed Spool Rod – that really
does the job.
The first blanks arrived in April, and with 3
clients all waiting with freshly loaded reels in hand, we started testing within
a couple of days -
just enough time to build the first 4 rods. After some initial minor problems,
we were all soon casting seriously respectable distances over on the casting
field opposite the workshop, as well as on the sea.
To say that it was an instant success would be
wrong, but the small technical differences between fishing nylon and straight
through braid were soon overcome, though they will become more of an issue with
all anglers that make the switch – the braid just does not stretch, and even a Barbel bite feels like the smash take of a respectable Kob,
and Spotted Gully sharks are now a serious sporting fish, as the twists and
turns of the fight are felt right up until the beast is beached.
To date no one has yet tackled Bronzies seriously, as
we have all been getting used to the feel of the new system, as well as the
tackle connections sorted fully, as joining casting leader to a thinner mono is
no problem, but then getting a good knot system for braid to the thinner mono
needs to be quite robust, but not too big to effect the casting.
The lead-in time between finalising the blank design
and getting the blanks built and then up to
Ring sizing proved to be particularly relevant, and
is a serious cost element, as the first ring is so large, it actually costs
more than a whole set of rings for a multiplier rod! But, then go any smaller,
and the whole thing starts to choke itself in the early stages of the cast – so
we are going to stick with the monster ring for the time being.
Forgot to mention, why all this is now so seriously
possible, well, the ‘gizmo’ allows for a long section of butting to be used,
basically as an extending handle that can be locked into either the open or
closed position. Open position on the handle is long for full reach casting,
and then you close it all down to a shorter length, and just pop the butt end
in your butt pad, with the reel at a very comfortable height up the rod. This
is in fact the real break through. the fact that you
can have the best of both worlds, a long and a short handle. Unlike earlier or
more traditional southern African solutions to rods for fixed spools, with a
slightly longer butt section, which really did never cast at all well, as the
angler just couldn’t get enough leverage to make it work in the cast. – now we have the solution.
The feedback to the blank supplier was very well
received, and this has started a whole new range of rods to start – we will see
a good number start to come onto the market during the coming months, but the
secret will be in the actual blank used. We will be developing the concept
further, and have already ordered some different blanks, but we know it will
not stop there.