LEADING TACKLE MANUFACTURER ABU COMBINE THE VERY BEST OF UPTIDE AND DOWNTIDE ATTRIBUTES INTO A SINGLE UNIT WITH THEIR SUVERAN AND ESPRIT RODS

Over the years, I have made my share of comments regarding the comparative merits of uptide and drop down fishing as an either or choice. I am not however one of those people who feels a particular need to belong to one camp or the other. Tactical choice depends very much on circumstances. For me, critical factors such as tide strength, boat size, surface conditions and species mix are equally as deserving of consideration as shallow water depth, and if I can get away without anchoring baits way out across the tide with wired grip leads just for the sake of it, then I will.

Take as an example a small boat fishing a couple of anglers on a mirror calm sea. They will not scare fish in shallow water as readily as a party boat in choppier conditions. Different species also react in different ways to disturbance, some being less concerned than others. The problem is that you sometimes don’t know whether a particular day is going to be best served by packing the longer casting rods or the shorter drop down boat rods until you get there. With this dilemma in mind, ABU Garcia have have developed a couple of innovative rods which cancel out the problem at a stroke. Their Suveran and the Esprit rods can cover both approaches using the same rod.

In terms of fish handling performance, both have been designed to deliver at exactly the same level. What differences there are come from the materials used, the Esprit being a budget version of the Suveran. In the uptide configuration, both are capable of handling leads of up to 225g, though they would probably be more comfortable with 170g. The drop down configuration probably comes in at around 20/30 pounds class. Visually, the two are so alike that if you accidentally mix the component parts together as I did when cleaning them, they are very difficult to separate back out to go in their respective combinations.

From a design concept perspective, what makes this pair special is the fact that each has an identical ability to become all things to all people within their optimum range from a single rod bag. Instead of the conventional idea of a boat rod being made up of a butt section and an eyed blank, this pair has three sections, though dependant on your needs on the day, you may choose only to use two. Each comprises a butt, a main rod section, and an additional short section which can, if called upon, be slotted in between the butt and main section of the rod for extra length. Confused? Then let me explain in a little more detail.

At first glance the butt looks like any other conventional boat rod butt. But all is not what it seems. For telescoped away inside the bottom of the tube upon which the butt is built is a 20 cm extension which can be slid out transforming what was a standard boat rod butt into an uptide casting butt. This operates on a twist lock system which locates the extension very firmly in place either in or out once the decision has been made. But there is more. When a cast has been made, the butt extension can then be locked away for use with a butt pad when playing a good fish such as a tope rather than suffering the discomfort of having a longer butt tucked under the arm as would be the case with a fixed length conventional uptide rod butt.

If the shorter drop down version is preferred, the middle section used to extend the rod up to uptide casting length is left in the bag allowing the main section of the rod to be slotted directly into the butt. Simple but ingenious. However, when I first started putting the uptide option together, I have to say that I had reservations about the way both ends of the extension section had male joints. The bottom pushed in to the butt and the other end pushed into the main section of the blank. Normally what happens is that progressively, each section takes the next one along either internally or via a spigot. But that is not possible in this instance, so two overlapping joints had to be used, though you wouldn’t know it from the performance levels both rods offer.

Rigged as an uptide rod with the butt fully extended for casting, the overall length is around 2.85 metres, whereas the conventional boat rod version with the middle section removed and the butt extension tucked away measures 2.1 metres. A third option also exists which is the version I like best. When the two piece standard boat rod option is selected, if the butt is then extended out into the casting position, you have the perfect rod for lobbing baits 40 to 50 metres down tide over the stern which is my preferred way of fishing at anchor from my own small boat in waters down to around 25 metres. Once the baits are in the water, the butt extension is then locked away inside and you are back to the handling comfort of a short boat rod again.

That’s the theoretical options explored. The real question however always has to be 'How do these stand up to field testing scrutiny'. The only way to find out is to get out there and put them to the test. But not just one of the available options. What was needed was a venue where water depth was not too great, but where down tide lobbing and even drop down fishing stands a chance of picking up fish mixed amongst the uptide rods. Also a venue with physical challenges such as huge variation in tidal strength within a single tide to put some real pressure on the rods tip action both in terms of fish handling, and as an uptider not jumping the leads as the boat rolls in a chop or swell.

Nowhere fits that bill any better that the River Mersey at Liverpool. The flow literally screams through on tides top side of middle range, it is stuffed with a good head of fish, and it regularly experiences conditions ‘lumpy’ enough to jump any grip lead when the wash from a passing merchant ship less than a couple of hundred metres away hits you side on. Coincidentally, the River Mersey is also the winter base for two ABU sponsored boats both of which were booked by ABU UK’s management team along with England international and ABU consultant Steve Quinn to put these outfits to the test just prior to their 2005 launch.

The morning of the trip, just a couple of days before Christmas dawned cold, grey and wild. Grim is probably the best single word I can think of to describe the weather, though it did improve a little as the day wore on. At peak flow, the tide was as expected screaming through, with only the uptiders and their grip leads able to make any head way as the drop down leads struggled to touch bottom. A good swell and the expected passing ships provided ample opportunity for the 'soft' glass rolled rod tips to demonstrate their ability not to jump the leads, and for the action of the graphite blanks to turn on the power to take control of fish when they came along, which they did at every opportunity. That soft tip action is additionally useful when fishing braid, cushioning the absence of line stretch which could dislodge a light hook hold.

Recent times have seen a trend towards ever longer rods for uptide work. Maybe it’s my small boat fishing roots, but I personally cannot see the advantage of uptide rods longer than 3 metres. Any casting safety advantage is more than cancelled out when it comes time to ease a beaten fish to the net, particularly in a confined space when you can’t walk any further back. So for my money, ABU have got their dimensions absolutely right here at every option, in addition to which the versatility of this concept will make both the Suveran and the Esprit indispensable tackle items to a wide range of anglers who like me will want to vary the types of fishing they do within any given day.

One other tackle item was also introduced on the day, and while it didn't get a particularly vigorous in depth testing, it is still worthy of preliminary mention here. This is the Ambassaduer 7000 narrow spool braid reel. Braid is definitely better suited to a narrower spool where it has less chance of bedding in, aided further by having a good level wind to lay the line on neatly. The Ambassaduer 7000 has long been and probably still is the standard bearer of the ABU reel range, and while the narrow spool version admittedly looks small by comparison to its wider brother, as braid takes up less space on the spool, in terms of overall capability and performance it should be about the same. Again there are two versions – the gold big game BG 7000 HSN and the budget Ambassaduer 7 Narrow.

SEE THE VIDEO VAULT - WD40