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| One of many NZ Kingfish take on the Fox Popper Trek 5pc. |
Fox Trek rods are the brainchild of Cliff Fox. The Fox company is one of the largest wholesalers of Carp fishing gear in Europe but it's their specialist travel rods that really stand out to us here at Compleat Angler Melbourne. 15 -24kg full roller game rods, jig rods, 2.4m 24kg spin rods; these were the kind of rods that I needed...........and just like that a massive amount of the pain associated with fishing travel was gone.
If you go back through our blog you will see a review of the Fox Jig Trek XT that I did a year or so ago. This time though I want to talk about the new Popper Trek. I've just had the pleasure of chasing Kingfish with Mark Armistead of Extreme Sportfishing Adventures out of Tauranga, NZ. I won't give too much away here because I intend on doing a trip report soon.
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| A matching pair, but catching the fish on the left didn't require the hassle of big tubes and the dreaded "Oversize Baggage" counter. |
At first glance of the specs the 2.1m Popper Trek seemed a little short for me for a trip casting surface stickbaits for four days. But the reality was I wasn't going to take a rod tube and this rod appeared to be the best suited for the job. Everything is a compromise and while the guys do have a longer rod in the range I was keen to use this new model as it sported K series guides which really cut back casting knots when using braided lines.
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| It's hard to believe that a rod that packs down this small could handle 18kg Kingfish. Not only does it handle it but it does it with ease. |
Over the four days I cast a range of stickbaits from 100 - 150gr and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the rod handled. I would have liked an extra 15 - 30cm in length but to be fair my casting distance was close enough to the rest of the team that I held my own in terms of number of fish hooked. What really impressed me though was how well the rod handled once I was hooked up. While the rod is rated for 9 - 24kg line I ended up fishing quite a bit heavier. Those of you worried about joins in rods being weak points can shelve your fears. I like to fish heavy drags.......some say too heavy. Fish under 9kg couldn't pull drag off the reel! Yes you read that correctly, no line, none (I do tend to be a human shock absorber when fish are lunging around and when they pull really hard I lower the rod tip a little so the pressure is placed on the butt of the rod not the tip). Remember we're talking kingfish here, a fish reknowned as one of the toughest fighters in the ocean. Bigger fish well that was a different story and while we didn't land any true NZ monsters I did boat a couple of 15kg fish with the biggest going 18kg.
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| Putting a nice bend in the Popper Trek 5pc. |
The true joy in using these rods really comes down to how small they pack down for travel. At roughly 55cm these rods will fit in pretty much any piece of luggage you are likely to check in. It was nice at the check-in counter to see my mates waved off to the oversize baggage counter while my gear was all packed away in two normal bags. Now if I can just do something about the weight of everything........then I'll really be set.
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| My PB Kingfish and landed on a rod that fits inside my check-in luggage. Fishing travel will never again feel like a chore. |
For more information contact the team at Compleat Angler Melbourne
P: (03) 9620 3320
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