08: CASTING DISTANCE VS CASTING CONTROL
The ideal fishing rod will have a balance of all of the essential properties that are required for catching carp, and the better it can perform across all of these, the more enjoyable and efficient it will be for the angler to use.
When it comes to casting a lead and rig as far as possible, the more power that a rod can generate, the further it can be cast – in theory of course, as a lot also depends on the ability of the angler to actually fully utilise that power, and plenty of people will struggle to fully wind up this type of rod, and in many cases will actually cast further with something a bit less powerful.
Traditionally rods designed for casting to the horizon were incredibly stiff – often being described as ‘broom sticks’ and for good reason – and whilst effective at putting a lead a very long way, were horrible to use for fishing and a lot of the people buying them could never fully utilise them anyway.
Carp fishing at long range is about far more than just being able to cast a long way though, and accuracy is just as important – in much the same way that a golf club needs to give you control as well as distance for it to actually be of any use!
All of this was important to us when we designed the Kaizen Platinum as we wanted to create a range of rods that offered a very high level of performance, but at the same time in a way that the average person on the bank could actually utilise in every day situations. The Platinum for everyday fishing section explains why these rods are also the perfect choice for any type of fishing, not just when hurling rigs toward the horizon
We have achieved that fine balance by using a fast taper profile and a type of carbon that makes it easy for anyone to access the power that these rods offer, and to enable you to transfer that through to your lead with relative ease, time and time again consistently.
The type of action that the Platinum has, along with the fact that it is so lightweight thanks to using just two layers of carbon and the minimum amount of resin that is practical, plus lightweight components such as the guides, makes it pretty easy to generate fast tip speeds, which in turn lead to consistently longer casts, and with less effort.
Just because you’re fishing at long range though doesn’t mean that you suddenly fish any differently to how you would do closer in, and it is still just as important to find your spots and then fish to them accurately – sometimes with two or even three rods close together on the same area – as well as being able to get bait out there.
So, all of the Platinum rods – including the spod rods – have been designed to make it as easy as possible to cast accurately, even when really winding them up. For any angler regularly casting at longer ranges, even 100 yards plus, the Platinum for long range fishing section explains why these rods will make a difference to your fishing.
When you load a rod during casting you get lateral twist – if you look at a photo of a rod that is fully compressed you can often easily see that the tip ring is at a different angle to the butt, and sometimes very noticeably so, and that is because the carbon fibres twist when under extreme loading, as well as flexing in the direction of the rod tip.
The ZERO90 carbon that is used for the Platinum rod range has much less lateral twist than other types of carbon. This is important because when the rod unloads and the power transfers to the lead, that twist unwinds during that moment, and because of the angle it is at, it impacts on the accuracy – the more twist you get during loading, the more it reduces casting accuracy, even at shorter ranges, as any loading causes it to some degree.
In practical terms, this means that when using a Kaizen Platinum rod you will notice an improvement in your casting distance and accuracy, as well as how much easier it is to achieve both consistently, and this will help you to catch more carp.
The best way to find that out though, and to choose the Platinum model that is just right for you, is to visit your local Korda stockist, which you can find using our store locator.