Kaizen Platinum Rods

Korda Kaizen Platinum Rods

Danny Fairbrass himself has a long association with rods bearing his name, and which he was involved in developing, and so it was a natural progression that we should develop a range ourselves, which had all the attributes that he, and our other anglers, would be looking for from the ultimate carp fishing rods.

The ultimate carp fishing rods

The aim was to design a range of high end rods that would cover pretty much any carp angling situation at home or abroad, allowing you to not only accurately reach the fish if they were out at range, but which would also feel nice to play them on.

All of the rods in the range are built on a fast-tapered profile mandrel – meaning that the taper of the rod consistently goes all the way from the butt to the tip, and this produces rods with a very ‘tippy’ action, with pretty much all of the flex being towards the tip end, although of course when under extreme pressure such as casting, the rod will still bend all the way through to some extent.

Uses high grade carbon which aids tip recovery and tip speed

This type of action allows for better power transfer and the generation of very fast tip speeds, which in turn allows you to cast further than you would be able to with a rod that didn’t have this action. That action also allows much faster line pick-up as well, and whilst most of the bend is in the tip, the power is transferred progressively enough that the rod will absorb the lunges of a big fish at close range without fear of it causing hookpulls, and ensures that it is still a pleasure to play fish on any of the Kaizen rods.

-Danny Fairbrass, talking about the Korda Kaizen 12ft spod rod

Korda Kaizen rod range are premium rods using the best carbon

The taper of the rod isn’t the only factor in determining the action and attributes that it displays, and just as important is the type of carbon that has been used in the manufacturing process – for the Kaizen rod range the only real choice was the best super tensile, high-grade Japanese carbon that we could get our hands on to develop high end rods!

Japanese Carbon Wrap Dissection

This ZERO90 carbon is used in just two layers and with very little resin content, and the result of that is lighter, stiffer blanks – often that stiffness is achieved by using cheaper carbon in multiple layers, which then adds weight to the blank and reduces performance, and is something we wanted to avoid, hence choosing ZERO90 - which further enhance the attributes that the taper we’ve chosen to use on the mandrel already provides.

Not only will this allow more power to be transferred into the cast and with less effort than you’d find with a cheaper grade of carbon, but it also aids enhanced accuracy as well as it reduces the ability of the blank to twist and cause your lead to go off-target during the cast – over a long distance even tiny improvements in accuracy make a big difference to your rig landing exactly where you aimed.

There would of course be little point in producing the ultimate rod in terms of its performance, if the cosmetics didn’t also match that, and these rods have been given a custom-made look, with the type of high grade components that you would expect to find on a rod of this price.

All of the Korda Kaizen Platinum range is fitted with lightweight Sea-Guide TDG rings, with a 50mm butt and 16mm tip – allowing the line to ‘cone’ off of a big pit spool in a way that minimises resistance as it passes through the butt ring, and providing a tip ring that is big enough to allow leader knots to smoothly pass through it. These really light rings make a bid difference to the performance of the Korda Kaizen Platinum rods.

Top quality components are used on the Korda Kaizen rods

The reel is attached via a top quality Fuji DPS seat and the handle is finished fully in Japanese shrink grip – the use of which is more than just cosmetic, and allows for a good grip even when your hands or the rod are wet – and with stainless steel trim and an etched butt cap made by JAG completing the custom look.

The Japanese shrink grip handle used on this exceptional range of carp fishing rods allows for really good grip and allows you to properly compress the high grade Japanese carbon.

In terms of the models in the range, currently there are eight, with 12ft 3lb, 3.5lb and 4lb fishing rods, plus 12ft and 12ft 6in. spod rods; a 12ft 6in 4lb version for those who really want an extreme range rod but find a 13ft model just a bit too long; plus 13ft 3.5lb and 4lb models.

This will cover pretty much any angling situation, whether you are fishing at 1 yard or 180 yards.

Team Korda anglers helped develop high end rods

-Tom Dove, talking about the 13ft 4lb Kaizen Platinum

"I always struggled with compressing the ‘heavy’ distance rods on the market as they felt too stiff and cumbersome, but these are the complete opposite – light to hold and east to compress, meaning that fishing at 35 wraps (140 yards) feels like casting 80 yards with my normal rods. My maximum fishing range is about 170 yards now, something which I never thought I’d have in my locker.” Tom added

The Korda Kaizen Platinum 4lb 4lb models which are specialist long range tools and have the ability to put a lead and rig incredible distances when in the right hands – as demonstrated by the likes of Terry Edmonds and Darrell Peck, where measured casts in excess of 200 yards have been achieved and which featured in our Long Range Masterclass chapter, filmed at Iles3 in France.

Korda anglers and product development worked together on the rod design to get it just right.

Pecky loves the Kaizen Platinum 12ft

Darrell Peck: “When it came to deciding which rod I would use from the Kaizen Platinum range it was a bit of a no-brainer. I prefer a 12ft rod for my general fishing, whether that be short, medium or even medium to long range, a rod that I’m going to use for 90 per cent of the fishing situations that I find myself in. So for that reason I picked the 12ft 4lb, as I like a stiff rod that’s capable of casting 4 or 4.5oz leads over 140 yards, and it’s only when I turn to extreme range fishing that I’ll look to be using a 13ft rod, as they can be a bit unwieldy for general purpose fishing.” 

The Complete Kaizen Rod Range

The models in the Kaizen range

• 12ft 3lb

• 12ft 3.5lb

• 12ft 4lb
  

• 12ft Spod

• 12ft 6in. Spod

• 12ft 6in 4lb

• 13ft 3.5lb

• 13ft 4lb