Here is a brief description of the fishing tackle I am using to fish the Radbuza river and my reasons for choosing the various items. I will also mention, on reflection, which were good choices and which were bad.
Fishing Rod
I deliberated for a long time on which type of rod to buy. I wanted a rod that could be used for as many different fishing styles and techniques as possible and that would perform well with smaller fish but be strong enough to provide full control over larger fish.
I ended up with a shortlist of 3 rods: an 11ft 1.25lb test curve rod, an 11ft 15g casting weight pellet waggler rod and, eventually, a 7ft 8in 5-15g spinning rod.
The winner was the spinning rod – it’s a Fox Rage Warrior 240cm 5-15g Light Spin rod and I am more than pleased with its handling and performance when dealing with small fish on ledgered sweetcorn, bigger fish on floating crust (45cm Chub) and large fish on a jig (67cm Pike).
Not only did this rod tick all the boxes, but it came at an amazingly low price. When I bought mine, it was being offered with a hefty 50% discount.
The price? 780 Czech crowns – roughly £28.
I would highly recommend this rod for the type of small river fishing I enjoy!
Reel
Choice of reel was much easier than the rod: I needed a light and compact reel with a rear drag system.
There was only one reel available that fitted my requirements as well as providing a bonus feature which I now wouldn’t want to be without – the fighting drag lever.
The chosen reel? The Shimano Sahara 1000R.
It suits my rod perfectly and together they not only provide a nicely balanced setup but they make playing fish a pleasure.
Again, I would highly recomend this reel!
Line & Leaders
When I decided to return to fishing I also decided that I would be using braided mainline as it’s modern and, as far as I am aware, didn’t exist 30 to 40 years ago.
The line I chose was Savage Gear Silencer II in two sizes: 0.09mm and 0.15mm.
Why did I choose Silencer? I think it was mainly the dark green colour. But whilst I have nothing to compare it to, I am happy with my choice.
Now, when it comes to leaders I also went with ‘modern’ technology and chose three sizes of fluorocarbon.
For me, this was a difficult transition from the monofilament line I used back in the day. I was having a number of line breakages and slipping knots both leading to lost fish.
Searching the internet I found that I am not alone with these problems and I took the available advice where knots are concerned and the situation has improved.
But I’m still not 100% sure about flurocarbon lines – I don’t have a lot of confidence when using it for my leaders, especially when jigging.
Ultralight Setup
Within a relatively short time I realised that a second rod & reel would be an advantage.
For details of the second setup, take a look at the post I published on this subject: Ultralight Setup