Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:44 pm
A while back I wrote on the forum looking for advise on rods for mixed ground fishing on the Shannon Estuary for Ray and Huss. I eventually bought the AA Beach before chrismas. So I thought I'd put my impressions of it so far.
My other main rod is the Penn PPt EVO sidewinder which I was advised would be just a touch softer than the AA beach. I think my sidewinder is actually a good deal softer due to being put under alot of pressure bringing fish, leads and weed in over rough ground. The AA is also a good deal stiffer in the tip and I have found the sidewinder better with bite detection. I rang Julian Shambrook before buying and he said it was steely in the tip I think compared to the big beach but as we both said bite detection is not really a problem for animal fishing for what I was buying the rod for.
The whole stiffness of the rod was what I was going for as it was replacing a penn villian that was found wanting when pulling fish out of snags. One thing that suprised me is theres an impression on the internet forums that the AA beach would not be up to the this task and that the big beach would be the better rod to go for. Considering it is a 6-8 oz rod as well I can only put this down to publicity the big beach got and maybe the fact that the big is in the title. THe title beach gave me the impression of normal beach fishing so maybe AA should change the name.
I originaly was looking at 14 foot rods to avoid a reducer as I cast low. I talked to a clare angler when enquiring about the 14 foot slr plus he was selling and he found the rod length a problem on north clare rock marks when casting. John Holden also cited ground clearance in his review and as there was no 13 foot 6 rods I liked I opted for the AA beach.
I haven't used the rod for distance as I normaly only need this for clean ground where I still use the villian as the second rod but I haven't lost distance as its seems easy to load. Though saying that I'm still only hitting 130 meters on the field with my fishing pendulumn cast.
I've now had a couple of decent fish with the rod and it behave nicely transmitting the feeling of the ray diving and thumping and it progressive action is lovely for pumping in fish. A 20 cm pouting can also be clearly felt. The reducer took a bit of getting used to but it has saved my back bringing in fish. Its a bit of pain when I've dropped in the dark and can't find it again or on a sandy beach when the male joint collects aload of sand. I now leave it on the V of my Golds match tripod back leg so it can be quickly slotted into place. I've also just put some hi viz tape on it.
The rod is nicely finish so I can have no complaint. The alconite rings are cool but I don't like coasters and a penn moveable reel seat was bought with the rod. The all black rod is a bit boring but I don't really care as there's no one to impress fishing dark lonely points in the Shannon estuary and its step up from the mad yellow sidewinder.
Donagh