Greys Triplex 16ft Beachcaster

Had been looking for a Continental length rod, for sometime, simply to add a bit of distance from the rocks, where I couldn't get enough room to load up the the 13ft beachcasters I have, or more likely due to my lack of casting technique. So in the shop the other day, and saw the Triplex at a price I couldn't ignore, not that I hadn't got my eye on it anyway.
For it's length this is an extremely light rod, but not light enough to stand with for any time in the hand tho'. It has a very stiff tip action, with a very fast taper, that I new from the start was going to take some loading up, to get working. Not put off I went ahead and purchased it. Off we went to our chosen rock mark. My idea was to stick with the multiplier, I coupled it with my Abu Blue Yonder. First couple of casts were with a 4oz lead, and tentative. I give it a couple of overhead lobs, hoping the backdrop behind me would let it load a little, but unfortunately I didn't seem to be getting any further than with the 13 footers. I could feel that the rod just wasn't loading up properly, and I started to get a few overruns, which to be honest I became a bit lazy and didn't adjust my settings on the multi. Instead with the rod being weighted to 6ozs I upped the lead to 5oz, and this made all the difference right away, immediately loading the rod closer to properly, and out it went gaining easily another 30yds on the original casts. Until eventually my laziness in adjusting the speed of the spool cost me in a massive overrun and the end of the night for that particular multi. However having a 6000 size fixed spool in the bag, I was not deterred and decided to give it ago. Maybe slightly undersized, but I was confident it would do the job, as it was loaded with about 250yds of 16lb Sakuma distance line. The results, 'bloody hell', I didn't think the lead was gonna stop, it just kept going, a bit like when you get a break off, and the thing sails of into the distance, but this time, it remained attached. I was that elated I had to show fishyfingers how little line was left on the spool, utterly amazing.
My conclusion is, this rod is going to work probably better with a fixed spool set up, probably because you can from a personal point of view, give it a lot more wellie in tight spaces with more confidence than a multi. I certainly would consider using a 6oz lead as this rod looks and feels that it could cope with a lot more. Towards the end of the night I could really feel the power loading her up, and as a result, the casts were, or felt awesome, cause I could see feck all anyway in the darkness. They are really well made and so they should be for the price, all nice fuji ring fittings, and a great sliding fully adjustable reel seat which only locks up after you start fixing the reel on. The only disappointing feature was the very short length of white painted tip at the end of the rod, which my headlamp failed to pick up properly, but I might rectify that with a bit of light reflective tape place to suit. The tip of the rod, remains on the sensitive side, enough to detect even the smallest of fish, well anything over 8 inches that is. Generally tho' very pleased with first outing, and can't wait to use it again. I will be looking out for an 8000 size FS reel tho' and hopefully will pick one up at the Farnborough show next month.

Cheers

Good review mate, I was impresed with the distance when the rod was eventually properly loaded.

used to have one myself, they do sell a fixed spool version of them now.
i found it hard to get the rod to suit for a specific purpose, for long rigs ok, but wasnt forgiving enough in the tip for this type of fishing.
on rocks/rough ground didnt have enough backbone on the retrieve
also found it very top heavy, have since went down to 14ft/14ft10/ 15ft rods, find these much easier to use.

dont be scared to use 6oz plus bait on it, ive used 8oz and 3 baits in the past though only lobbed out.

id say best suited to 5 or 6 oz with one or two baits on clipped rigs at range on clean ground venues.

as with most greys sea rods it could have had better whippings on the rods, although they are light so not as to interfere with the rods action, i noticed that in no time at all the feet of the rings had started to rust under the whippings and show through, with the varnish cracking easily also.

Just a quick update on this rod folks. With a few sessions in the bag, this rod is growing on me. It's power is amazing. It likes a 6oz lead to load it up, but boy, it can chuck it out with ease. A simple overhead lob, will see you reaching, 80-100yds with out any effort. An off the ground cast will see you hitting 120yds with no probs, yet it's tip is sensitive enough to pick up bites at distance from the smallest of whiting, as I discovered last night. The luminosity problem on the rod tip has been resolved with some luminous fisherman's float orange paint, sealed with a bit of lacquer, as good a job as I can make it, and now my other beachcasters are going to get the same treatment. I am looking forward to picking up a few bigger fish in the spring. I think it will be a brilliant Thornie rod, but is ideally suited for the tripod.

great review and more or less spot on i have one for over a year now, fixed spool 16ft version, have it paired with shimano technium magnesium reel and the set up is unbelievable using f1 line and can hit 150m easy enough with it with 5oz and big bait.Fantastic rod for summer smoothies as i found out last year and as u said for thornies i reckon it be second to none but my advice would be get yourself a good fixed spool reel for it. I would wholeheartedly recommend the shimano technium expensive but worth it have used a penn surfmaster with it too and also worked very well but it only lasted me a year before the drag gave out on me, i have it in shed for months now meaning to get it sorted out but have since got myself a few shimanos, so if your stuck your welcome to it.