OVER the past few weeks I’ve had the pleasure of fishing with Samaki’s third generation top-of-the-line C-12 rods, now aptly called the V3. The rods are built on premium Japanese Toray carbon with 4X weave construction which produces an exceptionally light rod with massive amounts of power and feel.
To compliment this premium blank material, Samaki haven’t cut corners on componentry either, fitting out the range with Fuji K and LKW silicon carbide S guides and soft-touch cork grips. I tend to think of cork as a premium product and it’s nice to see a movement away from the more popular EVA grips now dominating the market. The rods feel beautiful in the hand, well balanced with nice crisp actions no doubt helped by the light overall weight. I also like the new locked hoods on the reel seats. They work well with the grip set up to offer a consistent feel in the hand.
I have been using two rods specifically, a 7′ 3-8lb extra light spin rod and a 7′ 4-8lb light spin rod, both aimed at the bream segment or light estuary. On paper it might not sound there’s a tremendous difference between these two rods however there are big differences in the hand.
The extra light is perfect for throwing plastics on light jigheads up to 1/12oz sizes. Cast distance is excellent and the feel of this rod in detecting bites on finesse presentations is impressive. I like the short butt section and thin grips which have been designed to fit in the hand nicely and operates as single-handed casting rod. The action is moderately fast with a nice parabolic curve on hook up without being sloppy, exactly what you need to allow a bream to slurp down a small grub.
The light 4-8lb version is a stouter rod with a faster action and a slightly longer rear grip set up that’s designed as a split grip. I found the best application for this rod was throwing light hardbody lures for bream. The longer butt section made this a nice two-handed casting rod which exhibits good accuracy and decent casting distance. I see this rod as more a close-quarters rod cranking lures down beside boat hulls or casting parallel down rock walls where casting distance is not critical, not so much a flats rod.
There’s no doubt due to the faster nature of the blank it could double as a plastics rod for heavier heads in the 1/8oz or 1/6oz weight classes chasing bream in deeper water or a light flathead stick. It also has the right amount of tip-stiffness to be a nice topwater rod throwing small poppers or stickbaits.
Interestingly, the rods were designed to work the opposite with the extra light a hardbody rod and the light a plastics rod however my preference has been the reverse in early testing.
There are five spin models designed to chase larger estuary species, snapper offshore and a heavy stick for targeting impoundment barra. There are also five baitcast models for throwing all manner of lures from spinnerbaits to football jigs and the customary traditional barra stick.
Samaki are producing some quality gear at the moment so if you want to treat yourself to something a little special go check them out in the local tackle store near you.
For more information: www.samaki.com.au
