black magic rod test

[@BoostyMcBoostFace]

I just got the same rod. Hope it's as good as you reckon mate. chur

[@OXTackle]

It's a great light rod David. With Smaller kingis and big Snapper it will put a good smile on your dial for sure. Bigger kingi's will be challenging but still doable as long as you let them run and tire them out slowly. Have fun with it mate. Everyone who has purchased one at my shop thinks they're epic. OX

[@BoostyMcBoostFace]

Cheers bro, what breaking strain braid are you using on your saltiga?. It says 18kg line but only max 6kg drag. So I am not sure what to run? all my reels apart from my smaller softbait reels all have way more drag than 6kg's. Is that why you say let the fish run heaps? It's my first really thin jig rod. Usually running things like a Fin nor Troppo stick with a Penn slammer or Daiwa saltist on 50 to 80lb braid. What would you recommend reel and braid wise? I have a mega arsenal of reels and lines. Would a smaller soft bait reel like my Okuma Ceymar C40 with 30lb Daiwa J braid be good? or go a Saltist 4500 with 50lb? sorry to ask, you just seem to know your shit. Tight Lines. Dave

[@OXTackle]

I am running 30lb or 15kg Saltiga j braid on the Saltiga 3500. The rule of thumb to use in general is that your drag should be set at 1/3 of your lines breaking strain. To get the best out of you gear this should be around 2/3 of your rods max drag load. It is important to remember that the max drag load for the rod is only realistic at a 90 deg bend, that is with your rod at not much over 180 deg or parallel to the water. The higher you lift the lighter the pressure the rod can take and in general, the more expensive rods are built out of higher density carbon and so will tolerate a lot less high sticking. I am currently running a penn conflict with 10lb original fireline on the rod (it looks sharp) and have set it at 4 kg of drag. This is actually quite a lot and it gets the rod to bend deeply but still allows for a few slow reactions from me. I am eyeing up the new Daiwa Nero 3000 Mag seal for it as is sooo light and smooth (and also looks sharp on the rod.... Black on black does it for me :-) ), and I would run that with 10lb or 14lb Berkley original fireline or 20lb Daiwa J braid. I personally have a preference for slightly stiffer braids on my smaller spin sets but I like using depth finding braid to target mid water fish more accurately. If you find yourself getting pushed around by a kingi then you can either straiten the rod and slowly apply more pressure, or back the drag off and confuse them. I personally have the most success with the second strategy . All in all a 3000-4000 size reel with around 7 kg of max efficient drag should balance up nicely. Have fun with it mate. Tight lines. OX