Shimano Technium Rods

Our old friends at Leegem Tackle are now selling these top quality Shimano rods at half RRP price - and they kindly gave us a match rod to try out - just to see what we thought...

First of all - the word Shimano installs confidence in any purchase you make - lets be honest, there isn't many duff Shimano products!

We were given the Technium DF Match rod and I must say I was impressed from the start.

It has a lovely ergonomic screw-down reel seat which gives a rock-solid grip for your reels. I used the Shimano 3000 reel, but perhaps a 4000 would have given a better balance.

It's was a delight to use this 3-piece rod, which had 16 SIC single leg guides and a ring-keeper. The rod was light enough to hold all day with the handle being very comfortable.

The slim blank is quite unusual - the top section is the 'normal' carbon wrap but the second and third sections have a weave around them, which gives the blank a slight undulation. Without being too technical it's supposed to give the rod better compression strength, casting power and pick up. All I can say is... it works!

I used a fairly heavy 'puddle chucker' float with 3lb line and casting was accurate and effortless. The rod felt properly balanced and had a quick 'pick-up' which helped - as I was targeting Rudd - on-the-drop - and needed to hit lightening fast bites!

I passed the rod onto my mate Steve Jenkinson who gave it a thorough work out - Steve's got muscles in his spit - and was trying to reach the other side of the pond with the 'chucker' - I'm pleased to say the rod coped tremendously.

You can see from the concentration on his face - Steve meant business!

All-in-all a good rod, the graphics are a bit bright for my taste, but if you can manage to get a quality rod like this for half price - who's bothered!

Give Phil a ring at Leegem Tackle on 01246 559480, please mention AnglersTimes.co.uk