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By Bradley Sissins
Ultimate performance, ultimate casting, ultimate lightness, ultimate sensitivity, ultimate power – introducing Tournament Master Z-G, Daiwa’s highest performance guided casting rods.
High performance casting rods have always been a passion of mine. These are rods built for specific techniques and they can help every angler in every fishing situation. Plenty of anglers underestimate what a high performance rod can offer, yet seem more than happy to spend on high quality reels. This is one area where a lot of anglers get it wrong. Rods are fundamentally the most important part of any outfit.
A good reel will cast well. In the hands of a competent caster, a mid-priced baitcaster will cast just as well as a really expensive one most of the time. And when you think about it, who needs a baitcaster that casts long distances without over-running. In reality, these reels are rarely cast further than 30 metres. A mid-priced reel will do just fine.
The same cannot be argued for a cheap rod! A good rod casts efficiently with minimum effort from the angler. A cheap rod, however, requires much more effort, and for a caster making hundreds of casts an hour, that’s bad news. Rods are designed to cast whereas an angler’s arm is not. In simple terms a good rod casts, fights fish, provides movement to the lure and controls line direction. A reel’s drag assists in fighting fish, but that’s about it other than storing your line. So why don’t anglers spend the same money on rods?
Because they’ve got bad advice, haven’t experienced what the right rod in the right situation can do or they’re concerned rods lack bling factor. A high performance rod will outperform a high quality reel any day, so what’s holding you back from using a high performance rod? The answer is nothing other than your own head. lf you’re a serious angler and want performance then try the Tournament master Z-G – it’s got the bling and the performance that will improve your fishing tenfold.
Daiwa rod engineers in Australia and Japan worked together to develop the Tournament Master Z-G (TMZ-G) series, Daiwa’s ultimate sport fishing rods. When I had the chance to help design this series with Masanori Watanabe and Toshikazu Usuda, I leapt at the chance. The project became my passion over 18 months.
These rods needed the best technology from the start. Designing any rod from the beginning starts with the blank. TMZ-G rods are built with Daiwa’s famous SVF (Super High Volume Fibre) graphite blanks for ultimate performance. SVF fibre is up to 99.8 percent carbon and combines precise resin control with uni-directional graphite fibre. Combined they make one of the lightest, strongest and most sensitive blanks ever developed for Australia.
Many anglers believe high carbon percentage rods are easy to break. This is another misconception. High end rods use the latest technology, the best raw materials and precise engineering. All high end Daiwa rods, that’s every rod in a manufacturing batch, are made under laboratory conditions and are load tested at the factory. They are each quality checked by a team of rod builders. With such stringent control, high end rod has less chance of breaking compared to mass produced cheaper rods.
With such attention to detail, high end blanks needs quality components to really perform. TMZ-G rods feature the superior sensitivity of Fuji’s titanium silicone carbide guides, Daiwa’s surround hold reel seats and Airfoam grips. Put simply, TMZ-G rods offer unmatched performance to Australian anglers.
All of Daiwa’s rods are tested at the prototype level. After the blank is designed and rolled, they are assembled with the very same components that will be used in large scale production. Other than cosmetics, these are replicas. As prototype rods are developed, each is rigorously tested in the field over twelve months. A dream job? Not really! During testing a rod there are decisions to be made about refinements, small and large. And these refinements can’t be made on the spot. It’s back to the factory with feedback and then onto the water again for another try. The feedback needs to be explicit and the both the field tester, designer and manufacturing team need a clear idea of what’s being sought.
From the freshwater Riverina for Murray cod and golden perch, through northern estuarine waters of central NSW for salmon and rat kingfish, to the warmth of sunny SE Qld for bream, bass and barra, the TMZ-G series of rods excelled. Designed for specific techniques, each rod is made to target a particular fish in a particular way: pin rod for bass, spin rod for snapper, baitcaster for cod, baitcaster for barra. Whether you’re a fan of spinning or baitcasting, the TMZ-G series has a rod for you.
TMZ-G spinning rods
TMZ-G Zero
Designed as the ultimate ultra light lure fishing rod, the Zero has an extremely light tip section, yet still exhibits a fast action for ultra light hard body lures and small soft plastics. The tip is soft and responsive while the remaining blank has a parabolic curve helping to distribute line pressure evenly along the blank. This helps to avoid breaking light lines. Suitable for braid or monofilament, hard bodies or soft plastics, the Zero is perfect for bream, Australian bass, trout and other light tackle species.
TMZ-G Flats Master
Designed for casting distance and extreme sensitivity. This rod has an extremely fast action, yet under load displays a parabolic action for even line distribution and low down power. It is particularly suited for powerful light tackle fish like Australian bass, golden perch and black bream. Perfect for soft plastics, jerk baiting and lipless crankbaits.
TMZ-G Slayer
Incredible fast power is the Slayer’s ultimate fortune. Few rods can match its ultra light weight. Perfect for soft plastics, jerk baits, crankbaits and lipless lures. Snag dwelling fish like mangrove jacks, Australian bass, golden perch, barramundi and Murray cod don’t stand a chance. It is also perfect for soft plastics and blades in saltwater for snapper, golden trevally, Australian salmon and small tuna.
TMZ-G Extractor
If your passion is catching tackle busting fish on spin gear then the Extractor is the rod for you. Designed for the latest techniques like frog fishing for barramundi, lipless crankbaits for Murray cod or soft plastics for snapper, the Extractor will do exactly what its name implies, extract strong fish from snags and structure quickly! |
