[Rob Brownfield]

Right chaps, I found a rather good deal online for a Sonik SK3 14 foot, 9/10 rod, SK4 reel and matching short head Sonik line for 40% off..so basically getting the reel and line free.

Now, I ahve some SK4 carp rods that are pretty nice and I am happy with them, but I wondered if anyone had had a shot of the SK3 double handers.

The spiel on the website says that they are made to a "Scandi" action, which is what I want, but I cannot justify the £400+ for other companies Scandi rods.

I want something for underhand casting.

Any thoughts?

[Ben Dixon]

Rob,

Don't get bogged down in the Scandi rod, underhand stuff.  A good salmon rod will have a progressive action, will recover well and will cast any line.  A broomstick with a soft tip designed for pinging short light heads off the tip with a short stroke will be good at that but will be uncomfortable with anything else.  Don't get too concerned with the bottom hand thing either, ideally you'd apply power 50:50 and provided that the bottom hand is not doing nothing at all and you are getting a cast away that you're happy with then all is well.  Where the bottom hand is more important is in the set up of the cast, if it remains passive and too close to the body at the stage where you form the D loop then you are left with nowhere to go when you deliver and bottom hand position can have a huge effect upon tracking.

To answer your question, I have no experience of the rod you are talking about but I did cast a 15' Sonik a few years ago and it was O.K, nothing special with little wow factor but it was a decent enough rod for the money.  Do yourself a favour and get a DTX!

Cheers

Ben

[Rob Brownfield]

Ben, And what makes you the expert caster all of a sudden ..lol!

I need to get down with what I have got and get some "on the water" advice off of you.

I have just seen the Greys Scandi rods, I like the look of them too.

As woth everything I do, I have a second reason for the Scandi rods, and thats puntting out big pike flies on a short shooting head. All the reading and watching I have done has pointed to the Scandi style being a bit better at contolling big, heavy flies.

Would appreciate your thoughts on this.

[Ben Dixon]

Rob,

I've not tried it but I really couldn't imagine punting out pike flies on a 14' DHD could be much fun!!  Personally I do like something stiffer & faster for overhead work, I assume you'll be doing this overhead? 

Cheers

Ben