December 3, 2016

Suntech GM Seikei Keiryu Special 27 -- on the water

In my last post I mentioned that I didn't want to fish with the GM27, since it was on loan from Chris. However, shortly after posting that comment, Chris contacted me and said it was OK to fish with it. So, with his permission, I took the GM27 to a nearby small stream to test it out.



The conditions were less than perfect, mainly that the temperatures have dropped over the past week and the water temperature of smaller streams is getting to the point that affects trout activity. The air was 25° F and the water was down to 36° F. Still, I caught a few browns and rainbows.

The rod casts really nicely with a a #2.5-3 line. I used a 7 foot line with 2.5 feet of tippet. Standard overhead casts, as well as side arm casts were easily executed. Specialty casts like air roll cast, slingshot cast and steeple casts also were done easily, even with a weighted fly. Just a flick of the wrist was all that was needed to get the fly to it's intended target.



The 8 inch trout that I hooked didn't tax the rod in any way, and I was able to easily keep them out of the numerous underwater snags of the creek I fished.  Hook sets were quick and sharp.



I love this rod! For my streams, and the type of fishing I do in them, if I needed a 270 cm rod, I'd buy this one. What a great little rod!





3 comments:

  1. Thank you for the review. Glad Chris encouraged you to go test it out. I've had my eye on it since I first heard about it. Always value your experience and opinion.

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  2. Hi Tom, thank you for getting back to us on fishing with the 27. Here is another rod you may find interesting and it is a 3-position rod: https://esoterictackle.co.uk/tenkara/157-strooan-zoom-tenkara-rod-0700729930830.html

    If you were to contact Esoteric Tackle, I believe they might be willing to send a couple of rods for you to review. We would all be interested in anything you have to say about these rods as well (second rod: 206/245).

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  3. Hi again Tom, You asked me about what the penny ratings are on the Esoteric 206/245 rod, so I measured it this morning. At 206 cm, it came in at 14 pennies right on the button. At the 245 length, 15 was a bit shy and 16 pennies went a bit beyond, so my guesstimate is a 15.5 or so penny rating at the longer length.

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