Redefine The Game Sep 2017 - Nov 2017 | Page 12

When you’re heading to the Coral Sea you can be certain of one thing. The fish are big and will put your fishing equipment through extreme testing. It’s refreshing knowing that companies like Wilson are willing to test their products in the harshest of environments to ensure they not only withstand the punishment but do it extremely well. Recently I was asked to join the Wilson team on a trip to Wreck Reef on board Big Cat Reality Charters. Joining us were many tackle shop owners/workers from around the country and what better way for those selling the products to see first- hand how the Wilson products performed. Now one would naturally assume that if you’re on a Wilson organised trip that you would only be using Wilson related products. This assumption would 12 actually be incorrect and something I highly commend Wilson for doing. They will happily use other branded lures/tackle against their own to gauge a true indication of performance and durability. ••• RODS ••• Over the course of the trip a wide selection of Venom rods were used to suit various applications. Rods were selected on the line class and lure type/size/weight being used. Knowing that Wreck Reef was home to some monster fish we naturally used some pretty serious gear to target them. I was using a Stella 18000 with 100lb braid and 130lb leader, another Stella 20000 with 130lb braid and 200lb leader and Jigging Master PE5 overhead with 80lb braid/leader, so some serious rods were required to match them. When it came to casting poppers and sticks baits around the shallow reef edges I found the Venom Popper rods in PE8 and PE10 were ideal for casting large heavy poppers and fighting oversized fish. These rods were brutal on the fish and the power you can put through them to get big fish moving is outstanding.