Purglas blanks vs Others

[mattharvey1]

Hi all (posted this on the tackle thread already but someone rightly suggested it should go here ... )

Got an enquiry you can maybe help with ......

I was recently in South Africa and was checking out which Rock and Surf outfit I will be purchasing when I go back there to live in a year or two.

The one I saw was a Purglas 400/1 13ft which was a very nice slim blank and coupled with a Daiwa SL30 should be just the job. The rod will be custom made in SA to my specification.

The other blanks considered were Blue Marlin and Loomis. The price quoted was roughly £120 for the blank and the build.

What are your reccomendations fellas, I have not used a rock and surf rod before but it's the way to go for fishing in lots of southern African areas if you don't own a boat.


Cheers in advance

Matt Harvey

[PanamaJack]

Hi Matt
And welcome to the 'Far Side' forums.

I don't think there are any South African anglers who necessarily access this forum. And, in their absence, I suspect that the ones most qualified to respond would be people like Neil MacKellow or those from the EFSA teams that have fished tournaments in South Africa. Incidentially you should be able to forward a Private Message to Neil through this site, he posts under the nom de plume - Black Beard.

In addition one of our members does a lot of fishing out from Struiss Bay - its anglicized form - and on his last trip he did some surf fishing, at night, and caught some BIG Sand Tiger Sharks, up to an estimated 450lbs. Not somewhere I'd fancy wading! You'll find that the South Africans also refer to them as 'Ragged Toothed' Sharks. Obviously there you're using a substantial beach caster and reel to match, often something like a conventional, low geared, Penn Senator.

But I suppose, as a starting point, where and what are you likely to be fishing for? Everything I've picked up on the 'Net', including information from surf casting clubs around Durban (KwaZulu Natal), talks about fishing for 100lb plus rays and sharks. But there are pelagics that you can catch from the rocks plus Snapper and a species of Drum that would ideally require differing tactics from the Sharks and differing tackle.

Now you'll see from the banner on the left of this posting that I'm a fan of Loomis rods. Most of my fly rods, casting and spin rods plus some of the lighter, softer trolling rods are Loomis'. But I suspect that the Obsidian range you mentioned - and I'm NOT a surf caster - are designed largely for the East coast of the 'States. Where most, but not all, of the fishing would be casting with heavy artificials. They're, with perhaps the exception of the 12 footer, likely to be very much tip actionned. The 10 1/2 footer's designed to cast 1 to 5oz and the 11 footer 1/2oz to 3. So they might be great for pelagics and perhaps the Snapper, but other than the 12 footer not for the bigger brutes!

I really can't help with any observations on the other blanks.

Then to your reel. The Daiwa SL30 a fine reel for UK conditions and would be great for pelagics. But I suspect that, with its very high gearing, and a long surf rod it's going to be 'hard work' with the other species, particularly the Rays and Sharks. Therefore something with lower gearing might be more appropriate?

Certainly try Neil. But, as well, I would try contacting some of those South African clubs for their views. Here's one such Club - http://members.tripod.com/~Coelastamp/obac/obac.html, but you could find many more through one of the Search Engines on the Internet.

Finally, just before leaving the subject of your reel, given the size and power of the things you're going to encounter you may wish to consider upgrading the drag plates. There's a company in Southern California where you could source them - here's the url - http://www.charkbait.com/cs/maintena.htm. Also, given the surf conditions in the Indian Ocean, you may wish to consider replacing the bearings with ceramic ones. If so try this link - http://www.reelvalue.co.uk/ceramic_bearings.html.

Hope that's of some help.
Kindest regards
Dave

[PanamaJack]

Just one further thought Matt. Here's a posting regarding shore fishing in Namibia - http://www.worldseafishing.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17459. I know conditions are somewhat different but it might similarly worth contact Dale for relevant observations.
Dave

[mattharvey1]

Wow,

Thanks very much for the reply PanamaJack, very extensive and appreciated.

Fish wise I am familiar with ALL SA species as I have spent a total of 6 months there now (my wife is a Saffer), although I have caught only a handful so far which will hopefully change when I get back there.

Best Regards

Matt Harvey

[PanamaJack]

Hi Matt
Just received an article from the Secretary of the Shelly Beach Ski-Boat Club for inclusion in our Club's - Sportfishing Club of the British Isles - next magazine about the fishing off Proteus Reef, approx 150kms south of Durban and 8kms offshore.

Interestingly for you, from the shore fishing aspect, it's describing the annual Sardine (Pilchard) Run that occurs in their winter - June/July. The vast shoals - and there've been documentaries on this on the 'Beeb' in recent years - are of course accompanied by a range of predators, including Sharks and Yellowfin Tuna.

Accompanying the article was a fascinating photograph of the Cape Gannets feeding just off the rocks within what I suspect is a reasonable lob from the shore.
Dave

[flipper]

Dave how do you get a copy of the magazine? do you have to join the club if so could you provide a link?

Due to chronic sea sickness, I am intrigued only in shore fishing, but I have got the bug for catching big exciting fish, unfortunately, rockling and doggies are no longer floating my boat!!! Any info would be much appreciated.

[mattharvey1]

Cheers Dave,

I have heard a lot about it and seen the stunning footage also but unfortunately have not yet found myself in the area around that time as I have always been over around feb/March time. I would also be interested a copy of the magazine, will have a look at the website and check out joining up as well..

Flipper, there is a link to the Sport fishing club of Great Britain here .... http://www.scbi.org.uk/pages/Scbi.asp

Cheers

Matt Harvey

[PanamaJack]

Hi Flipper and Matt
I'll PM you both.
Dave

[flipper]

Many thanks to you both.:clap3:

[Ajohn]

Hi
You might find this link of use:
http://www.fishing.co.za/product.htm
It's the purglas home page from what I can see. They seem to catch some rather large fish and manage to cast a long way. Given the size of fish you might run into it's probably best to buy the reel over there too. It will need a very good drag.

My interest comes about because of a some think mad obsession with overhead casts and I have been looking around to see how they do it in other countries. Australia is interesting. The dry (grass) cast up to 180 mtrs with 4 ozs and a bit of dowel to simulate the bate.
Regards
John

[marktheshark]

Hullo matey
Three years ago, as a 40th birthday pres (my wife was paying!) I had Julian Shambrook in Torquay custom-build a heavy fish rod. Basically, you tell him what you want it for, he'll discuss blanks, whipping, ringing, fighting grips etc, and the result will be what you need. It won't come cheap (£250-plus).
The brief for mine was a travel rod able to handle big jacks from the shore, or boat, or rocks, or anywhere. The result was a 3-piece, 9.5ft brute that I can use to cast big lures 100 yards plus, big fish baits, or use for uptide, downtide, jigging. It is quite a brute and you wouldn't want to cast with it all day but it's caught fish to 60lb (roosterfish, sharks, tuna) with plenty to spare and I wouldn't part with it for the world.
Mark

[kobcatcher]

hi Matt
i have fished in sa quite a few times as our moderator freind sugested with the efsa teams I have two south african rods both of purglas origin and both 3 piece
the best rod is an assasin made by barry warerham these rods havea chouse of tip sections light/medium/heavy/etc as you need avery stiff tip to pull the hook home on a large shark ,as regards the reel our freind is correct again most of the top surf anglers use a shimano trinidads /30 s or daiwa slv 50 s the other thing to catch the big sharks on the shore in sa on the surf beach you will have to wade and i mean wade the locals will wade till the waves go right over there heads! you can of course catch decent sharks of the rocks but then you have will alot more trouble getting the fish out of the water.oh if you search for assasin fishing rods you should find the web site of barry ,basil manning is the shops name

cheers col

[Vrottes]

Hello from South Africa ! Purglas are simply awesome rods and I fished with them for may a year ! There are however better rods on the market in South Africa at this stage ...depending what you want to catch.

[ian combe]

Hi Matt ,
For what it's worth , I fished a 12 ft purglas rod casting 6 oz for two years when I lived in Durban some 20 yrs ago .~ Ran a Penn Jigmaster spooled with 25 lb . It did me pretty well and when I got into heavy weights ( big rays / Sandies ) I would get spooled , but the rod and reel were fine to fight another day . ~ For value for money I don't think you will better purglas , and your reel will be fine . If you intend to mitigate for serious heavy weights ~ you will be overgunned 95 % of the time . Kings Sports in Durban had an awsome selection of rods and reels . Fenwick was the buisness for spinning off South Pier , with a good spinning reel ( I can't see past Penn ) loaded with as much 20 or 30 lb braid as you can get on. ~
Hope this helps ,
Ian

[Bronzhaii]

Hi Matt,

As a custom rod builder and guide in Namibia, you are asking a lot of just one rod. We build in a huge variety of weights dependant on what species and areas you are going to be fishing in. A bit like in the UK, where you would have one rod for estuary work, another for distance work, and perhaps even another for heavy ground fishing.

We build mainly on Blue Marlin blanks as they are the most advanced in their development program, and they are always developing new designs to cope with specific markets. Even down to portable rods in 2 or 3 pieces, or the standard single piece 14 footers.

You will have to decide what types of fishing you are going to be doing to narrow down your choice of rod, and then that will determine the reel options. Folks have mentioned shark rods in this thread, and even with these we build a variety according to peoples differing needs.

Hope that helps.

Cheers from sunny Africa,

Jeri

[Mad_Keen_Conger_Guy]

I have been to Namibia a few times and used Purglas 400/2 and /3 and /4's and found them all to be capable of catching everything!

The Assasin looks like a wonderful rod and i have used one for bronzies in namibia where it more than easily coped with one of 85kgs. It also (with a tip change) worked well for cob, steenbra and spotties with the best cob being 19kg and the best spotty being 21kg on that rod. Using 20lb mainline was excellent on the soft tip and 40lb line for the big sharks meaning little lost gear when the fish was on.

The advantage of the assasin over the one piece rods - you can get it on a plane.

Also, there is a tv program in south africa called ESA where they only use assasins - speaks for itself really.

Watch out for the custom rod builders. Some use cheap components rather than quality ones.

[mattharvey1]

Thanks very much to all you guys for the info.

I never subscribed to the topic so haven't looked in for ages.

My situation has changed and I'm now stuck in London running my own business but when I am in the position to make the purchase I'll refer back to this topic and explore all the options you have laid out for me.

Must now concentrate on what I need to take to fish the Andaman Islands for xmas :bounce:

[Haggis Tosser]

I am pretty sure Purglass rods are imported to the UK, they are modified for the UK market i.e 2 piece and not one piece. Send a PM to PurglassPete, he will be able to inform you who imports/stocks them.