GearProduct Reviews

Shimano Ultegra XR 14000XTD review

BEACH fishing outfits in the past, at least in my experience, were often big and cumbersome. Sure, it goes with the territory, but some were just seemed unnecessarily heavy and difficult to cast. Thankfully, modern rods and reels have changed all that!

Shimano’s Ultegra XR 14000XTD is a great example of such a reel. The latest Ultegra is built using Shimano’s lightweight Ci4+ composite body material. This makes for a surprisingly light reel for its size.

In addition, Shimano’s Hagane Gear, X-Ship, Infinity Drive, and Silent Drive create smooth and robust performance. It’s super smooth to wind and easy to cast.

Effortless casting and long casting is essential for surf fishing and it didn’t take long to see how the Ultegra punched above it weight when it comes to long casts. Firstly, Shimano’s Super Slow 5 Oscillation feature reduces the speed in which the line travels up and down the spool during the cast and creates less friction. It offers a big advantage when it comes to distance casting.

Another feature onboard the Ultegra is Shimano’s Parallel Body. This design puts the spool at 90 degrees to the blank, rather than slightly angled as on many reels. This allows a smoother transition of line away from the spool with less risk of line slap against the blank. Again, resulting in longer casts.

The Ultegra XR 14000XTD also has what Shimano calls Rigid Cast, a feature that offers longer and more accurate casting throughout the reel’s lightweight and rigid construction during the cast.

All up, the above three features create an effortless reel for long range casting.

The Ultegra XR also incorporates X-Protect technology, something Shimano say safeguards its moving parts from water ingress. That’s a handy feature around beaches where sand and saltwater inevitably makes its way into the reel. This can cause problems in inferior tackle, or any tackle that isn’t properly maintained.

To wrap up the Ultegra’s list of features, its Hi-Speed drag, with cross carbon drag washers, allows accurate control and minimal adjustment knob rotation. If you’re just chasing bream, tailor or whiting from the beach, the drag may not enter the equation, however, hook a big mulloway or shark after dark, and you’ll be thankful for all of the above, especially the modern drag system.

I spent a few trips testing the Ultegra XR 14000XTD along some of the beaches around Sydney and on the NSW South Coast. It was matched to a Shimano Speedster Surf Spin Rod, a 12 foot 6-10kg medium with 20-80 gram lure weight. It was spooled with 20lb braid.

The slim custom cross weave shrink tube grip on the rod makes it easy to cast and doesn’t add any unnecessary weight to the rod. The Speedmaster rod also features Fuji K Aconite guides and 24T Carbon Graphite Blank.

The Speedmaster and Ultegra combo is ideal as an all-purpose beach outfit. If chasing bream, tailor, whiting and mulloway off the beach is on the agenda, this outfit is well worth a look. It’s a great outfit for flinging pillies or strip baits and a good option for throwing lures. I found lures around the 60 gram size to be most efficient for casting.

Overall, I found the Ultegra XR 14000XTD an enjoyable reel to use for beach fishing. It’s smooth, easy to cast and matched with the responsive and lightweight Speedmaster Surf Spin Rod, makes a deadly combo for hitting the sand and throwing baits or lures at some popular species along our East Coast beaches.

More info at fish.shimano.com/en-AU

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