TESTED
A LITTLE while ago I was in the market for a new surf rod. Living down in SA means I do a fair bit of beach fishing – mainly targeting salmon and school mulloway from the surf. What I was after was a light surf rod that would suit flicking lures for salmon, plus some bait fishing for our school jew.
There tends to be a compromise when trying to decide on a multi-purpose rod; it will generally favour one application. After doing some research I found what I thought to be the perfect rod for what I wanted, the Shimano Tiralejo TIR-900C.
The Tiralejo TIR-900C is a two-piece, 9’0” overhead rod rated at 6–10kg. I prefer using overheads for beach fishing, especially when firing lures out into the surf. The Tiralejo range of rods feature the Slide ‘N’ Grip reel seats, allowing you to slide and position the reel seat along the blank according to the rod’s intended purpose. When I’m flicking metal slugs off the beach for salmon, I have the reel seat quite high, giving an extended butt section. When I’m bait fishing, I’ll lower the reel seat to shorten the butt section; it’s a great concept.
Tiralejo blanks are made from Shimano’s XT300 low resin, high modulus graphite, giving an ultra-light rod – even at 9’0” in length. There are 12 rods in the Tiralejo range, with the TIR-900C the smallest one of the series. The Tiralejo has been an awesome rod for casting lures at salmon and it’s in this application that the rod has stood out. Metal slugs in the 40-50g range have been dynamite with the Tiralejo, but it also fires out big plastics on 28g jig heads with complete ease.
The distance and ease of casting has made this outfit by far the best surf-luring rod I have ever owned. It doubles nicely for flicking smaller baits at the school jew, and has a surprising amount of pulling power down low. It’s now my go-to light surf outfit, and I can’t rate it highly enough. The Tiralejo TIR-900C has an RRP of around $299.
Contact: Shimano on (02) 9526 2144;
www.shimanofish.com.au
By Jamie Crawford
