Thread: Testing Banana delta x and other rods,

As above called in at Sportfish, so I thought I would try out some rods while I was there, first up for a chuck was the Banana 9'x5wt ( stupid name ) but a great rod, it was nicely finished, cosmetics were good the cork grip filled the hand well and the balance was where it should be at the end of the cork.
It cast a short line really well at 25ft, roll cast easily extending line to 45/50ft, strait line tracking was excellent right out to 75ft, altogether a lovely rod, a fast actioned rod with a forgiving tip.
Next up was the Hardy HBX 9'x5 wt nicely finished rod again with good cosmetics but I did not like the cork grip too thin and narrow for me and I don't have a big hand, the rod is a bit of a poker, too stiff for a river rod great for lakes and reservoirs. It cast a long line well and tracked a strait line with ease.
Next was the Sage pulse graphite III ,nice cosmetics as you would expect from Sage a lovely river rod, great value for money and cast all distances well just could not fault it.
Finally tried the Scott radian 9'x5 the usual Scott finish, nice cosmetics lovely full wells cork grip absolutely marvellous at all distances, tracked perfectly no line bounce short medium long line with ease to my mind the perfect river do it all rod so good in fact I bought one.
A lovely day out,just my opinion but what fun!

For those that are interested the line that I used on all these rods was the Scientific Anglers Mastery MPX twin colour 5wt which is a five and a half size line, it worked perfectly on all the rods.

When you say there's no line bounce are you referring to the ripple that runs behind the main loop.
When the rod stops it dips down x amount then bounces back to straight.. Is that it?

Cheers Al

Yes, there was no distortion in tracking it lays a lovely strait line, when the cast is finished the rod tip does not vibrate that I could notice.

The whippings on the Banana rods are the coolest - carbon thread baked in an autoclave so it effectively turns the eye into a fused part of the blank!
Valentin has assured a two-week turnaround on spare sections should any issues arise in the future...
I tried the six-piece 15ft Banana Delta spey rod at the Sportfish Show earlier in the year and it kicked the sh** out of the HBX in the same size...IMO