Just before we kick off,  I can happily say, the Rockfish files #1 and #2 combined have collectively hit 22,000 readers plus and are still going strong. Big thanks to all those guys linking to this via blogs, forums, twitter and facebook. Blog hits here are over 1000 a day now from all corners of the globe. It's great. Thanks.

If you look down the extreme right side of the blog there are links to both rockfish files issues, just as there are in the header bar so if you still haven't checked these issues out, do it, you won't regret it. You'll notice a new blue logo hiding in the header bar too. Thats the link to Twitter with jerseybassguides. Been planning on incorporating that for a while now.

Thinking of links and more so, issuu, I'm reliably informed that Zeno Hromin is running a JBG style British fishing expose on the next issue of the 'Surfcasters Journal'. I'm told, planned release is this tuesday. I'm looking forward to reading the whole issue to be honest. Striper fishing techniques can work brilliantly on our own bass. You just have to scale down. Funny though cause those guys fish for 40lb stripers and still use 20 and 30lb braids. Why are you still using 30lb braid for fish that average 4 lb at the very best during a British season ?

Anyway....back to the topic at hand.

If you picked this article up via google etc, check out THIS post first.

I showed various prototypes of Century's new HPR to three people today who assisted in various tests and asked for 'initial, immediate impressions'. I think, especially now we've gone public and orders are starting to hit the specialist dealerships (This information is best gained by contacting Century via their website ) we have a duty to keep you, in the loop so to speak, to watch it grow up.

A few people have seen the rods under cover of night  (not even the make was revealed) in the deep, dark recesses of the Island, but this was the first time anyone other than myself has fished with these rods or even seen them in daylight. My brother Kevin was pretty much kept in the dark too until we had something he could look at that warranted feedback. That feedback today was pretty positive and Kevin has seen, used, abused and adopted nearly as many rods over the years for various applications as I have.

Anyway, we headed out to play with the rods and perhaps try for a rockpig whilst out there. A bit of multi tasking never hurt anyone.

I set a few of the prototypes up in the carpark initially and showed off the 9ft stick first. We didn't fish with that one as that wasn't the goal but everyone swung it and I showed them the tip recovery speed and the weight etc.

But, the sun was shining and everyone commented on the gorgeous colour scheme. (yea right guys), colours are something I have no time for. Yes, its a necessary evil and I admit, it's quite a nice scheme but colour schemes come last my on list of (to do things) when evaluating a prototype.

There are some nice carbon weaves in this blank.

This is the weave between the butt and the first guide. Not purely cosmetic as it has function in the blank wall.

After the first guide we run into a rich blue translucency that in the right light, must help you catch more fish LOL.

It looks pretty great so I'm told.

Laser etching looks cool, I will conceed that much. This means there are no stickers on the blank itself or build to protect the stickers (why?, why do people like that stuff. Stickers don't catch fish, performance rods DO).

A close up of the counter balance.

This is what it looks like. model 7-3 ST HPR.

Kevin carrying the 7-3 EQ HPR with folded down spares in the rod tube over his shoulder.

Kevin say's of the HPR:

  "Having seen various guises of Century's new HPR rod through it's development stages I honestly feel this rod will be well received for those who use it for what it is being designed for.

The model I used was an earlier revision of the 7' - 3" EQ HPR this is their 2 piece equal section model.

Obviously, being critical, which is the whole point, I can find a few faults with this rod due to the fact that this is several stages from where we are with today's updated version.

Having seen the rod that Keith was using, these problems seem to have been addressed. With a smaller down-locking bullet nose front end grip which will hopefully, allow easier access to put your finger tip on the rod blank for even more sensitivity to detect the more delicate bites(not that’s it's needed)just would be a great option !

The rod balance system will aid resolve the huge problem most rod/reel combo's suffer from, being rather tip heavy, even with the reel in place. All the time your fishing that extra weight becomes tiresome, with the balance system fitted you can adjust to suit the style of fishing you predominantly do and keep that rod floating on it's balance point, right under your hand.

Anyway, the rod, has a great through action, is light weight and has more than enough power to stop any fish in British waters and possibly overseas. This thing just seems to keep loading up but is forgiving enough to protect the leaders required for this type of fishing even when you have to hook and hold big pigs in boulder fields.

Casting wise, I was loaded up with PE 1, was using 3 grams and a small 1.5" craw and easily reaching 40 meters with little to no effort. I will be going down to PE 0.6 and know the sensitivity of the blank combined with that line choice will put overall feel, through the roof.

If the rest of the testing goes as well as yesterday and Century rods are prepared to keep improving upon what they already have with maybe just a few minor things, the one thing I will say is, once I manage to get my hands on the newer version, I think you'll have a hard job prying it from my sticky little grip."

Dave Watson with the other 7-3 ST HPR from an earlier revision.

Read what he wrote on the JBG forums:

"Today I was lucky enough to use a prototype of the new HPR range of rods.

Preference for me would of been to use an EQ rod as thats what I would buy but, also as I've never used a ST rod before, I was not going to say no and i'm sure its not going to be very often, I get to use a rod thats still in its build stages.

HPR 7'3" ST (standard grip/handle as earlier prototype)

First off on looks - there is no taking away from it, it is a nice colour and the build qualities and materials are very nice, subtle which is good!

Pick it up and you would question that you have just picked it up as its so light and floats in the grip just right.

Keith then took hold of the tip and bent the rod through, that is when you will realise that you are holding something different here - the power coming straight through to the handle is something else, and you would not even think it would not handle any amount of applied pressure as it just felt so true and clean - cant wait to feel a fish put some piscatorial pressure on it.

I matched it up with a twinpower 2500 loaded with daiwa 8 strand 0.12mm and even without the newer balance system it felt great in the grip.

I normally use a Shimano dropshot for HRF, which is great rod but lacks in casting distance just a bit.

First cast with this rod saw my 3" craw and 3g jig head fly out with ease a good 40+ yrds, fishing shallow water. Instantly I could feel the jig hit the bottom and every move, jump, twitch I made was met with instant feedback through the rod to me.

Continued to fish with the rod for the next few hours and as i said in the title - I was very impressed!

If I was shopping for a new rod I would not hesitate in buying one of the finished builds of this range - having seen the 'prototype'  bullet nosed handle system that is going to be on the finished builds of the 7' + rods , and finalised guide arrrangements and whipping they are going to be very nice rod."

The next part is a re-hash of a forum article i wrote explaining the HPR counter balance system:

 Rod balance used to be something very useful to me as a coarse fisherman. Older style tubular glass rods might have been a revolutionary step forward in weight and recovery rates but they were still heavy by comparison to today’s carbon match rods. I remember well my Bruce & Walker XLS, a beautiful rod in its day and with super thin walls. So thin in fact that I eventually put my thumb through the blanks wall.

Anyway, we were using Mitchell Match reels or Nottingham style centre-pins that weren’t the lightest. The handles on most match rods of the day were long with the blank extending right through the cork. This amount of handle behind the hand was extremely useful. You'll often see pictures of guys holding coarse match rods with the reels positioned half way or one third back from where the cork met the open blank. This was totally 'incorrect' for our style of stick float fishing which required a balanced rod. By moving the reel back in this way, the tip became even heavier. Try holding 13ft of glass at arms length for 5 hours, one handed, mending line constantly and you'll realise quickly that the balanced rod ruled. This wasn't shared readily amongst those of us on the open circuit at the time as quite large sums were involved in 300 peg matches.

How does this affect lure rods, especially today?

Actually, the guys with the 11ft and 12ft carp rods where better off in many ways than you are today. The longer handle offset the now lighter carbon fibre blanks and reels in use where monsters by comparison to today’s affairs especially weight wise. This made rods heavy of course but, long casting and at least you could fish with them for longer periods.

Today, the trend is for shorter rods. 10ft is classified as a long rod in lure circles and I'm not just talking casting as far as you can to compensate for technique or clearing rough, shallow ground either.

Plug rods aside for now, HRF demands a rod of between 7 and 8ft in general. It has to be light, responsive, held ALL the time and often held either in a horizontal plane or tip up. If you rod is not in balance, or 'counter-balanced', you will suffer if you try to fish the styles we are advocating with soft lures.

You need a looser grip to allow the blank to 'breathe' so you can feel takes. If you have a stranglehold on the rod you are effectively cutting your chances down by varying degrees. This is not the fault of the angler if the rod is out of balance. Give that same angler a balanced rod and then, if you do it wrong, the onus is on the angler and not the rod/reel balance combo.

The idea behind the Century HPR was to supply the angler with a ready to go piece of equipment. However, you need to know what it does and the theory behind the equipment.

It isn't complicated.

Most rods that are mass produced, no, in fact, most of the ones I've seen that are not custom built, do not come with installed counter balance systems. Those that do are mostly as optional extras (weird this because you've either built a rod that balances, or you haven't), yet give no indication of why it's there and certainly no guidelines as to how one would set it all up. (It's not a gimmick). Of course, not everyone uses the same reel, line etc and a 2000 sized reel will require a different set-up to that of a 4000. Braid on a 3000 would require fine tuning from a 3000 loaded with a fluorocarbon mainline (fluorocarbon is very heavy). But, it is possible, with a bit of setting up to arrive at a very good compromise.

If you are fishing tip down like a plug angler normally would, then it's fine to have 'some' negative tip. Negative tip just means the tip will drop lower than horizontal naturally. Unfortunately, this negative tip is usually way too much and it leaves people with aching wrists after a few hours. In extremely windy conditions, negative tip helps to stop the rod getting blown around like a kite. However, start working top water lures and cadence becomes important. Lots of wrist is often required by the topwater man and I seriously considered the topwater application during the development cycle. If you are fighting the natural tendency of the rod, you are losing the battle straight away and too much negative tip means you will soon get tired, action and cadence suffers at the rod and thus, the lure and, you'll be inclined to hit a fish with a low tip.

Again, this can be bad as the rod user will hook the fish and immediately lift the rod through horizontal. This transfers the weight of the fish and the pressure to the line as the rod isn't bent any more. And people wonder why they lose fish?

For HRF, we might fish an undulated swimming style with a paddle tailed lure. On the HPR with a 2500-3000 sized reel and 1 counter weight installed. IF you hold the rod with two fingers either side of the reel stem (the correct way) and loosen your grip, the tip will fall slowly but, not all the way. With quick or rolling action of the wrist, we can bring the rod tip up, and let it drop down whilst retrieving slowly. The lure path will follow the path of the tip in a nice undulating search pattern.

Imagine we are fishing OTD (On The Drop) but it is windy. Or, we are fishing dead-stick at range. Both scenario's might mean we want the rod parallel to the shoreline but, with a neutral tip. Again, depending upon your reel, results may vary a little bit but, adding 2 counter weights to my 2500 rarenium on the 7' 3" ST model brings the rod into float mode. It just vanishes in your hand. The tip has no weight and takes are magnified, the rod is dream to hold and fish with.

Close range HRF means pitching, flipping etc and you want the tip UP. Believe me, you will often get hammered as the lure drops immediately after casting. Having to fight to keep the tip up for long periods is VERY tiring. We know.

The 90 degree rod tip to line angle is the best for feeling takes. It is the fastest to respond too, and if you get hit by a big pig (5lb plus rockfish 'wrasse') in heavy boulders, perhaps under your feet and, you get caught with your pants down (I mean tip, sorry), you'll be sorry. Doing that will mean you have to bring the rod up through the danger zone of 180 degree's and take the immediate bend out of the rod. Yes, side straining is a classic escape from this but not when bouldering. Often we are flipping INTO the cracks in cliffs, under heavy boulders the size of cars or around super sharp reef. The tip up scenario is great as it means you strike UP with rod up and you are in control from the off. The big advantage of the new resin means that the rod will absorb the load of the zoo creature far better than a rod of the old resin system would manage.

Take a look at the simple graphic and the balanced rod photo. It might help.

The proof that it works is in the using.

The 7-3 ST (balance system installed) with PE1.5 YGK on a 2500 fairly unbalanced reel, in perfect harmony. Yes, even in a strong wind, the rod is free floating on the end of that coke bottle with NO OTHER SUPPORT whatsoever. It would have sat there all day if I'd have desired it.

I did have a number of bites and nailed a mid sized pollack in the current. HRF man Stephen Olsen hooked up twice, his first rockpig going the same way as mine did... going free.  Bites were quick but every now and then, a good hit. Mine was running for 20 yards with the lure between it's teeth only to then decide (I'll bit this in half).

Stephen did get a cracker out too.

This nice wrasse, the 58 pollack Kevin and I had just the other night OTD, Alan Auberts OTD pollack party from the boat recently and the water temperature slowly rising indicates that the switch may have flipped. It's started.

Stephen said of the HPR...

"To truly appreciate this rod you need to have it in your hands.
And when its loaded OMG".

Not a man of many words but I think that speaks volumes.

Until next time...

Thanks for reading.