Poles are, without a doubt, one of the trickiest items of tackle to review, especially mid-range purchases. It’s a crowded market and, let’s face it, there are so many great models that are so similar, it’s often difficult to discern much difference between them. This month, however, Drennan has just thrown an almighty curve ball, releasing a pole so different that everyone has had to sit up and take notice.
Most of my dealings with tackle companies is with media managers, but when Peter Drennan himself phoned and asked me to visit Drennan’s Oxford HQ to take a look at the company’s new pole before live-testing, I knew there had to be something special on the cards. What I wasn’t expecting, though, was to find so many unique features that I would struggle to fit them all into just one review!
Features and packages
Top kits are something that I talk about a lot in reviews, as they are one of the few ways a company can make its pole stand out from the crowd. With commercials having taken over from natural waters as the pole angler’s number one choice of venue, we now see most top kits and packages tailored towards carp and F1s, especially with poles around the £1,000 mark.
You need shorter top kits on commercials to get your elastic running correctly and allowing you to land fish effectively. This means most top kits are around 2.4m-2.6m long. Drennan has got its Carp kits for the Rigidex dead right at 2.4m, and they come fully bushed, along with having a newly-designed roller side puller fitted. Both the 11m and the 13m Carp packages are supplied with these, plus a matching length cupping kit, some shorter 1.7m one-piece Shallow kits, and the now vital short No3 section.
This, however, is where things get interesting. These commercial top kits are not as good for natural venues, where a longer top kit allows you to fish deeper waters more effectively. They are also better when used with lighter elastics, especially solid ones. Drennan has therefore designed a completely different top kit for specific use on natural waters. Still two-piece, they are 3m long, bushed, and come with a reinforced wrap area, should you wish to use them with a side puller. Buy either of the natural water packages and you get these top kits, along with a matching cupping kit.
You then have a choice of either the Match package with five top kits or the Deep Water Match Package, which comes with two top kits and three No3 sections, allowing you to have two rigs and a cupping kit set up at 4.6m long – perfect for the river, deep lakes and reservoirs. Due to these longer top kits, it also means that the pole is a full 13m without the use of an additional dolly butt, which the 13m Carp package comes with.
Performance and handling
After the factory visit, I headed off with the Rigidex to a nearby water – an estate lake with a more natural-style stocking. Not only did it look fantastic, but the extensive reed beds, lilies and thick layers of weed hidden a few feet down would provide a big test for the pole. I’d been told to expect plenty of crucians and maybe the odd huge carp, so my gear was pretty robust, with Drennan’s 15-17 elastic in a Carp kit. Potting in a little pellet and some corn, I then tried for a bite.
It took a few minutes, but the float eventually dipped confidently. With so much weed about, I didn’t want to take any risks, so I pulled hard, up and to the side, hoping the overgunned elastic would guide the crucian straight up and away from the danger. I’m glad I did, because what I was actually attached to was a very good tench! On a commercial, you keep your pole low when playing a big fish, but there are no such options on a lake like this. I kept the pole at full length and high as the fish kept boring downwards, trying to get into the weed.
Once I felt I was in control, the pole was thrown back behind me and over the roller, where I then ripped off the top kit and pulled a load of elastic out of the puller to keep the tench up and drag it over the jungle of marginal weed to the net.
The next fish was also a tench, but this time I unshipped at the No5 section and netted the fish with around 7m of pole in the air – a great way of keeping it away from the weed, but a sure-fire way of breaking a weak pole! In fact, every fish I caught was a tench and I ended up with five of them around 5lb apiece, plus a handful of smaller ones. I can only presume the crucians were on holiday – not that it mattered, as these hard-fighting fish had given the pole a far greater strength test, which it had passed with flying colours.
The verdict
Drennan claims the Rigidex, at £1,000, is stiffer than a lot of poles costing £2,000 or more. Although this sounds absurd to start off with, Drennan may well be right! The company has discovered that designing it to be best at 13m, it can make the pole stiffer than designing it at 16m, then simply selling it without butt sections. It’s all down to the taper or, put simply, how wide it gets along its length, and how quickly.
Although it remains stunningly stiff – even when the additionally-available 14.5m section is added – I think the Rigidex would actually lose a lot of performance should it be pushed to 16m, as well as feeling thick and clumsy due to the fast taper. This allows it to punch above its weight at 13m and 14.5m, while ignoring 16m rivals.
So, who will buy a Rigidex? The obvious answer is someone who doesn’t want a 16m pole! I know there are loads of anglers up and down the country who want a high quality pole, but have no wish or desire to fish at 16m, or maybe even 14.5m.
I can imagine them walking into a tackle shop, looking at a £600 13m pole and deciding It’s not good enough, then ending up buying a more expensive 14.5m or 16m pole, knowing full well that those bigger sections will end up sat in the garage and never used. In fact, I even had the Rigidex set up alongside my own personal top-end 16m pole and found it just as light and almost as stiff. This left Me wondering, why on earth had I spent nearly triple the money on a pole just to fish at 16m a few times a year!
To sum up, is the Rigidex a natural water or a commercial pole? With the carp package, it’s a blinding commercial pole, more than a match for its rivals in the same price range. For the natural water angler however, it’s almost a no-brainer, as it has so few rivals in its price range. With almost every other pole package being so heavily geared toward carp, you’ll find it very hard to think of a reason not to buy one.
WHY NOT HAVE A LOOK THROUGH OUR GUIDE TO THE BEST POLES UNDER £1000...
Tech spec
- Carp and Shallow kits come bushed with roller side pullers already fitted
- Match kits come bushed with a wrap for optional side puller fitting
- Ghost kits in Carp and Shallow available separately
- 14.5m extension available separately
- Rated to a 19 elastic with Carp kit fitted
- 900g at 11.5m with 2.4m Carp kit
- 1,025g at 13m with 3m Match kit
- 1,195g at 13m with 2.4m Carp kit and Mini Butt
www.total-fishing-tackle.com
Pros
- A stunning level of rigidity considering its quite modest price tag
- Features a fantastic, smooth and easy-to-ship finish
Cons
- Anglers looking for 16m will have to look elswhere
- The striking graphics might not be for everyone
Our pick of the alternatives
www.total-fishing-tackle.com
After Testing the Daiwa Matchman 14.5m pole, I have to say they represent astonishingly good value for money.
On the technical side, the poles are simple and straightforward enough, being made from a quality, hard- wearing HMC+ carbon cloth. This gives them a sturdy build, while retaining a degree of lightness in the hand. This quality is enhanced with the inclusion of Daiwa’s top-end ITS taping system which makes shipping the poles back and forth an easy enough operation.
Reassuringly solid section walls are matched to equally robust reinforced section joints, the arrows of which ensure that the poles are always fished the right way up, with those arrows on the top side.
The top kits that come with the poles are where Daiwa has really pushed the boat out. They come in at one length of 2.7m, but are pre-fitted with a 4.7mm PTFE bush – ideal for use with up to Grey Hydro elastics – and a 5.8mm PTFE that will easily take a ’laccy as strong as Red Hydro.
Both top kits also come with pre-fitted Daiwa Interlastic side-pullers. They are purpose-built for commercial carping , and I’d rate them among the strongest I’ve ever come across. The fact that Daiwa has pre-fitted them with suitably-sized PTFEs adds to their usefulness... and they get a big tick from me!
The 13m and 14.5m Power poles come with thoughtful kit packages that include two 4.7mm and two 5.8mm top kits, as well as a cupping kit with cups and a mini extension – all in all, a bumper bargain.
In a world where a top-end pole will set you back several thousand pounds, the look and feel of budget-priced models such as this can leave you feeling somewhat underwhelmed. But, to be fair, this new offering from Daiwa certainly looks pretty classy in its all-black livery.
The pole felt as if it would be perfectly at home on just about any commercial carp water, no matter the size of the fish present. I fished it at its 14.5m length and, while still usable, it was obviously an easier prospect at 13m. It’s not the lightest pole I have handled either, but its linear rigidity and section stiffness were far better than I had expected. The shipping-out process is pleasant, and I managed to get my tip-fitted pole pot out to the spot without any premature evacuation.
Pros
- Puller bushes fitted on top kits
- Ample spares package
- ITS finish makes shipping easy
Cons
- Not compatible with UK made top kits
| Length: | 11.5m or 13m |
| Top kits: | Three |
| Compatibility: | Backward compatible with older Xtreme M3. Can be used as an extension to the M1 pole |
www.total-fishing-tackle.com
Aiming to provide quality kit at affordable prices, Guru have released the A-Class range of poles that come in five different lengths – 5.5m, 8m, 9.5m, 11.5m and 13m. I wanted to give the longest of the lot a thorough workout, and with the word ‘Power’ proudly emblazoned in unmissable writing across the butt section, I headed for a commercial where the carp will test your tackle to the limit.
On unzipping the bag, I was immediately impressed at just how much kit you get for £600 – four top kits, a cupping kit, and two mini sections as well as the pole itself. Impressively, Guru offers the option of a Match or Power pack, meaning you get top kits that are best-suited to the style of fishing you do most often.I’d gone down the Power route, which came with two 5.8mm kits capable of housing the thickest of elastics for fishing down the edge or close to snags, along with a pair of 4.7mm match power kits that would comfortably take up to a black Hydrolastic for open-water work.
This kind of versatility is pretty much unheard of in the budget pole market and makes sure you don’t end up with kit that you’ll never make use of, it also saves buying a margin pole and a main pole for shorter distances.
The range is going to appeal to anglers looking for their first ‘proper’ long pole and, most users will dabble at the full length for short periods before coming back closer. It is as stiff and responsive as anything else on the market in this price bracket, and the finish on the A-Class is impressive too – when I needed to ship quickly, it glided through my hands with the absolute minimum of fuss.Strength is key with any budget pole, as users are likely to have the odd mishap.
But there are no fears in that respect with this pole, such is its robust build quality. Add to that a solid performance on all major bases and you’ve got a pole that’s going to be extremely popular, and for good reason – it’s a belter for the money! It’s also worth remembering that the package for this pole is better than many others in the same bracket – supplying it with four top kits, a cupping kit and mini sections is impressive.
SEE OUR FULL REVIEW OF THE GURU A-CLASS 13M POWER POLE HERE
Pros
- Available as a match or a power package you can tailor to your requirements
- Section alignment system further increases rigidity
- All kits come fully bushed
Cons
- Does not include a holdall
| Length: | 13m |
| Top kits: | Four, plus cupping kit |
| Compatibility: | Fully interchangeable with MTX range and older Nemesis poles |
www.total-fishing-tackle.com
Although not as responsive as a top-end pole, the Preston Superium X25 was still a joy to use, and remained manageable in the wind. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the extra flex was an advantage in sudden violent gusts. They were hitting with such force that a more expensive pole might well have snapped, whereas the X20 bent with the wind.
Under its own weight, the pole sits nice and straight,and I found it quite easy to manoeuvre. It was only during a hefty strike, or when being hit by another gust of wind, that it started to flex and the limitations of its cheaper carbon became more obvious.
A couple of the bigger carp hooked while the gale was at its worst did put quite an alarming bend in the pole, but at no point did I feel it was even starting to approach its limits.
For such a modest price, I found the X25 impressive. It has the same simplified top kit system as the other Superium poles, which I’m a big fan of. The spares it comes with will cover most commercial situations, and its performance – even at longer lengths – is light and manageable.
One of the most notable improvements in the X25 is its enhanced balance. Even at its full length, the pole feels manoeuverable and ships easily due to the increased rigidity, this also ensures that hitting fast bites at distance is no problem.
The X25 comes with a comprehensive package, including a cupping kit and a deluxe Supera X 6 tube holdall. This means you're ready to fish straight out of the box.
Pros
- Pre-bushed with roller bushes already fitted in the kits
- Great balance and feel with a smooth, easy shipping finish
- Has 1 inch interval markers on the kits for ultimate accuracy
Cons
- Not supplied with a hard case like the more expensive models
| Length: | 13m |
| Top kits: | Four, plus cupping kit |
| Compatibility: | Top-4 fully interchange with UK-made generic kits |
Author Dan Webb first became involved in angling journalism in 2015 and has worked as Tackle Tester at Angling Times since April 2021. He is a fanatical all-round match angler and former England Youth International.