Just before the New Year I got two new Briscola feeder rods of Grumo series. These heavy rods for rivers were necessary for fishing in big fast rivers.

Of course, I couldn’t resist from testing the new tackle literally the following day. However, the test wasn’t exactly complete in spite of two large fishes. The river where I tested the tackle before the New Year was quite small that’s why the casting qualities of the rod were not revealed whatsoever.

The beginning of summer was a serious exam, during the preparation and participation in the second stage of the Belarusian championship, which was held on the river Sozh, on the quay of Gomel.

For many times did it happen that to catch a large fish I had to move away for more than 50 meters. Nothing changed this time. It was proved with the Cup of Gomel held two weeks before this event, which had become a “dress rehearsal” of this competition.

However, in previous years providing the water level was low it was possible to solve all the tasks with the help of 80-90 grams feeders, nowadays for fishing at such a distance heavier feeders are required. The situation became even worse, because in many sectors there was grass growing that you had to drag fish through while retrieving. For that we had to use a thicker braided line as the main line. I used Pontoon21 Exteer #1 (0,165). This change required to enhance the weight of the feeder – the thicker the line is, the higher the windage is.

Though the conditions of the previous years enabled us to use Marmo or even Granito rods, this season required to apply river tackle and became a real exam for the rods of the new series. And Grumo rods have passed this exam with flying colors.

While training, I fished at a distance of 67 meters. These sectors were a bit deeper than any other, the stream was slower, and 100 grams feeders were enough. Grumo 420 with the test of 112 g easily cast a 100-gram bullet feeder at a necessary distance. There was no need even to stand up.

In the first tour my sector situated at a distance of 60 meters. The current was faster and I had to use feeders of 125 grams. That was an overload for the rod, which test is 112 grams, but it perfectly coped with this load. That day I had a great opportunity to test Grumo during many retrieves of large fish. And it should be mentioned that in spite of its power and relative rigidity, the rod perfectly reacted to jerks and resistance of breams of the Sozh. On that day I was the first in my zone to catch a 11-kilo fish.

On the second day sent me to A zone where there were not many fish, and I couldn’t show a good result there. However, Grumo rods managed to show their best side. The current was a bit faster, the distance was 60 meters which required from to use 140-gram feeders. For the rods with the test of 112 grams that was an obvious overload, that’s why I chose Grumo 450 with the test of 140 grams. Surely, I had to adapt to the weight of the tackle and cast from a standing position. Nevertheless, the feeder reached the necessary zone, and the only fish that bit – which was a small bream – safely got into my cage.

Now I can say without any hesitations that there’re wonderful river models among Briscola rods which enable to fish in any difficult conditions, at distances up to 100 meters and even more. I had an impression that according to its casting qualities Grumo 240 with the test of 112 g might give a head start to Marmo which has the same test and length and is officially called SuperCaster. I hope that these rods will help me to cope with large and strong inhabitants of river depths in the future.

Alexander Evmenenko

During four years - coach of Belarus feeder team at the World Championships.

At 2015 and 2016 - coach of float fishing team of the Republic of Cyprus on the European and world championships.

Author of articles on the Internet and fishing magazines. Favorite kinds of fishing - float and feeder fishing

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