Today I would like to cover briefly my first impressions of the spinning rod GAD DELTA by Pontoon 21. I mean it – just impressions, without any aim to give a full review and, undoubtedly, without any advertising intention. Frankly speaking, when I took this rod, it was for the first time that I was so surprised. Why? I will reveal this secret at the end of my short story about this rod, to be more exact, about something that I managed to feel and appreciate within a short period of our acquaintance.

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First meeting

Everything was very simple. Once one of my good friends brought me a new rod from Minsk and advised to use it both in fresh and sea water, I may happen to like it. So that’s how I got GAD DELTA, 2,59 meters long, with fast action and test of 8-32 g. I was very pleased to get such a present, because both internally and externally the rod looked very decent. It wasn’t from the A-list, but it wasn’t that kind of rod costing 50 euros, for beginners and children.

HB

The company of Pontoon21 intended to move away from the use of carbon fiber with an ultra-high elasticity module creating the GAD DELTA rods, from the heap of metal elements on the handle and "design for the sake of design". In the DELTA series, the accent is made on the family features of GAD: reliability, quality of performance, practical construction, ease of use and reasonable price with excellent fishing qualities. Good sensitivity, long-distance casting, fish hold, and the ability to withstand heavy loads when fishing trophy specimens - all that is initially put in each GAD DELTA rod.

In the beginning I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it, though I promised to my friend to give a try in the near future. Finally, while shooting another film about bass fishing in the mountain lakes, I decided to equip it with a spinnerbait to check how it casts.

Bass fishing in mountain lakes, test is passed

At first sight the rod seemed a bit heavy, and to cast it for a long distance one needed to apply some force, but then having chosen the right lure, I saw that the rod casts quite clearly, accurately and for a long distance, which, of course, made me glad. That day I even managed to catch my first bass, so the break-in test was passed with flying colors. The rod worked really well, its security and power show themselves in all their glory, so I was very satisfied.

Video: how to catch Bass

I boasted of my first fresh water experiment to my friend, saying to him that a new model is suitable for local bass fishing. The only thing left was to try it in the sea. In this respect I had some doubts. Traditionally, we used stronger and more powerful rods for the sea to perform powerful long-range casts of heavy lures.

Sea, rocky start

I came to sea for the first time with the intention to catch barracuda, I used lures of 15-25 g, their size was 120-145 mm. I needed to cast them as far as possible, and the retrieve had to be aggressive and very tough. To create such kind of action with heavy lures, the rod should be powerful enough. My first casts made me very upset, because the rod definitely couldn’t cope with the task given, the lures couldn’t fly further than 30-35 meters, and I needed at least 50. So I quickly decided that this model is not suitable for this kind of fishing.

Sea, secrets revealed

Soon I went to sea once again, but as long as I didn’t have any other sea rod, I decided to try GAD DELTA once again, this time the water was still, and the result was a bit better, but there’s still much to be desired. Then I finally made my mind to order a new rod, specifically for sea. Nevertheless, I continued my experiments with GAD DELTA. I got an idea that the problem was in the reel. To check it, I changed a simple reel for a more powerful one, used for sea, and tried it one more time.

As it turned out, it worked, this time the rod felt completely different, some more powerful casts easy, deprived of any problems. I managed to test the blank at the retrieve and hooking and playing – that day I bought two big barracudas, but it was enough for me to fall in love with a new spinning rod. I was extremely happy that I didn’t order another rod.

GAD DELTA, a secret promised

In conclusion, I would like to say what I particularly liked about GAD DELTA. First and foremost, it was high quality rings and action suitable for the above-mentioned conditions. Also, I should note the handle which was very comfortable to perform long-range casts, tough twitching retrieve and heavy sea jigging, as well control at playing.

And now it’s time to reveal my secret, as I promised in the beginning. GAD DELTA has something that other A-list rod don’t, something that shocked me, something I didn’t expect to learn about this model. High quality, good rings, design and ergonomics – it’s all quite clear, but when I learned that this rod costs 39 euros in a shop!!!!!????? Can you believe it? I don’t. I was shocked, I thought it was a joke! It’s not even a cheap rod, it’s super cheap, I can’t say cheaper than dirt after I saw it working. So, miracles do happen these days.

Vadim Lazitski