Topwater Caranx Ignobilis: Giant Trevally (GT) > Tackle & Techniques

Monster Hunter rod test

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Mark Armistead:
Hi Guys

I managed to get a hold of two monster hunter rods from Konishi to use on our recent New Caledonia trip, lucky for me the rods arrived in NZ on the Friday afternoon. With customs due to close for the weekend on of my mates made a mad dash to the airport to pick them up so we could take them on the Sunday, it was a pretty tense time and a few times i had given up hope that they would get cleared in time.

The rods themselves are a pretty impressive beast, i ended up buying the 79XH and it is worth checking out the Carpenter website for a description of this rod. Konishi describes it a rod not for people under 80kg, when i read that i was left wondering what he meant and i soon found out.
The rods can handle lures up to 300 grams, i did not use any this heavy but did use some in the 240 range which cast well. I used lures down to 140 grams on the rod and they still cast well and the rod worked them with ease.
This was my first time GT fishing so i did not have a lot to compare to but one thing i can say is i was surprised how such a grunty rod could perform a number of tasks. The rod worked the stick baits well and was not so heavy that it ripped them out of the water and it had plenty of capacity to run a big cup faced popper.
Where the rod really showed its class was when it was loaded up to a rampaging GT, Steve who came on the trip with us caught a number of big fish on the rod and for the most part did not use a gimbal, not many heavy rods you can get away with that. Steve is a big guy and a few times he had fish charging off towards the reef and he simply grabbed the spool and hung on, the big rod handled this with ease.
I got my best GT of the trip on my rod and found it excellent, i just wish i had of been using the Monster Hunter when the sailfish hit maybe i would have got the hook in a bit better.
One thing i will say is that to really use this rod to its full potential you do need to have a bit of strength, i am by no way a weak guy and to be honest i needed some more muscles to really use it well. Next time i head to New Cal i will Be doing some serious Gym time. I am now keen to See how this rod will perform against NZ kings, i think it will be brutal.
Cheers Mark

Mark Armistead:

Stu Hardy:
Mark, how do the Monster Hunter series compare to the Blue Chaser 83/40 allowing for the smaller weight lures that the latter rod is made for?

Sam Conacher:
Hi Mark,

a nice write-up.   I myself (personally) like both rod's your talking about as i have seen them at Global Tackle, Kingsford, Sydney.

Jon Li:
BLC83/40R P-M is designed for kingfish fishing while MH80H/MH79XH are for GT fishing , it wud be very difficult to subdue big GT ( 40+ kg n heavier ) using BLC83/40R P-M although it can be done but wud be very tiring for the angler while it is possible to subdue giant kingfish with MH80H but the angler has to be very strong to resist the sudden diving habit of kingfish or he will be jerked around and that is tiring too .

Jon .

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