Danny Fairbrass personally designed this rod by adapting one of his favourite blanks, slightly shortening both the tip and butt section to create a 12ft 6in rod with a slightly higher 4lb test curve. This rod is incredibly powerful, and is designed as a long range casting tool first and foremost – it is arguably the most powerful rod in the Kaizen range, and unless you prefer the extra six inches that the 13ft model offers, it is the best choice for an extreme distance casting rod. Recommended casting weight: 3-5oz.
Tom Stokes: “For most of my angling life I have used mid-range rods, but over the last couple of years I have been using and testing the new Kaizen rods and they have really opened my eyes to how much a true set of high-end rods can improve your casting. I was initially using the 13ft 4lb model, as I have always used 13ft rods in the past, but since trying the 12ft 6in version I have been completely converted to that length of rod and genuinely believe I can cast just as far with it as with the 13ft model. A 4lb test curve might sound a bit beefy to some, but they still have a lovely playing action under the tip, whilst still giving you the power to cast heavy leads to extreme ranges.”
The Kaizen Journey Explained
The Kaizen range of rods has been in development for more than four years, and came about because we felt that we could develop high-end rods which were even better than anything else already on the market. Despite this being a first for Korda, we drew upon the vast knowledge and experience of our Team Korda anglers and product development staff to produce an outstanding range of rods.
Danny Fairbrass has a long association with rods bearing his name and which he has helped to develop. It was a natural progression for Korda to develop a range that had all of the attributes that he and other anglers would look for in the very best carp rods.
The aim was to design a range of top-quality rods that covered pretty much any carp fishing situation at home or abroad, allowing you to not only accurately reach fish if they were at range, but also to play them.
All of our top-end Kaizen rods are built on a fast taper profile mandrel, which means that the taper of the rod is consistently from the butt to the tip. This produces rods with a very ‘tippy’ action and with almost all of the flex being right towards the tip. Of course, when put under extreme pressure such as casting, the rod will still bend all the way through to some extent. This type of action allows for better power transfer and generating very high tip speeds, which in turn allows you to cast further.
That same action also allows for much faster line pick-up, and although most of the curve is in the tip, the power is progressively transferred so that the rod absorbs the lunges of a big fish at close quarters without fear of this causing hook pulls, whilst also ensuring that it is still a pleasure to play any size of fish on any of the Kaizen rods.
The taper of these rods isn’t the only factor in determining the action and attributes that it displays, and equally important is the type of carbon that is used in the manufacturing process – for the Kaizen range the only real choice was the best super-strength, high-quality Japanese carbon that we could get our hands on! This ZERO90 carbon is used in only two layers and with a very low resin content, and the result is lighter and stiffer blanks. This will not only allow more power to be transferred into the cast, and with less effort than a cheaper grade of carbon, but it also helps to improve accuracy as it reduces the blank’s ability to twist and throw your lead off target during the cast. At long range even small improvements in accuracy make a big difference to landing your rig exactly where you aimed it. It aids in tip recovery after the cast, which is basically the period of time that the tip keeps bouncing up and down after the cast, and the crisper that action, the better – if you waggle the tip of one of these Kaizen rods, it will stop almost immediately, with all of the power having been transferred into that action, which is exactly what you need when you are trying to cast a long way.
The Kaizen range has been given a custom-built look, with the type of high-quality components that you would expect to find on a rod of this price. The blank is finished with a hard-wearing clear matt lacquer, which shows off the carbon, and has been extensively tank-tested to ensure its durability – basically meaning that it is incredibly tough and will take a long time to show any signs of weathering from exposure to sunlight and moisture.
Of course there is no point in developing a rod which is incredibly light for its power and then adding heavy components to it, so all of the Kaizen range feature lightweight Sea-Guide TDG guides, with a 50mm butt and a 16mm tip, allowing for line to ‘cone’ off a big pit spool.
Key features
Super-strength high-quality Japanese carbon
Fast taper profile blank for increased compression strength
Anti-glare matt paint finish
Lightweight stainless steel guides
50mm butt guide with 16mm tip ring on all models
Japanese shrink grip handle with flared butt
Stainless steel trim rings with JAG etched stainless butt cap
Fuji DPS reel seat
