Wednesday Review… Daiwa Kenzaki Braid Special Boat Rod

This entry was posted on 17th June, 2015

Reviewed by Total Sea Fishing Magazine…

Daiwa's Super Kenzaki boat-rod range is well established. I've used some of the companies previous offerings, so I was interested to see how the current crop stacks up against a very high benchmark of quality and usability.

With a Plaice trip booked, it was an ideal opportunity to put the 6lb/12lb Kenzaki through its paces - after giving is a general 'wiggle' in the office.

The rod is a 7ft 8in two-piece, which packs up as a nice compact package, but if I'd been designing it I'd have made it a foot longer. I'm not suggesting that this would have made it better, but longer rods are my preference.

Putting that personal prejudice aside, my first impressions were that it was a good looking piece of kit from the purely cosmetic point of view. It felt well balanced (okay, if it was longer then the balance might not have been so good) and was nice and slim with an obviously responsive tip.

It looked a perfect choice for the Plaice fishing and I was eager to give it a go.



The rod attracted plenty of admiring glances when I assembled it on the way out to the mark, but the real test would come when it was pressed into action.

With a tide dropping away as we began our first series of drift, I was able to get away with just 4oz of lead, and with braid mainline there was plenty of response through the slim rod tip; I easily felt the changes of ground that we were drifting over, and more importantly the taps and tweaks of fish showing interest over the bait.

The trip turned out to be a hardworking one with plenty of interest from fish but not many real takes. We were grabbing their attention but they weren't exactly feeding hard and were more than happy just to pick at the trailing parts of the bait without engulfing it.

The time honoured method of giving the fish plenty of time by paying out line at the first indication of a take failed to increase the hook-up rate, and to put it bluntly we were all struggling a bit.



Because of the slow sport we tried a couple of other methods - anchor fishing and then jigging lures - and the rod coped pretty well with both of them, although a few more fish would have been welcome.

I was well impressed with the bite registration at anchor, especially as the fish were just as finicky as on the drift.

The Jigging worked quite well, too - no fish fell to the method but I was able to work both hard and soft lures effectively. I expected no problems with the soft lures, but heavy metal jigs usually require a certain type of rod to achieve the best action. While the Kenzaki was perhaps a touch slow in the tip to be perfect for the method, it did manage to do the job. My only reservation was that we were fishing shallow water on this trip, and more normal wreck fishing depths might have found it out as far as jigging is concerned. But, as I mentioned this isn't designed for jigging, so is to be expected. There are heavier rods in the range that would do a better job in deeper water.

Back to the drift fishing, and with the tide picking up it was time for heavier leads. The Kenzaki comfortably handled weights of up to 10oz - great for a 6lb/12lb-class rod; it also retained its sensitivity.



I didn't pick up any big fish on the trip, but you certainly get value for money from the lightweight species. Alongside Plaice we were hoping for a very early Bream or two, but it turned out to be just a bit too early. Certainly the Kenzaki 6lb/12lb has every attribute to make it a cracking bit of kit for that species too.

I'm looking forward to giving it a try over the wrecks as well. I reckon that Cod, Bass and Pollack on soft-plastic lures will really put a bend in it and give the power in the butt a more thorough testing.

The Kenzaki 6lb/12lb is fun to use, great for bite detection and even moderate fish get the tip bouncing on the way in. With balanced tackle it's an absolute joy. As you'd expect from a Daiwa rod in this price range, the reel fittings, rings and handle are top drawer.

If you fancy going to the lighter side for some of your boat fishing, this rod is well worth considering. It's a quality piece of kit and will repay the investment.

Buy The Daiwa Kenzaki Boat Rod