TUBERTINI - SEA JIGGING 2.4m 12lb 40-140gm

Tubertini was established in 1978 by Gabriele Tubertini. Very quickly the company staked a claim in the prestige Coarse Match Fishing market with top quality products being demanded by Matchmen around the world.

Over the last 10 years Tubertini has expanded into many other specialist fishing markets that include Surf Casting, Shore and Boat Fishing. In a very short time the new range was being demanded by International Anglers from the Top UK and Italian Squads.

We've taken a quick glance into the world of Tubertini and tested two of the Sea Jigging Rods with versatility in mind - with the specialist 'Jigging' badge we wanted to see if the rods could be used for down tiding as well as Hopping Shads, Jerking Perks or long Jigging the new continental styled Jigs [posh lightweight perks!] that are currently one of the biggest boom areas of fishing around Europe - over hard fished wrecks these Jigs have the potential to out fish Bait, Jellies and other traditional methods. With that in mind, and the results of the following review, one of the first Boat Rods in my bag when going on a Commercial will be the 2.4m 40-140gm Tubertini Sea Jigging Rod ..... read on to find out why.

Reviewed: Tubertini Sea Jigging 2.4m 40/140gm [12lb Class]
Reviewed by Lloyd Rush
Selling Price £99.00 rrp
more info: www.tubertini.co.uk

The Tubertini Sea Jigging rods come in an hard case that are as practical as they are attractive, however the real quality is only revealed once the zipper is opened to reveal a rod. Built to the same exacting standards achieved by the Tubertini products produced thus far by the Italian Tackle Giants, I couldn't wait to get a reel on the rod and some line in the water.

The two piece rod boasts 7 ALPS sic guides [Image Left] that are resistant too corrosion, whipped in black metallic blue and finished with a silver tipping to the whipping.

The butt includes a Jimbal and practical yet reassuring robust reel seat. To look at and hold, the rod has style and a fine finish that is a very Italian. The question is would it have the performance. In an extended 3 day test, I found it most certainly does.....

As part of the 3 Men in a Boat Feature [coming to the website very soon...] we had organised a Boat Match against a London based RAF Team of Anglers, the match would be fished out of Weymouth on Atlanta with the vastly experienced Dave Pitman as Skipper. The Shore Angler team for the day Lou Edwards, Mike Nye, Rob Field & Myself. As we would be fishing over a wreck and some light ground too, the day would be perfect for testing the rods. I couldn't wait.

After a slow trudge out of Weymouth Harbour [when I say slow I guess I'm being kind to Atlanta!] we finally swung round Portland Bill to the west side of Portland for the collection of the days bait. The first job on hand would be to fill the bait boxes with fresh Mackerel to add to the Rag Worm and Squid ready in waiting. As Mackerel fishing is just shallow jigging the response was as expected, drop in, jig a little and reel in some Mackerel. This we did and within a few drifts we had plenty of bait for later, including a large number of small Joey Mackerel which took my eye in the first instance! Whilst we were drifting I dropped the rig to the Bottom and snagged a cheeky Pollock for my efforts. I was using one of the Tubertini Coloured Leads I use for my Shore Plaice or Flatty fishing, they roll around in the tide and draw fish and give me a lot of confidence in doing so! I was guessing the bright lead would help me draw the Mackerel but I anything it had the opposite effect as fish seemed to hit the lead time and time again!! I think I left a few Mackerel with blunt noses. I wish I could produce a good cartoon graphic to illustrate what I mean there .... anyway we steamed slowly off to the next mark which was about 45 min's.

With little tide it was hard to drop Atlanta into a perfect position over the wreck. Dave dropped us a little to the left and hoped the tide when it picked up would pull us round an onto the wreck for some good fishing. In the short term there was a chance of Doggies, Rays, Tope and just about anything else. The Pouting, Bream, Conger and Pollock would indicate we arrived at the Wreck. Somehow I managed to find myself at the back of the boat on the draw [I wanted peg 4 and drew it!] I guess when you luck's in your lucks in. The match started slowly with a few Doggies and a Gurnard for Rob on Peg 7 [cabin boy for the day - or would have been had the crew not stolen that accolade in hunt for big Bream! - so much for keeping score and making tea!]

Rob continued to catch and had 5 or 6 Doggies and the Gurnard before I had my first fish! I had been behind in the 3 men in a boat Species hunt and the Gurnard was proving to be my stumbling point! I spend ages on small fish baits only to catch the odd small pout and the eventual Dog Fish. The Shore Angler Team were racking up points and a clear victory was on the cards, as such I decided to try a small flapper bait - I picked one of the Small Joey Mackerel and dropped into the depths in the hope of a bonus Huss or something else that would give my string a pull. After about 5 short minuets a violent judder on the tip indicated the fresh flesh of my flapper bait had indeed attracted some interest - the more interesting thing was I had dropped the Joey Flapper down on the 12lb 2.4m 40-140 Jigging Rod along with a cannon ball 8oz lead [this would allow the bait to swing with the boat and not snag up [in theory!] - Given the way the bait was hit I naturally released a little line and waited for signs of a fish moving off, which most obligingly happened only moments later.		Rob Field with a Brace for Bream
To be honest, I was expecting all hell to break loose as I'd bounced the bait well back off the boat, but I was sure the ground was clean so I was almost certain it was another Dog. With ease I smoothly guided the fish back towards the boat, there were signs of the fish wanting to stay deep and I'd started to doubt the 'Dog' call I'd made moments earlier. After a short fight the first signs of colour had the smart money on a Smut, and I was just about to agree when I called for the net to assist the small Tope that looked a little less than impressed with the days proceedings.
An Early Tope on the Light Tubertini outfit		I smirked to myself as I knew this was massive points and another species in match. Rob and I are great friends and ultra competitive at everything we do, so pushing him for top spot was next on the cards for me. As for the rod, I was starting to like it more and more. A very light outfit that is ideal to hold and fish [after all that's what it's designed to do] - The tip is responsive, not soft and definitely not the broomstick many older styled Perking rods would have been. The move towards being sporting is very clear in a well balanced rod. I had now hesitation in dropping another flapper down and trying my luck out again. To cut a long story short I had 3 Tope on the Boat before the Skippers Assistant could make another cup of Tea. The skippers request to move inshore for some small species and wrasse hunting was greeted with differing versions of "NO" and all said and told the Boat took 9 Tope in 4 hours, 5 of which I had myself and 7 of which the Shoreangler Team added to the score card. To demonstrate the rods versatility, I took off the running ledger and single Moonfleet Tope Snood [Nice one Ian!] and simply popped on a Modified Moonfleet Fluorocarbon Wessex Rig armed with small Circle hooks and Squid baits in an attempt to take a small Bream and further add to the Species and Points tally.

it was going to be very close between Rob and I as Rob took his Tope but had dropped 3 good fish that would have made it game set and match! I need some extra species and I needed them quickly. No sooner had the baits hit the bottom the immediate tell tail pluck pluck had engaged my interest but more importantly the intrest of a small Bream. Within only seconds the tip pulled seaward and I wound my much needed Bream to the top and into the Ice Bucket for supper [or Drop Net Soup; which is another story!] - Is there anything that I couldn't do with this rod?

Next put down was a small 6oz Ball Lead on a Running Ledger with a 10ft Tubertini Gorilla Fluorocarbon Snood attached to a Black Jelly Worm with a Red Tail. It seemed the tide was dropping off and I'd not seen any signs of the 'Wreck' other than the guy on Peg 2 taking an impressive 60lb conger! So I decided to see if I could bounce onto the tin and take a Pollock. After about 4 attempts of winding 30 turns and dropping back down I decided to quickly bounce back as far as I dare and start a slow retrieve from there.. Bingo, 15-20 turns up and my Pollock was on. The 15lb class Tubertini Jigging rod felt much lighter than its rating with the small 4lb Pollock but impressed even more when I returned to dropping a flapper in later in the session in hunt of a Conger when it took the best Tope of the Day - only into mid Double Figures, but a very sporting battle indeed.

It seemed to get back to Harbour for 5pm we would need to set of close to 3pm, which was a shame as all anglers were finding fish. Some nice Bream kept a handful of Pollock company in the cool box on what was a good day fishing. Th constant introduction of flapper bait to the depths had held some small tope in the area as the tide dropped off, I'm not sure how close we got to the wreck we seemed to fish clean gound most of the day; but I'm not complaining about that.

Whilst I'm not complaining.... Rob had taken an uncountable amount of Dogs on his 'Robby Doggin Rig' - I know it was uncountable as the Score Sheet only had him down for 7! I think he'd taken at least 3 times that! What turned into a one sided match as far as the team result was only let down by the disappointing maintenance of the score cards. We're not sure what could of happened as the fish didn't appear on any other card either.

Rob and I had taken indiviually some huge point scores - each had enough to have won the team event alone, but we'll never know the exact extent.. I was so disappointed, I even forgot to check my own score when Rob told me he'd only 7 Dogs on the card. Elsewhere, Lou had a good finish and Mike had taken fish all day including one of the Tope.

I had fished a number of methods all on the very impressive Tubertini Sea Jigging Rod [incidentally I'd not used a Jig] The rod proven to me to be a very versatile tool, a joy to fish with and I've now added one to my armoury.

A Turbo charged Day on the Shambles

To top things off I fished the Shambles bank the next day with Skipper Lyle Stantiford abroad Cobra, Lyle put us on a drift and I could resist using the 12lb Jigging Rod.... yep you guessed it. First Drift over the banks for Me and I managed to Boat a fine Turbot. The rod was again perfect, it supplied a forgiving action as the baits rose and dropped over the sandbanks and I enjoyed the balance you need when winding down carefully on the hard fighting Turbot.

A 'Red Ribbon' for a Final Note.

On the Final day of the 3 Men in a Boat. We had a last ditch attempt to find some new mini species - Now jigging rods need to have a stiffish tip, which these rods do have. So to finally find something that the rod would be rubbish at I dropped some size 6's down on a scratching rig in Portland Harbour 2nd Entrance of the wreck marked by No84. I had no problems detecting a delicate nipping at the sliver of Squid or Mackerel skins. I hit the bite first put down and pulled up a rare 'Red Ribbon Fish' - The cherry on the cake. I wouldn't set out, nor recommend, using the Jigging rod for scratching but found the Rod perfect for Down Tide fishing with weights of 4oz to 1lb - at under £100 you'll bend a lot of rods before you'll find a better one than this Italian masterpiece.

Tubertini UK
105 Killadeas Road,
Ballycassidy,
Enniskillen,
Co. Fermanagh.
BT94 2LY
Telephone - (02866) 347891
Fax - (02866) 347891