# Light weights on Excalibur "J" curve



## Jeremy Schrader (Feb 7, 2009)

After having a talk with Scotty from W.A I was able to get out for a short session today with the Century Excalibur "J" curve matched up with my Penn Squall 12 ( 515 Mag2) and some light line to cast the 125 and 100 gram leads as Scott wanted to see how the rod performed with these lighter weights. Scott's looking for a lighter beach rod to cast the lighter weights and smaller baits so that he gets a bit more fun into the fishing. Note that as he is in W.A he still needs a rod that may be called into action with bigger leads and also to handle some of the much larger fish that you can get in W.A.

Conditions today were nice for casting, slight north to north easterly with a clear sunny day. Sadly the tide was well on the way out and the water quite clear so I didn’t bother putting bait out as I wasn't going to be there for too long. Casting commenced with the 125 gram lead and I did both high swing as well as a flatter fishing style as this allows Scott to see how the rod will load up better. The rod as I expected simply launched the 125 gram even with the mags set on a very safe fishing level. 
I must say it made a very pleasant change from casting my more powerful Excalibur TT / E1000 and the 175 and 200 gram leads I normally use for my practice sessions. 

After a few casts with the 125 gram I changed over to the lighter 100 gram and once again the light tip allowed me to feel the lead well and time the casts nicely for some very pleasing distances. The plan will be to take this and my TTLDSM out in the next few days to try and get a few early season Snapper but the weather isn't looking the best, especially given the times that I will be able to get out after work. 
Getting back to the light leads one thing to remember is not to rush into the cast , maintain a nice smooth swing and let the rod do all the work for you. The temptation with these little weights is to belt the hell out of them, but I have found that this won’t really get you that much more distance and in a lot of circumstances just gets you cracking the weights off. 

Vey pleasant morning and really enjoyed just taking it easy with the Excalibur, looking forward to getting a few reds on her in the near future  

Video footage 

http://youtu.be/0-SGGDWWfcU


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## Kinnakeeter (May 30, 2009)

Hi Jeremy. I noticed in a few of the casts the rod appears to "rotate". That is, at the end of the cast, the lead is moving in a wider plane than the rod tip and the rod appears to be twisted especially around the tip. Other casts are spot on with the lead perfectly following the plane of the rod tip. Can you comment on that? Thank you!

Will


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## Jeremy Schrader (Feb 7, 2009)

Will, this is due to hitting the lead to early with the softer tip you have to slow the turn as the lead compresses the tip and then comes around. Hit it too ealy and the lead is still trying to come around you whilst you are powering through. Worse case scenario when this happens is that you can snap a tip if hitting the rod hard enough or if the tip is a thin walled construction.

Regards:fishing:


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