By Ian Miller

The new Samurai NV7 blank is made from Fuji's Nett/V material - a premium graphite cloth product. Add a Fuji rod building kit and you're well on your way to catching those wild and impoundment barra.

Fuji manufactures the world's top rod building componentry and blanks, and the latest releases maintain that standard.

FUJI'S METAL WINDING CHECKS

Fuji's Metal Winding Checks give that home-made custom rod an even more professional looking finish.

In response to the increasing sophistication of custom-made Australian fishing rods, Fuji has expanded its product range to service this growing market. The latest offering is a range of metal winding checks that are sure to liven up any custom made stick, and also identify it as a quality piece of gear.

Winding checks are used in front of the cork or EVA foregrip to ensure a neat finish to this component. The winding check also makes for an easy transition from the foregrip to the rod itself. This is an area that can be difficult to keep tidy, as there is usually a handle thread trim coated in epoxy, which can look messy when butted straight up against the grip. Consequently, the winding check provides the perfect partner for the trim threads and epoxy to finish up against.

These winding checks are designed both in a standard style that are glued straight onto the blank/grip in the conventional manner (known as the WCF), and also for screw-on foregrips that will be available as part of Fuji kit handles.

Fuji metal winding checks are anodised in gold, silver or blue, and come in a wide range of diameters to suit spinning and casting rods from bream to barra.

THE NEW SAMURAI NV7

The Samurai NV9 is a no-nonsense bluewater spin outfit for heavy duty applications such as throwing poppers at giant trevally and big kings.

Those anglers who appreciate plenty of power in their barra rods will love this potent new baitcaster blank from the Samurai stable.

This smooth, fast action blank is made from the new Nett/V material - Samurai's premium graphite cloth product - which produces a slim profile blank with a beautifully smooth and lustrous, high quality finish. The NV7 will be a versatile blank for casting rods and, measuring some 1.8 m in length, means it will satisfy those with a penchant for longer barra sticks. The beauty of this blank is that it also lends itself to being converted to a shorter, more traditional rod, by trimming it from the butt end.

The NV7 is rated at 5-8 kg and this will see it used in a wide variety of barra situations. Indeed, it will be equally at home as a no-nonsense plug rod on the big barra impoundments, as it will in the natural barra environment.

Like all Samurai blanks, the NV7 is available in kit form with all parts supplied, and this takes care of the task of selecting the right Fuji components. While it comes with Fuji Alconite guides for the shorter rod format, all that's needed to complete the set for the longer version is one additional smaller guide.

THE SAMURAI NV9

Also developed from the latest technology Nett/V material is the new Samurai NV9 blank. It is rated for 15 kg use and aimed squarely at bluewater spin applications. In fact, this blank is ideally suited to handle GT poppers right up to the larger sizes and, as the line class indicates, it'll pull the wrinkles out of some pretty heavy lines too!

This is not a fast-action, light tip bait fishing blank. It is, however, a full graphite moderate-fast action blank, with a stiffish tip just perfect for lure casting. It will fling a popper or jig as far as is possible on a rod of this type! Deceptively light in actual weight, the performance aspects of the NV9 are way above any composite style blank on the market.

Using light-weight but strong components on this blank is the best way to enhance that performance, and this is easily accomplished by buying the rod in kit form. Frogley Offshore has selected the most suitable components ready to go, including Fuji Alconite guides. This is one type of rod you don't want to use cheap imitation parts on, because they will be found wanting when there's a rampaging GT on the other end!