# Who's the lucky legend



## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Today I took delivery of a Van Staal VS150, Fin Nor Offshore 30lb jig rod and 30lb Rovex Depth Finder braid courtesy of Jarvis Walker for an ultimate yak test. Schmicko with a capital S. I'll be using this kit in upcoming months predominately as a livebaiter for cobes, jew, mackeral, tuna and kings as the water warms up. The combo will probably share the deck with the Trinidad TN-40N or the Okuma Salina II 5000 depending on location.

I'm so thrilled companies are now presenting yakkers with mid range and premium product for rigorous testing. As we've been saying for ages, this is one fishing specialty that pushes gear to the absolute limits. It's great to see them take the leap. Hopefully I'll be able to bring you some results as the months unfold.


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Ooohhh... Van Staal. That some serious bling. nearly bought one last reel. Cant wait to read your review


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Nice! 
How do you think it will go trolling without a bail arm?


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## jokinna (Mar 2, 2010)

schweeeet


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## blueyak (Jan 20, 2009)

Very nice Dan hope you give it a thorough workout on some nasty beasties.

It sure does seem some tackle companies are waking up to kayak fishing and the gear that goes with it.


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I love your tablecloth! :lol:


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## Shufoy (May 28, 2008)

Great suff there Dan you lucky bastard. Be interested to see what you think of the Offshore Rod tho, i landed several Mackies on my 50lb version at Gnaraloo and was steered away from the 30lb as to be honest, for a 30lb stick it felt way too soft. I'm running 30lb on the 50lb stick, and it feels perfectly matched. But be interested to hear your thoughts.

The Van STaals are awesome reels, looking forward to seeing how much abuse you an throw at it, personally you will probably break before it does!!


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## TheFishinMusician (Feb 5, 2007)

very very nice

look forward to seeing if it's 4 times as good as a salina


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

ArWeTherYet said:


> Nice!
> How do you think it will go trolling without a bail arm?


We specifically opted for the unbailed reel to see how they go in a yakking environment. I'm sure I'll be paying a lot of attention to windward turns especially in choppy seas. Fortunately the line roller is nice and big and the gap where you feed the line onto the roller is quite narrow. I've had strikes while sending out my baits so I'm hoping I'll have enough time to lock the braid onto the roller before the fishies hit.

Shufoy: I'm starting on the 30lb rod but they've offered me a 50 or 80 if it's a bit soft.


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## kayaksportsmark (Apr 1, 2009)

.... you are the lucky legend


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

kritz said:


> Are you allowed to service the reel or are you going to push it to see how well it goes?


The only maintenance I've been asked to perform is rinse it off after each trip. I might give the line roller a light coat of Inox occasionally but that's as far as it'll go. The upcoming months will be very interesting, that's for sure.


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## craig450 (May 11, 2007)

Im very keen to hear how the Fin Nor jig rod goes, looking forward to the review


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## Macbrand (Feb 15, 2010)

Barrabundy said:


> I love your tablecloth! :lol:


Me too....man.


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## johnny (Aug 12, 2007)

onya for the recognition ...as couldn't be a better field tester.. .. van staal makes a pretty good claim on durability


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

Are they going to give you any Rovex Wind-Ons to test out? Would be interested to know how they go, especially the lighter 30/50lb ones.......Surely they can give you a few to test out ;-) .


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## redracingski (Jan 29, 2008)

Dan,

Ive had the full bailed version of the Van Staal VSB for 2 years with no issues . Love it though wish i had the bigger version

The only issues ive had with Van Staal is servicing them here but a little birdy told me that one of the majors had picked the brand up in AUS ? Is that Jarvis?

Ive had to buy the self service kit..replacing all the 0 rings (everything is sealed perfect for salt water)

My new reel just arrived from the US last week the Zeebaas ZX2-25 which is now owned by the bloke that invented and later sold Van Staal (Rob Koelewyn). They look very similar in design again fully sealed , titanium, aluminium and marine grade steel, 5 to 1 gear ratio with 35 lb of drag.

Well done on the testing job...my testing cost me $1200


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

That's bullshit Dan how are we going to out fish you now, Gee that's a bit of sweat gear,


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Redracingski: Yep, JW have it locally. The zeebass is a schmick looking reel, quite a similar look as you say.

Took the VS out this arvy for the first run. I caught a full string of yakka's on it but failed to attract a strike from anything bigger. Stacks of cranking power but I'm still getting used to winding with the left hand. Not having a bail arm is quite weird because you lay the braid onto the roller with your fingers when it's in the vertical position. Thoughts of ouch moments were on my mind. I needed to reset the roller position before laying the line but that might be because I'm still a gumby. The good news was that the line never thought of lifting off the roller while tight turning a deep yakka on a slow troll into a 10 knot headwind in the choppy sea. When I got home I set the hose on the reel and that was that. The rod has a nice crispness and midline bend but I had to shave off a couple of mm from the butt diametre so that it would fit a tad looser in my rear flush mount rodholder on the BFS.


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## redracingski (Jan 29, 2008)

It's funny you mentioned the left hand wind. I'm used to it now. Didn't realize until it arrived.

I actually prefer it now and the newby is the same


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

spooled1 said:


> Not having a bail arm is quite weird because you lay the braid onto the roller with your fingers when it's in the vertical position. ........ The good news was that the line never thought of lifting off the roller while tight turning a deep yakka on a slow troll into a 10 knot headwind in the choppy sea. .


Dan everything will become a reflex soon without the bail arm mate ... many years ago used a MItchell 499 which also only had a roller and no bail, and it was great and quickly became second nature to pick up line to roller, and also felt no bail was an advantage when casting.


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## spottymac (Aug 29, 2005)

Most of my reels are LH wind, my Curado over head is LH wind, I changed over about 15 years ago when I got serious on Bream and Bass fishing with lures and rubber tails it becomes second nature after a few weeks, you never want to go back to changing the reel to the other hand, that is so backward,  
It is not that important if you are trolling or bait fishing,but when you cast and retrieve it makes a BIG difference, 
But that's just my opinion everybody to there own
Cheers to you all


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## Dave73 (Dec 3, 2006)

The Fin Nor jig rods are very impressive. You'll need to go up a size though, the 50 is best suited to 30lb, 80 for 50lb and the 100 for unstoppables.
Look forward to the VS results, being fully sealed they don't spin as freely - how have you gone getting used to it?

Cheers Dave


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Dave, I went out using softs on a mates boat yesterday (I'm still getting over that damn flu). Casting it without the bail arm and the lessened free spin is quite easy to get used to. When looking at it from above and behind, I found that releasing the line from the 1 o clock position is easiest. As you lay it in your finger rotate the spool to 11 o clock and cast. To relay the line, my unconess found it easiest to click it back on around 2 o clock. For me bail-less options probably lend themselves better to bait fishing at this early stage but I'm gonna keep mixing it up.

Winding a lefty is a bit tiring and still very wierd but I managed a couple of squire. You can certainly feel the gutsiness when cranking fish on a heavy drag. I agree about upscaling the rod to a 50, especially on the yak.


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