Trinis Neo and Shinjin Neo range of rods were accepted by fishermen not just in Croatia, but all over the Europe. That doesn´t come as a suprise, since both were built on great blanks and equipped with Fuji guides and fair priced. In 2017. these 2 families will become one happy family with more models than ever. We are talking about more than 50 models, both spinning and casting. We at Spineri, together with all of the people that attended 3. Sakura UL Tournament in Lokve, Croatia feel really cool because we had an exclusive opportunity to see and try some of the new models before everybody else.
Trinis Neo and Shinjin Neo gave us many great catches in the last couple of years, since they followed us on most of our fishing trips and we have nothing but great memories with them. When we heard that boys in Sakura plan to combine these 2 series in one, in a way that they will take Trinis Neo blanks and put Shinjin Neo guides and grips so that they can lower the price, it felt like positive answer to our prayers. The thing is that we like our Trinis Neo rods a bit more than our Shinjin Neo rods, since they are a bit classier. They trully are, as they say, top shelf product. In the other hand, Shinjin Neo rods are exceptional in so many ways. Their range was so vast, with so many models that suit modern lure angler needs that we used them more.
Sakura´s new range of rods is built on superb Trinis Neo blanks, which are fast, sensitive, powerful and transmit every move of the lure together with shiest takes so they deserve to carry Trinis name. To continue with a mission that started with Ryokan rods last year, and that is to close up Sakura rods to wider circle of fishermen, they decided to put Fuji Alconite guides on blanks, which are cheaper than SiC guides, but they don´t affect on performances, or durabillity at all, neither they make any difference while fishing. Difference in price is substantial, though, so new Trinis should cost somewhere like Shinjin rods in the past.
Now, when these two became one, when we have Trinis Neo blank wrapped up in Shinjin Neo equippment, we feel like we don´t have ask for nothing more.. Maybe only something in 2,50 meters of lenght around 25-30 grams of casting weight. Untill then, 2,33 long models from Long Range range will do the job, just like they did in the past.
So, what´s new and how does it look? 30+ spinning and 20+ casting models models that cover everything you can imagine, from UL to shore game, in lenghts from 1,80 up to 2,9 meters, with casting weights as small as 3 grams up to 150 grams. We have special models for micro lures and drop shot techniqe, followed by float tube models. Then we have some specials for spinnerbaits and cranks made of fiberglass, short models for vertical fishing, allround models for everyday fishing, together with long range, travel and power game models. It´s like the end that monolog from Tarantino´s From Dusk Till Dawn movie.. If we don´t have´em, you don´t need´em!
As we said, thanks to Sakura´s Tanguy Marlin we had an exclusive chance to see and try some of the new rods and we like how they feel and look like, as well as all of the people who tried them on Lokvarsko lake shore on 3rd Sakura UL Tournament.
4-piece travel model in lenght of 2,13 m with casting weight 7-28 grams was kind of suprise for all of us. It feels more powerful than rated and I find this awesome rod for heavy cover fishing for bass and pike. Fast, stiff and sensitive tip casts everything from 10 to 30, or even more grams and it´s strong backbone has enough power to cope with biggest bass and medium sized pike, among other species.
Great allrounder for those who travel a lot and can´t or don´t want to carry too many rods around. There are 3 more spinning models and 4 casting models covering most of the situations modern lure angler can come up.
Trinis Long Range models in 2,33 m of lenght and with casting weights of 20, 35, 60 and 85 grams are followers of Shinjin Neo Long Range models. Past models were my favourites, in lighter versions for bass, asp and barbel fishing and in heavier versions for pike and hucho. New Trinis LR with advanced blanks continues great tradition and looks better than ever. No matter if you´re after bass and pike on some lake, or pond, or you look for asp and barbel in river rapids, or you cast for seabass and bluefish from the sea shore, these rods will manage it. Although they are only 2,33 m long, due to it´s tip action, they cast lures far and accurate and because of it´s lenght, it´s a child game to animate twitchbaits, stickbaits and soft swimbaits with them. Shinjin Neo LR rods were exceptional rods with reasonable price, Trinis Neo LR with advanced blanks and same price are bargain!
Trinis Neo family of rods in 2,13 m of lenght were our pets. UL, ML, M version, we have them all here at Spineri. Because they are awesome rods. Awesome blanks, awesome equipment, awesome action, al packed in nice finish. They were a bit too expensive for our fellow fishermen, but every single one that put his hands on any of them said those are remarkable rods. After I spent some really quality time fishing with Trinis Neo M (2,13 m, 5-21 g), I can say that new Trinis didn´t lose anything of it´s action that I like so much. It seems very stiff at first, but it has perfect curve when fighting fish. I used mostly for bass fishing with wide range of lures, from soft stickbaits like 3-4 inch Senko to mid sized spinnerbaits and shallow and mid running crankbaits, but there were times when I was abusing it. Times when asp is chasing minnows on the other side of the river, and only lure you can cast that far is 30+ grams soft vib.. Well, Trinis can that, too and I am sure that new model doesn´t stand by a bit. Same blank, new guides, better price.. Doesn´t get better than that.
Somewhat in a shadow of new Trinis were new Sportism models. Sportism 862 MH was first Sakura rod I used. I remember an enormous amount of power packed in nice, eye catching red and white cosmetic. It turned out it is sensitive enough for shy zander takes at one side and powerfull enough to cope with 10-15 kilo catfsh in Sava river rapids. New models are redesigned, they got back Sakura black and orange cosmetic and thinner handles, so it sits nice in the hand. That feeling of power when you hold one, didn´t change, though. There are 12 spinning and 6 casting models covering everything from UL to XXH fishing.
In 2017. Ryokan family will get new members, too. One UL rod with solid tip (2,30 m, 0,5-5 g) and 2 work horses in 2,60 and 2,90 m of lenght with casting weights of 15-60 g and 20-80 g. Since I am abusing 782 and 802 MH models since they came, I am allowed to say that these rods feel unbreakable, especially shorter one. I´ve been casting big lures , over 70 g with 782 MH model and pulling pike from heaviest cover. Guys from Topfishing store lifted bags of fish food with it, but the craziest story is one that Tanguy told us; they took one and bent it in a circle, so that tip of the rod ended on it´s butt. As they say on TV, don´t try this at home.
Anyways, in a couple of days of Tanguy´s visit, these rods caught almost everything that swims in Croatia. Pike, zander, trout, barbel, asp, .. and it´s fair to say they domesticated here. Comments on presentation at Sakura UL Tournament were great, too, so there is no other to sit and wait for them to show up in fishing stores. Looks like we have a long, long winter in front of us..
