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View Full Version : Silstar TF-20 Any good? Need Rod to suit.



Cheech
25-09-2004, 03:18 PM
Had no intention of getting an overhead and planned to make do with my TSS4 off shore. Though I know it is underdone.

Anyway, was at one of the marts today and they had the Silstar TF-20 on sale for half price and already spooled with what appears to be around 40lb mono. Though will probably load up braid soon. This reel is pretty similar in size as the ltd20. Is also lever wind (or is that level wind? I am new to overheads). So, with the price of $99.99 I got one.

Hopefully it is ok. I have a small eurostar spinning reel that is really good. Pretty sure they are the same manufacturer. I figured even if it didn't cut it, at least I didn't spend much. So if it is lousy, don't hold back. Tell me.

So now I need a rod. Do I get a 10 - 15kg rod, or go for something in the 15 - 24kg class? From what I have noticed so far, it appears that the 10-15 class rods are similar to a normal spinning rod in that the guides are not overly heavy duty. Also a bit longer than the heavier rods. But if you go to the 15-24kg class the guides look heavy duty and the tip guide has a roller. Are the rollers worth getting or are they not much different to a standard tip.

Any comments good or bad will be greatly appreciated.

Cheech

SeaHunt
25-09-2004, 05:07 PM
HI Cheech,
I just recently got myself a TLD 20 and am also looking at rods. A guy in a tackle shop , (not the mart, and sounded like he knew what he was talking about) told me the roller tips are more used for trolling, also with the roller tips , sometimes the line can get stuck down beside the actual roller, especially with a big fish flapping around on braid as it tends to flatten out.
He showed me some Wilsons etc. in the 3 to 4 hundred dollar range, I told him I didn't want to spend quite that much and I didn't think the fish would be able to tell the difference, and he said at the cheaper end you couldn't go past a OKUMA Pursuit rod. He then proceded to pull the tip right down while I was holding it, felt good. I have nearly settled on one, 5 ft 6 overhead 15 kg, about 90 bucks. 8)

banshee
26-09-2004, 07:46 AM
If you blokes are looking in the 80 to 120 dollar range it would be very hard to get a better rod than a Silstar.The standard Powertip,red bindings clear tip,should come in just under or around the $80,My pick for around the $100 would be the Crystal Powertip,Gold underbinds,black over,Fuji guides and seat,this rod has a graphite cross weave over glass leading to a clear solid tip,it is a very strong rod that can take a lot of punishment.For $20 or so more,in a couple of weeks the Crystal Blue Powertips should be around,they are awsome.Another thing you may want to look at is the humble old Ugly Stick,the last few years has seen their sales figures cop a lot from the Chinese stuff,the result has been a major drop in their pricing,there should be some of these starting to show up.With regards to roller tips,I personaly don't like them much,just another thing to maintain or go wrong,any roller that is not Finnor or Aftco is going to give you grief(my opinion only).Another rod that is worth a look is the Abu ultra cast pro,along the same lines as the Silstar but cheaper again.

Cheech
26-09-2004, 12:39 PM
Thanks for the info Pat. For these size reels, what weight do you think would suit best. 10-15 or 15-25?

Cheech

banshee
26-09-2004, 03:38 PM
G'day Cheech,Silstar tend to rate their rods as light,medium or heavy,if you were looking at a rod in the 6 to 6 1/2 foot range and weren't going heavier than 40 pound with your braid then a medium should do the trick,something like a Crystal powertip SWM 661,this rod is reversable(can be used for spining or overhead reels)and is probably the most popular budget priced rod in this area.If you were going to use heavier line I would go the heavy action and I would probably look at the 7 foot rod so I didn't end up with a broom stick,something along the lines of a Crystal Powertip SWH 701.If you go with the 15 - 24 kg rods,try and find something that is not overly heavy in the tip,but tends to load up in the bottom two thirds of the blank.

Cheech
27-09-2004, 02:46 PM
After spending 4 hours today going from shop to shop, and comparing, rods same brand, rods different brands, was getting harder and harder to make a choice. What I noticed with the Silstars was that they were generally stiffer than Ugly Sticks. The bend on the 8-10lb silstar was around the same as the 10-15 Ugly. The heavier silstar was probably closer to the 15-24 ugly. Also noticed that the tips on all the live fibres were fairly light but heaps of grunt.

Also looked at Shimano backbones and a few other Shimano's Was very tempted as they wer in the price range I was looking at.

Also checked out a few others and as expected, without question if I could afford it I would go Live Fibre. Anyway, dreaming over as this has been about fitting a good rod to a reasonable reel, not everything top of the range.

The Silstars do look like a very good reel. I was at the last shop with a Silstar in my hand, but then having one final look at the Uglys (I take ages to make my mind up) and changed my mind. Went for the Ugly instead.

Got a 6 and a half ft Ugly in the 10-15kg range.

This is why.

They were on 30% discount and got it for $72.00

Also, I already have an Ugly and have always liked it so was probably easy to sway me that direction.

I would have preferred it to have had a gimble (is that what they are called?) but this is also what made it confusing what to buy as only 10% of the rods that I looked at had one unless you went for the 10-24kg range.

Nearly went for a Silstar due to being reversable as I need a new rod for my Shimano TSS4 and could have used it for that, Also considered being able to take just one rod and be able to interchange my TSS4 and the overhead, but then I wanted a one piece for the overhead and they were not long enough for what I wanted for the TSS4. So end of the day I decided I will buy one rod for the overhead and one for the Tss4 spin.

The other interesting thing you need to consider is the positioning of the reel seat. I had a couple of rods I really liked and would have chosen in preference, but the reel seat was in the wrong place. Some were too high and would not have been suitable for me (5ft 7inches and 70kg). I think that big guys with longer reach may prefer the seat to be higher up. And some were too low and would not clear the rod holders enough without scraping on the boat.

Sorry to bore you all. Just thought that it is worth considering these other things before choosing a rod.

One question at the end of all this though. Apart from not being able to cast a long way, and that the first guide is smaller on overheads compared to spin rods, is there any reason at all that you could not put a spin reel on an overhead rod. ie, if I am heading off for an offshore fish in say 60m of water and for whatever reason think that the overhead is overdone, Is there any reason I could not take the TSS4 in my bag and throw that on to the same rod? This is sort of making the reel work to the available rod rather than the other way round that I first considered.

Cheech

HamzaLH
27-09-2004, 03:22 PM
I'v been using Ugly's ever since i started fishing ... Never had a problem with them, thats y i bought a 10-15Kg rod for my TLD25 ... Mines a GPG2030, personally i think its a great rod ... I only saw this rod in one shop, but like urself i went to heaps of stores ... Mine has a Gimble on it, which i was strapped about too ...

What model is the Ugly u got? Maybe u can add a gimble if u like, just a thought ...

Ta ...

Hamza ...

banshee
28-09-2004, 03:07 PM
An Ugly Stick for $70,you got to be happy with that Cheech,you'll get a lot of years out of it.As Hamza has said Gimbles are easy to fit and cheap to buy,cheapies for about $3.50 or Fuji for around $10.To your question,as long as the angle is not to radicle between the face of the reel and the first runner and the combo is comfortable to hold and wind you should be right,technicaly the back bone will be out if it is made for an overhead,but fact is,rods in this price range that are built on the back bone are generaly flukes,also as you have said the small first runer will choke off a lot of distance in your casts but definatly give it a go,it's not going to damage the rod.The same can't be said for puting an overhead on a spining rod,generaly not enough runers and dramas with line crossing the blank.

Cheech
28-09-2004, 04:40 PM
Hamza, is an OHD60A (whatever that means ???)

Actually after checking the code, is 6 foot, not 6 foot 6.

Banshee, yes very happy with my choice. Had not really considered getting another ugly stick until you mentioned them. Glad you did.

Cheech

HamzaLH
29-09-2004, 09:46 AM
Nice rod dude ... I think i was looking at that same rod, but saw the GPG2030 and notice it had the gimble ... bought it str8 away ...

U'll b happy with it dude :)

Ta ...

Hamza ...