At the heart of this development was Peter Price, a gun barra impoundment angler who knew that with increased fishing pressure came the need to be further from the fish – and he was spot on.
In more recent times, cod anglers have discovered the brilliance behind Pricey’s original ideas and have embraced the longer length baitcasters that have allowed bigger lures to be cast greater distances.
My first introduction to the 8kg 7 footer was in my first week working at Wilsons. In the office was a 6kg and an 8kg baitcaster that I innocently asked Dicko about. He said they were a rod they were working on for the impoundment barra market. I picked up both rods and immediately knew these rods would be awesome for larger cod, where bigger and bigger lures were being used and bigger and bigger fish were being targeted.
About a month later I found myself at the Cod Opening Classic at Mulwala showing these rods to cod master Rod Mackenzie – Codmac and Glen Casey from Bassman spinnerbaits. Their sheer joy while playing with these rods and the excited chatter for the rest of the comp showed that my initial thoughts were well justified. And as they say, the rest is history!
But what makes these rods so good for cod fishing, and why have anglers embraced the 8kg model so wholeheartedly? I thought I’d ask a few gun cod anglers why they use this rod in particular and what they really like about it when it comes time to chase big cod.
The specs
The Venom 8kg 7 foot baitcaster was designed and is built right here in Australia and the team at Wilson Fishing is immensely proud of that fact.
The rod features a full Fuji fit out, with EVA grips to ensure comfort and durability. Taking full advantage of the patented Venom blank, these baitcasters offer anglers an unimagined advantage over brutish fish with the ability to cast extra metres and turn tough fish.
The 8kg is a dedicated casting rod that is at its best when being fished in the hand, however the ability to troll big cod lures off this rod has seen its acceptance magnified and the rod to be considered one of the great all-rounders in the field.
The product code is RLFVBC7/8 and this weapon is rated for 30-50lb braided lines and comes with a cast weight of 30-130g. The rod features 9 guides plus the tip and is a one-piece build.
The 8kg suits most baitcasting reels of the 200 to 300 size, with the ATC Combat Plus 200 being a perfect match. Most anglers fish 40-50lb braid over the top of this weapon and the Venom blank allows every bit of the braid’s strength to be called upon when it’s needed.
What are the Advantages
The advantages are many but the main one is the ability to actually cast big lures all day and not have the angler seeking remedial massage and a session of physio the following day. This castability is achieved through the blank’s construction and the design of the rod. They were designed to cast big swimbaits for barra and these often weigh around the 30-90g mark. That’s about 1-3oz in the old scale.
The slower taper of the rods allows anglers to punch out long casts. The rods are more like the action seen in longer GT popping rods and some design features have certainly been borrowed from the GT popping rods in the Venom stable. That ability to load the rod without overloading the tip on the strongest of casts is paramount to the delivery system. The Venom baitcasters have this in spades.
Of course all Venom rods are designed and built at Wilson’s head office in Brisbane and this allows a quality control unlike any other rod on the market. You know when you buy a Venom that it has been built by fishermen for fishermen and every aspect of the rod has been checked and double checked before sale.
Lastly, the Venom blank itself is a work of art. Hours of testing and refining have led to a blank that is incredibly strong for its light weight. I’d go so far as to say that this baitcaster is under-rated and the power to weight ratio is off the charts. No other rod, including big swimbaits rods designed in America, can deliver the massive lures used like these rods deliver them.
So you can deliver long casts and not worry about folding the tip over, but the next question is how do the rods fish?
These rods are not designed to fish hard bodied lures with jerky actions and the like. They are designed for slow rolling retrieves such as when using surface lures, spinnerbaits and swimbaits. They are too long and too robust to effectively give a lure erratic action when that is needed. For example this is not the rod you want to use for casting into snags and twitching a diving minnow out chasing jacks. It’s also not the rod needed for throwing shallow diving minnows around with that blooping retrieve they need for barra in the rivers. It is the rod for casting and winding though. And it is certainly the rod for controlling big fish.
Some Thoughts from the Ground
Let’s get into the thoughts of some key anglers using this rod to make their cod dreams come true and we’ll wrap it all up with a highlight reel of some seriously big cod that have found their way to the net via the 8kg 7 footer.
Brad Gardiner
Brad is one of the western NSW guns when it comes to cod fishing and has caught dozens of big cod on the 8kg 7 footer. Fishing out of Parkes, Brad regularly haunts Wyangala, but travels to places such as Copeton and Mulwala to get his big cod fix.
Brad said “The big plus for me is the sensitivity and feel of the lure when you’re fishing. For a rod of this size and strength, it’s nice and light and easy to throw oversized swimbaits for long periods of time. It has a heap of stopping power when it matters and delivers results again and again”.
Kyle Dalrymple
Kyle, or as he is affectionately known because of a typo Karl, is one of the gun anglers who fishes Mulwala and the Murray. Kyle’s knowledge of the big fish in Mulwala is on par with anyone’s and the fish he’s caught on the 8kg Venom are staggering – most coming before the arrival of live imaging.
Kyle said “The 8kg is the most versatile rod I have ever picked up! I can go from casting 1/2-1oz spinnerbaits over the flats to 150mm hardbodies into the channel edge snags without a drama. More recently I have added Garmin LiveScope to my arsenal and the 8kg rod now also casts my swimbaits and plastics in this situation – it’s just so versatile!
Kyle also added that “Whatever lure I am using I can feel it working through the rod. It’s light in hand but has plenty of power to muscle any fish from any snag!”
Shane Banks
I’ve done a lot of cod fishing with Banksy and along with Scott Fleming our first trip to the big fish factory of Copeton was a real eye opener for us and this rod’s capabilities with three fish over the metre mark and two over the magical 120cm mark!.
Shane said “This rod casts everything and catches it too! I can easily cast something as small as a Bone Focus 130 right up to a Gigantarel with a chin weight. The blank has power to burn and I normally fish 50lb braid over it without ever once fearing I was overloading the blank when the pressure was really on. But one of the benefits of this rod many anglers don’t realise is that the blank’s action and its length soften the lunges of the fish and you really don’t pull hooks very often under heavy loads. It’s a brilliant stick for Murray cod fishing.”
Paul Thomas
Paul Thomas is one of the real quiet achievers in Victorian cod fishing with a dedication to working out those stubborn Eildon cod on surface and below. He’s also a gun at places like Nagambie and Mulwala where he regularly competes in cod fishing comps.
Paul said “Versatility. Without doubt the best all round rod I’ve ever used for this reason. The 8kg 7 footer can fish topwater, medium to large swimbaits, 1-2oz spinnerbaits and large hard bodies. Trolling or casting, you can do it all with this rod.
“It also has immense strength and toughness, something the Venom blanks are well known for. It feels like the bigger the fish get, the better this rod performs. I never have any fear of it letting me down regardless of how much hurt I need to put on a fish to extract it from its home, yet it’s still light enough to cast all day long.”
My thoughts
Since that first appraisal of the 8kg 7 footer I haven’t altered my thoughts too much. It’s a real stop gap rod and sits right in the middle of the 6kg 7 footer and the Swimbait. If I only had one rod to use for everything, this would be it as I can cast heavily weighted swimbaits, I can troll lures, I can cast surface lures a long way and I can throw oversized hardbodied lures in the rivers. But for all this, I still rate this rod as a larger spinnerbait rod. Fishing big water for cod with spinnerbaits and chatterbaits of 1-2oz total weight is a dream with this stick and I know whatever I hook, I’ve got the back-up strength to handle the situation.
And I reckon Paul hit it on the head when he said the bigger the fish get, the better the rod performs. Just about everyone who has been lucky or skilled enough to land really big cod on this rod say the same thing, and talking to the blank designers at work, this is exactly what Venom rods are all about!
Get one
If you’re a cod angler and you want to get into the big stuff, save the pennies and get one of these rods in your hands. I’ve seen some mighty big cod landed on the 8kg 7 footer and the fact you can do virtually anything with it, including chasing big impoundment and wild barra, means this rod will get used a lot. And after all, that’s what a good rod should give you – opportunities to catch your dream.
