Month: June 2021

The Night Shift

We have a bunch of rods being built this week. An HT7, HT8, four HT6s and just gone out the door this Instructor 6. This one is off to an instructor/guide in Devon. If you are an instructor or guide do let us know because we have a Sexyloops pro scheme. Talking of which, next week I’m going to start organising a listing for all the pro owners so hopefully we can drum up some business your way too.

I’m a huge believer in teaching with a) a white rod that students can see – for one thing their attention span is far greater – and b) with a rod that is comfortably suitable for beginners to cast. Imagine using a rod that is on the super distance stiff side without feel. Now I know you as an instructor can make it happen, but then what do you say to your student? “Sorry you can’t cast this rod; it’s too stiff, here use this one instead?”

Don’t get me wrong, the HT6 Instructor will throw a fly 130’ no problems. I’ve done it many times and it’s a great rod for that. For example here…

But what this rod gives is short range feel as well. Complete beginners can cast it. And they love it! So you can cast, and pass the rod to your student and he/she can cast. Perfect.

Virtually the entire video manual was filmed with the first Instructor 6. It wasn’t the amazing finish that we have nowadays! But it’s the same rod:

https://www.sexyloops.com/flycast/introduction/

Personally I think a 6WT is the perfect all-round rod for teaching. Particularly if you are teaching trout/freshwater. If you are teaching Saltwater I would be more inclined to go up to a 7 or an 8WT. We do have instructor versions of all our 9’ rods. HT7 Instructor blanks we keep in stock. 8 and 10 instructor rods are a special order. We’ve done them both of course. Stu Tripney MCI in NZ has one of each and he’s not the only one. There are even two HT4 Instructor rods out there – however the finish is going to have more affect on the rod’s action with that line weight I’m sure.

As always, feel free to drop me an email for a chat about this or any other rod. I’m in lockdown here, so you’ll actually get a quick and often long reply 😀 You can reach me on paul@sexyloops.com

Cheers, Paul

“BullICS” HT8!

This is Iain’s third Hot Torpedo. He already has the 4 and the 10. This is the 8 and we are building his HT6 next week. That’s most bases covered!!

Of all the HT rods, surprisingly perhaps, it’s the HT8 that I seem to use the most. It was originally developed as a SW all-round flats rod. When we launched it, I likened it to “a canon with finesse” – which sums it up nicely I think 🙂

As part of our testing we took a range of 9’ 8WTs from different manufacturers and compared them side by side to three of the later prototypes we had. As far as I can work out many 8WT rods appear to be designed for heavier lines! Tip bounce is also a common problem.

“A canon with finesse” 😀 The HT8 is also a big fish magician! Mine has caught an 11.5lb Brown Trout in the Kola Peninsular, 16lb Carp in Jersey, 17lb Giant Snakehead in Malaysia and some rather nice Bonefish in the Maldives. It was blasting Ladyfish a few months ago! What will you catch on yours? 🙂

Incidentally here in the tropics I use an SA Bonefish 8WT line on mine.

To find out more about this or any of the Sexyloops HT range drop me an email on paul@sexyloops.com

Some more details on the HT8…

https://www.sexyloops.com/index.php/webshop/item/537/ht-pro-9ft-8wt

Cheers, Paul

HT Prototypes

I’m quite excited to receive a couple of HT Prototypes in the next weeks. There is the much-worked-on HT905 to cast and fish. I’ve lost count of the number of these prototypes I’ve had! But I’m really focussed on this one now and hope to have a finalised version by the end of the year. But as you’ll no doubt know it “takes as long as it takes”. And sometimes even longer than that!

And then there is the T27 prototype. Now this will be the second prototype since arguably “The Ranpage” is a T27 (and also a T38!). That’s the one I’ve been using up to now for competition and it’s quite the broomstick. But it’s only 9’6 and I’m keen to explore slightly softer and longer. So this development is going to take a while – you can tell that, right? 🙂

The T27 build actually catches two fish with one cast because this one was built by Juan in Spain. Brexit has thrown up many hurdles, particularly the introduction of VAT charges on import from UK to EU and so we are taking this opportunity to expand. Ultimately we are looking to build EU destined rods within the EU. Lee is working very closely with Juan to make sure that they are Hot Torpedos in every way!!

Any questions about Sexyloops rods as always feel free to email me on paul@sexyloops.com

Cheers, Paul