Pike rod Iron Claw High-V Review with surprise fish

The pike and predatory fish season has now started almost everywhere or is starting very soon. Time to take a closer look at a completely new pike rod. My choice fell on that Iron Claw High-V Pike in 2.7 m with a casting weight of 28-90g. The blank says “Designed in Germany” – I’m curious. The rod is also available with the same casting weight in 2.4 m.

First impression

I don’t like the transition from the roll holder to the handle that much.

When you pick up the well-made rod, you immediately notice that it is a rod quite a board is: nothing wobbles here. The ideal spinning rod for that Rubber fish fishing for pike and you shouldn’t have any problems with the first attempt at a distance. I guess

The casting weight range of the rod is consistent

also that the rod is absolutely suitable for zander. The rod should also be suitable for fishing with jerkbaits. Personally, I prefer slightly softer rods for spin fishing for pike, but that’s a matter of taste. The decorative pattern, which is on the first part of the blank up to the guide ring, is striking. Whether you like it or not is, as is so often the case, a matter of taste, I personally don’t care. The screw-on reel holder easily accepts small 2000 to larger 5000 reels and holds them in place very well. At first glance, I don’t really like the handle

The transition from the cork handle to the roll holder doesn’t look that good either. The foam rubber grip part doesn’t feel that nice to me either.

Furthermore, the rod is equipped with a stable three-part guide ring, the other rod rings are reduced in size to micro guides. This saves weight and is supposed to make precise throws possible, which is often an advantage when throwing pike directly under shelters.

Iron Claw High-V bei Amazon ansehen >>

Practical test

The specified casting weight range of my rod seems very realistic. Of course, the rod also throws lighter wobblers and rubbers, but not that far. Overall, the throwing properties are decent in practice.

With my rod you can 85g of bait can still be cast wonderfully (far!) without feeling even remotely overloaded.

On May 1st, just in time for the end of the pike-tonight season, I was in Bavaria with the rod and fished it for about half a day. Of course, a pike or two went to the line, even if the fish were rather small. The rod did quite well in the fight, although my heavier version is clearly also made for heavy pike. I had a dropout baby pike after a jump. But that was fine with me, I don’t really need to crank small pike. Overall, I was still quite satisfied with the rod and will also fish it for pikeperch on the Rhine. An update will also come on May 15th, when the closed season also ends in BW, the rod will be back on the water and maybe I’ll get a big one on the tape.

A rare catch

A very rare catch at this lake: a pikeperch with the (not so rare) whole drilled herb!

Update: Now on May 16, the pike in BW was also open and we went to the water at a weedy shallow quarry pond early on. At the first throw with a real eel in 30 cm then a “Tock” under control I only think of a bite, but nothing hangs. With the fourth litter I let the real eel sink into a hole in the herb and suddenly a clear “Tock”, which I immediately acknowledged with one go and after a short resistance I was completely surprised by a decent pikeperch with a good 75 cm. Even if the fish “brought” a lot of cabbage as extra ballast, that was it no problem for the rod. An absolutely surprising catch for me, as pikeperch are extremely rare at the lake and I didn’t expect to catch one at all. The next day I was able to land two pike with about 70 cm. The bite transmission of the rod is absolutely fine and the first strike comes through without any problems with the hard blank. Also the Bite detection is great with the rod.

The fifth time fishing with the rod, unfortunately, the Decorative ring at the top of the roll holder loosenedwhich is a little annoying. I was able to glue it back on without any problems and it doesn’t really fulfill any other function either, but it doesn’t have to be and it gives prints.

The small rod rings called micro guides enable precise casts.

Conclusion

The rod is clearly for fans of hard rods and rubber fish and for (smaller) jerkbaits and sliders. The rod is also suitable for classic rubber fishing for pikeperch. Overall, the rod is quite solid and not a bad buy, but there are also alternatives, see below. You can’t complain for the price, although it should also decrease.

Alternatives

For more money you get the Daiwa Prorex (link to the test >>) an ingenious rod with which other baits are fun and at the same time lighter in the hand and in my opinion the Iron Claw is superior in almost all respects.
Cheaper is the Daiwa Procaster Spinning (test will follow, check price at Amazon >>) which gives an equally stable and quite stiff rubber pike whip for little money, but with which other baits are also fun.