02Oct 2016 by Warren Prior No Comments
The Xplorer UHTFC Festival 2016

The Xplorer UHTFC Festival 2016

Event, Fly Fishing, Fresh Water, Trip Report, Trout
This year the UHTFC decided to host it’s inaugural UHTFC Xplorer Fly Fishing Festival. Apparently the club has hosted festivals in the past, but these were well before my time and have long since been forgotten by club members and the committee alike. Bruce Taylor put his hand up and did the majority of the planning and leg work, while I organised the advertising and online registration (and presence) for the event. In the end we opened it to 25 teams of 2, as well as 2 Xplorer teams, meaning we had 54 anglers. Alan did a great job organising the waters and we were privileged to include venues like Sani Valley Lodge (Lifton Lake), Giant’s Cup, Lake Naverone, and Castleburn in amongst the lineup of club dams. The committee made the…
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13Mar 2013 by Nick Nortje 2 Comments
The Xplorer T-50 (9wt 4 Piece Saltwater Fly Rod)

The Xplorer T-50 (9wt 4 Piece Saltwater Fly Rod)

Fly Fishing, Reviews
So after collecting my new rod from Xplorer I was keen to get it on the water to test out the much talked about T-50. My first impression was WOW! A beautiful carbon rod tube coated in a neoprene sock was handed to me by Xplorer, inside was a 4 piece, 9wt wrapped in a rod cloth. [caption id="attachment_1111" align="alignleft" width="200"] The T-50 in it's rod tube[/caption] Xplorer have really outdone themselves with the T-50. It's built on premium Japanese, high modulus carbon blanks which have ultra-fast tip actions and the grip is crafted from premium grade cork. The saltwater models have Alps Triangle anodized aluminium reel seats while the freshwater models have CNC machined, up-locking fittings with natural burl inserts. The eyes on the rod are REC recoil stripper guides…
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29Jan 2013 by Warren Prior No Comments
The Xplorer XPS-S Large Arbor Fly Fishing Reel

The Xplorer XPS-S Large Arbor Fly Fishing Reel

Fly Fishing, Reviews, Salt Water
[caption id="attachment_1027" align="alignleft" width="300"] The Xplorer XPS-S with a decent wave garrick[/caption] The Xplorer XPS-S Large Arbor Fly Reel is Xplorer's premium range of salt water reels. They're designed to have BIG FISH stopping power and having fished with the reel I would certainly stand by that statement. Upon picking up this reel I was immediately impressed by the build quality. It is a fantastic looking reel which is CNC machined from bar stock aluminium. It has a black, hard anodized finish which means it appears as a slick black on your fly rod. I assume this comes from the good old days of fly fishing when reels were finished in black to make them less reflective and therefore prevent the reel from glinting which can easily spook fish. This may…
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04Dec 2012 by Nick Nortje 2 Comments
The Xplorer Guide II (5wt 9ft 4 Piece Freshwater Fly Rod)

The Xplorer Guide II (5wt 9ft 4 Piece Freshwater Fly Rod)

Fly Fishing, Reviews
[caption id="attachment_745" align="alignright" width="300"] The Xplorer Guide II[/caption] On first viewing this rod I was taken aback by the sheer beauty of the construction of the rod tube. It is made out of carbon fibre and has machined and polished end caps giving you a feeling of class. Unscrew the top cap and you pull out your four rod sections wrapped in a cloth sleeve. The rod is constructed using Xplorer's XP7 modulus graphite blanks, pac bay eyes and a lightweight aluminium up-locking reel seat with a high quality cork handle. I paired the rod with the Rio Mainstream intermediate, weight forward line and the Xplorer Eclipse 4-6wt reel. This combo I feel gives the rod a good balance. The rod action is medium to fast and can effortlessly cast…
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