Great Common Carp caught while filming my Sonik SK4 review video and she checked in at a little over 26lbs! You can see the video below on the Sonik Rod review plus the stunning fish above from start to finish on my Sonik SK4’s.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N4LnEgZ7wQ[/youtube]
The time has finally come for my review of the Sonik Sports SK4XTR carp rods. Usually when I write a review I like to go over the product before I even use it and give some initial thoughts on the product and then come back later over a period of time and let you know how it did long term. When I first got my rods they had so many nice features I didn’t want to do one right away because I really loved the feel of the rod and decided to give it a good workout before doing any type of review for it.
I received my rods back in april and have been using them ever since. I definitely do not take it easy on my rods and have cast heavy leads, pva and other larger than normal items just to make sure they can handle anything you can cast. The one thing that stood out while getting into some big fish is the ability to control the fish better with these rods. Every company has a test curve rating on the rod and from company to company they can feel a lot different. When I had my fish on the rod no matter the size the back section was powerful and allowed me to pull quite a few fish out from the snags or away from them. We have a lot of heavy rocks and limbs in the water and the worst fear I have is always breaking off a fish into these snags. Every time the fish would lunge I was able to pull it away from these objects and bring it to a safer area and took away the pressure of possibly losing the fish. The cool part with all of that backbone in the rod is the tip section is extremely forgiving. A lot of times the heavier the pound test a rod is the stiffer the whole rod is and doesn’t always have the best action. Not the Sonik rods because a majority of my fishing is done alone so trying to net a fish by yourself is very tough. Having a nice flexible tip section is essential in getting these fish in the net without the fishing shaking the hook free or worse yet tearing the hook through the lips.
The above photo you can see the rod description and also some of the finer detailing of the rod near the butt section. They are a very well designed and beautiful rod. Expect many photos in my posts on facebook and other social media in the near future!
The butt section above is nice and long which allows you to get a nice pendulum motion on casts. The blank is very nice and thin allowing you to get a nice grip at the end and getting a very powerful cast. Also you can see these rods are a little dirty because I am out using them day in and day out. Even though they are a very nice rod I am out there putting them through their paces! The grip on the butt has a great grip. Even when you play a fish and the rods are all wet or if you happen to get some fish slime on them they remain the same amount of grip. This is so important on the cast because one little slip and you may send the lead into a tree or worse yet.
You can see the very nice Sonik logo on the butt end of the rod in the above photo.
One great feature on the SK4 rod is the addition of a line clip. These can be used for so many things. The main thing they can be used for is on the cast to hit the same mark over and over again. Other times I may pop in the line to get a little stiffness to the line to get better detection from your alarms.
One thing that was really a nice feature for me was the reel seat area is wide than most rods. All of my other rods have had a slim reel seat and this can make for some tougher casting. The little bit wider reel seat on these rods allow you to get more of a grip which turns into more power on the cast. They have a great grip that enables you to muscle more power on a hard cast.
The back half of the SK4 rod has this beautiful 1k carbon weave and adds a lot of strength to the rod. The front section is a matte black carbon.
You can see I got the SK4 rods with the 50mm butt ring. This makes for some great casting and even further distances since it cuts down the amount of friction on the cast. You can get 40mm or 50mm ringing on most Sonik rods so the choice is up to you which route you choose.
Here are some of my biggest of the year including my new PB of 38lb 8oz caught on my Sonik rods. The backbone of the rod allowed me to play out these fish and also keep them from getting into the snags. I had a tough time with my PB because it just kept peeling line out and going after snag after snag but the rod allowed me to prevail. You can see the video of this insane session below and you can see all of the amazing captures caught on my SK4 rods. I had 15 total fish including three 30lb fish!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDzzkqugnT8[/youtube]
One HUGE advantage about Sonik rods compared to any other manufacturer out there is Sonik backs their products with a lifetime warranty. If you break your rod they will replace your section that that broke free of charge. You are responsible for the shipping but no one else out there is as confident that they offer such a warranty. This is a great feature and reassurance to have when buying a new carp rod. These rods and the rest of the Sonik lineup can be found at http://www.bigcarptackle.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=sonik
In closing I will be doing a long term review one year from now so stay tuned for that! Overall in the months that I have tested them I have not found anything noticeable that I did not like about these rods. They do everything they claim they can do and then some. They handle the fish superbly and cast like a dream. I let some of my friends use them and they were quite surprised the rods did not cost more than they do. All of them were getting farther casts than normal and were very confident in the rods ability. Until next time good luck out on the banks! Brian Wingard