It’s kind of surprising, but cold winter nights still seem to be the best and most productive time for thinking about these sort of ‘ventures’.

For this 2nd installment of the ongoing topwater project I decided to stay with a glass-carbon composite rod. Main reason for this decision was the fact, that I really like the casting performance and experience of my Sukiyaki56 and secondly because of my skepticism about handling and casting qualities of a pure glass stick.

Over the last few weeks I compiled a list of possible candidates and ended up with a top-five containing the following manufacturers and models:

• Record レコード
  (1) Talking Loud トーキングラウド
  (2) Free Soul Stereocaster フリーソウル ステレオキャスター
• Brightliver ブライトリバー
  Concorde #3502 コンコルド ＃３５０２
• Robelson ロベルソン
  (1) Grace Core グレースコア
  (2) Carchoal Master チャコールマスター

Once again, availability and highly limited production numbers made it difficult to get hands on one of these beautiful crafted rods. With a bit of luck and kind help from a friend, I was able to get a cream-colored Stereocaster, which is now on it’s way to this shivering and snow-covered place in europe.

Image source: Record (レコード)

Already back in December, I decided to go for Robelson’s (ロベルソン) “Resion” grip. Similar to the rods mentioned above, this item was a really tough find – especially the white-colored version.

Image source: Robelson (ロベルソン)

Perfect match for this grip would be (without doubt) Robelson’s own Maverick reel series, so I’ll keep fingers and toes crossed until I get the chance to grab a left-hand model for a reasonable price.

Image source: Robelson (ロベルソン)

More pictures and progress reports to come soon..