(In association with Mike Thrussell’s web site sea-fishing.com)
CONSTRUCTION
This is an equal section 2-piece rod making 13-ft in all and rated to cast 4 to 6ozs. You have the choice of fishing either up-reel or down-reel positions. The rod comes complete with a 14in (350cm) reducer for those of us preferring to cast in the down-reel position.
The rings are top quality Fuji BNHG’s finished with black whipping thread tipped with silver, and underwhipped in purple. The rod looks really classy.
The upper tip section is black, but the lower carbon-composite tip section is heather purple that really catches the light. The graphics on the butt are silver-grey standing out well against the blank.
The butt section itself is black shrink tube protected and comes complete with quality stainless coaster fittings and butt cap.
Anglers tend to disregard rod bags as unimportant, but on the contrary, the bag keeps the rod protected in transit and minimises scratches and other exterior damage. The one supplied with the Mercury is a good one giving ample protection for everyday carrying.
The Greys Mercury rod retails for £ 245 and is hand built to a high standard and comes with a 12month warranty against the unlikely chance of faulty workmanship or materials.
PERFORMANCE
This is one heck of a powerful rod capable of both massive casting distance and also with the blank power to work heavy fish hard amongst the worst snags.
It’s quite light given its power ratio and balances perfectly with a 6500 sized reel in the low position.
I began getting the feel of the blank with the reel down low on the butt and using 5.25oz leads and overhead type casts for normal close quarter fishing conditions. Its fairly happy with it, but it’s instantly obvious the rod needs working much harder than that before it feels fully comfortable. I increased the line drop to about 3-ft and swung the lead behind me with a little body movement added and then could feel the rod start to begin to load. This increase in power sees the lead really start to fly high and long.
Beginning to understand the blank now, I switched to off-the-ground casts and a 5-ft line drop to the lead. This really starts to work the blank. You notice that the power band is very tight. The tip section loads and so does the middle blank section, but there is massive power coming from this mid section area and you feel little of it in the stiff butt. Release of the lead is very quick, but clean and predictable. The recovery of the tip section is ultra fast and really accelerates the lead away on release.
Now for the full hog and a pendulum cast. I began with a 6ft 6in drop to the 5.25oz lead to get more feeling from the blank. With the rod being so powerful I wondered if feeling the lead at the top of the pull back might be difficult but timing the lead was easy and the lift back very controlled. Coming around in an arc with the rod compressing, I found I needed to hit the blank hard and early and move a little faster through the pull-through and release sequence than I would with my current long range poles, a Zziplex Tournament International and a Daiwa Amorphous Whisker Tournament. Pretty much as I’d figured when handling the rod initially prior to casting.
The increased drop emphasised the rapid recovery of the tip section. The lead release is so clean with barely perceptible tip movement after the lead sets off for the horizon, but the speed the lead accelerates is remarkable. Boy does that lead fly!
Even so, I felt without the added weight of bait, that the 5.25oz lead was a tad light to fully work the blank. I switched to a full 6oz weight and lengthened the drop to 7-ft. This made the rod compress better, hold the load for longer and enabled me to slow down a little. The final pull-and-punch turnover of the rod powered that 6oz lead away with amazing speed and was substantially emptying a fully loaded 7HT multiplier in to a force 5 head-on wind.
If you’re dead set on using 5.25oz leads, then for pendulum casting start with a drop length of about 8-ft and the blank loads and works better.
I’d proved the rod could cast, but how does it fish? 
Bite detection is exceptional for such a powerful rod at maximum range. I was fishing poor conditions with quite a big surf running, but still noticed small rattles from dabs working the sand way out beyond the surf line and some nuisance undersize whiting. You also get good feel coming down through the blank and know instantly what’s happening at the hook end. Make no mistake, this rod can cast, but it’s a fishing rod too.
CONCLUSION
This is a rod for the angler who’s looking for both top casting and fishing performance. Its casting potential in the right hands is exceptional. I wouldn’t agree with the 4 to 6oz rating though. The rod is really a 5 to 6oz rod only. A 4oz weight cannot generate enough inertia via the caster to make the rod feel and perform comfortably.
For fishing, then it excels for ultra long-range work chasing codling, dabs, rays and anything else that lives near the horizon. It offers much more though, and I’ve found it at home on the rock ledges hauling out conger and huss. You can switch between surf cod fishing in force 6 winds when only a 6oz lead hit really hard can get you in to water deep enough and calm enough to hold a fish or two, and rock codding when you’re bullying the fish back over heavy snags. It takes all in its stride.
I’ve cast with most of the modern high performance blanks from the major manufacturers over the years as each has hit the market. Knowing so many guys means that one of my mates somewhere will have bought one and I can nick it for a few chucks just to familiarise myself with what’s new on the product front. Taking all that comparison in to consideration I feel this Greys Mercury is one of the very best I’ve come across. I actually prefer it to my trusted Zziplex Tournament International rod that’s fished its heart out for me over the past few years and created many memories.
The price at just £ 245 compared to some competitor rods costing over £ 300 and even over £ 400 is also an important factor in the overall review rating.A lot of anglers, me included to some extent in the past, have become a little too brand loyal. Anyone considering buying a new high performance rod needs to check out the Mercury amongst it’s competitors because in my opinion this rod is a very, very hard rod to beat.
