Today I may have witnessed a bit of history, “Where were you on the 27th of May 2010”, people may ask?
Decades after changing the fishing rod world with the introduction of carbon fibre, Hardy, the well known British brand, has done it again. A 12-man media-jury gathered in Alnwick today to hear of Hardy’s new breakthrough technology called SINTRIX™. The fishing rod world will really never be the same again.
SINTRIX™ short for Silica Nano Matrix is a new formulation of resin that binds the carbon fibre and re-enforces the blank to such an extent that broken rods may be a thing of the past. On the Hardy rod test machine today we witnessed a SINTRIX™ fly rod basically being bent double without breaking. It was a staggering demonstration. Rods made with SINTRIX™ are effectively 60% stronger, up to 30% lighter and have hugely improved impact resistance over conventional carbon fibre.
Initially the new technology will be used in Hardy fly rods but eventually SINTRIX™ will also be used in Carp, Coarse and Sea ranges within the Greys and Chub brands.
Rods made with this technology (SINTRIX™ inside!) will take the market by storm when they launch in January 2011. The rest of the world’s rod makers are, from today, playing catch up.
On a recent test trip to Florida five Hardy & Greys product developers caught around 1,000 fish on SINTRIX ™ rods .The fish ranged from 5lbs to 350lbs and the idea was to put the SINTRIX blanks in situations above and beyond normal use. Despite their best efforts to test the rods to destruction their testers did not break a single SINTRIX ™rod! Some of this action is available to view below:
Andy Mill, Hardy & Greys US based consultant and five time gold cup Tarpon tournament winner said about SINTRIX™ rods.
“These new SINTRIX™ rods are the most powerful, lightest, smoothest casting rods ever designed EVER!”. Andy recently landed an 80lb Tarpon in Just four minutes using a SINTRIX™ rod.
Here is a picture of a Sintrix rod (9′ 6″ #7) being tested to the Hardy rig’s limits. We cast with it afterwards and zip it has!
Initial SINTRIX™ developments involve three Hardy fly rod ranges, one saltwater range and two freshwater ranges which will include double handed models. In addition to these increases in performance and durability the company retains its commitment to using the highest quality fittings. This combination has not, however, resulted in a price increase which puts this material and its advantages out of reach to most consumers and prices should be comparable with other premium fly rod ranges.
The new Hardy SINTRIX™ rods are set to be available in January 2011 but I tried three of them today. They were too good for me!
Congratulations to all the Hardy team on what marks another historic day for this historic company.
Colin Bradshaw
