John Garnett takes the new SK8 fly rod to Flaminco Cay resort, Andros, Bahamas for a good workout.

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The new Sonik SK8 fly rod range is designed to offer ultra-fast performance for throwing tight loops into awkward winds, and controlling strong fish as they head for the horizon. John Garnett and party flew out in February 2010 to the only fishing resort on West Coast of Andros to fish for two weeks at the beautiful Flaminco Cay resort (www.flamingocay.com) and give the new 9’ #8 SK8 fly rods a good work out. Here is his report.

‘The west coast of Andros Island is a national park and there will be no more camps in the future. The history is interesting as the Bethel family own 32 square miles, sold to them by the Government as a protection for the Duke of Windsor when he was Governor General there in the last war. Charles Bethel who runs the camp, an old friend of mine, started the bone fishing about 15 years ago. His uncles and father used to shoot teal there, a sport the Duke joined in. It is a very up market camp as you will see from the website, fishing a maximum of eight rods.

I have not experienced an area with more fish but the real joy is the number of large fish. We catch double digit fish every year, the biggest this year was 13 pounds. We often average a weight of 5 pounds or better per day, so it is therefore a good testing ground for tackle.

SK8 fly rod 9’ #8
With a nice fast action, this fairly stiff rod performed very well even when a large fish swam under the boat, which would have broken many rods. Most of our party were not experienced in how to really load a rod with a double haul but they found the rod easy to fish with ( I have to order 4 from you) but the rod did load well as not only I did so but the very experienced guides also cast with it. This rod would also be ideal for the Icelandic fishing we do as it has the guts to bring in a 15 to 20 pound fish. 3 of the party at Flamingo are coming with me there for 12 days later this year. I would not want a softer rod.
It also had two nice features.
The thumb groove made less experienced fishermen hold the rod correctly.
The rod had larger than usual rings. With a lot of line on the boat ready to cast, occasionally there is a tangle as the line shoots off at speed with a big bone on the end. These tangles often appear is knotted loops. It happened twice one day but the tangle went through the eyes and we managed to untangle at a quieter time in the play. One friend would have lost his biggest ever fish if he had been using my TCR.

SK4 #7/8 Fly Reel
I have had loads of problems over the years with reels. Even though I try to wash them out well, I have had my Tebor, Billy Pates seize up. It happened to one friend this year as his Everglade reel had ceased to flow. The problem with these expensive American reels is that they are complicated to take apart and most fishers will not attempt it. I tried once with a Billy Pate and ended up sending it back to the USA!! Your reel was very easy to clean as you could spray fresh water through the reel and at the end of the 2 weeks it was so easy to take the spool out and give it good wash.
You need a good drag system to survive a 12 lb bone, which ran 200 yards plus at very high speed, several times. After two weeks there was no deterioration to the drag and the reel had a good fast retrieve. There is without doubt a market for a slightly larger size of reel between the #7/8 and #9/11 salmon reels, which would be wroth consideration.
 
The rod and reel I had has now gone off to Argentina this week chasing the large sea trout – we will let you know how it gets on over there!’