Well I finally had a chance to try out the rod, I grabbed all my gear and my new Apia Foojin ‘Rs Art Magic, put it in the car, and drove to a place I have mainly fished this year, an estuary on the River Lyner, near to were it joins the River Tamar it produced my PB bass of 56cm a few weeks ago. We have had a lot of rain here in Cornwall, last week it was so brown with runoff and strong tides, but this week looked a little better, I had planned to get there earlier, the tide had been flooding for a couple of hours, but with a smaller tide, the water was still colored, but was clearer than I was expecting, I was not expecting too much action.
Joining the two sections together the rod feels strong, one thing I like about the joint is the top section has a capped end, meaning no small stones or debris can get inside the top section, a big plus for the Art magic design. I attached my Shimano 23 Stradic FM 4000XG loaded with 20lb Major Craft Dagan Braid X8 Multicolour.
The first lure I Attached was an Ima Chappie 100 in St Almo color, i use about 2 feet of Major Craft Dangan Fluoro Shock Leader 16lb, with a lure clip, usually a Berkley or HTO, but I have been trying the Ocean’s Legacy Acess Swivels. Time to try out this rod, I did a few medium-strength casts to get the feel of the rod, the wind was about 15 – 20 coming straight at me, and the lure was not going that far out, this time I stepped up the strength of the cast.
I gave in a good punch into the wind, the lure flew with the line whizzing off the spool, I thought to myself wow, I was getting a very good distance into the wind with a surface lure, much more than the previous rods I had used. The softer tip and strong butt section allow us to show the power of the Art Magic. Retrieving the lure was excellent, with the softer tip section twitching the lure walking the dog-style method also improved for me, i found with my other rods, having slightly stiffer tips sometimes caused the lure to go all over the place, with the Art Magic I could get a much smoother and natural movement on the surface.
Nothing was interested in the surface lures, so I decided to change over to a metal lure, I have been using the Ocean Legacy Slingshot Surface Irons, (I will do a separate review on these) and I have caught a lot of small bass on these, 30 bass in 2 hours up to 38cm 2 weeks previous, at the same mark, these lures are about the size of the baitfish they have been feeding on in the estuary so had confidence I might get something. I attached the 26g lure and gave it a good thump.
I was now feeling confident to give this rod a good thump with its powerful butt section. after a few casts, I threw one straight in line with the sun, just to get the shiny chrome lure to flash in the sunlight after a few turns I had something hitting the lure, bang the rod arched around and hooked up, the tip was twitching and absorbing the fishes pulls, a small bass soon appeared probably about 30cm, just as I was going to beach it, a last-ditch shake of the head and he unhooked and zoomed off into the depths.
This gave me more confidence in this rod to perform the tasks that I wanted from it. A few more casts and I was hit again, this time the fish was zooming around like crazy, the tip soaking up every lunge from it, after a few minutes a nice plump mackerel appeared after almost engulfing the whole lure. It then went quiet, the rod still performing beautiful casts every time, I changed over to a mint glow version of the lure for a while, thinking it would show up a bit brighter in the murky water, but no takes at all, I changed back to the chrome and kept on punching out the lure.
I was determined to Christen my new rod with a bass, I had lost that schoolie and had a mackerel, I wanted a bass before I went home, I kept throwing that lure, in different directions working the area in front of me, retrieving it back to me then bang, I was hit the Art Magic tip arched around, and line screamed from the drag of the Stradic.
I knew this was a better fish, the tip performed beautifully absorbing every lunge that bass took, the power of the butt getting that fish under control and bringing it into the beach quite quickly. And there was my reward a beautiful plump estuary bass of 44cm, not a monster but a nice fish to catch on the first time with the Art Magic.
I didn’t have time to try any plastics today, I tend not to use them so much as the surface lures and metals, but I always carry some and will try them another day, and possibly add another section to this review when I do.
Conclusion.
I bought my Art Magic from feedback from a post, I put up on my Facebook Group Kernow Bass, asking who had the Art Magic and what was it like, the feedback was amazing and I was somehow missing out on not having a better rod to fish with, yes any rod will catch fish, but sometimes a little more performance from a rod is needed.
This is where the Art Magic comes in the grip, the joint, the guides, the tip, the butt, everything has been thought out to be the best for the UK angler. A Huge thank you to Ben Field, who designed this rod, and to the rod builders at Apia who have made this special rod for us anglers, and to all the guys who commented on the post, you were spot on thank you, and finally to Dom & Tracy at Lowen-Chy Angling, Cornwall who supplied my rod thank you.
The Art Magic has an RRP of £399.99 and is available through the Art of Magic, Lowen-Chy Angling, and other UK stockists.
Update on Fishing.
On the 16-10-24 I Landed a New PB Bass of 60cm while fishing a Chrome Surface Iron metal lure on Low Tide. The fish gave me a fantastic scrap on the Art Magic, and it was brilliant in bringing the fish under control, very happy Guy !!!
