When DLST started out most of my pike fishing revolved around livebaiting, the P-1 was naturally the first rod I had a personal need for. All the pike rods I have subsequently added to the DLST range have come about through my own fishing. Shorter rods for boat fishing, beefier rods for casting bigger baits or leads, various lure rods. So it is with the X-1.

When I'm not piking on drains these days I'm on larger stillwaters fishing three rods with deadbaits. For various reasons this seems to be the way a lot more pikers are fishing today. Restrictions on numbers of rods and the use of livebaits (and the convenience of pre-packed deadbaits) are seeing to that. Back in the days when I was fishing four rods life was simple. Two P-1s and two BB350s had me covered from under the rod tip to as far as I could cast. The P-1 is perfect for livebaiting purposes and close range deadbaiting. The BB350 is brilliant for blasting deadbaits out.

These days I usually use three rods for bank fishing, so I have to decide which rod to double up on. A rod in between the two would mean I could have three different rods with the middle one being able to fish a livey close in or a heavier deadbait than a P-1 would like to chuck. If I feel like being a tackle tart fishing three matched rods then an inbetweeny would be perfect! Hence the X-1.

Minimal graphics.

Taking the P-1 blank as the starting point the X-1 shares the same action but with a beefed up test curve in a lighter and slightly slimmer blank. Although this rod will probably see most use with deadbaits I have used it to cast livebaits of around 8oz with no worries and found the progressive curve suits playing fish on braid or mono.

Reinforcing weave on tip section.

The butt incorporates the same tried and trusted woven carbon as used in Harrison's Chimeras. This is also used to reinforce the overfit of the tip section and overlays a finer weave which blends to a plain carbon towards the tip. The blank has the scratch resistant, and good-looking, Ultra Matt finish. The rings are my standard Fuji BCLSVOG pattern with a 40mm butt ring and five intermediates tapering to a 12mm tip guide. All whippings are black as standard. Lettering is in white ink and kept to the barest minimum. The handle is my standard Fuji DNPS-B with stainless front collar and rear Duplon cone with stainless butt cap and slim Duplon butt grip. Many other handle options can be fitted.

Custom X-1 with Alconite rings and shrink tube handle