Paul Arden | Tuesday, 13 August 2024
The HT9 prototype took a long and arduous journey to get here. First it went to Germany. I like Germany but why the HT9 went there first no one knows. Not even DHL who took it there. Back to the UK it was then shipped for a second time. This time it reached Malaysia but sat in customs for a month and then in Gerik for another two weeks, until Sunday, when it landed with me. I also have Sean’s HT8 and a telescope. Why do I have Sean’s HT8 you might ask? The Hot Orange whippings which he didn’t order, but Lee thought he had, just didn’t really appeal to Sean. He’s like that.
I was actually quite surprised. I thought Sean the Wild Man would have relished a rod with hot orange whippings. Six Pound Sean, if you don’t know, is a long term friend of mine, who wrote the Fishmail column some 20 years ago. He also turns sheep into flies.
Anyhoo one of my students, Mountain Mike, may be interested in swapping it for a Wahoo Kickr. My indoor bike trainer has pretty much died from over-abuse and the whippings match the colour of Mike’s shorts. We shall see! Otherwise I shall sell this stunning rod, used once in Mexico to annihilate Bonefish (I’m reliably informed), for $800 including world wide shipping. Apart from the hot orange whippings, it’s a surprisingly subtle rod — Sean went for the minimalist approach when it came to decals.
So on to the HT9. I haven’t cast it yet, having quite literally just returned to the Battleship. I’m very excited to do so and in anticipation, Scientific Anglers kindly sent me a Bonefish 9 and an Infinity Salt 9. This is now my go-to Snakehead rod for the next months, and who knows? Maybe the next few years!
I do think the 8 is a little light for the monsters I catch and the 10 is a little heavy for the smaller ones that other people catch. So 9 really would fit in well here. It’s really about Permit and Triggers of course. I have been asked for an HT9 repeatedly over the past decade. But don’t hold your breath. As you no doubt already know, it can take me a very long time “to be sure to be sure to be sure.” (Why did Stuntman Ronan wear three condoms? He loves that joke).
For new Hot Torpedo/Tortuga orders coming in it’s about a 3-4 week waiting list at the moment. I know that might surprise some of you who have already been waiting longer, but we should have all existing orders shipped certainly by the end of this month. It has taken a very long time to get fully organised in Spain and there are many reasons for that. One has been the implementation of the X-system, where we can now replace any broken section without having the rod returned (only applies to rods with serial numbers starting with X). For those of you who have been waiting a while — good news!! I shall give you two Zoom casting sessions instead of the usual one!
Just to remind you, all Sexyloops HT rods come with a free coaching session at the moment, given by yours truly. These sessions are informal and we can also talk fishing and drink beer.
Also, every one of the first 666 customers has their name go into a hat, or sock, and one lucky winner will win an all-expenses paid, two-week fly fishing trip, with me, on the Sexyloops yacht. Why 666? Because that’s Viking Lars’ favourite number and all his rods’ serial numbers are 666. I’m thinking we actually name the yacht “666”.
My plan for this is three years. So I’d better get the new site upgrade fully rolling and the factory turning out more rods. We have a hell of a lot of new builds to put in Hot Torpedo Owners’ Club. Juan is doing a fantastic job!
Have a great week. Videos coming soon!
Cheers,Paul