Review: Zenaq Snipe S86XX – A perfect rod for zander fishing

The Zander fishing is definitely the most popular game fishing in Europe. The reason for it lays in its
specific nature. The zander (Sander Lucioperca) is a very cautious fish, difficult to catch, usually being
active mostly at night thanks to its excellent vision. Probably, what is the most exciting at zander
fishing is the way it attacks the lure. The famous “tock” is what fishermen find the most exciting
moment of zander fishing. The zander can grow over 1m in length and reach the weights up to 15 kg.

The techniques for zander fishing vary from active fishing with silicon lures and hard baits to passive
fishing at the bottom or in the middle layer with a natural bait fish. The most popular is the jigging
technique with a silicon lure mounted on a jig head. The finesse techniques can also effectively be
applied for zander fishing. In the night, the hard baits are often the best choice.

The commonly used tackle for zander spin fishing are the rods with lengths from 2.4m up to 3m,
where the 2.7m is mostly preferred. The maximum casting weights of zander spinning rods go from
35g to 60g, in some cases even 80g if heavy-weight jigs are used. The reels used are the sizes from
2500 to 4000. Since the zander has very rigid maul that needs to be pierced with a hook, many
fisherman prefer very sharp rods with fast action. However, such rods are usually not elastic enough
when fighting the fish, causing many hook-outs during the fight. At the other hand, the rods with
slow parabolic action have the problem with setting up the hook in fish maul efficiently.

My personal preference were always semi-parabolic rods that are commonly used for salmon fishing.
I found them to be a good compromise between sharp and elastic. Such rods cannot only be used for
jigging, but also for hard bait spinning. Over the years I had the opportunity to fish with many
different “zander” rods. I fished premium models from Shimano, Daiwa, Abu, St. Croix, Sportex,
Xzoga, etc. Some of them were almost perfect back then, but pretty heavy-weight compared to
nowadays standards. With the evolution of fiber material technologies, the modern spinning rods
reached half of the weight of those from twenty years ago. Also the reels reduced their weight
significantly. The light-weight rods made fishing much more comfortable, but they also came with
the price. Actually, it was very difficult for producers to make light-weight rods that are fast enough
but not stiff, elastic, strong and versatile. The Zenaq Snipe S86XX Longcast is all of that and even
more!

Before I decided to give a try to the Zenaq Snipe S86XX, I had used to fish with the AGS Tournament
series of Daiwa that are also excellent rods. Still, I was not satisfied with the number of fish I kept
losing during the fight. I wanted a spinning rod with the soul, the one that is strong enough to hook
every fish, fast in action but responsive, elastic and progressive in action, the one that will amortize
every sudden fish movement during the fight preventing the hook-out. The Snipe was exactly what I
was searching for.

The Snipe S86XX is the strongest of the Snipe rod series, with 2.59m (8.6 feet) in length and casting
weight of 8g to 40g. It covers almost every situation with zander fishing on the waters I’ve been
actively fishing. The rod weights around 150g and as every Zenaq rod, it is handmade in Japan. It is
equipped with high quality EVA Grip divided optimally around the Fuji VSS-16 reel seat, with enough
grip length to place it underarm and grip it above the reel seat. There are two types of guide setting
available for Snipe. The K-version with 10+1 Fuji K-guides having titanium frame and Torzite inner
ring, and the RG-version with 13+1 Fuji Torzite guides and two additional RG guides (titanium frame,
SiC ring) originally developed by Zenaq. The Zenaq does not install the hook keeper on its rods, so I
added a Fuji Hook Keeper to it, making the handling when changing the spots more comfortable.
In action, the rod performs superbly. Its blank is very responsive and sensitive. One can perfectly
read the bottom shape when jigging. Every contact with even the smallest target is smoothly
transported to angler allowing immediate response. This is very important when fishing with the
jigging technique. The blank is a fast-tapper and reacts very fast despite moderately soft tip section.
In fight, the Snipe shows the best elasticity you can find at one spinning rod. It reacts fast and allows
you total control over the fish. The bending curve is perfectly balanced, making the hook-out very
rare.

The blank of S86XX is very powerful. You notice it when you fight a big target. The rod bends
progressively exhibiting more and more power as it bends towards the butt section. The powerful
and elastic blank allows you to fight even a larger target, such as catfish or big pike, without losing
control over the fish. Due to its moderate softness and good casting performance, the S86XX is a
perfect choice when fishing with the hard baits. It really makes a lot of fun searching for Zander with
minnow-shaped wobblers at night. You can also use it effectively when jerking or twitching from the
bank, for example when fishing for the asp with stickbaits. I only find the fishing with lipless cranks
that weight more than 20g suboptimal for this rod due to its relatively soft tip. However, it is still the
most universally applicable “zander” rod that I had in my hands.

The guide setting on the Snipe follows the Zenaq philosophy of high number of small diameter guides
that are optimally distributed on the blank. When the weather is calm, this allows you very long
casts, especially if you fish the RG-model. However, if you fish against the wind, your casting
performance could be significantly reduced. The small diameter guides are also not the best choice if
you fish at the freezing temperatures, because they tend to freeze up fast damaging the line. The
S86XX is the only model of Snipe series with the Fuji Torzite guides. The other rods in the Snipe family
are equipped with SiC guide rings. The Torzite guides are light-weight and very robust. However, they
could be very loud with certain types of braided line, so the line should be very smooth and round for
the best comfort. I’ve experimented with a lot of different braided lines and found the Daiwa Saltiga
Line with 12 strands to be an excellent choice.

I’ve been fishing now with the Snipe for almost two years. At the beginning I was very cautious how it
will perform, but now I don’t want to fish with another rod. It’s not only because /about its
performance, but also about the level of enjoyment and satisfaction when fishing with such a fine
light-weight rod that gives you so much confidence. I fish the Snipe with the Shimano Stella 3000 FJ
reel. Due to a very good balance of the rod, a 4000 size reel would also make an excellent match.
Since fishing with the Snipe, I probably caught more than 100 zanders, the largest being 93 cm in
length. I could also win a fight against a 1.83m catfish, bringing the rod durability to a serious test.
Without much difficulty, I was able to land the fish of 40 kg in weight. With the rod I could also catch
a number of asp, pike, perch und chub, and in all that time I didn’t lose more than three or four
good-sized fish. I find it amazing!