I needed a rod that would handle the winds and heavy sink tips that are sometimes required for the sea trout of Tierra Del Fuego and also be versatile enough for king salmon to 30 lbs and Dean River steelhead. Thats a tall order so my first choice was a Burkheimer rod. I already had the 7129-4 and 8134-4 and love the action and wide grain range on them and decided to give Kerry a call and discuss what rods he would be developing for 2009. He said that he would be working on a new model soon, the 9135-4 which he thought would be ideal for me. I told Kerry that I would need it in 8 weeks and he said that he would start developement. Now bear in mind that this would be the start of a new model which requires extensive testing with multiple pieces of each section being made and then casting all the combinations to get what each of the staff thought was right. I gave Kerry a call two weeks before my trip to see how production was proceeding and was told that the sections had been made, preliminary testing had been done and they thought it was good rod at this point but wanted to try some more combinations to get it even better. I thought then that there was no chance that I would get the rod in time for my trip because of the severe weather at the time which blew out the rivers and dumped snow down to sea level which would make test casting difficult if not impossible. So imagine my surprise when Kerry said it was ready and that I would love it. Two days later it arrived at my doorstep and the next day I was off to TDF.

I took three rods in case I didn’t like the 9135-4 or broke a rod, but the other rods never got used as the 9135-4 was a dream. It handled the wind and heavy sink tips better than I expected and the most amazing thing I found was that while it had the beef to control the larger fish up to 21 lbs. the tip was sensitive enough to feel the slightest take and make even the small 2 lb. fish a lot of fun to fight.

All I can say is “bravo” to Kerry and everyone involved in the production of this rod and I can’t wait to try it on the Dean this summer