Introducing the Fenwick HMG

Impressions: Throughout their storied history Fenwick has never been shy about applying unique technologies to their rods to in an effort to make significant performance gains. It all started in 1953 when Harold Edwards and Tom Andreson took a part time hobby to the next level. The two avid anglers further improved their fishing success by enhancing the performance of their rods by applying technological advances.

The Fenwick reel seat exposes the blank for greater sensitivity

Today we turn our attention to the Fenwick HMG GT66M rod, which incorporates Carbon Veil Technology. The HMG GT66M is a 6’6” medium powered rod that we figured would be good for tossing crankbaits into tight spots. The HMG displays excellent craftsmanship and uses nine Berkley SS304 guides with concept spacing that are neatly wrapped with gold threading. Moving down to the handle area we noticed Fenwick employs a coated soft-touch reel seat which felt welcoming the minute I wrapped my hands on the rod. The supporting grip trigger seems to extend further than that of Fuji’s reel seat and actually felt better when palming the reel. The Fenwick rod uses cork on the foregrip and on the eight inch handle. The overall quality and construction from our first impressions are right on par with competitor offerings in the same price range, but enough talk, let’s see what it can do in the lab and on the water.

This rod uses the durable Berkley SS304 guides

Lab Tests: Our goal in the following lab tests is to show you how the rod might feel, just in case you have trouble locating it in a store near you. To accomplish this goal, we try to identify mass market products that share a similar RoD value to the rod we’re testing.

Rate of Deflection (RoD): Because the St. Croix Avid Crankbait rod is widely available at local tackle stores we chose that product as our comparable benchmark for this test. If you went to pick up the St. Croix Avid AC66MHM, which has a RoD value of 2.34, you would get a good sense of how the power of the Fenwick HMG rod would feel because they actually have the same RoD value. Both of these rods weigh about the same and even share very similar balance points, but note that in our test the line slap/rub results are different, it took more weight to get the line to touch the blank on the HMG thanks to the nine guides strategically placed on the blank.

Fig. 1: This RoD Deflection chart shows how similar these rods are at nearly all loads

   
Carbon Veil Technology: As explained above, the founders of Fenwick improved their fishing experience and performance by implementing technological advances in their fishing rods. Through changes in ownership, this initiative never stopped. The Fenwick HMG rod now uses Carbon Veil Technology which produces a blank that’s not only sensitive but durable as well. How is this achieved you ask? The Carbon Veil Technology uses multi-directional random graphite fiber material that’s layered to improve overall hoop strength. The end result is a light and durable blank that can be tailored for specific fishing applications.

Fenwick's Carbon Veil Technology is used to enhance the characteristics and performance of the rod