GURU

Knowledge is power

CATAPULT

If you fish on fresh waters one piece of equipment you will all have own in one form or another during our angling lifetime is a catapult. From the basic catapult we all start out with that we used for absolutely everything, right through to becoming the owner of your own catapult armoury, they are like odd socks, we all own em. As anglers skills progress and develop, so do the requirements and functions of a catapult, you soon learn that to achieve the best from any baited area you need a catapult that can give you pin point accuracy. To achieve this you end up with a multitude of catapult, one for each type of bait that you use and distance you require you bait to travel, to ensure you get your feed right where you want it every time.

Over the years numerous companies have developed and released catapults that have tensioning systems that are designed to give you variable distance control but many of these have failed to capture the imagination or support of the angling masses. The latest catapult offering that is due to reach our retailer’s shelves in mid November 2011 is from Essex based GURU in my opinion one of the most ingenious catapults I have come across. They have come up with a catapult that is fully adjustable, with 6 different precise settings that makes it possible to set the elastics tension to the required torque to put your bait exactly where you want it every time with total control and confidence.

This has been made achievable by stepping back from the convention solid armed construction found on a conventional catapult and totally re-designing them. The GURU catapult arms have a channel down one side which houses the elastic and incorporates six evenly spaced slots with locking holes. These enable you to pull the connector that the elastic is attached too out of the arm and then re-locate it into another slot. To create a greater tension simply move the connector down the catapults arm closer to the handle. To hold the elastic in place, simply rotate the orange collar on the bend of the arm until the gap lines up with the channel and once the elastic is in place, rotate to secure and simply reverse the above for less tension.

TOP TIP - always ensuring that both elastics are evenly tensioned for optimum performance. If the elastic is unbalanced your feeding accuracy and grouping will be erratic.

TOP FEATURE - One of the biggest problems with conventional catapult designs is when you are feeding regularly, the elastic has an uncanny habit of twisting and we all know how annoying this can be. This problem occurs simply because the standard catapult pouches have solid attachments with no movement or rotation. So what GURU has done is gone back to the drawing board and re-designed the pouch. This new catapult pouch design incorporating two rotating attachments that allow the elastic to spin and are claimed to eliminate elastic twist and the accompanying tangles. UKMA can inform you that after feeding over one hundred pouches of maggots and not experiencing a single tangle or elastic twist, it looks like GURU have eliminate the problem of elastic twist and pouch entanglement, WELL DONE!!

Spares

Like all catapults the GURU Catapult will eventually require some care and attention. So after being abused like all good match catapults should to keep everything in perfect working order GURU have now released a Spare Catapult Elastic kit which includes two lengths of elastic, two pouch pins and the adjuster connectors that fit into the arms of the catapult and this complete kit sells for just £1.99, which is a blessing as these are the most commonly replaced component on any catapult. Just in case you experience the very unlikely event of a pouch splitting or tearing, not a problem!! As GURU have also made the Catapult Pouches available as a spares component and these also sell for £1.99 each.

Final Thoughts

I always thought a catapult was a catapult and that would be that but after spending 4 hours playing around on the bank with this latest offering from GURU tackle my opinion has truly changed. They have taken all the faults found on conventional catapults and thrown them in the bin, to produce a catapult that can accurately feed maggots, caster, pellets and particles as well as any I catapult we have used but without the tangles and twists (they can also be used to accurately feed a single 18mm boillie up to 50 yards easily). The new GURU CATAPULT will be in your local tackle shops in the next few weeks and will carry a retail £5.99 each. There will also be a range of spares parts including pouches and elastics and UKMA will give you more info on these when it becomes available.

For further information on the GURU range of products, please click the image below to visit the website.