Recommendations for a 15ft Speci Float Rod Please?

[Ian Woods]

Sorry Peter I’ve only just seen this question through browsing.

The simple answer to that is that it’s a little different and a little niche. I’ve owned several acolytes and despite selling all but 1, I do rate them highly as good rods.

But I don’t get the same hype with them and don’t find them to be as interesting as perhaps other rods. Plus everyone has acolytes and i struggle to get excited by them despite the fact on paper they are in fact brilliant.

I’d chose a tricast triaxial, browning sphere river, Avenger 2000/3000 or a TFGear TSI and maybe even a top end older shimano or daiwa before a brand new acolyte and it’s not always because i believe its a better fishing rod. I’m not delusional and know that in many cases they are not.
It’s more often because it’s different or rarer and to me a far more interesting rod.

At the back end of the season Ive been really loving the 1990’s team England stuff from drennan and I find the old action tip rods to be far more desirable to fish with than any acolyte ultra I’ve owned. Just sensational rods I’ll be looking out for more.

I do find that some of these interesting rods to be pretty awful aswell and then sell them on as quickly as I bought them. I’ve never been a massive fan of a lot of the shimano spliced tip rods I’ve owned.
I really don’t enjoy carbotec rods very much at all. Not many Shakespeares, abus, fox’s or Harrison’s have impressed me very much either and I’m sure if I sat and thought about it the list would get very long.

Nearly all of my favorite float rods are rods that you’d have a hard time finding and there’s still afew i would like to find.

There are one or two new gems out now too which equally interest me because they are a bit different and not heavily talked about.
The Preston supera x is just wow if you want a smart alternative to a power float. It eats barbel for breakfast.
I’m actually not an owner of the new normark rods yet but I will be having a 15ft avenger because I am really impressed with what they did with the shorter ones.

And coming back to the hydra that wasn’t supposed to happen but I got coller’d in the tackle shop for my opinion on it and as soon as I got hold of it …. Well I knew it wasn’t staying there. Fell in love with everything about it. Feel, action, power just awesome.

In short….. yeah I like acolytes a lot but I’d always look out for something different and more interesting to me.

Like you, Richard, I also have a fondness for some of the older rods, especially the float rods. I've let the majority go now, but still hang on to one or two, those being the Drennan Super Tench float rod and the Drennan im8 specimen float rod. I used the Tench rod only recently to trot a float for chub, and it felt great. I've used them both to trot for barbel on numerous occasions, and they performed perfectly well.
I do get bored using the same rod over and over, no matter how good they are, and I enjoy using different rods and reels.
I think I enjoy playing around with different rods and reels as much as the actual fishing itself....as the old saying goes, "variety is the Spice of life ", .

 

[Alan Palmer]

Another curve ball here….

I bought a hydra X-one 450 10-30g from benwicks. Wasn’t planning to buy it but after a shop waggle and pull around i couldn’t resist it.
I am reluctant to start shouting about it regarding barbel because i haven’t caught a barbel on it yet since buying it and im not one of these people that can recommend something based on guess work.

currently I’ve only caught chub on it and so far I do really like the rod.

However……. I bought it very much with barbel in mind and based on my experience of such rods, unless it explodes the second I do hook one, I have a pretty good idea, based on its action and levels of resistance to bending, it’s likely going to be a very good rod for both trotting big floats long distances and dealing with powerful fish in all manner of river type.

Some information on it.
It’s exclusively sold only through benwicks currently.
Hydra is an Italian company and these rods are relatively new in their range.

Designed for casting out those enormous bolo and waggler floats that the Italians love and designed to deal with big fish on both still and moving waters.
The action and power to me seem just ideal for what we in the uk like to do regarding barbel and chub on heavy float gear.

Carbon is Japanese and it looks identical in texture, colour but just a fraction thicker in wall thickness to the blanks used on browning spheres. Rings are beautiful, seaguide singles which are reverse curved and flared to prevent tangles and the stand off is super.

Screw down seat, looks like a Fuji kdps but hydra have branded it so I don’t know that it is.
Good cork and eva mix and a nice armlock section that I’ve always liked.

It’s a tippy rod and there’s boat loads of progressive power in it. It feels like something you can lean right into and just watch the whole lot bend hard into a massive barbel.
I hope it’s as it appears to be because it’s one of very few rods I plan on using down the nene in summer for the really big fish on a section full of snags.

I wouldn’t chance just any float rod at that game and I hope this one is up for it. I’ll let you know on my proper review late Summer after it’s had a crack at the whip.
I’ll bung it down the Trent too which is less demanding on rods and gear but still a nice test for hitting and playing good fish from a long way down

Gonna be interested in how this performs, if it does on the Nene it likely will on the Ouse and that will get me interested….would love to get a big old Ouse girl on the float

 

[Richard Isaacs]

Gonna be interested in how this performs, if it does on the Nene it likely will on the Ouse and that will get me interested….would love to get a big old Ouse girl on the float

Alan that would be the ultimate trophy mate. A great Ouse double figure barbel caught by design on the float. …. Wow!
What more could a barbel angler want.

Don’t get me wrong they are a long way off hanging them selves on the nene but to do it on the G Ouse nowadays is another level of difficulty again.