Recent content by Ralph Harris

I managed to get my 14ft triple x off facebay for 25 it is mint and with its original rod sleeve in similar condition. There are so few sold, sometimes the seller does not know what they might sell for. I did not know they could fetch over 100! I think my 13 ft was about that new, a tidy sum...

I have both the 13 and 14ft triple x. I have had the 13ft from new and it has been a very good rod. I have had the 14ft for about a year and not used it yet! As @Neil Smart mentioned these rods have spliced tips. There are not that many around so similar to Silstar diaflex match rods not many...

There have already been posts showing the great abilities of deer. But while fishing a clay pit a deer fell off the top of the pit and tumbled down perhaps 25ft of almost sheer clay. They are not all elegant and agile. Seemed a bit confused for a while but moved off without any apparent damage.

Specialist anglers and pleasure anglers are often not in public view when fishing I’m sure bad practices go unseen. Match anglers are more likely to be seen. Joe Public may not see anything wrong with the way that fish was handled, we obviously do. It is important that anglers have high...

Hi Jim looks a fantastic rod, really like buzzard rods building. That burgundy thread they use on the Matt carbon finish looks great. Although my old 14ft rebuild is not directly comparable a comparison may reveal some of the improvements Harrison’s have made. When comparing weights, mine were...

I refurbished a very old 14ft GTI SU a while ago, and when I stripped it and ground the blank it came in at 153g so 124g for the blank of a 15ft rod is quite an improvement.

If you want an 11ft chub rod I’ll throw another curved ball in. Darrent valley 12oz specialist. This sounds too light but the rod behaves like an Avon it’s only the fine tip that gives the 12oz test curve. I have the 1.4lb (1lb 6oz) Avon and a second tip with a 3oz quiver. The Darrent Valley...

Two of each! They must be generally well liked, they don’t come up on the secondhand market that much in either the standard or stepped up form. I see you use two rods on the Avon.When I fished the Avon, mostly at Ibsley I never felt that I could use two rods, the swims seemed too small. I...

I am presently considering buying an 11ft Torrix 1.75lb specialist blank. I have previously brought the Harrison Avon 1.4lb and nice it is, although the through action makes it feel a little soft in the strike. It works fine really, but by the time I have taken up the bow in the line and the rod...

Jim, All of the advice I seen Richard give is very sound, he obviously particularly knowledgeable when it comes to trotting for large fish with longer rods. From my experience additional rings, particularly small ones won’t weigh a lot.

Thanks Jim, certainly not built up to a custom rod builder standards but good enough to look reasonable. I look at their professional builders photos and start to think they must have special kit to get finishes that good. Then I think a poor craftsman always blames his tools, and I then try a...

Remember there are different minima guides, some will be softer than others, I put the model number I used in my post by same guide do you mean exactly the same. I’m no expert I just think about things and form an opinion. I could easily be seriously wrong but if it still looks like a fishing...

T The model I used was pac bay KM4KG. The butt ring seems very robust, I don’t think it will bend unless you give it some severe force. I think if that much force was applied to the guide the blank would be damaged, it’s that robust. The ring is also very hard, when I tried to file down the...

If you are having a rod built to use both centrepin and fixed spool, consider selecting ring sizes and positions to suit a fixed spool reel. Centrepins are less affected by guide size and position so won’t really be affected by a fixed spool layout. But the first ring would be larger than you...

I have just rebuilt my old Harrison GTI 12 ft and these were my design considerations. I used the more expensive version of minima stand off rings, because others were not available. Not used the rod at all yet so there is no reliability on the rings. What I can say is they are made of very hard...