Richard Isaacs
Senior Member & Supporter
This winter I’ve added afew new (second hand) float rods to my collection and in doing so I’ve obviously been taking advantage and using them extensively along with many others that I have. Comparing them and really getting to know the things I like and dislike.
I thought I’d share some conclusions between 4 of the best.
on a couple of occasions I took 2 rods and directly compared them on the bank swapping between fish and casts.
Between them all over this winter I’d say they’ve put more than 150 chub on the bank between 1-6lb every one of them has played plenty of big lumps now including the most recent purchase and it’s fair to say I’m in a strong position to provide a strong opinion.
It might help others out if they want to buy such rods as none of them are particularly common or can be bought new.
I’ve excluded any acolytes from this write up. I was going to include my old 15’ plus but I no longer have it now as nice as it was and let’s be honest there’s not many people that float fish that hasn’t tried or owned one. I sold mine and I’ll come back to why later.
The criteria is 15ft plus for river trotting top n bottom style with suitable line ratings of 3-6lb
So no mega power float rods and no bit bashers either just good old stepped up long rods for trotting.
Starting off with browning sphere 15’6 river rod.
This rod has some features that separates it from the others. Spliced tip, 6inch longer and a full eva handle.
It’s an odd looking rod that in my opinion is very much function over form. I say that because in my eyes it’s the least attractive looking float rod I own but in use it’s nothing short of sensational.
The worst thing you can do when you first pick up this rod is judge it on its looks or a waggle. It feels very soft and looks very different to other rods. Get line through it asap and all will become apparent.
the tip is very soft indeed and about the equivalent to a 1/2oz quiver tip but it works extremely well in the section it’s spliced into and if you are like me and like to hit fast bites with a wrist strike using spliced solid carbon tips there is no finer tip on planet earth. It’s beautiful and so responsive.
The blank isn’t as firm or rigid as the others I’ll be talking about and I personally think 30-40 Yards is about its limit for firmly pulling hooks home. Further than this and your looking more of a sweeping full body strike to compensate for the rods softer side.
The guides are the best I’ve ever come across for both quality and stand off
Even Fuji titanium’s on normarks are not as usably awesome as the fujis placed on the sphere
Now the action when playing a fish is really really nice. Even a big fish charging for the reeds, this rod soaks it all up and you start really loving the softer side of this blank.
But then when it’s time to say enough and put on the brakes the sphere doesn’t disappoint here either. It’s got bags of stopping power sat right below the upper 2 sections and you can tame big fish on reasonable lines in a limited amount of space.
The handle and reel seat are not particularly great to look at and it bugs me that it’s missing a butt cap in my opinion but just hold it all day and you’ll see it really does work. It’s such a pleasure to hold and trot with. I’m looking forward to giving it some grayling action next season.
Browning state 179g measured weight today 185g. A little optimistic from browning I guess but that’s still an unbelievably light rod bearing in mind it’s 150mm longer than the rest.
Solid 9/10 for me.
Negatives…. Would like the blank to be a slight fraction stiffer for longer trots and
Would like to see a butt cap
Moving on.
Other end of the scale now in terms of its original price. Shimano ultegra ax SPC 15’
Again a relatively recent purchase because I knew the rods well from when they were launched a good few years ago now and I loved them back then as much as I do now.
Why sell an acolyte and keep this you might ask. Well because this rod has got everything exactly where I want it and the acolyte simply didn’t .
Sure at 212g measured on my scales it’s the heaviest of the bunch but it’s also the most powerful and 6lb line is handled easily but it’s not an out n out power rod. It’s very rigid in all the sections with a nice fast hollow tip. It is a far superior big chub float rod over the accy plus and that’s why it stayed and the accy went.
However it is not as powerful as the accy specimen rods and they are in a different power league again.
It’s definitely a fast action rod but apply enough pressure and the whole lot will hoop over but with power behind the blank. You can apply a tremendous amount of pressure with this and it will stop chub or barbel happily even though I probably wouldn’t feed it lines much more than 6lb.
Its weight is not a negative for me. It’s well balanced and never a strenuous task to stand and hold all day. In fact it’s a pleasure.
The guides could do with being a little bigger and why don’t shimano see fit to put Fuji seats on expensive rods. It was still nearly £200 back in the day. It should have warranted a Fuji.
8/10 for me. Blank is sensational the whole thing is just about spot on for trotting any distance for big chub so why not give it a good Fuji seat rather than a generic shimano copy.
Normark avenger 3000.
It’s the only multi length rod ive ever owned that I deem worthy of competing with dedicated 15 footers. It fishes at 15ft so much better than it does at 13ft and it was designed that way after the 2000 range was a bit of a fail imo at this length.
Those that don’t know the 3000, it was supplied with its own extension and the butt and middle sections were stiffened up.
This created a very very rigid almost brutal 13ft rod but when the extension was added you got something that was quite extraordinary. It feels like a dedicated 15ft rod and one that I only ever use at this length. It’s beautiful to look at, it’s gorgeous to hold and its full 200g weight is just balanced beautifully in the hand. The tip is unreal and every bit as usable as a solid splice but without the hinge point or flat spot that most of them can have if not done particularly well.
The action is powerful and very rigid in the middle making long trots a pleasant experience and you’ll hit hard from some great distances. It bends very nicely into big fish and has the ability in the lower half to stop fish gunning for snags just like the sphere when you need to put your foot down and say enough is enough.
If the butt guide stood off the blank that little bit further I’d struggle not to give it a 10 but sadly they are a bit short for my liking despite the fact they are titanium and as we know with these fast tip normarks you don’t get second chances with frap ups.
8.5/10.
Next up. Maver signature pro classic 15’
Most recent purchase just a few weeks ago and I’ve been battering the life out of it. I was very wary before buying this thinking it was going to be another acolyte plus and I’ll get board of it and move it on.
Well that’s not the case. Power wise it’s similar and the tip is not quite as fast but action wise and fitting wise it runs rings around the accy imo. The tip and middle sections are stiffer than the acolyte with quite similar power in the butt section. This makes line mending from a bank sooooooooooooo much nicer and you’ve got sooooooooo much better control over distance of your float before the blank is starting to counteract your movements.
It hits hard at 40 plus yards and the tip is fast enough for exactly what I want in this type of rod. ( catching big fish I don’t bit bash) it is not sphere or avenger3000 fast mind.
it has plenty of stopping power. No chub on the planet is out gunning this but yet it retains a superb playing action.
again the guide stand off is shorter than I like, and I hate the folding hook keeper. It has a really nice Fuji ips reel seat which I love but the thing about this rod that sets it apart is the way it feels to me in my hand. It’s so wonderfully balanced it literally feels like I’m holding a 13ft wand. 180g on my scales which is obviously very light anyway but even at 15ft there’s not an ounce of nose heaviness about it.
Get rid of that hook keeper and this rod scores the highest but it’s there and it annoys me every time my hand touches it.
Based on it’s beautiful balance it gets 9/10
Lasty the reason why my 15’ accy plus is not included and was sold earlier this year.
It was a wonderful rod and the lightest 15ft rod I have ever used at 168g but there was something about it and I never really found it particularly exciting or amazing. The taper in the blank itself was quite slow so despite its fast tip I found it came into its curve with too little resistance and this lack of rigidity made it an average rod to trott at distance from a bank with.
It had power to land big chub but it was all in the lower half. Nothing in the middle so everything that was hooked put a full blooded power curve even at close range.
6.5/10 is where I’d put it
So Not a 15ft rod for me with long trots from a bank for big chub. I probably wouldn’t have sold it if it was bought for a different purpose. I’m still very much an acolyte fan btw.
So all in all these are my current favorite 4 long rods for long trotting for lumpy powerful chub.
None of which can be easily obtained. Some you’ll have to pay a lot of money for but all I personally would highly highly recommend if you get the opportunity to pick one of them up.
I thought I’d share some conclusions between 4 of the best.
on a couple of occasions I took 2 rods and directly compared them on the bank swapping between fish and casts.
Between them all over this winter I’d say they’ve put more than 150 chub on the bank between 1-6lb every one of them has played plenty of big lumps now including the most recent purchase and it’s fair to say I’m in a strong position to provide a strong opinion.
It might help others out if they want to buy such rods as none of them are particularly common or can be bought new.
I’ve excluded any acolytes from this write up. I was going to include my old 15’ plus but I no longer have it now as nice as it was and let’s be honest there’s not many people that float fish that hasn’t tried or owned one. I sold mine and I’ll come back to why later.
The criteria is 15ft plus for river trotting top n bottom style with suitable line ratings of 3-6lb
So no mega power float rods and no bit bashers either just good old stepped up long rods for trotting.
Starting off with browning sphere 15’6 river rod.
This rod has some features that separates it from the others. Spliced tip, 6inch longer and a full eva handle.
It’s an odd looking rod that in my opinion is very much function over form. I say that because in my eyes it’s the least attractive looking float rod I own but in use it’s nothing short of sensational.
The worst thing you can do when you first pick up this rod is judge it on its looks or a waggle. It feels very soft and looks very different to other rods. Get line through it asap and all will become apparent.
the tip is very soft indeed and about the equivalent to a 1/2oz quiver tip but it works extremely well in the section it’s spliced into and if you are like me and like to hit fast bites with a wrist strike using spliced solid carbon tips there is no finer tip on planet earth. It’s beautiful and so responsive.
The blank isn’t as firm or rigid as the others I’ll be talking about and I personally think 30-40 Yards is about its limit for firmly pulling hooks home. Further than this and your looking more of a sweeping full body strike to compensate for the rods softer side.
The guides are the best I’ve ever come across for both quality and stand off
Even Fuji titanium’s on normarks are not as usably awesome as the fujis placed on the sphere
Now the action when playing a fish is really really nice. Even a big fish charging for the reeds, this rod soaks it all up and you start really loving the softer side of this blank.
But then when it’s time to say enough and put on the brakes the sphere doesn’t disappoint here either. It’s got bags of stopping power sat right below the upper 2 sections and you can tame big fish on reasonable lines in a limited amount of space.
The handle and reel seat are not particularly great to look at and it bugs me that it’s missing a butt cap in my opinion but just hold it all day and you’ll see it really does work. It’s such a pleasure to hold and trot with. I’m looking forward to giving it some grayling action next season.
Browning state 179g measured weight today 185g. A little optimistic from browning I guess but that’s still an unbelievably light rod bearing in mind it’s 150mm longer than the rest.
Solid 9/10 for me.
Negatives…. Would like the blank to be a slight fraction stiffer for longer trots and
Would like to see a butt cap
Moving on.
Other end of the scale now in terms of its original price. Shimano ultegra ax SPC 15’
Again a relatively recent purchase because I knew the rods well from when they were launched a good few years ago now and I loved them back then as much as I do now.
Why sell an acolyte and keep this you might ask. Well because this rod has got everything exactly where I want it and the acolyte simply didn’t .
Sure at 212g measured on my scales it’s the heaviest of the bunch but it’s also the most powerful and 6lb line is handled easily but it’s not an out n out power rod. It’s very rigid in all the sections with a nice fast hollow tip. It is a far superior big chub float rod over the accy plus and that’s why it stayed and the accy went.
However it is not as powerful as the accy specimen rods and they are in a different power league again.
It’s definitely a fast action rod but apply enough pressure and the whole lot will hoop over but with power behind the blank. You can apply a tremendous amount of pressure with this and it will stop chub or barbel happily even though I probably wouldn’t feed it lines much more than 6lb.
Its weight is not a negative for me. It’s well balanced and never a strenuous task to stand and hold all day. In fact it’s a pleasure.
The guides could do with being a little bigger and why don’t shimano see fit to put Fuji seats on expensive rods. It was still nearly £200 back in the day. It should have warranted a Fuji.
8/10 for me. Blank is sensational the whole thing is just about spot on for trotting any distance for big chub so why not give it a good Fuji seat rather than a generic shimano copy.
Normark avenger 3000.
It’s the only multi length rod ive ever owned that I deem worthy of competing with dedicated 15 footers. It fishes at 15ft so much better than it does at 13ft and it was designed that way after the 2000 range was a bit of a fail imo at this length.
Those that don’t know the 3000, it was supplied with its own extension and the butt and middle sections were stiffened up.
This created a very very rigid almost brutal 13ft rod but when the extension was added you got something that was quite extraordinary. It feels like a dedicated 15ft rod and one that I only ever use at this length. It’s beautiful to look at, it’s gorgeous to hold and its full 200g weight is just balanced beautifully in the hand. The tip is unreal and every bit as usable as a solid splice but without the hinge point or flat spot that most of them can have if not done particularly well.
The action is powerful and very rigid in the middle making long trots a pleasant experience and you’ll hit hard from some great distances. It bends very nicely into big fish and has the ability in the lower half to stop fish gunning for snags just like the sphere when you need to put your foot down and say enough is enough.
If the butt guide stood off the blank that little bit further I’d struggle not to give it a 10 but sadly they are a bit short for my liking despite the fact they are titanium and as we know with these fast tip normarks you don’t get second chances with frap ups.
8.5/10.
Next up. Maver signature pro classic 15’
Most recent purchase just a few weeks ago and I’ve been battering the life out of it. I was very wary before buying this thinking it was going to be another acolyte plus and I’ll get board of it and move it on.
Well that’s not the case. Power wise it’s similar and the tip is not quite as fast but action wise and fitting wise it runs rings around the accy imo. The tip and middle sections are stiffer than the acolyte with quite similar power in the butt section. This makes line mending from a bank sooooooooooooo much nicer and you’ve got sooooooooo much better control over distance of your float before the blank is starting to counteract your movements.
It hits hard at 40 plus yards and the tip is fast enough for exactly what I want in this type of rod. ( catching big fish I don’t bit bash) it is not sphere or avenger3000 fast mind.
it has plenty of stopping power. No chub on the planet is out gunning this but yet it retains a superb playing action.
again the guide stand off is shorter than I like, and I hate the folding hook keeper. It has a really nice Fuji ips reel seat which I love but the thing about this rod that sets it apart is the way it feels to me in my hand. It’s so wonderfully balanced it literally feels like I’m holding a 13ft wand. 180g on my scales which is obviously very light anyway but even at 15ft there’s not an ounce of nose heaviness about it.
Get rid of that hook keeper and this rod scores the highest but it’s there and it annoys me every time my hand touches it.
Based on it’s beautiful balance it gets 9/10
Lasty the reason why my 15’ accy plus is not included and was sold earlier this year.
It was a wonderful rod and the lightest 15ft rod I have ever used at 168g but there was something about it and I never really found it particularly exciting or amazing. The taper in the blank itself was quite slow so despite its fast tip I found it came into its curve with too little resistance and this lack of rigidity made it an average rod to trott at distance from a bank with.
It had power to land big chub but it was all in the lower half. Nothing in the middle so everything that was hooked put a full blooded power curve even at close range.
6.5/10 is where I’d put it
So Not a 15ft rod for me with long trots from a bank for big chub. I probably wouldn’t have sold it if it was bought for a different purpose. I’m still very much an acolyte fan btw.
So all in all these are my current favorite 4 long rods for long trotting for lumpy powerful chub.
None of which can be easily obtained. Some you’ll have to pay a lot of money for but all I personally would highly highly recommend if you get the opportunity to pick one of them up.
) I can confirm that they are indeed very nice!
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