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Drennan Acolyte Specimen Rod

I used Dave Harrell Pro Match at 6lb (0.20mm) on both my 13’6” and 15’6” splices rip Sphere with absolutely no problem at all.
 
Alan Rose said:
Hi Jonathan,

My Acolytes are more on the niche side of the range (11' Carp Waggler, 17' Acolyte, and 13' Acolyte Specimen). I've caught barbel on a Maver Signature Pro which is similar to an Acolyte plus. Shifting a barbel off the bottom was not an easy job with that rod! Ian has caught loads of barbel with a plus, so he's the man to ask.
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Like Chris and probably Ian I’ve owned all 3 in 15ft variations and I’d say the sphere is marginally my favorite followed closely by the sig pro.
And I’d also say the sphere is the most capable of the 3 15ft rods followed closely by the sig pro. I’d rather tangle with a barbel on the 15ft maver than the 15ft plus
However…… i wouldn’t specifically chose any of them for barbel. They are cracking chub rods mind all 3 of them.

I have better more suitable options for barbel than lightly stepped up match rods which is what these are imo
 
I’ve tried some practical evaluation today (in the kitchen). Acolyte, Hi-S and two different spheres. One of the things that struck me when using the Hi-S was an achey wrist after a long day - which I didn’t get when using the Acolyte or shorter Sphere. I now think I know why.

Weight wise the 13’6” Sphere runs at 167g and the 15’6” Sphere at 184g with both the Hi-S and Acolyte at 169g (according to kitchen scales). There’s not a lot in it - but they feel quite different in the hand (without a reel).The balance points of all the rods is quite different.

Without a reel, the Hi-S and Spheres are very forward biased compared to the Acolyte. With a reel fitted (Centris 320 SD) again, the balance points for the longer Sphere and the HI-S are some way forward, while the Acolyte is quite close to the reel.

The Acolyte feels much more balanced in the hand with very little forward bias - the Hi-S and longer Sphere needing a tad more pressure to keep horizontal; the shorter Sphere marginally more forward baised that the Acolyte- but 6” shorter.

The so what from all of this for me - I can probably understand why the Acolyte feels a better trotting rod - it’s balance, I think, translates to finer control (and my wrist never aches with any of my acolytes).

I remember a few decades ago when I was match fishing on the Danish and German rivers tuning rods for optimum (almost neutral) bias when holding a float rod for long periods by putting lead in the rod end cap (mind you that was with a Mitchell Match). But modern rods and reels are so much lighter, perhaps I just need more time on the river to develop some more muscle memory with the more forward biased rods.
 

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Brian Penfold said:
I’ve tried some practical evaluation today (in the kitchen). Acolyte, Hi-S and two different spheres. One of the things that struck me when using the Hi-S was an achey wrist after a long day - which I didn’t get when using the Acolyte or shorter Sphere. I now think I know why.

Weight wise the 13’6” Sphere runs at 167g and the 15’6” Sphere at 184g with both the Hi-S and Acolyte at 169g (according to kitchen scales). There’s not a lot in it - but they feel quite different in the hand (without a reel).The balance points of all the rods is quite different.

Without a reel, the Hi-S and Spheres are very forward biased compared to the Acolyte. With a reel fitted (Centris 320 SD) again, the balance points for the longer Sphere and the HI-S are some way forward, while the Acolyte is quite close to the reel.

The Acolyte feels much more balanced in the hand with very little forward bias - the Hi-S and longer Sphere needing a tad more pressure to keep horizontal; the shorter Sphere marginally more forward baised that the Acolyte- but 6” shorter.

The so what from all of this for me - I can probably understand why the Acolyte feels a better trotting rod - it’s balance, I think, translates to finer control (and my wrist never aches with any of my acolytes).

I remember a few decades ago when I was match fishing on the Danish and German rivers tuning rods for optimum (almost neutral) bias when holding a float rod for long periods by putting lead in the rod end cap (mind you that was with a Mitchell Match). But modern rods and reels are so much lighter, perhaps I just need more time on the river to develop some more muscle memory with the more forward biased rods.
Click to expand...
Ooh, Brian... you and @Chris Jones need to get together sometime :p🤣
 
Brian Penfold said:
I’ve tried some practical evaluation today (in the kitchen). Acolyte, Hi-S and two different spheres. One of the things that struck me when using the Hi-S was an achey wrist after a long day - which I didn’t get when using the Acolyte or shorter Sphere. I now think I know why.

Weight wise the 13’6” Sphere runs at 167g and the 15’6” Sphere at 184g with both the Hi-S and Acolyte at 169g (according to kitchen scales). There’s not a lot in it - but they feel quite different in the hand (without a reel).The balance points of all the rods is quite different.

Without a reel, the Hi-S and Spheres are very forward biased compared to the Acolyte. With a reel fitted (Centris 320 SD) again, the balance points for the longer Sphere and the HI-S are some way forward, while the Acolyte is quite close to the reel.

The Acolyte feels much more balanced in the hand with very little forward bias - the Hi-S and longer Sphere needing a tad more pressure to keep horizontal; the shorter Sphere marginally more forward baised that the Acolyte- but 6” shorter.

The so what from all of this for me - I can probably understand why the Acolyte feels a better trotting rod - it’s balance, I think, translates to finer control (and my wrist never aches with any of my acolytes).

I remember a few decades ago when I was match fishing on the Danish and German rivers tuning rods for optimum (almost neutral) bias when holding a float rod for long periods by putting lead in the rod end cap (mind you that was with a Mitchell Match). But modern rods and reels are so much lighter, perhaps I just need more time on the river to develop some more muscle memory with the more forward biased rods.
Click to expand...
It’s a good evaluation Brian and demonstrates clearly that the numbers on the scales actually mean sod all.
Sphere river rods are a tad nose heavy and it’s to be expected when you think about it logically.

Solid carbon spliced tip, Fuji high stand off guides and a very light Eva handle.

The original 15ft hi s power float is 215g but it feels light and balanced (for a powerful long rod) and is a pleasure to hold. The new version is 185g I believe. All they have done is cut all the stainless out of the handle and make the handle shorter to shed that weight. Hence why the free spirit is nose heavy too. The heavier original feels lighter than the new just because of where the weight is distributed.
Now I don’t particularly like the original stock handles so I’d actually opt for a bit of nose heaviness in this case to have the better shorter handles
 
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Kevin Steele said:
JC, I'll second that. Ian gave me valuable advice, not least in terms of the comparison with the Plus (that I already had), before I bought my Specimen. With that and other comments I found online, I concluded that I didn't 'need need need' the Specimen, but was prepared to buy it anyway, with my eyes wide open.

I do like Acolyte's though - and if they did a 1.75lb barbel version I wouldn't have bought a Free Spirit, with it's skinny handle and irritating up-locking reel seat.
.
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I'm confused.

All my barbel rods have up locking reel seats and most of my float rods have down-locking but once the reel is fixed in position what does it matter which way the locking reel seat operates?
 
Neil Kirk said:
I'm confused.

All my barbel rods have up locking reel seats and most of my float rods have down-locking but once the reel is fixed in position what does it matter which way the locking reel seat operates?
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Not sure why you're confused. I prefer downlocking reel seats, they feel more secure to me - I didn't say one was better than the other.
.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
It’s a good evaluation Brian and demonstrates clearly that the numbers on the scales actually mean sod all.
Sphere river rods are a tad nose heavy and it’s to be expected when you think about it logically.

Solid carbon spliced tip, Fuji high stand off guides and a very light Eva handle.

The original 15ft hi s power float is 215g but it feels light and balanced (for a powerful long rod) and is a pleasure to hold. The new version is 185g I believe. All they have done is cut all the stainless out of the handle and make the handle shorter to shed that weight. Hence why the free spirit is nose heavy too. The heavier original feels lighter than the new just because of where the weight is distributed.
Now I don’t particularly like the original stock handles so I’d actually opt for a bit of nose heaviness in this case to have the better shorter handles
Click to expand...
I recently bought a Diawa Spectron Competition M2 13/15 ft rod. A recent BFW discussion had got me thinking and when I saw one on ebay I bought it.

At 13 ft the rod was great but at 15 ft I found it a bit nose heavy and annoying (I have previously sold on any rods over 13 feet for this reason) - but I removed the butt cap and shoved a couple of ounces of lead inside. The rod now weighs a bit more but it balances almost perfectly which is far more important and is good to use but I still prefer it at 13ft - just a personal thing I guess?
 
Neil Kirk said:
I recently bought a Diawa Spectron Competition M2 13/15 ft rod. A recent BFW discussion had got me thinking and when I saw one on ebay I bought it.

At 13 ft the rod was great but at 15 ft I found it a bit nose heavy and annoying (I have previously sold on any rods over 13 feet for this reason) - but I removed the butt cap and shoved a couple of ounces of lead inside. The rod now weighs a bit more but it balances almost perfectly which is far more important and is good to use but I still prefer it at 13ft - just a personal thing I guess?
Click to expand...
Some float rods feel a bit noise heavy but when you put the reel on, they feel great.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
It’s a good evaluation Brian and demonstrates clearly that the numbers on the scales actually mean sod all.
Sphere river rods are a tad nose heavy and it’s to be expected when you think about it logically.

Solid carbon spliced tip, Fuji high stand off guides and a very light Eva handle.

The original 15ft hi s power float is 215g but it feels light and balanced (for a powerful long rod) and is a pleasure to hold. The new version is 185g I believe. All they have done is cut all the stainless out of the handle and make the handle shorter to shed that weight. Hence why the free spirit is nose heavy too. The heavier original feels lighter than the new just because of where the weight is distributed.
Now I don’t particularly like the original stock handles so I’d actually opt for a bit of nose heaviness in this case to have the better shorter handles
Click to expand...
A lot things can cause noise heavy, especially the handle material and fitting. But those won’t affect the performance of the rod, what matters is the action, I have seen some very balanced float rods, but they achieved this by having a thin soft top 1/3 section, but aggressively increased the taper in lower 2/3, which resulted in very bad power transition. On the other hand, some rods have very nice action and power distribution under load, but noise heavy.
 
Huanzhou Zhu said:
A lot things can cause noise heavy, especially the handle material and fitting. But those won’t affect the performance of the rod, what matters is the action, I have seen some very balanced float rods, but they achieved this by having a thin soft top 1/3 section, but aggressively increased the taper in lower 2/3, which resulted in very bad power transition. On the other hand, some rods have very nice action and power distribution under load, but noise heavy.
Click to expand...

Ref actions on float rods, I don’t believe bad ones exist anymore especially in this caliber in the discussion. There’s different tastes, there’s actions that suit different fishing types and venues and fish sizes.
I don’t mind a bit of nose heaviness as it’s part and parcel with long rods and I like using long float rods not little wands.
There’s limits though to what I’ll put up with.
The most common cause for it feeling too front end heavy is the number of guides on the tip and the weight of the handle.

Daiwas I think are some of the lightest best balanced rods around despite figures in books suggesting otherwise simply due to those chunky armlock handles counteracting the weight of the blank
 
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There’s definitely a lot to be said for good balance/weight distribution versus weight on its own. I’ve got a Daiwa Connoisseur 15ft that tips the scales around 230g but it feels “perfect” in the hand and can trot with it all day no problem. An excellent rod. Aesthetically I do miss the gloss varnished finish of these older/heavier rods versus the matt lightweight look.

As for the Acolyte Specimen, a superb rod. Back in April I landed a 30lb carp whilst float fishing for perch. Bush to the left of me, cabbages to the right (stuck in the middle with carp) I had to play it as hard as I dared. It took an age but the rod took everything thrown at it that morning. Thoroughly impressed & thoroughly exhausted:
IMG_2024_04_12-08_59_19_9500_948345A5.jpeg
 
If 'the market' wasn't so obsessed with weight, I suggest that longer rods could have more in the butt end, for balance and to reduce swing weight, making them actually feel lighter - in use. Trouble is, it seems that nobody would buy a prestige float rod weighing 300 grams.

If anyone wants to tape a 3oz weight to the butt end of their tip-heavy float rod (Korum Glide?), to test the theory, I'd be interested to know if it works.
.
 
Kevin Steele said:
If anyone wants to tape a 3oz weight to the butt end of their tip-heavy float rod (Korum Glide?), to test the theory, I'd be interested to know if it works.
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I’ve experimented with this and quickly reverted them back. It doesn’t take much weight at all to have the negative effects running in the opposite direction. I think afew grams to counter it could be a good call only if the rod is very bad but other wise I’d leave it as intended.
 
I’ve got an old 15ft Shimano Powerloop float rod that was very tip heavy and so I stuck a 3oz lead into the end of the butt. I’ve still got it.

It helped with the balance but it couldn’t fix the terrible hooklink snapping action !

Terry Eustace told me a hilarious story years ago about how he saw somebody fishing with one of his early ‘special trotter’ rods and there was an industrial file sticking out of the end of the butt. TE was not happy !
 
Kevin Steele said:
Good to know, although unsuccessful, it wasn't an idiotic idea. I've plenty more to come though!! 😁
.
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It wasn’t an idiotic idea at all. Some people do it and prefer it weighted at the back end.
I’ve even heard of people putting weight up the back end of 13ft normark 2000’s which is boardering on a criminal offense but each to their own.

It’s been a long time since I’ve picked up an expensive long match rod and felt like i literally couldn’t cope with it. I think most now are pretty good and not bad to stand and hold for a good while.

I had an old Harrison GTI su 15’ rod. This was very nose heavy and disappointing for such an expensive and still current rod. It was quite thick walled and would have dealt easily 8lb plus line. Had a nice action too when playing good k kmm but not my idea of fun.
 
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