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On a single item it’s got to be my mill tackle custom specimen trotter centrepin that I built myself on Gary’s experience day. That thing cost me over £800 I don’t believe I’ve spent more than that on a single item.

First grayling sesh of the season today for me. Timed it just right as the extra water really switched them on. 21 caught in total from around 6oz to well over the 1.5lb mark. Every one of them a super battle on the light balanced tackle and soft spliced tip rod. Caught various other species...

Hopefully it works for you Jim. 6mm is still a massive guide for a float rod imo.

Good luck Jim. It was a bold move to try it. Maybe those minima guides as used on the new Preston’s are worth a go. They are incredibly light weight and the bores are quite large for the actual size of them. You could go 4mm tip and it’s still a bigger bore than a lined guide

It is practical to weigh barbel separately and return them straight to the water because it is done on matches on the Trent. It takes more organization and more people involved yes but that doesn’t mean it’s not practical. And to answer your question of where it stops that’s quite simple also...

It’s the technique they use with the small net being very light and nimble. Match anglers rarely guide a fish over a waiting net. Quite often that fish barely breaks the surface before they plunge in the small light net and whop it straight out.

If barbel are have a reasonable chance of being caught in matches they should be weighed separately and returned with care and the weight can be added to the anglers total. They do this frequently on Trent matches and the barbel are rested and returned properly while the match angler carries on...

The important thing is that you’re happy with it and not to forget anything can be altered. If the tip guides are too big effecting its balance and recovery at least you can ask him to change it to suit. No point keeping a pricey rod like that if it’s not exactly how you want it. 👍🏻

It would have made the tip even heavier yes. I would have 9 plus the tip ring on the top section of a stepped up 15 Your rings are rather large though. Have you got oversized guides on the whole rod or just the very tip ring?

Christ I hope that’s down to your build choice Jim. A 20g tip section doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me to be fair

Great result. It’s good to hear of a mutually happy straight swap

That’s great information Ralph thanks

Tip guide is 8mm 😳 Doesn’t that completely wreck it regarding recovery and response? That’s a big lump of steel right on the end of that fine tip

Can you stick the tip section on a set of scales for me at some point please Jim.

I can’t say about the 13 or 14 ft acolytes as I’ve not had any time fishing with those but compared to the 15ft acolyte specimen i would say the actions are very similar both are very strong capable rods and the acolyte has a little more stiffness in the middle to lower. I would say the tips are...

No it wouldn’t be overgunned but that’s not to say you wouldn’t knock off the odd one or two more than if you were to use something with a softer action. It’s about finding that balance between having enough beef to deal with the river and it’s other swimming species but with enough cushion in...

I’d always offer the option to my friend’s first and take whatever was left. however down stream would allow me to pull out the float rod if they insisted i choose first.

A lot of it is just a humble opinion Danny. I can only go into such details with rods I’ve used a lot

The sphere river rods blank is quite special. I own both the 13’6 and 15’6 and I have used the 15’6 loads. (More so than my other rods) Caught hundreds of big chunks on it and I’m very taken by the characteristics of the blank. It doesn’t matter what other float rods do what, there are things...

Great job 😎