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Acolyte Ultra v Plus

Christian Tyroll

Christian Tyroll

Senior Member
Evening all
My dad is after a lightweight 12ft rod for catching silvers, small crucians and tench up to 3 to 4lb.
Fishing off the rod tip for the best part.
Would the acolyte ultra or plus be more suitable?
Thank you
 
Christian Tyroll said:
Evening all
My dad is after a lightweight 12ft rod for catching silvers, small crucians and tench up to 3 to 4lb.
Fishing off the rod tip for the best part.
Would the acolyte ultra or plus be more suitable?
Thank you
Click to expand...
I have an ultra I use for Dace fishing and it copes admirably with the odd rogue Chub…had them to get 5 Ib on this rod. If the lake is not snaggy I think an ultra would provide a bit more fun for that size of fish whilst allowing a bit more finesse sometimes required for Crucians
 
Thank you both.

He is often fishing tight to lilies so I've steered him to the carp waggler. He's gone for the 11ft.

From reading some reviews it sounds like it should be nice to catch the smaller fish on. Someone said it is effectively the plus under a different name. Hopefully he'll like it.
 
Christian Tyroll said:
Thank you both.

He is often fishing tight to lilies so I've steered him to the carp waggler. He's gone for the 11ft.

From reading some reviews it sounds like it should be nice to catch the smaller fish on. Someone said it is effectively the plus under a different name. Hopefully he'll like it.
Click to expand...

I have one of those rods, used it with a centrepin, fishing tight to the margins for Crucians and Tench. Nice rod, which isn’t over gunned.
 
I'm sure he won't be disappointed.
I 've found the 12ft very versatile, general trotting, Mullet, canal Tench all good.
 
The plus and the ultra both have relatively fast tips with the real difference being lower down towards the first joint and below
This is where the plus starts to have more resistance to bending and I’d say this additional resistance feels to me roughly around 20% more.

The plus is a far more useful rod imo because it will do everything apart from the most extreme.
The tip is fast enough and soft enough to comfortably bring a bag full of roach to the net yet the middle and lower sections are beefy enough to bring a barbel out of the main flow with patience and space.
If there is any weight difference between them it’s single figure digits and not even worth considering.

I’d only chose an ultra over a plus if I was choosing a dedicated rod for fish up to 3/4lb maximum to simply maximize the rod and get the best out of it. While both are happy bringing 12oz fish to a net, the ultra is doing it in it’s sweet spot and more of a pleasure, the plus will want another pound on it to feel equally as sweet.

If acolyte were to bring out an SU plus model for lines up to 8lb in 13/14/15 and a 17 plus model, i don’t think there would be a logical reason to use any other brand of rod for float fishing. No finer way to spend £200-250 in my opinion
 
Richard Isaacs said:
If acolyte were to bring out an SU plus model for lines up to 8lb in 13/14/15 and a 17 plus model, i don’t think there would be a logical reason to use any other brand of rod for float fishing. No finer way to spend £200-250 in my opinion
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Not heard a whisper about lengths, but keep your eyes on the Drennan website. Something interesting is due this November.
 
I ordered one for myself if the end. Gave it a go today and had a handful of 1lb roach on it, a few 1lb and a half perch, lots of other nice roach, some smaller perch and then finished it off with a belter of a perch at 3.03lb. The big perch put quite the bend in the rod and was ripping line off the clutch. It's the biggest perch I've had for about ten years so am proper made up with it.

The rod is so light that you can literally hold it all day and not notice. I can see many happy days ahead with the rod and it's got me right back into wanting to do some float fishing.
 
Christian Tyroll said:
I ordered one for myself if the end. Gave it a go today and had a handful of 1lb roach on it, a few 1lb and a half perch, lots of other nice roach, some smaller perch and then finished it off with a belter of a perch at 3.03lb. The big perch put quite the bend in the rod and was ripping line off the clutch. It's the biggest perch I've had for about ten years so am proper made up with it.

The rod is so light that you can literally hold it all day and not notice. I can see many happy days ahead with the rod and it's got me right back into wanting to do some float fishing.
Click to expand...
Excellent result. The rod sounds a real pearler.
Great perch btw. That’s a cracker
 
Richard Isaacs said:
The plus and the ultra both have relatively fast tips with the real difference being lower down towards the first joint and below
This is where the plus starts to have more resistance to bending and I’d say this additional resistance feels to me roughly around 20% more.

The plus is a far more useful rod imo because it will do everything apart from the most extreme.
The tip is fast enough and soft enough to comfortably bring a bag full of roach to the net yet the middle and lower sections are beefy enough to bring a barbel out of the main flow with patience and space.
If there is any weight difference between them it’s single figure digits and not even worth considering.

I’d only chose an ultra over a plus if I was choosing a dedicated rod for fish up to 3/4lb maximum to simply maximize the rod and get the best out of it. While both are happy bringing 12oz fish to a net, the ultra is doing it in it’s sweet spot and more of a pleasure, the plus will want another pound on it to feel equally as sweet.

If acolyte were to bring out an SU plus model for lines up to 8lb in 13/14/15 and a 17 plus model, i don’t think there would be a logical reason to use any other brand of rod for float fishing. No finer way to spend £200-250 in my opinion
Click to expand...

Thank you Richard. I've been thinking about getting a 14ft plus next year for trotting and was also thinking about using it for tench.

There always seems to be a lot of talk of specimen float rods for tench and acolyte plus for barbel, do you think there is a reason that the acolyte plus doesn't getting talked about much as a tench rod?
 
Christian Tyroll said:
Thank you Richard. I've been thinking about getting a 14ft plus next year for trotting and was also thinking about using it for tench.

There always seems to be a lot of talk of specimen float rods for tench and acolyte plus for barbel, do you think there is a reason that the acolyte plus doesn't getting talked about much as a tench rod?
Click to expand...
Absolutely not …. I caught loads of tench 2-7lb on my 13ft compact plus. It’s a great tench rod.
I wouldn’t use one as a dedicated barbel rod personally i would want something a little more powerful but as a tench float rod they are about as good as it gets. Let em bend n bend. 👍🏻
 
Christian Tyroll said:
I ordered one for myself if the end. Gave it a go today and had a handful of 1lb roach on it, a few 1lb and a half perch, lots of other nice roach, some smaller perch and then finished it off with a belter of a perch at 3.03lb. The big perch put quite the bend in the rod and was ripping line off the clutch. It's the biggest perch I've had for about ten years so am proper made up with it.

The rod is so light that you can literally hold it all day and not notice. I can see many happy days ahead with the rod and it's got me right back into wanting to do some float fishing.
Click to expand...
Which rod did you get in the end? 11ft Ultra?
 
Just a heads up for anyone that’s interested.. Some good deals on eBay for Black Friday at the minute. Just got £46 off a 14ft Acolyte Ultra. £183 posted! Voucher code is SAVENOW
 
Dan Martin said:
Just a heads up for anyone that’s interested.. Some good deals on eBay for Black Friday at the minute. Just got £46 off a 14ft Acolyte Ultra. £183 posted! Voucher code is SAVENOW
Click to expand...
I got the same on Friday , only works with certain sellers though
 
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