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B James Olympic

Martyn Lloyd

Martyn Lloyd

Senior Member
Ok, not strictly talking about barbel but it is a barbel rod of old!

A friend of mine has been given a B James Olympic cane rod. Its 11ft 3 piece and in decent nick for its age (slight set and one ring has been replaced with non matching thread). I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about these rods, I`ve had a mooch on Google but can`t come up with anything more than auction sites which don`t say anything of the history and potentially, the value.

Ta in advance:D
 
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Hi Martyn,
The Olympic is same rod as the B James Avocet but without the fancy intermediate whippings.

Because it is not so 'flashy' it is probably not so desireable, though it is a much rarer rod. They were often the prize rod given away by the News of the World for the best coarse fish capture of the week!

In my opinion it is a good all round float & light ledger rod. It has a similar uses to the Allcock Wizard. (or Super Wizard with the agatine eyes!)
Hope that helps,
Bob
 
And it's still worth a bob or two, as are most James rods. This site — http://www.inthenetuk.com/pages/VintageRods_BJames.asp — has a few pictures but no information. The Avocet, and I guess the Olympic too are often described as barbel rods but I certainly wouldn't want to hook into anything approaching double figures with my Avocet type (not a B James, but essentially the same) rod.

Incidentally, there is another site in the pipeline which is going to be in a similar vein to that of purepiscator. Thepathbythewater.net should soon be live, hopefully. The usual suspects will be there and the site should be just as good for the more traditional anglers.
 
Interesting stuff, cheers guys!

Its a cracking looking bit of kit, I`m trying to persuade my mate to bring it up on his next visit so I can team it up with the Match Aerial and take it down the severn for a bit of `proper` fishing!

Is there any way to get the rod straight again, maybe steam and a couple of planks of wood?
 
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Martyn, be very careful, especially with the steam as this could cause you more problems than it solves. If the rod starts to de-laminate you and your friend could come to blows. Straightening out a set is best done during a full restoration, ie. when the varnish, whippings and guides have all been removed. You could try some gentle heat applied with a hairdryer up and down the length and it may or may not improve things. Don't get to worried about the set unless it's really bad; the odd curve here and there is not going to affect how well it fishes. And besides, even when a set has been straightened there's no guarantee that it won't come back. If the rod is restored then it would be best to have the set straightened and then re-rung upside down. This helps balance the tendancy to set, as the rod is stressed in the opposite direction and it helps to give the rod a new lease of life as the tip is invariably stiffer when re-done this way.

The good news is that if you were to restore it, or have it restored profesionally then the lack of intermediates should help keep the cost down. The inters on most B James rods are a pain as there is so many. Very, very time consuming and frustrating work.
 
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Cheers for the advice Haydn, think I`ll leave the steam idea well alone!
 
Martyn Lloyd said:
Ok, not strictly talking about barbel but it is a barbel rod of old!

A friend of mine has been given a B James Olympic cane rod. Its 11ft 3 piece and in decent nick for its age (slight set and one ring has been replaced with non matching thread). I was just wondering if anyone knew anything about these rods, I`ve had a mooch on Google but can`t come up with anything more than auction sites which don`t say anything of the history and potentially, the value.

Ta in advance:D
Click to expand...

I have just asked my neighbour about it, apparently he has loads of them!


















They are supporting the beans nicely in his garden........:p
 
Just missed adding one to my collection recently and as said it's a cheaper version of an avocet. Nice to use but I wouldn't want to hook a monster with one;)

The way I straighten a set is after stripping it back to the blank I gently heat it in front of an old bar electric fire while turning it slowly so it gets heated evenly at the point oh the set then putting tension away from the direction of the set and letting it cool, takes a couple of goes and it's better to do it a little at a time. When re ringing I try to do it with the tip turned through 180degrees if the set is only slight so it counteracts the natural 'sag' of the cane

Best to use it rather than just look at it though;)
 
Martyn, forget trying to take a set out of a cane rod mate, they work fine with one, who cares if its got a bend in it any rod what dont bend aint no good;) one of my old cane rods i used had a top section what resembled a stretched ot corkscrew it was twisted so bad but it still hooked and played en fine:)
 
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