Standard Specifications
12 foot long Harrison blank made in the UK - 2lb test curve
Fuji triple leg SIC rings
Choice of handles -Grade A full cork, full duplon or abbreviated duplon or cork
Fuji DPS-B reel seat
Additional Features
I have 2 of these rods; one built to my specifications and one that I bought second hand. I added an isoblob which is an isotope embedded in resin and permanently attached to the tip which has proved to be most useful for night fishing, it allows the tip to be easily seen and more importantly it is tangle free. I also have an isoblob just below the reel seat which is useful in very dark situations but in hindsight this was probably an extravagance. The important functional extra is the reel seat and handle; I chose an IPS DU-6 reel seat with a cork conversion. This is a truly lovely piece of work and just to draw my attentention to it I have cocabola inserts as well. The secondhand rod has the same reel seat with a duplon foregrip and to be honest it is also pleasant to use. It doesn't look as good though! I also had some nice tippets on the whippings and had the rod christened 'monica'. All in a lush violet colour - not a colour I would wear but it looks great against the Torrix woven blank. All this adds nothing to the functionality but I can recommend the IPS DU-6 reel seat and the isoblob as essentials.
Custom options may be seen by clicking on the link below :
Custom Options
In use
The Torrix blank is superb and copes very well with a broad range of barbel fishing situations.The 2lb test curve rod is equally at home in floods with 6oz feeders (8oz if it's a gentle lob) as well as fishing with 1 oz close in on a small river. The rod is superb when playing fish, especially when they lunge under the rod tip, the Torrix just soaks it up. Like all good rods you stop noticing it after a while; it becomes transparent in use and forgiving of the mistakes that we all make from time to time when playing fish. I cannot honestly imagine anything better for playing large barbel than this rod, enough backbone to bully them away from snags but responsive enough to react to a sudden surge of power without going flat, thus preventing a hook pull.
If I had a criticism it is that there is not quite enough stiffness to cast heavy feeders and leads, it is a medium to through action rod and is not a rod suitable for really long casting. The only ploce I have ever been where long casts are necessary is the Trent and then only occasionally. This could be rectified I suppose by going for a stiffer rod but then some of the fish playing ability of the rod would be lost. Like all rod designs there has to be some compromise.
One other thing, when Bob Gill builds these rods they look absolutely stunning!
BFW Barbel Rods
Conrad Farlow
August 2009
12 foot long Harrison blank made in the UK - 2lb test curve
Fuji triple leg SIC rings
Choice of handles -Grade A full cork, full duplon or abbreviated duplon or cork
Fuji DPS-B reel seat
Additional Features
I have 2 of these rods; one built to my specifications and one that I bought second hand. I added an isoblob which is an isotope embedded in resin and permanently attached to the tip which has proved to be most useful for night fishing, it allows the tip to be easily seen and more importantly it is tangle free. I also have an isoblob just below the reel seat which is useful in very dark situations but in hindsight this was probably an extravagance. The important functional extra is the reel seat and handle; I chose an IPS DU-6 reel seat with a cork conversion. This is a truly lovely piece of work and just to draw my attentention to it I have cocabola inserts as well. The secondhand rod has the same reel seat with a duplon foregrip and to be honest it is also pleasant to use. It doesn't look as good though! I also had some nice tippets on the whippings and had the rod christened 'monica'. All in a lush violet colour - not a colour I would wear but it looks great against the Torrix woven blank. All this adds nothing to the functionality but I can recommend the IPS DU-6 reel seat and the isoblob as essentials.
Custom options may be seen by clicking on the link below :
Custom Options
In use
The Torrix blank is superb and copes very well with a broad range of barbel fishing situations.The 2lb test curve rod is equally at home in floods with 6oz feeders (8oz if it's a gentle lob) as well as fishing with 1 oz close in on a small river. The rod is superb when playing fish, especially when they lunge under the rod tip, the Torrix just soaks it up. Like all good rods you stop noticing it after a while; it becomes transparent in use and forgiving of the mistakes that we all make from time to time when playing fish. I cannot honestly imagine anything better for playing large barbel than this rod, enough backbone to bully them away from snags but responsive enough to react to a sudden surge of power without going flat, thus preventing a hook pull.
If I had a criticism it is that there is not quite enough stiffness to cast heavy feeders and leads, it is a medium to through action rod and is not a rod suitable for really long casting. The only ploce I have ever been where long casts are necessary is the Trent and then only occasionally. This could be rectified I suppose by going for a stiffer rod but then some of the fish playing ability of the rod would be lost. Like all rod designs there has to be some compromise.
One other thing, when Bob Gill builds these rods they look absolutely stunning!
BFW Barbel Rods
Conrad Farlow
August 2009