• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Cork vs Duplon

I have a couple of Kev Baine’s 1.5lb 11ft Specialist No 1 rods, my go to Barbel rods. They have shrink wrapped handles, 15+ years old and handles are in excellent condition 👍🏻

Re Duplon, tackle companies use it because its cheap. I rave about the Drennan Vertex Medium Feeder rods for Chub and Perch. Awesome rods, but the duplon elements of the handle are shite. One is cracked and the other is chipped. Drennan are definitely going down the cheap rod component route, which includes Acolyte. A shame really, as historically we associate Drennan with quality. That seemed to end when Series 7 rods were retired, including the textured cork rod handle!

The duplon on my Normark Legacy Avengers seems much better quality than what Drennan use, but time will tell.

The biggest issue with Duplon is when you make rods up at home and place in a rod sleeve. The line guides on the rod section placed parallel to the Duplon, both dig in and damage it, if you’re not careful.
 
Neil Blood said:
I have a couple of Kev Baine’s 1.5lb 11ft Specialist No 1 rods, my go to Barbel rods. They have shrink wrapped handles, 15+ years old and handles are in excellent condition 👍🏻

Re Duplon, tackle companies use it because its cheap. I rave about the Drennan Vertex Medium Feeder rods for Chub and Perch. Awesome rods, but the duplon elements of the handle are shite. One is cracked and the other is chipped. Drennan are definitely going down the cheap rod component route, which includes Acolyte. A shame really, as historically we associate Drennan with quality. That seemed to end when Series 7 rods were retired, including the textured cork rod handle!

The duplon on my Normark Legacy Avengers seems much better quality than what Drennan use, but time will tell.

The biggest issue with Duplon is when you make rods up at home and place in a rod sleeve. The line guides on the rod section placed parallel to the Duplon, both dig in and damage it, if you’re not careful.
Click to expand...

Hi Neil, when you mention the acolytes' and components' quality going downhill, in what way do you mean?
 
Hi Ian, I hate the cheap metal end cap, which they now put on all their rods including acolytes and which scratches easily. The textured cork ends on previous rod handles were far better.

I have wider issues with their Specialist rage of rods. The fittings seem to be on a par with the budget Red Range Rods and the green lacquered finish wasn’t on a par with the original Super Specialist rods.
 
I always had Drennan as a benchmark for quality, aside from an acolyte I haven’t been able to convince myself to buy a Drennan rod since the series 7.
 
Neil Blood said:
Hi Ian, I hate the cheap metal end cap, which they now put on all their rods including acolytes and which scratches easily. The textured cork ends on previous rod handles were far better.

I have wider issues with their Specialist rage of rods. The fittings seem to be on a par with the budget Red Range Rods and the green lacquered finish wasn’t on a par with the original Super Specialist rods.
Click to expand...

To be honest i've had no issues with the metal end cap, but i'm very carful what I rest it on and usually lay the rod down on grass if possible.
For quite some time now, I put a old but slim Wychwood butt protection sock on most of my rods to prevent scratches etc.
When the acolytes were first released I wouldn't buy one as it kinda peeved me that the guides weren't fujis. To be fair and after using Acolytes a lot from not too long after they were released the guides have been fine. At least they fit them with a fuji screw down reel holder.
I get what you say about the rest of the drennan rods nowadays, I also feel that they have lowered their standards quite dramatically, and yes, the older avon duo's, having screw down fuji reel seats etc felt way better quality than the cheap feeling specialists they produce today.

I don't think there are many rod manufacturers that use fuji fittings anymore, which is a pity!
Even my quite high end DaiwaTournament float rods arn't kitted out with fuji guides!

Props to the normark production team for using fuji fittings on their new Legasy range of rods.......but that hook holder on the lower end of the butt section was a mistake imo.
It is a pity they couldn't source the fuji SIC guides which were fitted to the original MKII range of rods though. I think they missed a trick not adding the rubber butt also. Those rubber butts meat you could rest the rod butt on most surfaces without fear of damaging it.

Happy new year Neil 😄.
 
IMO
Around the reel seat, always natural cork.
Predominantly natural cork on rods that need to be light.
Where the rod does not need to be light decorative reconstituted cork is OK.
Duplon is marmite to me, never really tried it but I don’t like it!
 
Ian Woods said:
To be honest i've had no issues with the metal end cap, but i'm very carful what I rest it on and usually lay the rod down on grass if possible.
For quite some time now, I put a old but slim Wychwood butt protection sock on most of my rods to prevent scratches etc.
When the acolytes were first released I wouldn't buy one as it kinda peeved me that the guides weren't fujis. To be fair and after using Acolytes a lot from not too long after they were released the guides have been fine. At least they fit them with a fuji screw down reel holder.
I get what you say about the rest of the drennan rods nowadays, I also feel that they have lowered their standards quite dramatically, and yes, the older avon duo's, having screw down fuji reel seats etc felt way better quality than the cheap feeling specialists they produce today.

I don't think there are many rod manufacturers that use fuji fittings anymore, which is a pity!
Even my quite high end DaiwaTournament float rods arn't kitted out with fuji guides!

Props to the normark production team for using fuji fittings on their new Legasy range of rods.......but that hook holder on the lower end of the butt section was a mistake imo.
It is a pity they couldn't source the fuji SIC guides which were fitted to the original MKII range of rods though. I think they missed a trick not adding the rubber butt also. Those rubber butts meat you could rest the rod butt on most surfaces without fear of damaging it.

Happy new year Neil 😄.
Click to expand...
Hi Ian,

How do you find the Drennan Acolyte Specimen compares to the Tournament ?
 
Ian Woods said:
To be honest i've had no issues with the metal end cap, but i'm very carful what I rest it on and usually lay the rod down on grass if possible.
For quite some time now, I put a old but slim Wychwood butt protection sock on most of my rods to prevent scratches etc.
When the acolytes were first released I wouldn't buy one as it kinda peeved me that the guides weren't fujis. To be fair and after using Acolytes a lot from not too long after they were released the guides have been fine. At least they fit them with a fuji screw down reel holder.
I get what you say about the rest of the drennan rods nowadays, I also feel that they have lowered their standards quite dramatically, and yes, the older avon duo's, having screw down fuji reel seats etc felt way better quality than the cheap feeling specialists they produce today.

I don't think there are many rod manufacturers that use fuji fittings anymore, which is a pity!
Even my quite high end DaiwaTournament float rods arn't kitted out with fuji guides!

Props to the normark production team for using fuji fittings on their new Legasy range of rods.......but that hook holder on the lower end of the butt section was a mistake imo.
It is a pity they couldn't source the fuji SIC guides which were fitted to the original MKII range of rods though. I think they missed a trick not adding the rubber butt also. Those rubber butts meat you could rest the rod butt on most surfaces without fear of damaging it.

Happy new year Neil 😄.
Click to expand...
I agree with sic guides, and asked Normark team about the sic guides, they think the cost is too high, and the alconite is good enough.

I think daiwa and other manufacturers use sea guides for the same reason, cheaper and good enough. The most expensive daiwa float rod uses their own carbon air guide, but the price is insane. The new daiwa basia barbel rod uses Fuji sic guides but again, very expensive.
 
Dominic Kenzie said:
Hi Ian,

How do you find the Drennan Acolyte Specimen compares to the Tournament ?
Click to expand...

Hi Dominic,
I had a few goes with friends 15ft rods on several occassions but I didn't like the feel of them preferring a float rod up to 14ft. I even got a Browning 15ft 6inch spliced tipped sphere, but after only one outing I decided to sell it as I really didn't like it. So about 9 months back I decided to get a 15 foot hollow tip (the tournament pro bu rod) and give it a go. Up to now I have only used the 15ft rod a handful of times, but I did find the extra foot of length on top of the 14 footers to make life easier to mend/control my line when trotting in a downstream wind especially if it's a strong wind and i'm fishing across river on a larger river.

I do like the 15ft daiwa rod...but...I have never used the 15ft acolyte speci rod to compare the two.
However, I have been using the 13 and 14ft speci acolytes since shortly after their release, and if the 15ft model is a longer version of them (which a good friend of mine has informed me they are) then I would deffo prefer the acolyte rod.
IMO the speci acolyte rods are more powerful than the daiwa tourney, despite the heavier line rating on the tourny rod 😉👍.
 
Huanzhou Zhu said:
I agree with sic guides, and asked Normark team about the sic guides, they think the cost is too high, and the alconite is good enough.

I think daiwa and other manufacturers use sea guides for the same reason, cheaper and good enough. The most expensive daiwa float rod uses their own carbon air guide, but the price is insane. The new daiwa basia barbel rod uses Fuji sic guides but again, very expensive.
Click to expand...


Yea, the alconites are good, but if I had the choice i'd prefer to pay a little more for a rod kitted out with the SICs.

The price daiwa charge for their higher end rods they should be kitted out with pure gold framed SICs !
 
Ian Woods said:
Hi Dominic,
I had a few goes with friends 15ft rods on several occassions but I didn't like the feel of them preferring a float rod up to 14ft. I even got a Browning 15ft 6inch spliced tipped sphere, but after only one outing I decided to sell it as I really didn't like it. So about 9 months back I decided to get a 15 foot hollow tip (the tournament pro bu rod) and give it a go. Up to now I have only used the 15ft rod a handful of times, but I did find the extra foot of length on top of the 14 footers to make life easier to mend/control my line when trotting in a downstream wind especially if it's a strong wind and i'm fishing across river on a larger river.

I do like the 15ft daiwa rod...but...I have never used the 15ft acolyte speci rod to compare the two.
However, I have been using the 13 and 14ft speci acolytes since shortly after their release, and if the 15ft model is a longer version of them (which a good friend of mine has informed me they are) then I would deffo prefer the acolyte rod.
IMO the speci acolyte rods are more powerful than the daiwa tourney, despite the heavier line rating on the tourny rod 😉👍.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the comprehensive response Ian. I do have the 15ft specimen Acolyte, and to date have caught reasonable Chub on it. The best float rod I own. The reason I asked about the Tournament was the big difference in price. I’m fishing the Dee for Grayling over the next few months, the Acolyte will probably be too heavy, but I’ve a 14ft Preston Supera which is probably more suited for this type of fishing.
I’ve watched your centerpin videos, you're a far better angler than me !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top