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Custom build rods - which guides?

J

John Parker

Member
Hi all,

I've been lurking for a long time and finally joined!

I am considering a pair of custom chimera 3 rods for the occasional trip to the Severn around Bridgnorth (and floater fishing for carp). I was tempted with Basias, but a bit of a Harrison fan at heart!

Just wondering which guides to go for? And should I get fold friendly ringing?
 
These are predominantly going to be sitting on rests and casting heavy payloads so I’d adopt strength over lightness

My C3’s were custom built and I went for a 25mm set of Fuji k series guides 7 plus tip
Works perfectly for me 👍🏻
 
John Parker said:
Hi all,

I've been lurking for a long time and finally joined!

I am considering a pair of custom chimera 3 rods for the occasional trip to the Severn around Bridgnorth (and floater fishing for carp). I was tempted with Basias, but a bit of a Harrison fan at heart!

Just wondering which guides to go for? And should I get fold friendly ringing?
Click to expand...
Think I answered you on FB
Dave Lumb is your man 😉
 
Basia 2.75 or Chimera 3? Gotta be be the Basia, you won't need another rod as its so versatile. Have you tried both rods?
 
I’ve had sets of both.
Great rods in their own right.

Basia 2.75 is more versatile. You can fish it with 2oz or 6oz and it’s gonna cover that range nicely because of the slightly faster tip

Chimera was more suited to me because it’s a big river/flood rod only and the versatility for me isn’t needed. I’ve got better rods for 1oz- 3oz stuff.
Chimera has a stiffer tip and more powerful through action and more suited for 4-7oz 8oz is a lob and definitely better with chimera's no 4 but the 3 will do it.
 
Get yourself some off the shelf rods and spend the extra money on bait, tickets and fuel. A rod only needs to put the bait in the right place and be able to land what you hook. Most of the time it's sitting on a rod rest.
 
Thanks Jon and Richard. Very interesting. Versatility is important so maybe back to the basia! Is there anything more versatile then the basia that I should consider?
 
John Parker said:
Thanks Jon and Richard. Very interesting. Versatility is important so maybe back to the basia! Is there anything more versatile then the basia that I should consider?
Click to expand...
Short answer….. no.
It’s the best off the shelf barbel Rod money can buy
Terry uses the 2.25 version and he fishes it with 1oz on and can tighten up to that with out pulling it out of place yet it will put 4-5oz out no problem if the river is carrying water.
For the Severn I’d chose the 2.75
It’s not a poker. Far from it. Don’t let the TC fool you.
 
John Parker said:
Hi all,

I've been lurking for a long time and finally joined!

I am considering a pair of custom chimera 3 rods for the occasional trip to the Severn around Bridgnorth (and floater fishing for carp). I was tempted with Basias, but a bit of a Harrison fan at heart!

Just wondering which guides to go for? And should I get fold friendly ringing?
Click to expand...
Just a thought ....in all the (~50) years and over all the floods I've fished in the Bridgnorth to Bewdley area, I've never felt the need to go above a TC of 2.25lb, and I most often use 2lb rods (F/S 'Barbel' and/or Nash 'Elite' Barbel). Both these easily cope with leads to ~4oz. But then I'm not about to cast mid-stream when there's 15ft of water on 😂
 
John Parker said:
Hi all,

I've been lurking for a long time and finally joined!

I am considering a pair of custom chimera 3 rods for the occasional trip to the Severn around Bridgnorth (and floater fishing for carp). I was tempted with Basias, but a bit of a Harrison fan at heart!

Just wondering which guides to go for? And should I get fold friendly ringing?
Click to expand...
Hi
I have 2 sets of C3s
One is a standard CS12-SU build from Dave Lumb- add an isotope- perfect
One has K guides ( and lots of them), anti-frap tips, alps seats , burl cork - looks amazing but handle is too long for me and just not as comfortable to use
A bit style over substance

You won’t go wrong with DL build
 
Owned most top end barbel rods out there - basia, infinity, chimera 3s , torrix , freespirits etc all good rods . However the rod I've used the most in last few seasons - that doesn't get mentioned that much are the mk3 armalites . Stunning factory build , bullet proof blanks and awesome playing action imo up there with anything I've used ...
 
Graham Scott said:
Owned most top end barbel rods out there - basia, infinity, chimera 3s , torrix , freespirits etc all good rods . However the rod I've used the most in last few seasons - that doesn't get mentioned that much are the mk3 armalites . Stunning factory build , bullet proof blanks and awesome playing action imo up there with anything I've used ...
Click to expand...
Interesting - Which test curve for the Severn would you suggest?
 
John Parker said:
Interesting - Which test curve for the Severn would you suggest?
Click to expand...
Well of you want to sling 8 ounce leads mid river when 6 ft on then perhaps distance carp rods. The Lower Severn is an animal in flood pointless fishing in the main flow anyway. Sommer levels you can hold bottom with an ounce lead so anything from a 1.5 to 2.75 but a 1.75 rod will suffice in most situations.
 
Neil Smart said:
Well of you want to sling 8 ounce leads mid river when 6 ft on then perhaps distance carp rods. The Lower Severn is an animal in flood pointless fishing in the main flow anyway. Sommer levels you can hold bottom with an ounce lead so anything from a 1.5 to 2.75 but a 1.75 rod will suffice in most situations.
Click to expand...
I have two Mk3 1.75 tc armalites I am thinking of selling . I have found myself with four so offloading two.
 
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