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if you were going to treat yourself ?

This has been me this season 😂

I've got a pair of Free Spirit Hi-S 2lb barbel rods with Shim 6000D reels on, absolutely lovely gear.

More recently (as in the last week! I've acquired a pair of Mark Tunley built Harrison Dark Carbon Specialist rods, 12' 2.5lb TC for flood water and on these will be going a pair of Shim 8000D's kindly sourced via this forum.
 
Mark Tunley spoke really highly of the Dark Carbons and almost convinced me to get a couple, but I had my heart set on something completely custom, so I went with a pair of Free Spirit Hi-S SUs blanks in 1.75, letting him recommend what he thought was the best/most appropriate for my style of fishing for all the custom bits.

So, with the allocated budget I’d definitely opt for one and pair it with an X Aero Shimano 4000, these seem to be out of stock everywhere at the moment but can be picked up new/mint for about £150. That would leave me enough to buy a padded single rod sleeve to keep it nice. Oh, and a bunch of flowers & bottle of wine for the missus to avoid a smack in the mouth...
 
A friend bought a job lot of gear including the Dark Carbons, he wasn't going to use them and offered me them at a price I couldn't really say no to. They look unused. I've been praying for lots of rain ever since! 😅
 
Alex Warren said:
Mark Tunley spoke really highly of the Dark Carbons and almost convinced me to get a couple, but I had my heart set on something completely custom, so I went with a pair of Free Spirit Hi-S SUs blanks in 1.75, letting him recommend what he thought was the best/most appropriate for my style of fishing for all the custom bits.

So, with the allocated budget I’d definitely opt for one and pair it with an X Aero Shimano 4000, these seem to be out of stock everywhere at the moment but can be picked up new/mint for about £150. That would leave me enough to buy a padded single rod sleeve to keep it nice. Oh, and a bunch of flowers & bottle of wine for the missus to avoid a smack in the mouth...
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Alex, I think you'll love your Hi S SU rods when you get them. I've been snag fishing with one this season and I've almost laughed out loud (through the muscle-wrenching pain) of what these rods will do. They just keep--on--giving! They are SO slim, but have SO much power in reserve. They have so many 'gears' that they can go through, effortlessly. I love them.
 
Quite fancy a Gary Mills ‘ The Barbus” Centrepin, sadly your budget wouldnt run to the reel, let alone a rod to go with it 🤦‍♂️

Maybe I should just go for a proper vintage wide drum Ariel for about £300.00 and save up for a B James Ealing Mk IV to pair it up with .

David
 
Jon Frisby said:
2 new Harrison Chimera 4 specialists, with all the bells on.
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Hi John. You’ve mentioned these before and as a long term Harrison user they’ve caught my interest. Are they available yet or are you still testing prototypes. What’s your opinion of them , what is the casting capacity. They are obviously suitable for the TT, but I wonder just how much more beefier than my Chimera 2’s and Snag and Flood.
 
Kevin Copping said:
Hi John. You’ve mentioned these before and as a long term Harrison user they’ve caught my interest. Are they available yet or are you still testing prototypes. What’s your opinion of them , what is the casting capacity. They are obviously suitable for the TT, but I wonder just how much more beefier than my Chimera 2’s and Snag and Flood.
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I had a day with the rod July time. I fished a known peg that's quite productive and is a hit and hold too. The rod itself is 13ft and 2.75tc, the tips quite forgiving with a butt section that will turn any fish. Its happy throwing most leads, from 3oz up to a full 8oz feeder. In comparison to the free spirit 13ft, its a little more forgiving in the tip to middle section and overall a better playing rod. I liked it that much, I should be receiving a set in the next 2 weeks. The blanks are available, they just need to be ordered by the rod builder.
 
Inspired by our very own Richard Isaacs, I have ordered a rod from Mark Tunley. To be honest it's for chubbing but Mark says he uses the same spec for barbel fishing. It's a 12' x Torrix 1.25lb TC but MT says it has the sensitivity for winter chubbing but enough power to hold & turn them from snags.
Its coming with a spliced 2oz tip and a separate carrier that takes Drennan quivertips. It's been my most expensive purchase to date as I did spec if from scratch but if it's as good as I suspect, it might be time to recycle some of my other rods that just don't quite make the mark.
I love the sound of the Chimera 4s BTW. I recently had a week on the Wye with Chimera 3s 2 1/4 - chucking heavy feeders a decent way on a regular basis and they took some serious abuse but when it came to playing fish they were beautiful. Sounds like Dr Steve has scaled up and done it again.
 
Thanks gents, keep them coming. I’ve got 3 pins including a Gary Mills he made for me so it’s def a rod and fixed spool I’m after.
 
It’s difficult because I’ve already got the ones I want.
but if I had none and was starting from scratch it would hands down be a Torrix 11ft 1.75 with shimano 4000D and as exactly as I’ve bought I would with no hesitation ask mark Tunley to build it.
perfect rod n reel combo for small to medium rivers. Rolling or static baits and a playing action that has got “big fish” written all over it!
why Mark???? Simple. I like the guy a lot. He’s an absolute gent to deal with, nothing is too much trouble for him, he will take the time to talk to you and share his vast knowledge and as you’d expect from any top end builder his work is beautiful.
I love my free spirits and I love my top end Daiwas and other Harrison rods too but a torrix just edges them imo.
 
Jon Frisby said:
I had a day with the rod July time. I fished a known peg that's quite productive and is a hit and hold too. The rod itself is 13ft and 2.75tc, the tips quite forgiving with a butt section that will turn any fish. Its happy throwing most leads, from 3oz up to a full 8oz feeder. In comparison to the free spirit 13ft, its a little more forgiving in the tip to middle section and overall a better playing rod. I liked it that much, I should be receiving a set in the next 2 weeks. The blanks are available, they just need to be ordered by the rod builder.
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Who's building the rods for you Jon?
 
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