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Landing net handle

Marcus Petch said:
Looking for a new handle and narrowed it down to the drennan speci lock or the gardner specialist.
Both extending to 3' anyone recommend either or got one
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Hi Marcus
I have the Drennan specy lock mate and have used it for 4-5 years now with no problems. As already sugested, just clean the locking from time to time and always take apart to dry it out if it's wet when you pack up. Just one other little tip, when I pack up and collapse it, I never tighten it up as it's unnecessary and just works the locking mech that little bit more..
Sean
 
Adrian Williams said:
A telescopic match handle is designed to take more stick in a month of commercial carp bashing than most river anglers will give it in a season.
It won't let you down.
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I still use my telescopic Shakespeare omni which is nearly as old as me, no locking system just two pieces of carbon and light as a feather.
It's held together by tape in a few places now but I loath to give it up until I can find a decent replacement.
 
Mark P Smith said:
i`ve a drennen twistlock and you do have to keep it clean inside but if you find it wont lock after cleaning just put one small square of insulation tape on the grey locking bung, it must not cover the any of the 4 grooves that allow it to expand, mine works fine again now but if you phone drennen they will normally send you a new one { locking bung } FOC.
the lone angler pole while it maybe a good handle is like a scaffoleding pole, far to big and clumsey.
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So what does the Drennan twist lock weigh then Mark?
 
Maintaining the Drennan handle is no different to backing off the clutch and baitrunner at the end of a session,changing blunted hooks and frayed hook lengths,changing line when necessary.I have both the old Powerstretch and the Drennan handles.If I know I'm going to be fishing off a high bank then the Lone Angler has the muscle,but being the wrong side of 65 and faced with the best part of three quarters of a mile hike to my chosen swim,Drennan all day long.
 
Well guys decided to go with the gardner in the end having looked at the drennan and gardner in the shop.
Whilst the gardner is a little heavier it seemed very well built with the metal locking collar.

Not the lighted handle I've ever had but currently fishing a section of the dove with fish upto 17lb from some high banks so went for the compromise and bought the gardner
 
Hi men,

Drennan for us , light , long enough for those banks of the Wye and Teme when we visit . As an engineer it's easy to see how the principle works with the expanding collet arangement , slaken off when you go home helps , but other than a lost end cap / bung on a mile long roving session ( replaced free) its been a nice bit of kit .

Hatter
 
Ade gave me a Westy (lone angler) handle; I use it all the time. Another mate gave me an old pike gaff head; they make a superb boat hook. Together they wind the pike police up a treat. It may only be a pound; but a pound here and a pound there and your soon imprisoned by you gear in one swim. I would not be seen dead with it on a small river bank. If you sit in one swim all day then knock yourself out with one.
 
I have a Powerstretch which I paid about £8 for on eBay some years ago.It's reliable but quite heavy- especially at full extension with a barbel in the net.

I had problems with the locking mechanism on the first Drennan handle I had and returned it and have had no problems with the second one. As long as it continues to work I will use the Drennan.

I haven't seen the Lone Angler handle in the flesh but in photos it looks quite like the Powerstretch and a tad pricey at £50+.

Neil
 
So the LA pole weighs roughly 1lb 12oz and the Drennan version 12oz, which means that the LA pole is 2.33 times the weight of the Drennan....and that doesn't matter to some apparently? In which case, why not swap ALL of your gear for unnecessarily heavy versions, until it weighs 2.33 times what it does now...after all, it doesn't matter, does it? Just because you have spent years paring your gear down to the bare essentials, to get it as light as possible for roving, doesn't mean it REALLY matters if it is suddenly 2.33 times heavier does it :D

The thing is, nobody has suggested that the Drennan pole is not strong enough, have they? It seems it's only fault is that the locking mechanism fails if it is abused. The logical answer to that apparently :)rolleyes:) is to buy one weighing more than twice as much...because it's stronger :eek: Beats the hell out of giving a lovely light pole a couple of minutes of your precious time occasionally...which apparently is all that's needed to keep it in perfect working order for years on end :p

I personally use an old, VERY cheap telescopic match type landing net pole....because it's light, does all I want of it, and still works perfectly well. However, should it ever give up the ghost, I will have no problem in buying the Drennan to replace it. Being logical can be SO illogical at times....apparently :D

Cheers, Dave.
 
David Gauntlett said:
So the LA pole weighs roughly 1lb 12oz and the Drennan version 12oz, which means that the LA pole is 2.33 times the weight of the Drennan....and that doesn't matter to some apparently? In which case, why not swap ALL of your gear for unnecessarily heavy versions, until it weighs 2.33 times what it does now...after all, it doesn't matter, does it? Just because you have spent years paring your gear down to the bare essentials, to get it as light as possible for roving, doesn't mean it REALLY matters if it is suddenly 2.33 times heavier does it :D

The thing is, nobody has suggested that the Drennan pole is not strong enough, have they? It seems it's only fault is that the locking mechanism fails if it is abused. The logical answer to that apparently :)rolleyes:) is to buy one weighing more than twice as much...because it's stronger :eek: Beats the hell out of giving a lovely light pole a couple of minutes of your precious time occasionally...which apparently is all that's needed to keep it in perfect working order for years on end :p

I personally use an old, VERY cheap telescopic match type landing net pole....because it's light, does all I want of it, and still works perfectly well. However, should it ever give up the ghost, I will have no problem in buying the Drennan to replace it. Being logical can be SO illogical at times....apparently :D

Cheers, Dave.
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Quite right Dave,

It amazes me how many people are happy to go back 15 years to something which was good, if not heavy at the time, but still had similar faults to something which has evolved since due to popular demand.
And then to pay 4 or 5 times the price it was 15 years ago.......
 
So can anyone recommend a replacement for an old, cheap telescopic match type landing net pole, cause I'm happy with mine only it's not going to last much longer?!
From what I can tell from these threads you can only get bullet proof fancy locking type poles now!
 
Rhys Perry said:
From what I can tell from these threads you can only get bullet proof fancy locking type poles now!
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Rhys,

I have all three of the 'fancy locking type poles' mentioned on this thread and the Gardner is by far the best balance of strength to weight, plus it's reliable and built to last. My Drennan has let me down twice, despite my following all of the maintenance tips on BFW and I'm really not the clumsy sort.

Dave
 
The other problem with the Drennan pole, and any other twistlock pole for that matter is the annoying habit they have of coming un-locked just when you don't want them to, i.e when trying to shuffle a fish into the net in heavy water / streamer weed etc, that kind of makes you want to nip the twistlock up a little more after its happened a couple of times ! I really wanted to like the Drennan pole, its lovely and light, very rigid (unlike most) but its just not for me.
 
Have to say guys used my new gardner pole last night and really pleased with it.
It may be slightly heavier than the drennan but the locking collar is aluminium and seems very strong and doesn't need a lot of strength to tighten.
It also extends to 3 meters which is very helpful on the dove where you can be 8' above the water.

I'm glad having got some good advice on here I ended up with the gardner as the drennan does seem to suffer with locking issues and the ff one I don't fancy a hernia
 
Mmm - the super version:

Gardner14-15%20foot%20800.jpg


Enjoy,
Cheers
Bob
 
lol i dont know what all the fuss is about, I use a 4ft heavy duty telescopic bankstick.... it has NEVER let me down, cost less than a tenner AND its great for jamming in the floor and using for support when tackling those dodgy slippery steep banks.
 
For info, I had the Lone Angler pole bought as a birthday present to replace my 30 year old Shakespeare fibreglass telescopic one which I finally managed to break back in July.
Just after ordering the LA I had a phone call from them to say they were having problems with the Du Pont plastic used for the threaded insert in that the threads were stripping and they were looking to make a modification. The guy that rung me assured me that this was only a problem if you removed your net after each session ie if you left a spreader block in place then you would have no problems - as I do this, I said it would not be a problem and to send it out. He also told me that if I did have any problems they would change it straight away, even 5 years down the line, and as a gesture of goodwill he would send a few bait freebies with the pole.

The pole was dutifully received and has performed well since, its a little heavy but this is not an issue for me and as promised the pole itself seems bomb proof - disappointingly the promised freebies never arrived and I just hope that if I ever need it the warranty doesn't go the same way................. :rolleyes:

Steve
 
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