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New river, new rod

T

Tom Brown

Member
So, I have just come back to coarse fishing after a 15 year break, I am an avid fly fisherman and after the fluff chucking bug caught I never thought I’d go Back. After a trip a couple of years ago sparked an interest both me and a friend have now started to enjoy coarse fishing again as it fills our time over the winter when the trout streams are all closed, up until now we have been fishing our local streams with cane rods and centerpins but in the last few months whilst looking for a club I have ended up taking a place on a fishery on the Hampshire avon, at the weekend I made a visit but my kit is a little dated and while I was awaiting a bite my mind turned to the possibility of having a custom chub/barbel rod made! The stretch of river is just below Salisbury and is quite narrow in places, I also want to use it for chub and like the look of the Harrison blanks, just looking for a little advice on what rod would be best, I will be mainly rolling meat and short range ledgering, i will look forward to your sage advice, Tom
 
I have a rod I use for both chub and barbel on small to medium rivers where casting up to 2 oz is plenty. It’s a 12ft peregrine GTX. I had it custom made with two top sections. The 1.5lb section is great for the barbel with an isotope fitted on top and the other section is spliced with a 3oz long quiver tip for the flicking out a piece of bread under a tree for a chub.
The rod has an action which is a full through action to cushion out those lunges from barbel. I’ve caught them to over 15lb on it and never felt it was on the limit.
It’s never gonna be a Trent or Wye rod but for small rivers and big fish the gtx is one of best rods I’ve ever used. It behaves very similar to a torrix when you hook a big barbel, the action is just so awesome.
If you prefer a shorter rod you could go gti, or torrix
A torrix is another option for you as well. I’m waiting on delivery of an 11 footer coming hopefully very soon.
Custom builders are the perfect people to speak to and get advice from. roger at peregrine is a top bloke and I’ve been speaking with Mark Tunley about my recent purchase of a torrix and he also is a very knowledgeable guy. For a rod to perfectly cover both barbel and chub on small-medium rivers with lower casting weights I’d personally say a gtx is as good as it gets.
 
I always believed that the numbers of Barbel and Chub were a bit thin this high up? I’ve not personally fished around this area, I’ve fished up higher (Nr Amesbury) for Grayling and Trout and Fordingbrigde and below for the others.
The river is very different up above Salisbury to down here. Narrower, slower, shallower. I opt for 1.75lb as it is a good all rounder, light enough for summer and heavy enough when there’s a bit on in winter. I would of thought a 1.5lb would be more than adequate up where you are fishing.

Why not try a modern heavy feeder rod first before you plunge into a custom. Plenty around for reasonable money, esp on the second hand market.
 
11ft ,1.75lb torrix would probably be ideal,(i use one when targeting chub and barbel) its very light in the hand which makes it great for rolling or holding the rod touch ledgering. It also has plenty of power if called for lower in the blank. If you start going any longer the weight increase and action changes and to me the 12ft 1.75 torrix is a totally different rod.
 
I use an 11ft/1.75 Torrix and a Free Spirit Hi S SU for rolling meat (the latter on mono-only waters). I find the Torrix feels stiffer and heavier. There are other factors (I use different reels with them) but I'd recommend the Free Spirit over the Torrix, especially for Tom's application. The Hi S SU is 'tippy' but very forgiving.
 
Terry Simner said:
I use an 11ft/1.75 Torrix and a Free Spirit Hi S SU for rolling meat (the latter on mono-only waters). I find the Torrix feels stiffer and heavier. There are other factors (I use different reels with them) but I'd recommend the Free Spirit over the Torrix, especially for Tom's application. The Hi S SU is 'tippy' but very forgiving.
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Thanks for that Terry- reminded me that I have been looking to hear a comparison of these two rods. I have the SU 13ft power float rod which I love and have wondered about the barbel rods. Picked a few up and they do feel wonderfully light- important as I do a fair bit of touch ledgering.
 
If your really into a bit of fun a through action Avon rod can be very nice for targeting chub and barbel. I wouldn’t suggest it if you are in snaggy situations where you might need to bully a darting fish but another rod I sometimes opt for is my Diawa mark1 powermesh Avon. It’s a beautiful rod for those small rivers with clear beds where you can have a bit of a scrap. They don’t make em no more like this unfortunately but occasionally a good second hand one pops up
Catching chub on barbel rods ain’t particularly fun as is catching barbel on lighter chub gear they can smash you to bits very quickly. An Avon rod can be a fun compromise for targeting both if your in the right river/spot. Just another option.
 
I must own 20 or more different rods non of which are duplicates. I’d love a matching pair of barbel rods but I’ve never been a member of a club where any more than a single rod is allowed. My point being I don’t think there is a rod in existence that dose a number of tasks perfectly. I hate the word often used with rods as an “all rounder”. A Barbel rod is not a bream or chub rod and a waggler rod isn’t a stick float rod etc. There is nothing wrong with making compromises but have it built to be used for your main fishing intentions. My lighter barbel rod is pretty useless as soon as my stretch of river gains 18inches of water. It’s very easy to recommend a rod but you need to decide what specific fishing situations you want to use that rod for.
Casting weight/distance, line strength, target species, river, typical flow, the reel you intend to use on it, how well you know the river and it’s snags etc etc. A rod will do a number of tasks but really only 1 or 2 perfectly
Out side of the build tolerance (what it was built to do) your looking at compromises.
If I was fishing the Avon in normal height to a foot over which I’ve done many times round Melksham Wiltshire and I was specifically targeting barbel with the chance of chub I’d go with an 11’ 1.75 through action.
If I wanted to target big chub and knew there was a chance of barbel I’d go with a 11 or 12 foot rod with a 1.25-1.5 to get the most out of the rod for my primary target species.
 
Howard Cooke said:
Thanks for that Terry- reminded me that I have been looking to hear a comparison of these two rods. I have the SU 13ft power float rod which I love and have wondered about the barbel rods. Picked a few up and they do feel wonderfully light- important as I do a fair bit of touch ledgering.
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I've found them superb to fish with Howard ...sensitive, whilst having plenty of 'grunt' in reserve. Casting weight? ... a 1/4 to 2.5oz IMO. But, it's a personal, subjective thing.
 
Terry Simner said:
I've found them superb to fish with Howard ...sensitive, whilst having plenty of 'grunt' in reserve. Casting weight? ... a 1/4 to 2.5oz IMO. But, it's a personal, subjective thing.
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Thanks Terry- sounds perfect. I tend to touch ledger in low/summer conditions so that casting weight range looks spot on.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice, I think an 11 foot 1.75 rod would suit best, I have made a couple of trips there over the weekend and although reasonably small in size i have already spotted a few good barble, two I would imagine were doubles, owing to this a nice custom torrix would fit the bill. I have a nice Barder Avon rod to use if I’m just after chub, I have already had a pb chub of 5 1/4 lb😀. I will have a chat with Mark Tunley, thanks all
 
Excellent choice Tom. I too have an 11 foot 1.75 torrix in build progress by Mark. Hopefully will be ready soon. That’s a bit of good news that you’ve spotted some nice sized barbel kicking about. Don’t forget the pics when you christen the new blank.
 
I would imagine he’s probably explored the Mark Tunley webpage and custom built his rod various times and has a firm idea of the cost.
Yes those are two of the tasks that a rod has to do. I’d say it has to do a few more as well because a broomstick will chuck out a bait and stop a fish heading for snags.
 
Must admit I really enjoyed building rods and have fond memories of Harrison Torrix variants especially in the lighter test curves (1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2.0 and 2.5). The Bfw i-power (also Harrison) is also a great rod.
 
Bob Gill said:
Must admit I really enjoyed building rods and have fond memories of Harrison Torrix variants especially in the lighter test curves (1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2.0 and 2.5). The Bfw i-power (also Harrison) is also a great rod.
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Bob
Out of interest how would you describe the differences between Torrix and Chimeras?
I have several of the lattter and love them to bits but clearly the Torrix has a huge fanbase
My go to rods are Chimera 3 2 1/4tc
Thanks
 
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