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Rod for grayling

Steven Knox said:
I was thinking that might be the case. It was only the fact the older model had been mentioned here that made me look at it.
It is described by preston as a "genuine all rounder". Similar to how drennan describes the acolyte plus, which I find does the job well.
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I’m sure it does. The Acolytes I use for grayling are the 11’ Carp Waggler (basically an 11’ plus when wading) and the 17’ model. The 17’ is brilliant but a funny action compared to the others. Not that it’s bad mind you, just different. I mainly use the 13’6” Sphere though, which no Acolyte would supplant for my grayling fishing unless conditions absolutely demanded it.
 
Waggler and Stick are 2 totally different rods and actions. Historically Stick/Spliced tip rods were for silverfish bashing, with light lines and needed a fast tip action for striking and casting against a light top and bottom float.
Waggler rods were for fishing at distance 15 to 25+ yards on either river or lake and needed a hollow tip to punch a waggler out with a more middle to tip action. The forgiving action works really well with a waggler against a full blooded strike at distance...
Modern day river fishing, ie big barbel and chub, yes finesse is involved, but the bigger float, higher mainline breaking strain, bigger hooks and trotting distance, imo negates a spliced tip rod. You just need to find the cross over from stick to waggler? Work out the equation
Fish size X floatsize X breaking strain X distance = Rod choice...
And we all do it10s of times whilst Prepping, setting up,fishing and modifying a set up through out a day on the bank...all in a day's fishing.. sometimes what your looking for is right in front of you.
Just a thought....
 
Alan Rose said:
I’m sure it does. The Acolytes I use for grayling are the 11’ Carp Waggler (basically an 11’ plus when wading) and the 17’ model. The 17’ is brilliant but a funny action compared to the others. Not that it’s bad mind you, just different. I mainly use the 13’6” Sphere though, which no Acolyte would supplant for my grayling fishing unless conditions absolutely demanded it.
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I had the 11ft carp waggler and it was ideal for grayling, I let it go to someone who wanted it and got the 12 footer and again, the 12ft model is nice and still and is ideal for trotting.
The 13 6 sphere is great, but I prefer the 13 and 14ft waggler rods, they're every bit as fast an action as the spliced rods. Imo, the spliced tip slows the strike down and can kinda take the bant out of the strike, especially on further trott.

Spliced tips were designed to cushion light hooklengths and prevent them from cracking off, they don't give you a faster strike.
 
Alan Rose said:
I’m sure it does. The Acolytes I use for grayling are the 11’ Carp Waggler (basically an 11’ plus when wading) and the 17’ model. The 17’ is brilliant but a funny action compared to the others. Not that it’s bad mind you, just different. I mainly use the 13’6” Sphere though, which no Acolyte would supplant for my grayling fishing unless conditions absolutely demanded it.
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You mentioned further up the thread that you would have thought a waggler rod wouldn't have the right action for grayling? And then state here you use an 11' carp waggler?

It's all a bit of a confusing. Especially when having to buy online and not actually being able to see any of the rods in person.
 
Steven Knox said:
You mentioned further up the thread that you would have thought a waggler rod wouldn't have the right action for grayling? And then state here you use an 11' carp waggler?

It's all a bit of a confusing. Especially when having to buy online and not actually being able to see any of the rods in person.
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A lot of waggler rods have a softer mid section so the strike is a little slower when trotting a float at any distance.
There are some rods with stiffer mid sections, such as the drennan carp waggler and the sphere waggler rods. They are examples of a waggler rod perfectly suited to trotting.
 
Steven Knox said:
You mentioned further up the thread that you would have thought a waggler rod wouldn't have the right action for grayling? And then state here you use an 11' carp waggler?

It's all a bit of a confusing. Especially when having to buy online and not actually being able to see any of the rods in person.
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Yup, and I also said it was basically an Acolyte Plus. I have it on good authority that Drennan gave it the “Carp Waggler” moniker for nothing other than commercial reasons 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
I love spliced tip float rods and find advantages beyond the original intentions of them. To say they don’t speed up a rods action goes against the very definition of a fast action rod. (Soft tip into stiffer mid to low sections). That’s exactly what a fast action rod is.

Early spliced tip rods were mostly light action stick float rods with very fine tips spliced into light action blanks and the smallest of fish could have them hooped over.
I’ve still got a couple kicking about but my stick float fishing days are long gone, these are not rods for casting a 6-8g bolo float but they do often get caught up in the same category as more modern spliced tip rods which can and do bring a different set of dimensions into float fishing for specimens.

I don’t use spliced tips to protect 0.10 bottoms and size 20 hooks. For me nearly all the advantages of the spliced tip come to light without a fish on the rod.
For me they flick floats out better, they mend lines better, they strike cleaner, and they absolutely work in float rods of a specialist or stepped up nature.

Once you hook a powerful fish, the spliced tip becomes next to nothing. It’s just pointed straight at the fish offering no further value than any other rod tip. I just really really like the characteristics of them for actually trotting before you hook your fish.

They are not for everyone, I absolutely respect that and hence I’ve made it clear throughout the post “for me” These are my findings and preferences on them.
The important thing is as Jon said above try before buying wherever possible because we all have different tastes
 
Seems like the only option apart from going 2nd hand is the drennan acolyte plus. Are there really no other newer 13ft/14ft rods aimed at this type of fishing?
 
I'm ideally looking for a rod either 13 or 14 foot in length. I can only see the xs 14ft in stock online. With no experience of tricast rods I'm not sure if this will be a bit too powerful for grayling?
The new daiwa connoisseur pro looks like it might be suitable? Although I would imagine it will end up more as back up rather than interchangeable with my acolyte plus.
 
Steven Knox said:
I'm ideally looking for a rod either 13 or 14 foot in length. I can only see the xs 14ft in stock online. With no experience of tricast rods I'm not sure if this will be a bit too powerful for grayling?
The new daiwa connoisseur pro looks like it might be suitable? Although I would imagine it will end up more as back up rather than interchangeable with my acolyte plus.
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John allerton premier tricast could be another option. Those can be spliced tip river rods and I’m fairly sure they can be picked up new still.
Not my favorite personally but there’s a lot of good anglers that sing their praises

Carbon Fibre Match Rods - The John Allerton Range From Tri-Cast Fishing

Carbon fibre feeder rods. Welcome to Tri-Cast fishing manufacturers of quality high performance rods, poles and accessories.
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I’ve not tried one either (Tri-Cast that is), but it’s another suggestion Steven. When all is said and done, there’s a reason why there’s not much else other than the Acolyte range, and it’s a simple equation: in terms of availability, usability and bang for your buck, there’s nothing better.
 
I am not saying they are flat-out the best, just that solely in terms of that equation they come out on top every time.
 
Alan Rose said:
I’ve not tried one either (Tri-Cast that is), but it’s another suggestion Steven. When all is said and done, there’s a reason why there’s not much else other than the Acolyte range, and it’s a simple equation: in terms of availability, usability and bang for your buck, there’s nothing better.
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Exactly this.
They absolutely dominate the float rod market and by a huge margin. No one can touch em

They got the weight and balance spot on, they got the finish spot on, fixtures and fittings are just fine,
They got the extensive range spot on and most importantly they got the pricing spot on.
 
I have the Tricast Trilogy xs 14ft and use it for my chub and grayling fishing. It is very light (155g) and well balanced. I’ve had plenty of barbel on it whilst chub fishing but it’s ideally suited to less powerful quarry. Similar in power to the Drennan Acolyte Plus I’d say. Excellent rod imho.
 
Jon Frisby said:
Do you what Nigel, I was going to mention this rod too. There's not just Acolyte's , Daiwa and Free spirits out there... if you have a chance over winter, get down and have a waggle at a big independent tackle shop... don't take someone's sayso, as mistakes can be costly.....
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Cadence ? possibly.
 
Michael Humberstone said:
Cadence ? possibly.
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Absolutely, thought about these before the last post, but it's hard to see one in the skin. Lots of review on YouTube with the cadence guys fishing with them... I will be setting my Shimano Ultegra 390Fa, up this weekend ready for my annual Christmas jaunt on the upper river Don. They rarely go over a 1lb here, but great fun...
 
Jon Frisby said:
Absolutely, thought about these before the last post, but it's hard to see one in the skin. Lots of review on YouTube with the cadence guys fishing with them... I will be setting my Shimano Ultegra 390Fa, up this weekend ready for my annual Christmas jaunt on the upper river Don. They rarely go over a 1lb here, but great fun...
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They were superb rods. The mk1 all blue model was a very expensive rod in the 90’s I remember drooling over it in the shimano catalogue thinking one day……. They were labeled response and fast action. Never handled a mk1 so I wouldn’t know the difference in action personally. Rare beauty’s nowadays
 
Thanks Richard, yeah great rods, me too.... I just need the R type now...
 
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