Graham Elliott
Senior Member & Supporter
Thanks for the info Haydn. Going to pair it with a centrepin. Will be a novel experience.
-
You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...
Split Cane rods
- Thread starter Joe Winstanley
- Start date
Richard Parsons
Senior Member
Joe - I had one made by this chap around 10 years ago. An eleven foot three piece (á la Chapmans 500) barbel rod, which is very nice. Depending on your budget he may have something you like. Other than that, Mike's offer looks like a great option.
I also owned a B James & Sons MkIV carp rod, but the handle was a little long.
https://ryanburnsrodrestorations.webs.com/
I also owned a B James & Sons MkIV carp rod, but the handle was a little long.
https://ryanburnsrodrestorations.webs.com/
Richard Parsons
Senior Member
Right up there, so I believe, John.
Clive Kenyon
Senior Member
Ryan renovates and refurbishes rods for a lot of dealers. I have a Mk. Carp rod that he refurbished before sale and his work is excellent. He has a facebook shop with rods for sale. Agutters has mixed reviews.
The Chapmans 500 is a ten foot Avon style rod, two cane sections and a detachable handle. They were the best selling cane rods in their day. Most 11 foot rods are three sections owing to the length the cane culms came in from abroad. 10 foot was the longest two piece rod for most companies.
David Craine
Senior Member & Supporter
Reading on another Forum, several of these Dorsets have been used to good effect for Barbel, never having seen one myself I have no experience, but it seems that fish to about 8 lbs or so were handled with no problems . I suppose a lot depends upon the river you are fishing , I have used cane for quite some time and really it is a suprise just what a split cane rod can do. All I can say is that I have been looking for a 12 foot split cane Barbel rod for some time now without success .
I wish you luck Graham, I would think in a river like the Wye you would have no problems.Be aware though it will probably feel heavy in the hand, and will no doubt feel unlike anything you have used for Barbel before , plus , using it with a pin will give a fantastic feeling of “one to one “with any fish hooked, unlike a fixed spool, I love my pins for just that reason.
David
Haydn Clarke
Senior Member & Supporter
Any particular rod you have in mind David?
David Craine
Senior Member & Supporter
Haydn, I am not really in the school of “ named rods or favourite makers”, mainly because it means that a lot of very capable rods are never actually used when people are focussed on one or two specific marques ( Much like carbon really )
I have used “ bitsas” that performed as well as any Mk IV , if you get my meaning . I have a couple of Mk IV style Stepped up carp rods that do the buisness , but do not have anything to give a clue as to who made them, I rebuilt them myself, along with an Ogden Smith rod that I think may be a Salmon worming rod, they all land Barbel to double figures with no problems.
David .
I have used “ bitsas” that performed as well as any Mk IV , if you get my meaning . I have a couple of Mk IV style Stepped up carp rods that do the buisness , but do not have anything to give a clue as to who made them, I rebuilt them myself, along with an Ogden Smith rod that I think may be a Salmon worming rod, they all land Barbel to double figures with no problems.
David .
Clive Kenyon
Senior Member
The only 12 foot barbel type rod that I have seen come up for sale is the Marco Test, sometimes mis-described as Jest. It can come with two top sections. All the others I have seen are 11 foot.
Have you considered converting an old salmon fly rod? Something like a Sharpes would be fairly cheap and be made of good cane.
Have you considered converting an old salmon fly rod? Something like a Sharpes would be fairly cheap and be made of good cane.
David Craine
Senior Member & Supporter
Yep, been there, done that, in fact there is another “ split cane” thread on here somewhere with the very same contained therein.. 
Strike that, its all on here, posted last year Dohhh.
David
Strike that, its all on here, posted last year Dohhh.
David
Richard Parsons
Senior Member
Yes, I was solely comparing the three-piece characteristic when I mentioned the Chapmans, Clive. My rod eleven footer bears no resemblance to the Chapmans other than that.
Haydn Clarke
Senior Member & Supporter
Yes. I sometimes suspect that the best cane rod out there is a bitsa, made from cobbled together sections from different rods.
However, a couple of strong (non bitsa) twelve footers I have:
Modern Arms - Arun. Cheap (by comparison to more fashionable makers) and eminently capable of big fish.
Chapmans - Hunter. As above and a little nicer but much more sort after and thus more costly.
Strong twelve footers aren’t quite so common in cane.
However, a couple of strong (non bitsa) twelve footers I have:
Modern Arms - Arun. Cheap (by comparison to more fashionable makers) and eminently capable of big fish.
Chapmans - Hunter. As above and a little nicer but much more sort after and thus more costly.
Strong twelve footers aren’t quite so common in cane.
Graham Elliott
Senior Member & Supporter
Thanks David.
Yes, I have completed all my specimen fish lists ( except still 4 oz short of the 10lb tench)
So wanted a new experience..
Was planning to give it a go on my recent HA Throop trip for chub, but conditions poor.
It will be a rod rest job, so weight is not a problem. WILL match with a Addcock Stanton all metal reel or Speedia
Clive Kenyon
Senior Member
If you want a strong cane rod look at the Marco Silver Monarch. It is 10 foot, double built over a steel liner. The test curve is around 4.5 lbs and can dead lift over 5lb off the floor. That is roughly what it weighs too.
I had a 40lb ish catfish on and it hardly bent even with the reel clamped. I've been trying to find a larger one to test it out properly.
I had a 40lb ish catfish on and it hardly bent even with the reel clamped. I've been trying to find a larger one to test it out properly.
Haydn Clarke
Senior Member & Supporter
Jeez! Sounds like you could pull a donkey out of a carrot field with that thing Clive.
I have a Hardy LRH 3, another ten footer, and I thought that was a broom handle, compared to most of my other rods, but that Marco sounds even more broom-handle like.
I know the Hardy LRH was originally marketed as salmon spinning rod so I’m guessing the same for the Monarch?
Clive Kenyon
Senior Member
The name would suggest so. But you would have to have a man to fish with it then pass it to you once a fish was hooked. They did a very similar rod called the Silver King and some anglers used it for pulling conger out of piers and holes in breakwaters. Due to covid and the lousy summer we have just had I haven't been able to get the boat out enough to give it a chance to play with a large silure. That is what I bought it for.
Paul Bullinger
Senior Member & Supporter
Interesting debate about split cane rods. Many many years ago, when I lived near Watford, I would travel to Hammersmith a couple of times a year to attend "Angling Auctions" sales. I would buy anything in my price range, rods, books, reels, tackle etc. It became an obsession. Following several house moves, I decided to sell most of this "antique" tackle, apart from 4 x split cane rods. One is a Richard Walker Mk1V (I think!) and 2 are B. James. The other is unbranded. I know they're in the house somewhere and, following this debate, I must find them and use them. Just a pity I sold the centre pin reels 
Stephen Crowhurst
Senior Member
In my collection of bits is this, it’s marked up as an Allcocks Climax and supplied by Keanes of Plumbstead. That’s all I really know about it. Searches around it when I first got it drew a blank, it doesn’t seem to fit the bill of what they had. It’s just over 11ft, appears to have a spliced tip.
My Grandfather gave it to me. I was under the impression it was his, as it turns out it wasn’t, he won it at auction.
Poor thing does need some love but tbh I’ve no idea what I’d do with it, primarily because I don’t really know what it is.
My Grandfather gave it to me. I was under the impression it was his, as it turns out it wasn’t, he won it at auction.
Poor thing does need some love but tbh I’ve no idea what I’d do with it, primarily because I don’t really know what it is.
Attachments
David Rogers
Senior Member
Another 12 footer that would be up to mid-size barbel is the Lee Aquila - on the same lines as the Chapman Hunter, but not so sought after and consequently a fair bit cheaper. I have both a Hunter and an Aquila and the actions are quite similar.
David Rogers
Senior Member
It was intended as a sea fishing rod - and the name Allcocks Climax usually produces a chortle or two amongst those with salacious minds...
Haydn Clarke
Senior Member & Supporter
I Also have an Aquila David. I’d forgot about that rod. Mine has one of those ghastly aluminium reel seats, which I should have removed and replaced with bands but never did. Hollow-built butt if I remember right, and quite a robust action.
A decade or so I went through a phase of buying and restoring old cane rods. You could say I’m a collector/user and it became rather addictive. I thought I’d called it a day when I’d acquired twenty something rods. And then you go to an auction, as I did a few months ago and see an unloved rod, going for the begging and it just has to be done. Last purchase was the aforementioned Williams ‘Foreavon’ for a princely twenty- eight quid. Most of mine have been restored but there are two rods that I just can’t bring myself to mess with. A Hardy LRH 1 and an Hardy FWK Number 1 Allround, both of which just have the most fantastic original patina and generally sound whippings and varnish.
My go-to rod out of all of those I own though is one of my Rodrills. I restored three of these and I simply love using all of them. Gutsy enough to handle big fish (I’ve had carp to 18lb on one of them) and the three-piece, eleven foot seems right for most of the fishing I do.
A decade or so I went through a phase of buying and restoring old cane rods. You could say I’m a collector/user and it became rather addictive. I thought I’d called it a day when I’d acquired twenty something rods. And then you go to an auction, as I did a few months ago and see an unloved rod, going for the begging and it just has to be done. Last purchase was the aforementioned Williams ‘Foreavon’ for a princely twenty- eight quid. Most of mine have been restored but there are two rods that I just can’t bring myself to mess with. A Hardy LRH 1 and an Hardy FWK Number 1 Allround, both of which just have the most fantastic original patina and generally sound whippings and varnish.
My go-to rod out of all of those I own though is one of my Rodrills. I restored three of these and I simply love using all of them. Gutsy enough to handle big fish (I’ve had carp to 18lb on one of them) and the three-piece, eleven foot seems right for most of the fishing I do.