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Tench/light barbel rod

Chris Jones

Chris Jones

Senior Member
I'm looking at possibility of giving lighter specialist rods a whizz for general fishing and of getting away from the heavy stuff that I always seem to be using for barbel, when the situation allows. Should be a doddle but here comes the spanner in the works. I'm not the biggest fan of quiver tips when stillwater fishing. I do have the urge to muck around with swingtips again. That's the snag, not many modern rods about with screw threaded tip rings. I'm thinking about 1 1/4lb TC and specifically the older Diawa Avon/Specialists to keep the costs down a bit, provided I can actually find some.

Anyone with any alternative suggestions for me to look into?
 
Drennan Legermaster? They turn up occasionally on e-bay, maybe £35-50.
 
If you can't find a rod with a screw in tip ring, why not just buy a new tip ring and fit it yourself?, probably the easiest ring on the rod to replace..
 
Simon Lush said:
A swingtip on the end of a 12ft rod ? sounds horrendous to me :D
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The thought of moving back to using swingtips sounds horrendous, each to their own and all that.

Chris,
With the number of different quivertips available these days, there will be one to suit your criteria;).
 
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Colin....sorry Yoda you should know, it's all to do with the angle of the dangle!

Bit of a speciality for me swingtips....lived in Ireland for many a year and watched the best using them, not your standard floppy things though.

Trick is to not have a screw eye...cut the end eye off leaving 2inch past the new end eye, get hold of one of those stiff angle rubbers, stick it on the end and insert a quiver tip, best of both worlds and with different tips and angle rubbers you can cope with strong tows'

If you wonna be really fancy you can use a spring/quiver!

All depends whether you wonna chop the end of your rod off ?:D

Cheers
Jason
 
Colin Gordon said:
The thought of moving back to using swingtips sounds horrendous, each to their own and all that.

Chris,
With the number of different quivertips available these days, there will be one to suit your criteria;).
Click to expand...

Colin,
I've got more quiver tips/ tip rods than you can shake a stick at. Not overly keen on using them on stillwaters and, for short range stuff at least, I'd rather use a swing tip.;) Far more sensitive, far less resistance to a bite, rods straight out rather than to the side, no twisting of my knackered back to look at tips then swim and easier to fish two rods. Shame that they are a PITA to cast with. Not a drama for the twenty yard pub chuck that I'm thinking of though.;)
 
Chris, as I said each to their own. I'm not going to argue the toss as to what offers a greater degree of sensitivity but for the least resistance and still maintaining casting ability I'D try a 1/2 or 3/4oz slow taper tip;).

As if the fish are that uninterested and cagey a pluck of more than a couple inches sounds doubtful to materialise.
 
Chris, see if you can look at one of the old seer rods, this may be the perfect solution for you, most go at around £100....j.w:)
 
Jason Bean said:
Colin....sorry Yoda you should know, it's all to do with the angle of the dangle!

Bit of a speciality for me swingtips....lived in Ireland for many a year and watched the best using them, not your standard floppy things though.

Trick is to not have a screw eye...cut the end eye off leaving 2inch past the new end eye, get hold of one of those stiff angle rubbers, stick it on the end and insert a quiver tip, best of both worlds and with different tips and angle rubbers you can cope with strong tows'

If you wonna be really fancy you can use a spring/quiver!

All depends whether you wonna chop the end of your rod off ?:D

Cheers
Jason
Click to expand...

Never chopped the end off my swingtip rods (good tip that !) most were 9-10ft in length, we made up our own tips from fibreglass blanks, the right tubing was always tricky, needed to be stiffer than the usual flimsy silicone rubber.
Bream fishing on the Irish loughs with a swinger was brilliant, bites on the drop on a swingtip are one of fishings great joys ;)
 
Chris the Drennan Series 7 1 1/4lb Avon is worth a look. It does come with 3 glass quiver tips plus the standard Avon top. I use it with the standard top for chub and light barbel fishing. Taken barbel to nearly 8lbs on it and some decent chub. Had a few tench on it, but no monsters. Really nice rod at a sensible price.

Can't remember whether it can take a swing tip or not. I'll check and let you know.
 
Why not mount a screw fitting to take a swing tip between the reel and first eye on the rod? I mounted one in this way many years ago as I couldn't cast with a swingtip mounted on the tip of the rod.
 
You used to be able to get something similar to a swing tip which clipped on to the butt section and had an eye which opened to pass your line through.
 
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