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The new Harrison specialist blank

Huanzhou Zhu

Senior Member
Saw this posted by Mark Tunley today, never handled the aviator blank before, but looks nice. Looks like this is their new flag ship blanks.
 

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The ability of my Aviator Flex to both cast and play fish nicely is almost hard to believe. They're still enjoyable to catch a 6lb tench on despite being rated at 3lb 2oz. Sometimes when playing one I've thought, this would be amazing if they did a scaled down version. It will be interesting to see how they compare.
 
A fellow member on my syndi' has some Aviator carp rods, he let me "have a chuck" with them a few years ago when they were still new to him.

I was quite reserved about hitting it big but I was surprised, as was he, about the distance I achieved and I'm no distance caster at all. I've been talking myself into and back out of a set for years.
 
They’re listed as having a “medium” action and Mark Tunley suggest the action is similar to the dark carbon blanks he uses. I don’t know what that is though :)

The Carpers speak highly of them as rods that cast well but are forgiving under the tip although there seems to be a difference in the action between rods at 12’ 12’ 6” and 13” from what I read on the forums.
 
Like Christian mentioned the Aviator Flex is a really nice rod so I use them not just for carp but also for when I fish for tench and bream in local lake that has them over 10lb. They don't feel like a 3lb 2ox TC rod unless you need them to be so am comfortable fishing at all ranges. They are rods from Mark Tunley so the new offerings at lower TC's would be great as well.
Maybe I should get that letter off to Santa now?
 
Yes the Aviators have been around a fair while now in Carp rods. My Aviator plus's are a little firmer on the cast than the Torrix 3.25 although to be fair most of the time I only cast 40 yards! Occasionally I will fish 80 - 100 so it will be interesting to note the difference to the Torrix 3.25 that I have used for years. I have only just bought the Aviators so too early yet to draw any firm conclusions.
It will be interesting to see the action of the specialist range. Personally I still prefer my Chimeras to the Torrix so won't be hurrying to buy anymore rods. I have far too many already!
 
I think if Harrisons, have gone too the lengths of designing and building a mandrel to manufacturer these blanks then actually building said rods and testing them.
That they are going to be as good as the avons, torrix's. and chimeras.....
Maybe even better??..

Let's see...
 
As always they look stunning
He does state flagship range but they are a bit cheaper than Torrix/ Chimera?
MT had the exclusive rights to Dark Carbon and I’m sure this is described as medium action.I have one and it’s a lovely rod but you don’t see a lot of them for sale so I’m guessing it hasn’t been a huge seller despite being quite a bit less in cost than Torrix, Avon or Chimera but I wonder if them being plain blanks ( no carbon weave) put people off aesthetically?
Aviator might fill this ‘gap’?
They will be a fantastic barbel rod for sure.
 
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