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What’s everyone’s go to rod for the big Trent

G

Gage Whyte

Member
Hi just wanting to know what’s everyone’s go to rods for the river trent using big leads & feeders 5oz & upwards, make & tc etc, cheers
 
Not that I fish the Trent much at all, but I have a pair of 12ft Fox Barbel Duo floodwaters ,2,75lb TC.They are Green with a nice cross weave They are lovely rods, lots of low down power. I suppose they are on the older end of rods , I hesitate to call them old school though when I usually use cane .
Lucky to see any for sale these days .

David
 
David Craine said:
Not that I fish the Trent much at all, but I have a pair of 12ft Fox Barbel Duo floodwaters ,2,75lb TC.They are Green with a nice cross weave They are lovely rods, lots of low down power. I suppose they are on the older end of rods , I hesitate to call them old school though when I usually use cane .
Lucky to see any for sale these days .

David
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Cheers David would you consider selling them I have a set of fox duo lite rods
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Chimera 3 would be perfect for 90% of Trent situations and chimera 4 if you really want to launch house bricks.

Probably the best Rods made for the job bar none!
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Cheers rich for that, would you say the chimera 4s are more like the hi-s heavy waters then ?
 
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Where do I start to be honest,apart from the length both are alike until you get to the final stages of the fight. If you do fish the lower tidal, the extra length is a must or you like to fish the far bank etc.
FS uses more modern carbon with a lot lower resin, its lighter than the C4, thinner too. Its irrelevant as most are stuck in the rod rests 95% of the time. The tips are a little prone to breakages too, especially when its an unnatural pull, ie filling a feeder up whilst in the rest etc. Dont do it. The C4 is basically a 3lb Tc chimera butt section with an extra wrap of carbon. The tip is totally new and made with the Chimera carbon fibre. In use both rods were built to cast a feeder to the far bank of the Trent(think its 8oz?). Its when you have a fish on that the difference is moved imo. I'd say when a fish lunges under the tip or just in the flow, the C4 goes with the fish and will just bend into the lunge. The FS imo does this but not as well. In my own words, it doesn't want to bend and the C4 does. If I wanted to use lighter hooklinks, I'd go C4 as its more forgiving. I did lose quite a few fish to hook pulls too using the FS, which are generally pretty rare too. I did lose a rather large Barbel because of this on the FS and thats when I decided to part ways with the FS. I did catch her that March though and it was a RR. Most of the time all trent anglers are fishing the near third of the river and most of the time a longer rod isn't needed at all.
Past couple of years though I have been fishing with a mate, who had fished the middle and Yorkshire rivers since the 60s. We have fished the TT quite a bit and now he's gone and bought the korum 13 foot rod, well 2 for £120, because he feels the need for the extra length etc. His previous rods were fox fx4s 2.75s which he felt weren't enough. Its horses for courses and one opinion against another, the C4 and FS are specialist tools which do the job rather well. When you have a PB in the net, you will look back and think, that rod got me out of the $£¥# and put that fish of a lifetime in the net. If anyone wants to have a waggle of my C4 your welcome, I'd deffo try before you buy though. On buying a custom FS id deffo try Roger Hurst, he built my custom FS to my spec for less than off the shelf. As for the C4s I had the built by Eden rods, tad expensive with the Titanium torzite guides, but I cant see me getting another 13 this side of my lifetime...

Hope that helps
 
Good write up Jon.

Just out of interest what ringing pattern did you go with on the C4? And would you tweak it having used it in anger?
 
30, 25, 20,16, 12, 12, 12, 10, 10, 10 and 10 tip. In fuji torzite, double legs on first 4 rings, single on the rest. Wouldn't change it at all. Some people prefer 12s as the smallest, so weed on the line can go through the rings. Imo that's the last thing you want.
 
Jon Frisby said:
Where do I start to be honest,apart from the length both are alike until you get to the final stages of the fight. If you do fish the lower tidal, the extra length is a must or you like to fish the far bank etc.
FS uses more modern carbon with a lot lower resin, its lighter than the C4, thinner too. Its irrelevant as most are stuck in the rod rests 95% of the time. The tips are a little prone to breakages too, especially when its an unnatural pull, ie filling a feeder up whilst in the rest etc. Dont do it. The C4 is basically a 3lb Tc chimera butt section with an extra wrap of carbon. The tip is totally new and made with the Chimera carbon fibre. In use both rods were built to cast a feeder to the far bank of the Trent(think its 8oz?). Its when you have a fish on that the difference is moved imo. I'd say when a fish lunges under the tip or just in the flow, the C4 goes with the fish and will just bend into the lunge. The FS imo does this but not as well. In my own words, it doesn't want to bend and the C4 does. If I wanted to use lighter hooklinks, I'd go C4 as its more forgiving. I did lose quite a few fish to hook pulls too using the FS, which are generally pretty rare too. I did lose a rather large Barbel because of this on the FS and thats when I decided to part ways with the FS. I did catch her that March though and it was a RR. Most of the time all trent anglers are fishing the near third of the river and most of the time a longer rod isn't needed at all.
Past couple of years though I have been fishing with a mate, who had fished the middle and Yorkshire rivers since the 60s. We have fished the TT quite a bit and now he's gone and bought the korum 13 foot rod, well 2 for £120, because he feels the need for the extra length etc. His previous rods were fox fx4s 2.75s which he felt weren't enough. Its horses for courses and one opinion against another, the C4 and FS are specialist tools which do the job rather well. When you have a PB in the net, you will look back and think, that rod got me out of the $£¥# and put that fish of a lifetime in the net. If anyone wants to have a waggle of my C4 your welcome, I'd deffo try before you buy though. On buying a custom FS id deffo try Roger Hurst, he built my custom FS to my spec for less than off the shelf. As for the C4s I had the built by Eden rods, tad expensive with the Titanium torzite guides, but I cant see me getting another 13 this side of my lifetime...

Hope that helps
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Thanks for the write up Jon & taking the time to do so, very interesting stuff
 
So I don’t fish the Trent as the Thames is my local river, and maybe just to confuse the subject I have the FS heavy water rods in 12ft not 13ft. I think they are a great all around rod and when using a weight of 4oz and above these are my first choice of rod.
 
Jason Goodwin said:
So I don’t fish the Trent as the Thames is my local river, and maybe just to confuse the subject I have the FS heavy water rods in 12ft not 13ft. I think they are a great all around rod and when using a weight of 4oz and above these are my first choice of rod.
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Cheers jas, how do they feel casting the heavier stuff ? & what’s your opinion on them when playing fish ?
 
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