Compromise rod - Drennan Series 7 Specialist Avon Quiver rods

[Reyes]

I am after a rod to cover a variety of situations (I realise that there is no such rod and that I will have to compromise). I am an Irish angler and at the extreme end of my requirements I will need a rod that is capable of dealing with large tench and bream in confined weedy swims, swimfeeder work and legering on large rivers and lakes (with both bobbins and quivertipping) and finally floatfishing (mainly close range traditional lift-method style fishing). I feel the float fishing will be the biggest compromise and I may eventually get around to buying a float rod, but as most of my floatfishing will be close range I hope to get by with an Avon rod.

I was initially going to go for an all round rod like the John Wilson or Matt Hayes rod. I had a pair of the John Wilson barbel quiver rods before (great value but didn’t like the way the rod rings were so close to the blank), but am now leaning towards a pair of the Drennan Series 7 Specialist Avon Quiver rods, probably the 1.5 TC version (rated for 5 - 10lb bs lines).

Does anyone here have any views/advice re the above?

[northern eye]

Hi Reyes. As I mentioned in another thread last week, I have both Carp Feeder and Carp Waggler rods from the Series 7 range and you cant fault em'. Also got both the reels and they are solid as a rock so I would assume all rods from this range would be spot on. Seems like allot of guys on the forums are Drennan rod fans so u mite get some useful responses here. As for my Avon rod I use the Ron Thompson Warlord and it is a beauty!! 3 quiver tips and then a sturdy straight through section for heavy work with floats or touch ledger. Its a great rod, dunno if you can still buy em but I paid £45 for mine a few years back and its served me well, even had a double figure pike on it a couple of years ago!!

[red110kev]

I've got two of the Drennan Series 7 Specialist Avon Quiver rods in the 1.5lb TC and they're absolutely brilliant.

The build quality is superb, dead light so you could hold one all day.

I use mine primarily for Barbel fishing on the Trent in the less pacey runs (I use a TFG Classic 2lb TC rod for the faster water).
Mine get used for legering for Barbel without the quivertips), stillwater legering for Bream, Tench etc with the quivertips, float fishing both on the river and stillwaters.
I've even been floater fishing for Carp off the top but whilst the rod coped fairly well I thought it a little under-gunned and now use my 2lb TC rod for that style.

For swimfeeder/leger work you'll be OK upto about 2oz (with a gentle lob) and float fishing will be a joy but saying that I've not noticed how close to the blank the rings are and I do most of my float fishing in running water anyway.
It will cope with large Tench & Bream no problem but in heavily weeded swims, because the rod has an Avon action, you may feel you are playing/dragging the fish through by the lower to butt section of the rod.

As you say it may be a bit of a compromise but as a general all-round rod I don't think you'll go far wrong with this one.

[Reyes]

Thanks for the replies.

I wonder if you can help again as something came up on another forum where a member said he personally doesn't like the action on Avon rods so uses a Fox Barbel rod. Can any of you tell me if Barbel specific rods have a stiffer action when compared to an Avon rod of the same test curve? I enjoy playing fish on a rod with a somewhat stiff to semi-progressive action. However, as Barbel rods usually come with Avon tops I thought they also had an Avon action. I suppose these rods (if the action is stiffer), might also handle larger swimfeeders/leads?

Just wondering as another possibility is a 1.5 TC barbel rod (I was looking at the Shimano Vengance Classic).

All the best.

[red110kev]

Reyes, for what you want probably a Barbel rod would be better.

I only have experience of the TFG Classic Big River Barbel rod in 2lb TC for flood/faster water. The action is more tip to middle and as a comparison, before I bought them, catching on my Avons in faster water just made them hoop right over and I've always felt I've been playing them from the rod butt.

From what I understand (and I'm no expert here), Avons are normally through action and around 1.25lbs TC where Barbel rods are based on the Avons with a progressive through action with some having slightly more tip to middle. Most Barbel rods have a bit more backbone and are generally around 1.75lbs TC.

Here's a review of the Shimano Vengeance Classic http://fish.shimano-eu.com/publish/c..._18092009.html