Pellet Waggler rods

[mutley]

Been fishing the upper dorset stour in heavy water and find my 1.5 harrison avon is a little under gunned, any thoughts on using a 10 or 11ft pellet waggler rod as a stepped up avon. I am thinking of the middy white knuckle or similar as I dont want to spend more than 50 dosh

[BoldBear]

Going on the test curve of your Harrison (1.5lb) I am assuming you are legering and not float fishing.

For heavy water and floods on the Dorset Stour I wouldn't think that a 10ft or 11ft pellet wagger would be the best tool especially if your Harrison 1.5lb Avon struggles to cope.

I would have a search on the web for a decent specialist multi tip or a decent Barbel rod (1.7lb or 2lb tc).
Some tackle manufacturers do them for prices from around £35 upwards but make sure they are well known manufacturers.
Have a look on Ebay there are often good rods for sale on there. (do a search for 'Specialist rods' or 'Barbel Rods' or ''Multi-tip rods").

[mutley]

I have several heavy rods in 1.75 to 2.5 lb range [daiwa infinity; drennan specialist; korum; bruce and walker] but find 12 ft to long and heavy, mostly touch leger, so the idea of using a pellet waggler rod is that the tip is soft enough to tell me what is going on and the white knuckle is rated for 8 lb hooklinks so should be strong and soft enough for hit and hold chub, the harrison is a fine rod but bottoms out spectaculaly in these conditions so rather than spending loads of dosh barking up the wrong tree [ wouldnt be the first time] I thought of the pellet waggler idea. Do you know of a lightweight 10 or 11 ft rod that might fit the bill? Some of the fish are quite big. Many thanks for your reply

[northern eye]

Hiya. I've said this before on this forum and will tell anyone the same who is looking for a budget Avon rod. I have a Ron Thompson Warlord Avon. It's 12ft, lightweight and solid as a rock. It is a 2 piece rod with 3 tips of 2oz,3oz and 4oz and another progressive straight through section for the really meaty work, ideal for touch ledgering in strong flows, medium to heavy feeder work and even big stick float work with the through section fitted. I have caught double figure carp and big river chub on this rod and after using it regularly for about 5 years now it is still in perfect condition. You can still buy them and they cost around £49.99. Give it a try.

[mutley]

Thank you for the info on the Ron Thompson rod, I am stalking on a small river and find a 12ft rod to long. Ideally a 10ft rod but 11ft would probably do the Harrison 1.5 that I have been using is on the limit in floodwater. There is a 1.75 avon available from them but I dont want to spend 175 quid on a rod I will only use occasionally.

[northern eye]

My mate has a John Wilson Rovex Signature Barbel. It is 11ft, and has 4 different tips 1.75 - 3oz. Takes on the strong flow of the rivers Tees and Swale where we fish, no problem. I think he got it for around £50.00 online.

[BoldBear]

Originally Posted by mutley

mostly touch leger, so the idea of using a pellet waggler rod is that the tip is soft enough to tell me what is going on

During daylight hours I often use a quiver in conjuncion with a finger across my line; but If I were to touch leger properly like I do when I am fishing at night, then I wouldn’t want to use a rod with too softish a tip section because this type of rod absorbs a lot of the indications that I might feel through my fingers.

For example if an angler is touch legering properly they can feel whether they are fishing over silt, sand or gravel, whether it is a bite developing, or whether it is just some streamer weed rubbing against their line or something else washing downstream and bumping against the line, plus they can feel those strange Barbel bites that are occasionally experienced which feel like someone is rubbng a rough file across their line without the tip moving; but if they are basically watching a soft tip then all they can usually see is plucks, pulls and drop backs backed up with a much smaller indication on their finger if they were also touch legering, becase most of the indications transmitted through to the finger are absorbed by the softer rod tip.

So if I was touch legering correctly I would use my Greys Specialist Multi-tip rod which has 1.5lb & 2lb tip sections, or my Greys twin tip Barbel rod with it's 1.7lb avon tip section ; because if I were to use a softer tip like I would if I used a pellet waggler rod; it would adversely affect my ability to touch leger properly.

These two rods; which come with test curves of 1.5lb. 1.7lb & 2lb; are very light rods and cover most situations I come across on the streams and rivers that I fish; from clear low water right up to heavy flood conditions.

There are similar rods made by other makers like the rods that ‘Northern_Eye’ mentioned; some of the other rods also come in 11ft lengths if you prefer a slightly shorter rod but I don't think I would really like to go back to a much shorter 10ft rod again unless it was a neccessity due to very tight swims.

If I am just fishing for Chub and similar sized fish then I will often use my 11ft John Wilson Avon/Quiver’s, but for me they are just a bit too light for handling decent sized Barbel close in on a smallish river or stream.

Anyway I hope you find what you are after and tight lines

Keith

[mutley]

Now we are getting somewhere, the rovex sounds good I think the 3 oz quiver might be strong enough to feel what is going on and should cope with the chub. For many years I used a wilson wanderer 9 ft for Kennet barbel and it was perfect for touch legering but the car door killed it. I am a little wary of twin tops my Korum 1.75 2.2 is neither one or the other if you know what I mean. Some of the swims I fish a 12ft rod would touch the other bank. Would the J W avon cope with 8lb line? Many thanks for the reply

[BoldBear]

Originally Posted by mutley

Now we are getting somewhere, the rovex sounds good I think the 3 oz quiver might be strong enough to feel what is going on and should cope with the chub. For many years I used a wilson wanderer 9 ft for Kennet barbel and it was perfect for touch legering but the car door killed it. I am a little wary of twin tops my Korum 1.75 2.2 is neither one or the other if you know what I mean. Some of the swims I fish a 12ft rod would touch the other bank. Would the J W avon cope with 8lb line? Many thanks for the reply

If I remember correctly I think the John Wilson 1.25 tc Avon/Quiver is rated with lines from 3lb up to around 7lb but it is more suited to 6lb line which is fine for Chub and even Barbel if there are not too many snags, I use it on a very narrow river Lea above Wheathamstead where the Barbel only seem to average around 3lb to 6lb with the very occasional 7lb’er and there are also some large Chub up to around 4 or 5lb max together with some good sized Roach, Perch and Dace in there, I have also caught many stillwater Tench on it and the JW Avon copes admirably, but I have also used it on another stretch of river further downstream where the Barbel run into low double figures and it certainly doesn’t handle them as well and I have to go up to another 1.5 tc or even 1.7lb tc rod which can cope well with lines from around 4lb up to 10lb or 12lb.

I have never used the '1.7lb tc Rovex John Wilson Signature barbel rod' which I have heard is a stepped up version of the 1.25lb tc version of the Avon/quiver, but it has a lot of good write-ups.
The JW Signature Barbel rod can be used at either 11ft or 13ft (see link below) so it can be usefull for trotting a float as well (as long as you don't mind not having stand-off rings).

They also do a JW Barbel Quiver 'Travel rod' which is almost identical to John’s Barbel Quiver, but comes in 5 sections that pack away well in a car boot with limited space (I might buy one of these myself for when I am holidaying near the river wye and I don't want the wife to know I've packed a rod until after we have arrived )

< rovex-john-wilson-signature-barbel-rods >

tight lines

Keith (BoldBear)

[mutley]

Think the rovex is the way to go, some of the chub on the stour are 7lb. I have a 4 piece diawa twighlight barbel rod that I have used on the Wye and would recomend it to anybody, the infinity is better however. Many thanks for the info.