This page will be all about the gear I use, how I get on with it and whether it's up to the job or not, from one season to the next, over the years, past, present & future, also any modifications that I may apply in general, so basically a specific user review with no intentions to sing praises to the mass tackle manufacturers out there, although I will name a few, such as makes & models, just out of preference & that's all.
To start with.....
Barbel rods: At this current time in life, I own three rods that I use for barbel fishing, they are, as follows....
1. Drennan super specialist power barbel at 12ft with twin quiver tips, this rod comes as standard fitted with twin night lights to both tip sections, it also comes in a nylon cloth bag with it's own rod tube & at the time of purchase cost me £129.00 from a local tackle shop, it is the first generation of Drennan SS barbel rods, I've owned this rod for about roughly three years know, used it for two full seasons & find it to be under gunned on rivers like the Trent, when their in flood. I feel that this class rod deserves to be supplied with an Avon tip section to cater for my sort of fishing.
The rod is ideal to use when the river is at normal summer level and has handled barbel up to 6lbs, chub to 4lbs and bream weighing 5lbs comfortably but lacks the finesse of a rod that only has quiver tips that should come with the option of an Avon tip section, that's my only gripe, other than that it's a nice light weight rod to handle.
2. The second rod I brought for barbel fishing is the Shakespeare Mach 2 that comes with three quiver tips and an Avon tip section and is also 12ft in length, I've owned this rod know for two years and it's only seen one seasons worth of use, to say the least the quiver tips are useless on the Trent and I prefer using the Avon tip which has become the main tip section of this rod for me & has handled barbel & chub superbly well in both flood & normal level conditions, for a rod that retailed at £70.00 when first purchased, it's got the guts & finesse of a proper barbel rod.
The good thing about this rod is it's light to use when coupled with bait runner type reels, but the downside is it becomes heavy to use when coupled with front drag big pit type reels, other than that it's a nice rod to use.
3. Third barbel rod, being the more favoured rod out of the three & most used is the Waterline Team Barbel, measuring 12ft, also comes with a set of five quiver tips & an Avon tip section, have also owned this rod for two years, it's on it's second season of use & so far has never let me down & like the second rod I prefer using the Avon tip section.
This rod is well balanced in the power to weight ratio bracket when coupled with a Shimano bait runner, It's the only rod out of the three that's got an hook holding ring just above the full cork handle which also has the usual screw type reel seat, that is most commonly used on modern rod builds, this rod retailed at £50.00, when I brought it.
More than anything to say about the other rods in my armoury, this rod has handled a double figure barbel to perfection, soaking up all the lunges thrown at it by that fish as if it were just a snagged plastic bag or what I'd assumed was just rolling drift weed, but allowing me to let the fish run when it wanted to, during the fight & what better way is there to test it's performance. than to achieve a personal best.
Another good thing about this rod is that it handles leads heavier than 6oz, has if they were just about half of that weight.
The last thing I'll say about this tool of the trade is "I wouldn't part with it for anything else" & not because of what it's assisted me with achieving but just for the fact of it's well balanced performance action. If I were on the market for another barbel rod, I'd deffo go for another one of these.
Landing net handle:
When I were on the market for a new landing net handle, I decided to go for the Drennan Super Specialist twist lock at 3 metres which is an ideal sized handle, exactly what I were looking for, also being the only available choice at the time and not has heavy as some make it out to be, but generally the handle to have or so I thought.
Putting it through the paces on it's first season were simple to use & great to get on with, but after eight good sessions, the bush & bung failed, so much has to say it got stuck solid.
Now fully extended at 3 metres is a bit too long to carry home, so having got a bank side assistant to help fold it back down, annoyingly the outer section split down one side & so a return to the shop where purchased, resulted in a season long wait for a replacement, which then just cost me the charge of postage & packaging for said replacement, OK the bush & bung design has been modified on the new handle & thankfully I've not had any problems with it since.
Landing Net:
I'd recommend going for the larger net which is 36", all in all, a good net & the most user friendly triangular net to assemble, that I've come across, so far.
Reels I use for barbel fishing:
At the moment in time, I'm using a pair of Shimano 500re baitrunners & a Daiwa baitrunner, because they are lightweight & compact reels that are easy to use, I find no problem with setting the drag on these reels but prefer playing fish off the handle, only because of other reels I've used in the past let me down with crack offs & jamming up, so using the handle to play fish has become a must for me.
Also these reels are all rear drag & have a superb line lay with anti-line twist.
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