Just wanted some opinions on what i should be looking for...

mainline will be 6-10 lb test
chub and barbel being the target species

not on a tight budget but i dont want to be paying hundreds

your suggestions please people ty

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A drennan mark III tench rod.
Basically it is a float rod designed for big fish.

Or an avon type rod using the normal top section.
I use a Drennan super specialist rod for heavy float fishing and it is fine.

There are also plenty of Barbel rods knocking about but dont know much about them.
By the looks of them they are relabelled avon rods!!!!!!!!

my local tackle shop have been singing the praises of these:-

http://www.greysfishing.com/

I've had a feel of it, and it is light as a feather....bit pricey though

tight lines

There is one and only rod I, Chris Plumb, and people in-the-know would recommend.

The Harrison 15ft GTi float rod (hollow tip).

The extra length gives superb line control, and is a lovely rod ideal for long trotting.

Mine is a custom-build by Fosters Of Birmingham, which cost about £160, but you can have the standard build for cheaper.

http://www.harrisonrods.co.uk/Floatrods.htm
http://www.harrisonrods.co.uk/prolist.htm

I asked a similar question a while back and Chris did indeed recommend the Harrison but due to its limited availability at the time I opted for the 15/17' Carbonactive on (seemingly long since departed) Dragonbats advice. Up until this Summer I was convinced I'd made a bad decision but a couple of days fishing on the Roach stuffed River Scariff in Ireland has changed my mind. I think that if you want to enjoy your trotting to the max you might need to be prepared to spend a bit as the 15' length definately gives you an advantage in float control and the good ones don't come too cheaply. I wouldn't mind a try of a Harrison mind and I might just convince myself that I need yet another rod....

ok cheers guys
15ft that must take some getting used to ??

I have a Drennan Tench Float rod, just love it, really strong rod and one I would recommend.

lyn

The Drennan is a nice rod (I know, I've got one of those too!). But the extra length of a 15 footer is really useful when controlling the position of a float way downstream. The Tench Float is, I think, only 12'9".

Chris Plumb showed me how to trot a float properly and it's not just about letting the float trundle off downstream at it's own pace going where it wants to. With the 15' you can hold all of the line off the water even when the float is way downstream, pull the float back a metre or two, hold the float back until it swings round a little, then let it trot down again. You have total control over where your ends up which is really useful for positioning the float to sit under or trot under a tree for example. It also showed the benefits of Berkley Fireline, which is a superb braid for float-fishing (4lb braid=1lb diameter)!

Glenn - you are too kind - but really when it comes to Harrison Float rods we're all worshipping at the alter of Alan Tomkins!!! Alan used to have a review of these rods somewhere on the net - for the life of me I can't find it atm - thought it used to be on the Harrison Rods site :confused:


C.

Alans article doesn't appear to be on the current version of the site, but I've found it in an archive

Mat - (still saving up for my harrison 15')


web.archive.org/web/20040214022520/...k/Floatrods.htm