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.

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.

Yes, like Andy say restrict it to less feathers (3 would be good) and you will get away with using a spinning rod. However, you will have much more fun if (as you plan to do later anyway) you just use a single lure. If the fish are there in numbers you will soon catch enough to eat anyway, even with just a single lure. If you're luck is in you might also get a decent size bass...

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 and legering on large rivers and lakes (with both bobbins and quivertipping) and finally floatfishing (mainly ol fashioned close range 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 as I have in the past. 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?