Drennan matchpro / matchpro ultralight

[Old geezer]

Indeed it does look wonderful. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the 706....

[gozzer]

They look good Steve, let us know how they perform if the rivers ever get back to normal.

 

My only 'beef' is the reel fittings. Why do they all seem to have a fixed position? Not everyones arms are the same length, and an adjustment of a few inches can make all the difference to how they handle to the individual. I can't see it being down to cost.

 

John.

[Steve Walker]

  On 1/31/2013 at 2:17 PM, Old geezer said:

Indeed it does look wonderful. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on the 706....

Looking forward to trying it out - first impressions are that it is nice and compact, reasonably light without feeling flimsy and has an acceptable lack of play in the gears. The ergonomics are good with the anti-reverse and drag controls mounted on the left hand side and there is a neat little switch to lock the gears while you unscrew the winding cup to get at the spool. One thing that will take some getting used to is that unlike my old Silstar, the line release button can rotate independently of the winding cup - which means that it isn't possible to apply drag to it with the finger to slow a running fish. Not a biggie, just means backwinding like a fixed spool. Or using the drag, I suppose!

[Steve Walker]

  On 1/31/2013 at 2:20 PM, gozzer said:

My only 'beef' is the reel fittings. Why do they all seem to have a fixed position? Not everyones arms are the same length, and an adjustment of a few inches can make all the difference to how they handle to the individual. I can't see it being down to cost.

Same design as my other Drennan rods, John. You can't beat the old fashioned sliding rings for ultimate flexibility of reel positioning, but you just don't see them any more. Not unless you fancy buying a Barder cane rod, anyway! Mind you, the fixed position Drennan use works OK for me, and with modern reel seats it's a long time since I had a reel fall off into the water.

[gozzer]

  On 1/31/2013 at 3:03 PM, Steve Walker said:

Same design as my other Drennan rods, John. You can't beat the old fashioned sliding rings for ultimate flexibility of reel positioning, but you just don't see them any more. Not unless you fancy buying a Barder cane rod, anyway! Mind you, the fixed position Drennan use works OK for me, and with modern reel seats it's a long time since I had a reel fall off into the water.

Yes, I've had to dry a few out over the years, and even lost a vintage Ariel, that my Uncle gave me. I daren't tell him as I was only 14.

 

I solved it with a couple of pieces of bike inner tube, don't get cold in winter, and more comfy than bare fittings.

 

John.

Edited January 31, 2013 by gozzer

[Rusty]

  On 1/31/2013 at 3:03 PM, Steve Walker said:

You can't beat the old fashioned sliding rings for ultimate flexibility of reel positioning, but you just don't see them any more. Not unless you fancy buying a Barder cane rod, anyway! Mind you, the fixed position Drennan use works OK for me, and with modern reel seats it's a long time since I had a reel fall off into the water.

Or a Harrsion rod for significantly less, you get the choice of Roberts plastic fittings and nothing's fallen off yet. To be honest once I've positioned a reel with sliding fittings I rarely put it anywhere else so you could argue that there's not a huge benefit but it's nice to be able to decide where the reel goes the first time it's strapped to a rod. It's possible that a rod manufacturer may not position screw fittings exactly where you'd want them but I've found Drennan to be pretty good in that respect.

[Steve Walker]

I have a feeling that I do still have one rod somewhere with sliding fittings, but I can't think which one it is. My old JW Avon/Quiver, maybe?

[Rusty]

Enjoy the combination Steve, if you figure out how the Syncro drag works please let me know.

[Steve Walker]

I believe the correct mode of operation is to screw it right down and backwind!

[Steve Walker]

The Thames still looked out of sorts today, so I had a day elsewhere grayling fishing. Had a dozen grayling, one of which was a netter of about a pound, and four out of season brownies. Absolutely delighted with the rod, superb.

 

Definitely not the tool for dragging big chub out of tree roots, though, given the bend a one pound grayling puts in it! I would be quite happy to use it for chub in more open swims, though. It's exactly what I wanted.

 

Stuck to the Abu today, didn't get my centrepin out. Does the job nicely, didn't take any getting used to at all (except that it always released the line cleanly, which my old one doesn't!)