Kevlar rods

[chesters1]

I wonder why they dont use silk as the fibre its far stronger than anything we can make

I suppose the hard bit is training bugs to make cocoons rod shaped

Edited August 29, 2013 by chesters1

[Sportsman]

I have a couple of friends in Scotland who have rods built on Winston boron blanks. They are very nice rods and they rave about them. The fact is that if I had paid what they paid I would make sure that I raved about them, even if I didn't really like them. No-one wants to look silly.

 

They could have had a truly superb rod for not much more than half the price here

http://www.davidnorwich.com/DavidNorwichIntroduction.htm

I have fished with the Winston Boron and the Norwich rods are much, much better in every way.

 

I have been on at him for quite a while to use his expertise to make a float rod blank.

Now that would be something.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Sportsman

[robtherake]

I hate to admit it, but the thing that first made me want one of the fox barbel rods was the way it looked...! Soooo pretty.

 

Guilty as sin, too Glad I bought mine when they were still cheap; they've doubled in price since then, and it was only about 18 months ago.

[Anderoo]

My 'new' fox kevlex specialist rod has now turned up, and the blank looks exactly the same as the kevlars, just a different colour (maroon instead of grey). I wonder how different they are really...? The fixtures and fittings are a bit different, maybe that's all there is to it?

 

It should be very versatile as it has a 0.5lb tc solid tip, a 0.75lb tc solid tip, and a 0.6lb tc quivertip section with 5 tips ranging from 0.5oz - 2oz

 

It's a lovely looking rod, should be just the thing for the winter roach, and also ideal if I ever get around to a proper crucian campaign somewhere.

[robtherake]

Any feedback on the rod, Andrew?

 

I picked up a Duo-lite specialist from the bay today - BIN, £50 and completely mint. Hopefully it's going to be just the job for those elusive big roach/ escapologists in my "secret" lake! It's been closed for a couple of months for work to be carried out - a small syndicate has taken it over, but (luckily) I know the guy in charge, so I can still fish it. I'll let you know how I get on with both rod and roach!

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/fishing-rod-/251358711953?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT&nma=true&si=ZDpC9d2FCtRmGchKrHRbV4gYhQc%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Edited October 17, 2013 by robtherake

[Anderoo]

Wow, that's a very good price, you're lucky I hadn't spotted it! I think getting a second kevlex will be very hard so I will probably end up getting a duo lite specialist, if I see one for a fair price.

 

No real feedback on the kevlex yet, I've had one short go with it and it seems to have the right combination of enough backbone to cope easily with feeders but delicate enough to show gentle bites. With the rain I'm hoping the river will be right for roach soon, and then I'll put it through its paces!

[robtherake]

When the Duo-lite Specialist was unpacked and put together it surprised me that the "lite" part of its name is misleading; in fact, side-by-side with an Avon Duo, there was no appreciable difference in weight at all. On the scales, the Avon Duo weighs in at 7.5oz, the Duo-lite Specialist slightly heavier at 8oz - work that one out!

 

It also seemed stiffer than expected. I put both rods together, added reels and threaded them up. With 7.5 oz of weight hanging from the tip of each rod the Duo-lite had a greater deflection but not by nearly as much as expected, considering that the test curve of the specialist is, at 8oz, half that of the Avon.

 

Musing on this, a couple of things came to mind. The Avons are now eight years old and, as my tool of choice in a lot of fishing situations must inevitably have softened a bit, but surely not by almost half - there's no appreciable difference in use. The second thing, I'm not so sure of. As supplied, is a rod generally stiffer than its stated test curve, allowing for it to mellow during use?

 

Anyhow, musings aside, I took the rod for a morning session on a local lake, hoping for crucians, but expecting carp of some kind even if they didn't show.

Sadly, the crucians were noticeable only by their absence, but a succession of hard-fighting commons to just under double figures provided the the rod with a reasonably stern test. Happily, the rod performed faultlessly, with a lovely soft tip soaking up lunges without any drama and a surprising amount of power in the butt section dealing with more spirited runs. I had to really clamp down on a couple of fish to stop them rounding the small island in front of me, but there was enough power in the butt section to stop them in their tracks completely. Not bad for a rod that's designed with smaller species in mind.

With the solid tip in place an easy flick sent the 25g flat method feeder 40 yards or so to the island margin. I suspect that a 70 yard cast with the same payload wouldn't be out of the question, which gives the rod a flexibility of use which was quite unexpected.

 

So far, so good, then. Not quite what I bought the rod for, but it passed this particular test with flying colours.

[Phone]

Rob,

 

I suspect the "colonies are corrupting UK fishing. Medium-heavy, medium, medium-lite and light have more to do with hook setting power than anything else.

 

Phone

[Dick Dastardly]

Thats interesting Phone.Allways thought I was pretty up on US tackle terminology but had allways assumed they reffered to casting weights/rod actions. Live and learn as they say.

[Anderoo]

There's a fair bit on the web about how the duo lite specialists are more powerful than expected, as is my kevlex. Rich and I compared both rods against some barbel rods of 1.5lb tc and Avons of 1.25lb tc, and both specialists were really not that different from the Avons despite claiming to be only 0.5lb tc. Quite surprising. I was going to try to get a second kevlex/kevlar/duo lite for sone spring crucian fishing, but now I think I'll just use one of the Avons.