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A Fishing Rod for Every Season

How many fishing rods do you own, and how many do you need? A recent stock take caused me to realise that 'enough is never enough', especially when it comes to split cane bamboo rods.

My recent blogs about traditional angling evolution, angling image and traditional fishing tackle checklist prompted me to review the tackle I have and wonder whether I have too much or not enough.

As an angler who fishes for different species of fish at different times of year, I use a broad range of tactics and tackle. This means that I've ammassed rather a lot over the years. Sadly I've sold more than half of what I once had. All my expensive and collectable items have gone, sold to fund Priory projects and to keep me going through lean times. I'm left with my regularly used and sentimental items only.

Never enough rods

Fishing rods, especially, have specific functions – both in catching fish and allowing me to angle in certain ways (some of which relate to tactics, and others to the message or image I want to convey). There was a time when I had more than sixty rods,  covering everything from brook fly fishing to large reservoirs and salmon spey casting, to heavy pike and carp rods, to light float and leger rods, and finally to spinning rods. A rod for each condition, fish specie, and season.

Today I have 'only' 27 fishing rods, but I'm mindful that I need to purchase more – both to replace one's I've sold or to fit my future angling needs. I reckon I need another 22 rods (unless I do the obvious and use a rod for more than one purpose). And whilst split cane bamboo rods are absolutely my first choice, I don't use it exclusively, knowing that more modern fibreglass and carbon rods are capable of casting further. 

I absolutely definitely need them

Of course, the more I think about buying new split cane bamboo rods the more I crave and desperately, urgently, need them. They're not 'wants', you understand. They're absolutely, definitely, needs. But it's not just split cane rods that get me tingling. There are other rods on my list, too.

For example: the new Hardy Glass 8ft fly rod that I saw in Farlows. Oooh baby. It's almost identical in construction and action to my other 8ft fibreglass fly rods. But it has a lovely golden cane colour. I've got to have it. And the Bruce & Walker Hexagraph Avons. Oooooh. Too expensive for me, and questionable whether they're any better than the real thing, but oh so very alluring. But cane rods have the biggest place in my heart, especially the new split cane fly rods made by Andrew Davis, Luke Bannister, Rawson & Perrin, Callum Gladstone, Gary Marshall, and – of course – the world's best split cane rodmaker Edward Barder. What's a man to do when he's surrounded by so much temptation – and perfection?

My head follows my heart, leading towards overdrawn bank accounts and maxed-out credit cards. My book sales might be good, but they're not that good. So I'm back to trawling eBay and car boot sales for bargains, and taking all the writing jobs I can get.

Stock take

Mrs H thinks more rationally than I. She doesn't mind me getting more tackle if it's to be used. But I'm in trouble if I buy something that gathers dust. The starting point, she instructed me, was to list all the rods I currently own. Only then would I be able to see which ones I still use, which ones I treasure, and which ones are redundant. (Heaven help me if I discovered ones I didn't know I'd got.) So I removed all my rods from the hooks under their hanging shelf, took them from their bags, and laid them out on the lawn. What follows is a list of every rod I own, its fate, and my thoughts of what rods I need to get.

Fly rods

Carbon and fibreglass fly rods

1. Custom Bruce & Walker Hexagraph. 9ft, 7-9 weight line. For sea trout and carp on the fly. Soft actioned rod that requires double-hauling to generate line speed. Likely to replace with a faster actioned Hardy, Sage or Orvis.
2. Bruce & Walker Hexagraph Trout Traditional. 9ft, 5-7 weight line. Soft actioned rod, not as crisp as cane, better with 5 weight line. Used for mid-size river fishing. Likely to replace with a Hardy Glass fly rod.
3. Bruce & Walker Hexagraph Walker salmon spey fly rod. 14ft, 10-12 weight line. Really nice looking but heavy and makes a loud 'swoosh' on forward cast. I've only used it once, so will probably sell it.
4. Sage RPL+. 10ft, 7 weight line. Used for loch-style boat fishing, sea trout and carp on the fly. A really strong rod that loads well and casts a long line. A little heavy in the hand compared to more modern Sage rods. Likely to replace.
5. Orvis Frequent Flyer travel fly rod. 9ft, 6 weight line. This is the fly rod I use more than any other. The action is superb and it casts long lines with tight loops. As a travel rod it packs down into my rucksack, so ideal for using when hiking to remote mountain Llyns here in Wales.
6. Daiwa Pro Fly travel fly rod. 9ft 6in, 5-7 weight line. This is the rod that's left in the car for impromtu fishing sessions. It's a soft-actioned rod that loads best with a 7 weight line. Will probably replace with an Orvis or Hardy 7 weight.
7. Unknown maker 'Brook Fly'. 6ft 6in, 2 weight line. Little Lady's fly rod.
8. Unknown maker. 7ft, 5 weight line. Fibreglass. Inherited from my uncle. Used on special occasions.
9. Unknown maker. 7ft, 5 weight line. Fibreglass. Inherited from my uncle. Used on special occasions.
10. Daiwa Whisker Fly. 8ft 6in, 4-5 weight line. Good mid-sized river and small stillwater rod. Mrs H's fly rod.
11. Hardy Richard Walker Farnborough. 9ft, 7-8 weight line. Heirloom inherited from my uncle. Lovely rod for small stilwaters, kept for special occasions.
12. Shakespeare Sigma Supra. 9ft, 7-8 weight. This was the first rod I owned (prior to this I'd used my father's and grandfather's rods). It was bought for my 13th birthday. Has caught more fish than all my other rods combined. Retired in 2007.

Split cane bamboo fly rods

1. R Sealey's 'Tudor Lightweight'. 7ft 6in, 4 weight line. Nice 'flick about' brook rod.
2. R Brandreth, Derby. 7ft twin tip, 4-5 weight line. My go-to split cane rod for small rivers. The river fly rod I most use.
3. R Brandreth, Derby 'Piscatoria'. 7ft, 4-weight. My brook and small river dry fly rod.
4. Falcon 'The Gem'. 9ft, 5-6 weight. The Brookes Special, as it was a gift from my friend Bob Brookes. My medium river rod, used for grayling on the Dee and trout on the Itchen. I really like this rod.
5. Unknown maker, 'The Windrush'. 8ft, 5 weight. Was given to me by a colleague who knew I loved fishing. Restored by me in 2008. Nice memories of using this rod on the Windrush for trout.

Landing net poles

Bamboo landing net poles

1. Jason White of Dorset 'Evening Rise', complete with walking stick point. 4ft. Used with matching Cabtree ash hoop net when fly fishing. Excellent net. I really love it.
2. 'The Priest', 2ft 6in wading net and salmon priest. Built by me in 2008.
3. Ernest Hudson's net pole. 3ft flamed bamboo. Inherited from my grandfather, restored by me in 2008.
4. Sharpe's gaff, net pole with cork handle. 5ft. Restored by me in 2008. Used for wild carp. Inscribed with the words: 'May the weight of such great fish never break this net'. It broke on its first outing when netting a minnow from the margins of a lake.
5. Flamed bamboo pole, 4ft. Used to land my first fish. Restored by me in 2008.
6. Flamed bamboo pole, 5ft. Nice vintage look and feel. To be used when fishing from a punt.
7. Two-piece 'Beauchamp Court' whole cane pole. 7ft. Used for barbel on the lower Severn during the late nineties. Restored by me in 2008. Will start using this again on the Hants Avon.

Coarse fishing rods

Split cane bamboo, and greenheart, coarse fishing rods

1. Chapman's 'Avon'. 12ft three-piece. Used for barbel fishing. Similar in action to the early/prototype three-piece Barder 'Barbus Maximus' but without the hollow-built butt section.
2. R Sealey 'Precise'. 12ft, three-piece float rod. Inherited from my grandfather. Restored by Edward Barder in 1995. Used only on special occasions.
3. Dawson's of Bromley 'Sabina'. 11ft, three-piece. Used for float-fishing for perch and grayling. Restored by me in 2008.
4. Chester, maker. 11ft greenheart pike rod. Inherited from my great-great grandfather. Previously used on the Severn at Bridgnorth. Retired in 1972.
5. Hardy LRH No. 1. 10ft, two-piece. Used for carp. Restored by Paul Cook in 2007. Has a dodgy new (modern) butt ring, but performs brilliantly. Very crisp actioned rod. Stronger than a MKIV carp.
6. Hardy LRH No. 1. 10ft, two-piece. To be used for carp. (Restoration project: needs new tip ring and whipping/varnishing.) Bugs me that the screw reel fitting is in a different location to the one above, but I can live with it. I think.
7. B James Richard Walker MKIV Carp. 10ft 2in, two-piece. Used for carp. Rebuilt by me in 2008 following it's fracture while salmon spinning. Appeared on the cover of the magazine version of Traditional Angling.
8. AE Rudge 'The Streamline'. 10ft, two-piece. Used for carp and pike. Really strong cane. To be restored by me at some time. Would like to get another one of these.
9. Sharpes Scottie spinning rod. 8ft, two-piece two tone impregnated cane. Used for stalking wild carp. Likely to replace with custom 9ft split cane wild carp rod.
10. Sharpes Scottie spinning rod. 8ft, two piece blonde cane. Used for spinning for pike and salmon, and stalking carp.

Enough rods?

How does my list compare to yours? Are there any glaring omissions in my collection? Do you know of better models for the job intended? Did it surprise you to learn that my most-used fly rod is made of carbon? Or that I have more fly rods than coarse rods? Please let me know in the comments box below. Thank you!

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