Hi all,

I'm new to the forum and relatively new to fishing.

After an unfortunate accident with my float rod I am now looking to replace it. I am ideally wanting a decent float rod that can be used for waggler, polaris and surface fishing and also to be used occasionally as a feeder rod.

From what I can find an avon type rod is what I need (short of buying two rods)

BTW, I already have a Shimano carp rod which I use for ledgering.

I mainly fish commercial fisheries for carp up to 18lb (more commonly 5-10lb) and also catch reasonable size tench and bream. I may also have a go at river fishing in the future although I am told there are no Barbel in the rivers near me.

I have seen numerous recommendations for the John Wilson Signature Avon Quiver system and it seems to suit my needs, I am just a bit wary of the weak reel seat that so many have commented on. After looking at one in my local tackle shop I can see what people mean as it just looks like a poorly designed part which lets down an otherwise great rod.

I have also been looking at Shimano Nexave Classic Barbel rod and the Shimano Catana Classic Barbel rod which both have a 1.5lb TC whereas the JW Avon has a 1.25lb TC.

All the above rods can be found in my £50 to £100 price range

Can someone give me a recommendation or tell me if I am looking at the right rods for my needs. I like the look and quality of the Shimano but find more recommendations for the John Wilson.

Many thanks for your help.

Guy

Cheers Eddie,

I've already spotted that when looking around and is where I picked up the issues with the poor reel seats.

I'm just in two minds what to go for. I love my Shimano carp rod for its quality feel, the above Shimano's that I have looked at do seem better built than the JW. But I don't want to go and buy another Shimano just on the look and feel of it. If the JW is a better rod for fishing with then I will go for that.

Need to decide soon(ish) so I can try out whichever I buy this weekend when I go fishing.

Maybe consider a heavy-ish 13ft float rod mate, you could get one of these and a feeder rod as well for under £100 then you'd be using rods that are purposely made for the job.

I think shimano do both float and feeder rods for under £50.

That is always an option but as I cant ever see myself using a float rod and a feeder rod at the same time I thought spending more a one 'multi use' rod would be better than two cheaper rods. Plus I would need an extra reel etc.

Oh decisions decisions

Would you want a quiver tip to the rod?

If not, Free Spirit do a nice 11 or 12 foot, the Specialist Advanced for around £100, see here.

And if you decide you do want a quiver you can get one later for the same rod. 

Thanks for the response Woody,

 I had looked at just buying another float rod but seeing as I used to do both ledger and float fishing with my old rod the Avon type seemed a good option as I would then be able to ledger with the feeder tip instead of using the polaris float for it.

To be honest I would like to have a go with a feeder rod as although I enjoy float fishing, the feeder will give me good experience of another aspect of fishing as I am still learning at the moment.

The Avon packs just seem a good all round package and will save me buying too much gear at the moment.

Also when I looked at float rods that would be strong enough for the bigger carp I found most were fast action and from what I understand you loose a lot of feel/enjoyment in playing the fish when compared to the progressive action of the Avon rod. I have noticed when I catch smaller carp on my 2.75lb carp rod there isn't as much fun involved in playing the fish as the rod is so stiff. My old float rod (Middy match) would bend right to the butt and would be much more enjoyable.

Is an Avon rod a good buy or will a separate float and feeder rod really be much better?

Whatever style of fishing you do the most of Garfie, then I'd get the rod for that job first and foremost mate.

An avon rod will suffice for float fishing but if you want to use lighter lines, or cast smaller floats a reasonable distance then a standard float rod will do the job much better!

Likewise a purpose made feeder rod will enable you to see bites better than a standard avon top. That said, many many rods will do more than 1 job mate and the JW avon I think is one of them. Many people swear by them for a multitude of uses, so they are defo a good buy, I personally prefer to use the right rod for the job.

Garfie, if its definiteley the avon~quiver type rod youre looking for an alternative to the JW could be the Korum neoteric avon~quiver 12 foot. 2, 4 and 6oz quivers and avon top too. 1.75lb test curve and a nice rod it is.

Maybe a little more expensive than the JW but a similar rod. £120 rrp but you should pick one up for less than your limit.

New thread started

Check out the Harrison Sulis quiver Avon rod.

Quality!!

welcome to the site , I own a Chub outcast  12ft twin tip rod and it has 2  tips  a  2oz   and  a  5oz  tip  and  you can use  reel  lines  up  to 15lb  and if  you dont want  to use the tips the rod can be used  for surface fishing  or general fishing also chub say that this rod wont snap when fishing for big carp also you can get the rod for about  £80.00  i hope that helps you out .

Gafie.

Despite the iffy reel seat on the Wilson rod, I would still go for one.  I have another Avon rod which I paid £180 for.   Out of the two.  It's the Wislon rod first time every time for me. 

TIDALWAVE wrote (see)

Drennan series 7 specialist twin top avon quiver

I've got a pair of these, they seem to be the dog's danglies........!

But as the others have said, any Avon type rod is going to be a compromise, so if you don't mind that go ahead.