I’d been looking for a pair of rods between the standard Avon type 1 ¼ lb and the Harrison Graham Marsden Interceptor 12 ft 1 ¾ lb rods. Therefore in reality I was after a pair of rods of 1 ½ TC.
The price range I wanted them in was between £70 –100 each and preferably a length of 12 ft. I wasn’t that bothered whether they came with a quiver tip section or not, as I only ever fish with the Avon style top anyway.

I did a net search of what type of rod was available in the price range I was prepared to pay and found several that I liked. I then looked for shops within an hours drive of Manchester that stocked them.
Northwest Angling Centre Nr Wigan had two make in that I liked, so I drove over to view them in the flesh.

The Shimano Nexave Barbel Classic instantly struck me as the rod I liked, having a fastish taper with plenty of power in the mid to lower section. And they also came with two tops, Avon and a quiver. The price of the rod was even better, RRP price was £89 99 NWAC were doing them for £52 99……..Well at that price I couldn’t come away from the shop without them could I?

So what of the aesthetics of the rod then? Its ringed with a double-legged butt ring the rest being single legged. They are of a sensible size throughout not too big or small, so you get good line run through. Something you need when fishing the far bank on the Ribble, which can be in place 60-70 yds across.
The joints are the over fit type, with adequate whipping (1 ½ inches appox) at the end of the female top section.
The handle is slim cork up to the screw reel fitting with a duplon 2 inch section, housing the nut to finish it off. The rod as you would expect from Shimano has a classy look to it.

On minus side, the reel fitting will not take my centrepin, as the foot is to long for it. This is not a problem for me, as the rods were bought purely for feeder and lead fishing.
For some the single legged rings might be a problem but again, for me they are not, as I prefer them.
The fact that the rod doesn’t come with a threaded ring for attaching a swing tip may again be a problem to some, but this can if you so wish be changed for about £3.

Performance under real fishing conditions is very good: my first fish on these rods was a barbel of 6.5 lb from midway across the Ribble when it was carrying 18in of extra water last Sunday. This fish made a dash for the sunken trees on the far side and the rod stopped it and turned it without any problems at all.
This coming spring and summer I intend to give them a trial both tench and bream fishing on one of the waters I fish, as I think these rods have more to offer than just barbell fishing. I’ll keep you posted on this when the time comes, but until then they can catch me a few more barbel before the season ends on the rivers.

All in all I would recommend these rod at NWAC price to anyone in the market for a good pair of barbel rods

How long is the cork handle?

I bought a pair of shimano nexave barbel power rods for £57.99 each from an rrp of £89.99 from NWAC to. They are great rods for the money and with my two shimano 5000re baitrunners its an excellent offer!

good reveiw phil.it is most helpful and i am a shimano fan and i need look no further at that price.

Phil, does your barbel classic have the isotope rings becaus the the ones on mine seem to have been cut off. I think shimano might of done it because of the problems they sometimes cause.

No Lewis it doesn't.
I use the Drennan Isotopes green bead type fittings with the silicon tube containing the isotope that pushes on to the bead.

These by the way are very good, as they stand at a 90 degree right angle from the rod. Much prefer them than the ones that point slightly forward.

They cost about £9 for 2, plus about 6 X2 bead fittings.

So far my power barbels rods are fine. I compaired all the rods in Leslies of Luton. I had the pleasure of a high budget if I wanted it. But I thought sensibly and chose 2 rods to my specification.....12ft, 1.75 tc, screw reel seat, lined eyes. The main feature I liked was the thin cork handle, it fealt "just right" on the initial pick up. I had been tempted to buy 1 rod only and spend a bit more, but in comparison the Shimano was what I wanted.

Sound like a cracking rods Phil.

From your description, the only recomendation I could give to improve these would be to do away with the single leg rings and put proper, double legged ones on instead.

These days most people carry their rods made up in a quiver, this makes them more prone to bangs and knocks, and possible damage to the rings. I know that I've had to bend a ring back into place more than once, how many times can you do that before it snaps off?

Some say that double rings spoil the action of a rod, but I reckon the difference is negligible.

It seems that most rods have single rings these days. A good example of fashion winning over common sense perhaps!

What an excellent review, there are many rods in this spec and they should be rigorously looked at. Personally it just makes my upgrade harder!!

Taking Phil's advice I got a pair of Nexave Barbel Power rods, excellent for price. I have sold them for Harrisons built by Dave Lumb (11ft gti & 12ft SS12-200).

Couldn't agree more Phill, iv'e had the Nexave Classic now for 3 years and the Nexave Power cant recommend them highly enough for anybody thinking of buying them. Had lots of 9lb+barbel on them and been seen off on 12lb line a few times they have had some real stick over the last 3 years. Great review by the way.

how do the eyes fair up with strong braids? like whiplash or similar?

Yep,I got a pair of these,cant fault them.