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There seems to be a fair bit of rod talk going on on the forum just recently and with a bit of chit chat about Tricast rods. Anyhow, I went to have a look at a Tricast 13ft John Allerton Waggler rod yesterday and finished up bringing it home with me mg:.
As you can imagine I was eager to get out and give it a workout this afternoon . Things didn't look too promising with the threat of heavy rain and the nasty winds blowing about. Things didn't look good on the river either when after trying numerous swims with no bites and then I eventually hooked a fish it promptly came off . Another few barren swims later and "at last" I hooked a fish but again it was a long release and I was feeling a little dejected to say the least. I decided to return to my very first swim for one last go before I sulked off home. This swim was a long shallow run and I could trott over 80 yards if need be. The depth was about 2 to 3ft so I slid the float to about 6ft depth and kept the float from pulling under by holding it back just enough so the pressure of the water pushed the line below it and dragged the bait and weighs along the bottom. My plan worked and the float twitched a bit and them slid sideways beneath the surface, I struck into a fish that shook it's head a few times then my line went solid....bloody chubs got in a snag I thought. I allowed the line to go slack a little hoping to encourage the chub to move which it did and it powered for the bank side cover, "effin' big chub this" I thought to myself...blimey, a record chub lol. This was the rods first fish and it was certainly having it's metal tested ! I landed the fish ok and it was a chunky little barbel so a great fish to christen the rod with . Very next trott through and the float slid under again and another barbel came to the net. Several trotts through later and another barbel came to the net . It was another ten or more minutes before the float went under again and another barbel was hooked, problem was it was foul hooked in it's pelvic fin and was a nightmare to get in. Anyone familiar with catching barbel on the float rod will most likely have had the odd few foul hooked fish and will know just how awkward it is when you've played the fish out and then it just floats up to the surface and you have to try and drag it upstream against the flow...gotta watch you don't snap your rod! I did get the fish but just removed the hook with a small scissor forcep as it was in the water in front of me, as soon as the hook was out it bolted off giving me a shower. I left the other three resting in the landing net so was able to take a pic of them all together.....
one..
two...
all three...
I did get one small chub just before I came home....
Overall the rod was nice to use but the handle which was a concern of mine did prove to be a little uncomfortable (for me at least), maybe i'll get used to it but it's deffo not as good in the hand as my other rod handles. The rod had a good amount of power and a nice progressive action which went into a nice through action under pressure. I need to use the rod a few times really to get a true feel of it but going off today it's a very capable rod and coped with the barbel well enough, I look forward to giving it another go especially in the summer months and with larger barbel.
As you can imagine I was eager to get out and give it a workout this afternoon . Things didn't look too promising with the threat of heavy rain and the nasty winds blowing about. Things didn't look good on the river either when after trying numerous swims with no bites and then I eventually hooked a fish it promptly came off . Another few barren swims later and "at last" I hooked a fish but again it was a long release and I was feeling a little dejected to say the least. I decided to return to my very first swim for one last go before I sulked off home. This swim was a long shallow run and I could trott over 80 yards if need be. The depth was about 2 to 3ft so I slid the float to about 6ft depth and kept the float from pulling under by holding it back just enough so the pressure of the water pushed the line below it and dragged the bait and weighs along the bottom. My plan worked and the float twitched a bit and them slid sideways beneath the surface, I struck into a fish that shook it's head a few times then my line went solid....bloody chubs got in a snag I thought. I allowed the line to go slack a little hoping to encourage the chub to move which it did and it powered for the bank side cover, "effin' big chub this" I thought to myself...blimey, a record chub lol. This was the rods first fish and it was certainly having it's metal tested ! I landed the fish ok and it was a chunky little barbel so a great fish to christen the rod with . Very next trott through and the float slid under again and another barbel came to the net. Several trotts through later and another barbel came to the net . It was another ten or more minutes before the float went under again and another barbel was hooked, problem was it was foul hooked in it's pelvic fin and was a nightmare to get in. Anyone familiar with catching barbel on the float rod will most likely have had the odd few foul hooked fish and will know just how awkward it is when you've played the fish out and then it just floats up to the surface and you have to try and drag it upstream against the flow...gotta watch you don't snap your rod! I did get the fish but just removed the hook with a small scissor forcep as it was in the water in front of me, as soon as the hook was out it bolted off giving me a shower. I left the other three resting in the landing net so was able to take a pic of them all together.....
one..
two...
all three...
I did get one small chub just before I came home....
Overall the rod was nice to use but the handle which was a concern of mine did prove to be a little uncomfortable (for me at least), maybe i'll get used to it but it's deffo not as good in the hand as my other rod handles. The rod had a good amount of power and a nice progressive action which went into a nice through action under pressure. I need to use the rod a few times really to get a true feel of it but going off today it's a very capable rod and coped with the barbel well enough, I look forward to giving it another go especially in the summer months and with larger barbel.