Rod Material Evolution......

[laguna]

The company are now at a cross roads in their development stage of the root vegetable derivatives - all kinds, not just carrots.
But rather than make finished goods such as fishing rods, it appears they are marketing the granular raw materials for use in a whole range of different products instead such as paint additives, concrete, makeup, food and various composites.

They claim it is twice as strong as Carbon fibre when impregnated with specialised resins? but without any comparable specifics on weight and strength, it's impossible to verify what is being claimed.

The potential could be huge or it could be just a 'carrot dangler', I'm pretty sure it's not, but as anyone who has spent time being involved in the development of a product of some versatility will surely know; an obvious question would arise in the Marketing department... what market and products should we aim for first, and what direction should the company go?
The versatility of such a product might suggest 'everywhere' - and by virtue 'nowhere' fast - so the obvious answer would be to simply sell the raw material (MFC) to various manufacturers instead: Curran®

N.B We're not into manufacturing fishing rods but if we were, I'd certainly want to look into it and also composites and durable sustainably sourced/biodegradable packaging materials might be of some interest too.

Edit. Search Google for "Microfibrillated Cellulose" for more info

YouTube

 

[Mark Wintle]

Graphene is the material of the future for the ultimate rod but given that the few rods available are fly rods costing from £500 to £1,000 maybe we won't see a match rod just yet.

 

[no-one in particular]

When I mentioned ‘Carrot fibre’ earlier I was not joking, it was being discussed in its early stages by engineers back in 2007 and it was not an April fools joke either, here’s an article of news referring to this on the Herald newspaper:

Why your next fishing rod could be made of carrots | HeraldScotland

It certainly doesn’t appear to have progressed a lot although I have read elsewhere about a couple of fly rods that were made out of carrot fibre.

Does anyone have any more info regards Carrot fibre fishing rods? or was it (as I suspect) not such a breakthrough as it was first thought?

Keith

I am only half sure there was a discussion about this some while ago on here and a picture of said carrot rods were on offer. Not sure but I think it was an advert.

PS-I wonder when carbon fibre rods will take over as traditional fishing

 

[bullet]

I think Century have brought out a Graphene lure rod as well.

 

[108831]

Cant understand,why do you need a graphene lure rod,carbon ones are light,responsive and thin in profile,trying to develop something tbat isnt really needed imv...

 

[steve2]

Century also have a range of Graphene carp rods for around the £500. Just the thing if you want to be one up on your neighbour. Suppose to be lighter but seeing that the rod will spend 99% of its time sitting in a rod rest does weight matter when it will have a big heavy reel attached.

 

[sam vimes]

I think Century have brought out a Graphene lure rod as well.

Century have "Graphene" carp rods too. However, the reality is that they are carbon rods with the addition of a small amount of graphene. I dread to think what a rod or reel made with a significant amount of graphene might cost.

 

[hague01]

Wow, I feel old looking at these.
I started with a tank wireless mast made up as a 2 piece, cork handle, about 8' I seem to recall in the mid 50's..Didn't catch with that either!
No, before someone asks,I don't want to buy one! Alec
ps. On the graphene front Daiwa seem happy to have carbon rods which are dearer than some graphine carp rods

 

[108831]

Very,very true...

 

[Aknib]

Not sure everyone's overly enamoured with the carrot thing...

 

[steve2]

I started with a tank wireless mast made up as a 2 piece, cork handle, about 8' I seem to recall in the mid 50's.

I had the same but that was progress from the garden cane.

 

[John Keane]

Graphene is the material of the future for the ultimate rod but given that the few rods available are fly rods costing from £500 to £1,000 maybe we won't see a match rod just yet.

Scott Mackenzie makes salmon fishing rods with the addition of graphene to put the price tag over a grand a rod...



...they break!

 

[no-one in particular]

I think rods will become too unbalanced as they become almost weightless which seems to be the desire unless they make reels to match. Personally I don’t find carbon very balanced in relation to the reels I use either; I don't worry about it much but they never feel quite right.

 

[108831]

Honestly Mark,the trouble is it is dependant on the reel being used,i prefer a 4000 sized reel for floatfishing and feedering(and barbel fishing on the rivers i fish),so reels are quite often heavier than tbe optimum,a pin too is heavy,the rod tip should lift slowly if perfectly balanced,being honest,i would just fish and not notice,how a rod under ten feet long needs to be lighter these days is difficult for me to comprehend...

 

[John Keane]

Honestly Mark,the trouble is it is dependant on the reel being used,i prefer a 4000 sized reel for floatfishing and feedering(and barbel fishing on the rivers i fish),so reels are quite often heavier than tbe optimum,a pin too is heavy,the rod tip should lift slowly if perfectly balanced,being honest,i would just fish and not notice,how a rod under ten feet long needs to be lighter these days is difficult for me to comprehend...

2500 & 3000 sized reels for me in Baitrunners and Match reels, small is beautiful as long as it’s got a wider diameter spool to avoid too much coiling.

 

[hague01]

I was fortunate to spent a day with roger macourtney of peregine rods back in Septemember when he was kind enough to take me on the Wye with him.We spent a lot of time discussing rods.Those who know him will be aware he is a man of strong views which he is not reluctant to share, invited or not.He seemed firmly of the opinion that with a good blank such as a harrison, but not that make exclusively, they had got it about right.He did not have a high opinion of some of my favorites either, and explained why, but somehow I was left with the view he rather enjoyed his reputation and worked towards maintaining it too.If you are in the market for rods, at the higher end, I can do no better than say give him a call.He has made two for me this autumn which are beyond words, IMHO, and I have had a few top end rods in the last 10 years.
I do agree with the comments on reels though. I even compare weights.I find the heavier the rod, the better they balance a heavier reel.Just me perhaps.

 

[no-one in particular]

Honestly Mark,the trouble is it is dependant on the reel being used,i prefer a 4000 sized reel for floatfishing and feedering(and barbel fishing on the rivers i fish),so reels are quite often heavier than tbe optimum,a pin too is heavy,the rod tip should lift slowly if perfectly balanced,being honest,i would just fish and not notice,how a rod under ten feet long needs to be lighter these days is difficult for me to comprehend...

To be fair I don’t take much care or notice with what reel I use, maybe I should but I just feel they don’t balance with the rod as much say when I have occasionally used cane rods, which is probably because they are heavier. It just makes me think the future materials will probably put an emphasis on lighter still which there may be a downside with the reels. I don’t see the point of going any lighter but it will probably be the selling point unless they prove superior playing qualities as well but, that will be just too fine a point to really make much difference from carbon rods I would imagine. But it will be the latest thing and considered progress and maybe it will be, I just have doubts.

 

[hague01]

I agree.I suppose my most expensive rod at RRP recently was the daiwa ags air feeder I got last year.It was incredibly light and so thin as to be staggering.It did what it said on the tin and i caught some serious carp on it. But all the time I had a fight on,( by my standards, a mid teen angry carp) I was asking myself when it would go.It never did.I felt the doubts in my mind meant, thin was great but didn't give me peace of mind.After the fight to say" I dont believe what it just did" is great, but! I went on to the guru aventus, not quite as slim, almost as light so i found them more comforting to use, physically and mentally. I look forward next year to putting them up against the 2 peregrines which are a bit beefier again.

 

[hague01]

I suppose someone will advise how to correctly bend a pin soon!
I thought I had a one off with the ariel too! Paid 2/6 p for it and sold when i left school in 1960 for five bob. That's about the only rod i made a profit on.( One exception since but that's all).
I did have the bakelite reels too at about 2 bob! How I lusted after a fixed spool reel but only rich kids had those! ha!

 

[sam vimes]

It's fascinating to read what some folks consider light to be. I'm also incredibly wary when people say a rod is well balanced. There's nothing to define what well balanced might actually mean. I've been handed lots of rods over the years that the owners (or a salesman) have told me were light and well balanced. Sometimes they were one or the other, but often they were neither. Sadly, I think an awful lot of anglers don't handle anywhere near enough rods to offer particularly valuable advice in this respect. Before anyone takes offence at that, it's not intended as a slight to anyone. I also consider that many of the supposedly professional reviewers talk total rubbish, but they don't have any excuse.

Having recently acquired a decent set of kitchen scales, I've just had a geek session (it's winter and I can't be bothered to go fishing!). I make no claims for the scales being perfectly accurate, but they are adequate enough for a general idea. Naturally, they are just bare weight figures, they take no account of the balance of the rod. Some heavier weight rods can actually feel lighter in hand than some lighter ones. In one case in particular, bare weight figures suggest that some claims made for them are absolute rubbish.

The following are all 13' rods:-
Browning Sphere Match --------------------------- 144g
Drennan Acolyte Ultra ----------------------------- 146g
Drennan Acolyte Plus ------------------------------ 150g
Maver Matchwinner Liquid Crystal ---------------- 177g
Normark Microlight II ------------------------------ 177g
Normark Titan II ----------------------------------- 178g
Shimano Speedcast ------------------------------- 193g
Daiwa (Tom Pickering) Matchwinner-S Waggler - 195g
Daiwa (Tom Pickering Matchwinner Waggler ----- 195g
Daiwa Air AGS ------------------------------------- 205g
Shimano Aerocast --------------------------------- 219g

The Aerocast is well known to be a right porker. Despite this, I love them for their action. Unsurprisingly, I don't use them for trotting. They do make for a very good comparison in this list. The two Daiwa Matchwinners were included because they are approaching 30 years old and aren't particularly lauded as being good, or light, rods. It was interesting to me that they were the same weight. The later S version is noticeably thinner and feels lighter in hand. The two Normarks surprised me a little, they feel comparable to the Acolyte/Sphere in hand. I suspect that the large rubber Fuji butt cap adds a fair amount of the extra weight, but it does improve the balance. The Air AGS also surprised me. By no means is it a bad rod. It also feels ok in hand. However, how the marketing men, or anyone reviewing it, can claim that it's lightweight is quite beyond me.

Here are a few longer rods that may give lie to some of the less realistic claims for some of the above rods being lightweight.

15' Drennan Acolyte Ultra ---------------- 168g
15' Drennan Acolyte Plus ----------------- 169g
15' Maver Signature Pro Classic ---------- 179g
15'6" Browning Sphere Splice Tip River - 184g
17' Drennan Acolyte Float ---------------- 199g

The fact that the 17' Drennan Acolyte is lighter than the 13' Daiwa Air AGS I find rather amusing.