I remember back in the days when I did a fair amount of Carp fishing I bought a pair of Carp rods from Leslie’s of Luton which were endorsed by the then well known Carp Angler Robin Maylin and they turned out to be two of the worst Carp rods I had used.
A mate and I went to a Carp conference later that year where Robin Maylin was doing a talk, and when I mentioned to him that I’d bought a couple of his rods he replied “so your the one who bought them”
mg:
No wonder that I haven’t heard his name banded about in Carp circles since.
The only thing that they were any good for was a bit of close range Piking and even then they weren’t that good.
I bought two of the original 11ft John Wilson Avon/Quivers back in the early 80s which were excellent rods in their day, and I still use one of these whenever I’m fishing in very tight swims with a lot of overhanging branches, where my more modern rods could easily be damaged; and the JW Avon/Quivers have taken a lot of punishment over the years without too many complaints.
However it seems that subsequent versions of this rod have not been anywhere near as good as the originals were.
Other rods that I’ve had that were indorsed by well known anglers like my two 11ft fibreglass Jim Gibbinson Clooper Carp rods (which I made myself using a couple of rod kits), my 10ft Richard Walker MKIV split cane Carp rod (which I caught my very first Barbel and double figure Carp on), and my 12ft Match International Float rod (which I caught my very first 2lb Roach on), and which was endorsed by
Clive Smith and Ken Giles; have all been really excellent rods.
Oh I nearly forgot my very first match rod; the Billy Lane 14ft 6in Enterprise Match rod which had expanded fibreglass at its joints instead of the normal ferrules that we were more used to, and which weighed a ton compared to modern rods. But was in those days still recognised by many as a good Float rod.
But when I buy rods today I often go on recommendations from other good anglers around me and not only on well known names.
Keith
