Merits of an all-rounder rod (or otherwise)?!

[Alantherose]

Hi folks,

Having acquired some nice specialist float rods last year (primarily for float fishing rivers) I'm looking at either a power float rod or something more like an all-rounder. I've got my eye on the Korum Glide and Korum all-rounder, but if you kind people have other good suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. I am aware that I am talking about two different animals really, but would an all-rounder suffice- for example- as a pellet waggler fishing and general bomb/feeder fishing rod? I wouldn't need it to be an out and out float rod and they don't appear to come in the best lengths for that. Alternatively, would a 13' Glide serve as an avon-type rod or is it more specifically a float rod?

Thanks in advance of the all the wisdom and general bonhomie!

Al

 

[Silverfisher]

Avon quiver rods are certainly useful to have. With the Avon top they’re not much cop for proper float fishing but will do for pellet waggler type stuff and floater fishing then with the quiver tops most are perfectly serviceable feeder rods. A power float rod is a pretty specialist tool only really warranted if you’re hitting shoals of sizeable chub or targeting barbel.

 

[nejohn]

My personal view is that given the fact that you can buy perfectly usable rods and reasonable prices these days I would say it was better to buy and use a rod for the purpose that it was designed for. I own a JW travel Avon but the Avon top is next to useless as a general float rod OK you can get away with using one for fishing very short range but I would much rather use a rod designed for float fishing, however with the quiver tip top section fitted it is a very capable med/heavy feeder rod so it could be argued that it is a bit of an allrounder. If you shop around you can get a 12 or 13 ft float rod and an 11ft med feeder rod for around £100 which is about the same price as a so called allrounder, OK they won't be top quality but they will probably be better at doing the job they were designed to do than the allrounder. As silverfisher above says a power float rod is a fairly specialised piece of kit that would not be my choice as a general float rod

 

[Sam Vimes]

Much depends on the rod in question and how much an individual is prepared to compromise. It's common to see people refer to the non-quiver section of an Avon rod as the "float top". I can't really explain how much that makes me cringe. As far as I'm concerned, the vast majority of Avon rods make poor float rods. An awful lot are absolutely terrible as float rods. None that I've ever owned are any good for anything but zero alternative option float fishing. I can understand very occasional anglers making do with an Avon for everything. They may also appeal to those with limited storage space or income.

However, in your case, a well chosen Avon rod may well suffice as an occasional use commie float rod and a general purpose leger rod. I'm not familiar enough with the Korum Glide to say one way or another about it doing double duty, but it looks like a power float rod to me. Might be worth asking @HALTON DANGLER what he thinks. The Korum Allrounder also looks suspiciously like an Avon rod (with no quiver section) in everything but name.

 

[Alantherose]

My personal view is that given the fact that you can buy perfectly usable rods and reasonable prices these days I would say it was better to buy and use a rod for the purpose that it was designed for. I own a JW travel Avon but the Avon top is next to useless as a general float rod OK you can get away with using one for fishing very short range but I would much rather use a rod designed for float fishing, however with the quiver tip top section fitted it is a very capable med/heavy feeder rod so it could be argued that it is a bit of an allrounder. If you shop around you can get a 12 or 13 ft float rod and an 11ft med feeder rod for around £100 which is about the same price as a so called allrounder, OK they won't be top quality but they will probably be better at doing the job they were designed to do than the allrounder. As silverfisher above says a power float rod is a fairly specialised piece of kit that would not be my choice as a general float rod

Thanks John, I appreciate your thoughts here. All I would add to my initial question is that I am trying to take into account the places that I am likely to fish and the fish I am likely to catch there.

With the Avon top they’re not much cop for proper float fishing but will do for pellet waggler type stuff and floater fishing then with the quiver tops most are perfectly serviceable feeder rods.

This is what I was wondering really, and pretty much describes what I'd be doing.

 

[Alantherose]

Much depends on the rod in question and how much an individual is prepared to compromise. It's common to see people refer to the non-quiver section of an Avon rod as the "float top". I can't really explain how much that makes me cringe. As far as I'm concerned, the vast majority of Avon rods make poor float rods. An awful lot are absolutely terrible as float rods. None that I've ever owned are any good for anything but zero alternative option float fishing. I can understand very occasional anglers making do with an Avon for everything. They may also appeal to those with limited storage space or income.

However, in your case, a well chosen Avon rod may well suffice as an occasional use commie float rod and a general purpose leger rod. I'm not familiar enough with the Korum Glide to say one way or another about it doing double duty, but it looks like a power float rod to me. Might be worth asking @HALTON DANGLER what he thinks. The Korum Allrounder also looks suspiciously like an Avon rod (with no quiver section) in everything but name.

Yeah I agree with you re the Korum Allrounder and it is what I suspect re the Glide too. I did ask @HALTON DANGLER in a PM but not had a reply. He must be editing videos

 

[Simon R]

I've got the 12' Acolyte Carp Waggler and use it for almost everything on commercial stillwaters.
It's sensitive enough to flick out a 2BB Stillwater Blue but powerful enough to sling the biggest pellet waggler to the other side of the lake.
Not ideal for fast-biting silvers but good enough and loads of power to tame even the turbo-charged carp of Rising Sun

To be honest I probably use it for far more than I should but it's just such a nice rod to use.

Simon

 

[Silverfisher]

This is what I was wondering really, and pretty much describes what I'd be doing.

My current allrounder is a 1.25tc drennan twin tip duo. Got it mainly to use as a feeder rod on rivers more powerful than my local Thames and Avon (my main feeder rod can only do 40g tops) and whilst I’ve not used it much yet it did a good job on a few sessions on the severn. Reason I got it over a specialist feeder rod was to have the Avon top available as a pike extractor for when it gets really desperate although haven’t actually got around to using it for that yet. Would like to use it for floater fishing for carp as well just got to find a few suitable venues. Have also got the JW Avon quiver travel which is obviously a holiday rod and a tfgear compact allrounder but tbh I haven’t really found a niche for that yet.

 

[TiggerXFM]

I tried numerous avon rods for trotting, all were total garbage....until I managed to get hold of the 11ft hardy marksman specialist avon rod. This rod is the most versatile rod I have ever owned ! I catch everything from minows to barbel, tench and carp with mine, just a fantastic rod. I can trott a hundred yards with them and have no problem hitting fish at that range. If the fish stop feeding on a trotted bait I just remove the float and add a leger of some kind and either leger in the normal fashion or more often than not I touch leger. I really can't find a fault with the rod, infact I liked it so much that I got another one, and then two of the superos which came after the specialists and are the exact same blank but with fuji alconite guides, different coloured whippings and reel seat etc. I even got a specialist smuggler version which is four piece and again, it's fantastic.

Personally I would not buy a korum glide, imo there are much better rods out for your purpose.
An example would be the drennan super tench float rod, or any of the drennan tench float rods.

 

[solwood]

Tigger your eye's must be special seeing a float 100yds away!

I know someone else who rates the hardy equally highly !

Agree with you on the drennan super tench used mine for tidlers up to double figure carp

Even used it with a light maggot feeder on a slow river and could hit bites from small roach.

Most avon tops seem to work best as a straight ledger top.

 

[Reuben]

If you’ve got the money go for a custom made job. I had a 12ft twin tip made by Mark Tunley. It had a 1lb ish Avon section & a quiver tip section. It was very, very good but was nicked from my car about 6yrs ago. It only cost about £320 which was’t bad considering.

 

[TiggerXFM]

Tigger your eye's must be special seeing a float 100yds away!

If the conditions are right and you have the right kind of loat attatched then it isn't difficult to see a float at 100yds.
After saying that, even if using the right float in the wrong conditions it can be difficult to see the float at 40yds!

 

[HALTON DANGLER]

First of all sorry i didnt get round to replying to your message been mad this week as first week back in work.

The korum glide rod is a rod i have used for around a year to 2 years and have used it quite alot so should be ok give an opinion on it, i am sponsored by korum but the stuff i am about to say is backed up by multiple videos on the vlog i make so if you head over you can see for yourself what it can do.

The glide i use is the 12-14ft version, i say this as other lengths have been released this year. I firstly used the glide for my chub fishing taking some quite good nets of chub to around 4lb with the odd 20 to 30lb net of chub on a small river and the river dane. As the season moved on i used it on the ribble for my dace and roach fishing at 14ft. Although the rod is a power rod i quickly noticed it had some finesse to catch the smaller fish and it did come into its own when connecting later on in season with dace 8oz to 1lb in that compared to my uncle using a dedicated light silver fish rod i was able to swing most fish in to hand where the lighter tipped rod required a landing net.

Again into feb i sued it for chub again with no issues using 4lb line and 2lb hooklinks and small 18 and size 20 hooks. As summer came along i sued it for some float fishing for carp on the local pools and found it to be ok and had the power to deal with these better fish, compared to the chub and dace i had used it for.

The rod is made for barbel fishing in its concept but as can see ive used it for anything but in my time, this was until recently i hooked into and landed a 10lb barbel on the river dane using it fishing 4lb line and 2lb hook link. I am hoping this summer to get out and catch barbel on it on the river and this will be rod i will take and not blink or second guess.

Being sponsored, and im sure others on here will back me up, i never really write long reviews like this as they are lose lose, people just think you are saying it, this is why i dont shout from roof tops and deal in facts letting the fishing show what rods and tackle can do on film.

i hope this helps you make you decision but i will say on a final note, as i tell anyone who asks, always try and have a waggle with each of your options, i know its corny but i think of them like harry potter choosing that wand, the rod picks the angler and you know when you hold it.

Danny

 

[Fugley-fisher]

I've an old shimano 1.75tc all rounder, bought for the odd barble/carp expedition, not actually used yet, but one thing I will say under no circumstances would I use it for float fishing unless its a margin job, for any float situation for upto low doubbles I've cadence no2 in 11ft and 13ft.

 

[rudd]

Here goes:
I use a drennan super specialist for floater fishing, live bait perch fishing and fishing the lift method with a 4000 shimano aspire. It has also been used for lure fishing at medium ranges.
An original JW Avon with Avon top is used with a pin for fishing the lift.
With quiver for free lining or small bomb/quiver.
A pair of JW Avon Deluxe used at 11 ft with Avon tops, bait runners on a pod/alarm set up.
13ft extension and quiver sections never used.
For specimen float fishing a Map Specimen match float rod is my choice, it has enough finese for small stuff but excels for bigger fish.
Always wanted a Drennan super Tench for specialist fishing but now fancy a Drennan specialist X tension for specialist float work.

Avons can be used for more static type close range work if required but if only float fishing, buy a float rod.

 

[Alantherose]

First of all sorry i didnt get round to replying to your message been mad this week as first week back in work.

The korum glide rod is a rod i have used for around a year to 2 years and have used it quite alot so should be ok give an opinion on it, i am sponsored by korum but the stuff i am about to say is backed up by multiple videos on the vlog i make so if you head over you can see for yourself what it can do.

The glide i use is the 12-14ft version, i say this as other lengths have been released this year. I firstly used the glide for my chub fishing taking some quite good nets of chub to around 4lb with the odd 20 to 30lb net of chub on a small river and the river dane. As the season moved on i used it on the ribble for my dace and roach fishing at 14ft. Although the rod is a power rod i quickly noticed it had some finesse to catch the smaller fish and it did come into its own when connecting later on in season with dace 8oz to 1lb in that compared to my uncle using a dedicated light silver fish rod i was able to swing most fish in to hand where the lighter tipped rod required a landing net.

Again into feb i sued it for chub again with no issues using 4lb line and 2lb hooklinks and small 18 and size 20 hooks. As summer came along i sued it for some float fishing for carp on the local pools and found it to be ok and had the power to deal with these better fish, compared to the chub and dace i had used it for.

The rod is made for barbel fishing in its concept but as can see ive used it for anything but in my time, this was until recently i hooked into and landed a 10lb barbel on the river dane using it fishing 4lb line and 2lb hook link. I am hoping this summer to get out and catch barbel on it on the river and this will be rod i will take and not blink or second guess.

Being sponsored, and im sure others on here will back me up, i never really write long reviews like this as they are lose lose, people just think you are saying it, this is why i dont shout from roof tops and deal in facts letting the fishing show what rods and tackle can do on film.

i hope this helps you make you decision but i will say on a final note, as i tell anyone who asks, always try and have a waggle with each of your options, i know its corny but i think of them like harry potter choosing that wand, the rod picks the angler and you know when you hold it.

Danny

Cheers Danny,

I've seen your vlogs and me and my son enjoy them. Thought you'd be a busy boy- cheers for the longer review, and no bother for me re your sponsorship.

Best,

Al

 

[solwood]

Understanding your budget would help there are lots of bargains out there that may be cheaper to buy separate float and quiver/feeder rod fir similar money to a twin tip but with the advantage of having 2 rods that can be set up !

For example the datent Valley 12t float rod and 1.25 avon to use with alarms cost less than a drennan 1.25 twin tip