The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Excuse me for not perhaps being the brightest penny in the box but how come an F.J.Taylor (I assume Fred Taylor) Roach Rod seems to be built for Barbel and Tench? I had imagined something shall we say somewhat less robust as being a Roach rod.

As you may gather I have never used one of these rods but if considered suitable for Barbel and Tench what would be it's nearest comparable James Rod?

It's something we've wondered about before PH.


I came to the conclusion that Mr. Taylor wanted a rod for fishing to roach from a distance. Not sure how distance casting, and the heavy lead shot involved works when it plummets into a shoal of roach though......


I've handled just the one, and a lovely rod it was...but it should have come with a pair of rod-rests....

I take it Nobby that it is one of those rods then that requires you to have eaten three weetabix before setting out for a days fishing with it.

Surely someone must have asked Fred Taylor about this somewhat strange enhanced performance in this rod. Would it not have been commented upon at the time of the first one being made available to the public?

It sounds to me as though it might be similar to an all built cane James Avocet but of course I am just guessing. Any views?

Well, it has a very steep compound taper, so that's what drew me to a 'casting' rod.

I've never had the chance to fish a whole cane butt Avocet, but I expect they are much like an Aspindal Suredale.....just a tad heavy at 12 foot, though I have a 'short' one that's 11'3" ( a happy coincidence) and it's rather nice.

We need to get on a lake somewhere Nobby, you can have a play with some of my FJT's and see what they can do, remember Barders barbus maximus Mk1 was based on the rods he restored in '95, Chris's and mine (JOC's at the time). I took it one step further for casting by adding a Mk4 avon top section and a short butt section for barbel stalking and yes, they are rods that work best in two rod rests but then Fred was a big lad, like me

I don't think there is anything in the B James range that comes near to the FJT, the Kennet and Avon perfections are my only other BJ rods apart from Mk4 carp and avon and neither have the same sort of power that the hollow built mid section provides in the FJT. i feeder fish with bobbins for tench and bream mainly with mine and with a well loaded mitchell 300 they will send a large cage feeder over 60 yards with relative ease, further if i used a modern reel. Not a rod suited to wallis casting though but good on the river for dropping a lead and bait for barbel, although i have yet to hook one with mine as the chub keep getting in the way, but then, i like chub too and a 5lb chub puts a lovely bend in the rod

About bends in the rod. I have just got a remote control for my camera that allows me to set time lapse photography by remote control, looking forward to trying it on the river next season from the tripod so hope to get one or two of those bend in the rod shots that look so nice, although i still think a few of them are setups with a brick tied to the line

Is there such a thing as a 'remote shutter release' Andy?

Unless you know the exact time you're going to catch.........



I recall John Wilson did something with a rubber bulb and tubing.

Yes Nobby, this is wireless, 30' range, can be set to start taking a pic every second until you stop it up to 9999 in a 24hr period, will take pics 1 second to 24 hours apart. All for £25 inc postage from China. Works on many DSLR cameras, mine is the Olympus Pen, which I also recommend

Cor! Knowing my luck it would go off just as go behind a tree for a Jimmy.

Good point, i'll have to remember that, and the sneaky choc bars in case the wife sees them i tried a few \apps' on my phone, including one that lets an iPod work as a remote control for the camera and one that is sound activated which works well but i had endles pictures of me coughing and sneezing but forgot to make a noise when playing a big chub as i was concentrating too hard on getting it out of the weed the time lapse app on iPhone only turns the pictures in to a film so i can't save individual pictures but it's quite funny to see a whole day's fishing go past in a few minutes, i hardly seemed to move even though i caught over twenty bream that day, but then there was 5 mins between pics and the clouds wizzed by. i now have a battery pack for the phone so i can shorten the time between shots. all for a bit of fun. maybe i should try it roach fishing with the Benny hill music in the background

Lovely rod and I cannot wait to receive mine!


Ian Tucker is building it for me as I am not worthy.



http://www.customfishingrods.co.uk/






Regards,



Hugo