The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Just aquired this rod, it didn't cost me a penny, I just swapped it for some old rods that sat in the loft, made a material called carbon (I dont think it will catch on!)

This rod is a Davenport & Fordham 10ft 2 piece rod with seperate handle, it is handwritten in gold with Davonport & Fordham the Grays Inn Road, London address, also Bill Howes Leger rod

It is quite light and slim, with lined tip & butt rinds, a test curve of around 1lb, I understand it was designed with barbel in mind.

Bill Howes was the author of "The quest for Barbel" published in 1960

I understand D&F often used chapman blanks, but John Chapman does not know of this model, can anybody shed any light on it?

I will bring it to the Kings Wier next weekend

Very nice!

Chapman 500 clone

I have a Farlows badged Chapman 500 clone

Ljm183 wrote:Chapman 500 clone

I have a Farlows badged Chapman 500 clone

Not according to John Chapman, he does not recall the rod, it also seems a little slimmer than a 500

Whatever it is, it looks a nice rod.

Hi Paul, found this whilst researching something else.
Could it be a Harvey Torbett blank? They, I think are like a 500, but a little lighter in the tip section.

As far as I understand Bill had several rods "custom made" exclusively for him. These came up together with his photos when he passed away.

I sold one at this years Redditch tackle fair for £80. They are very redolent of the Chapman 500. A very nice not often seen rod.

It wouldn't be unusual for rods dedicated to Bill and Harvey to be of a similar configuration.

Harvey and Bill were life long friends and angling companions from school days. In fact, many of the photos which appear in Harvey's books were taken by Bill.

Harvey's daughter Cindy posted this tale about them in 2013 :-

"Dad was a really keen cyclist in his youth (he and his best friend Bill Howes, who also became also a well known angling writer) cycled from Hammersmith (where they lived) to Winkleigh in Devon, aged 15 in 1939!). The previous year, aged 14, Dad had done the trip on his own, cycling the 200 odd miles over 2 or 3 days. He and Bill fished together a lot as youths so he knew about cycling with your fishing kit from first hand experience! And he also knew what he'd wanted out of a good fishing rod as a youth! (if you look at the photos in Dad's books, quite a few of them are with Bill, they fished together a lot and were friends until Bill died. Bill was also a lovely man and I remember him well.

He says in the book that it was at the end of that trip with Bill, they stopped one time, and they heard, on the radio, Chamberlain's speech declaring war. He and Bill managed to hitch a lift back to Shepherds Bush where Bill lived, in a lorry, who took them bikes and all. He says ' we got back to Shepherds Bush in time to hear the first Air Raid siren."

Perhaps angling by bicycle led to the idea of an easily transported rod ?

I acquired this rod last year and used it once, when I discovered the rings had line grooves so I decided to do a full refub ready for the coming season.