The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Hi guys, does anyone know what the test curve is on an Octofloat? I reckon mine is about 1lb if my test method is right, only I have been looking for a Chapman 500 and I understand the test curve on that is also 1lb
and I'm wondering how the rods compare physically other than the Chapman being a foot shorter and a bit lighter in weight. My Octofloat weighs a little under 12 oz incidentally.

Well the octofloat makes a cracking rod for big river tench ( by my standards), I use mine all the time in the summer for fish up to around 7lb and it really does handle them well. I've had good chub on it too...there's no doubt it does have some power, probably more in the butt than my 500.

RBTraditional wrote:Well the octofloat makes a cracking rod for big river tench ( by my standards), I use mine all the time in the summer for fish up to around 7lb and it really does handle them well. I've had good chub on it too...there's no doubt it does have some power, probably more in the butt than my 500.

That's interesting, do you find the Chapman a lot lighter in the hand than the Octofloat, mine feels a little heavy after a couple of hours, maybe it's more about balance than weight. I note that there have been modifications made to the Octofloat and I am considering whether this is worth doing to make the rod less top heavy, ie bring it's pivot point further back by extending the handle and shortening the top two sections?
Has anyone done this with theirs?

Wal Has extended the handle on both my octofloat and octofloat deluxe and there's no doubt that it improves the balance greatly. I wouldn't advocate cutting down any if the sections....you could ruin what is a good rod.
I find the 500 very light in the hand, the octofloat much less so, but then it tends to sit in the rest as I'm using it for fairly static float fishing.

I've weighed both rods and my 500 came in at 12oz and my Octofloat 13oz so there's not a lot of difference between them on weight. For fishing n the rests I prefer the heaver 11ft bottom rods because, as RBT says, they have more power in the butt than the 500 (and probably the Mk IVs as well).

The 500 is a nice stalking and chub roving rod as t feels so nice in the hand. It is capable of handling big fish as I've had barbel to over 100lb on mine - not really something I'd like to do too many times though.

100lb barbel!

That's a big Barbel! or is that a cumulative total?

.....see new carp "record"

Doh! It should of course have read "barbel to over 10lb"

SeanM wrote:Doh! It should of course have read "barbel to over 10lb"

And I thought it was the barbell you used for fitness training, Sir. I was quite impressed !!!