These apart from the Mk4 and Chapmans 500 are a rare set of rods, with the Craftversa being the most desirable and rarest of all. After ten years of searching and only seeing one, but not being in the position to buy I decided on another option, the replica route. Bumble kindly allowed me to have a day using his Andrew J Davis built version, a sublime rod and wonderfully finished, but a bit more finish than I usually like. Next choice was to gain the tapers and commission a blank to build myself. Nobby put me in touch with an owner of a mint original and at the start of the closed season I made the trip to him armed with vernier gauge and other measuring items, thinking this would be my one chance to see this rod. After a while and many measurements, pictures and notes, the owner saw my enthusiasm and told me I could take the rod to use as template to build my replica, on condition that I was to only make one replica unless another owner came forward and offered the use of their Craftversa as a second ‘pattern’, which happened only a couple of days later.
I decided that I would make ten blanks, but step the last two up a little. Of the eight blanks based on the original blank, two were rejected, although the tip from one was good and the other was good for 5’5” and was used to build a Grayling rod a few years ago. The first finished one was taken with the original back to its owner on June 15th, just in time, and compared side by side with an Edward Barder Craftversa and his own I had used as pattern. His response was that it was a true ‘replica’ with only the butt guide, silver reel bands and non engraved butt alloy boss between them. Success and what proceeded was a year of fishing with this rod almost exclusively, and everything from a minnow to an 18lb carp while tench fishing was landed to no damage or issues with the rod.
For the last six years I rested on my laurels that I had created my own Craftversa, equal to the original, and the following three made were also up to that standard, although two had butt guides chosen by their owners and more like those of a float rod. But, as with owners many replicas, the need for an original is still there, under the surface for the most part, but there all the same. The many that know me from my own group on face book, Traditional Angling Retro Tackle, know this, and occasionally I get asked if on came my way would I be interested, always a yes to that, and that happened a couple of months ago, to which I asked for some time to raise funds before letting the ‘general population’ know there was another Craftversa on the market, and kindly this they did.
Funds were now available, and some more just in case, and on Thursday I made a 362 mile round trip to do the deal, money had not been discussed prior to viewing. I made an offer, received a counter offer and we met in the middle, with an Edgar Sealer 9’ Heavy Ledger being thrown in to seal the deal. Both parties very happy. But this was only part of the story…
A few days before planned trip I received a message from another owner asking if I would be interested in his own Craftversa, what could I say? What I did say was can you hold it until the weekend as I won’t know if I’ll have the funds, I wasn’t going to let the first one go under any circumstances and I had made sure I had raised enough to secure that, but would I have enough after, but at least this second rod had a fixed price. First deal done left me just enough for the second one and that has just been paid. I won’t go into price as that’s between them and me and although it’s a fact of life, this was more than about money to us all, it’s about becoming the custodian of these remarkable rods.
A part restoration is planned for the first one as the whippings are tired, the ferrule has a slight tick and needs tightening up and the cork needs a clean, but apart from that I will keep the original varnish and use it as a rod which has been ‘maintained’ rather than restored to ‘within an inch of its life’, the second I will make a decision on when it arrives
Sorry no pics, I still haven’t learned how to here
- - - - Now which other rods do I save for? - - - 
