Thomas Turner
Trade Member
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2017
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VERSATILE RODS
A 12ft quivertip rod covers lots of water, comfortably dealing with casting distances from 30 to 60 metres. Any shorter and 10ft bomb design takes over, while for further out a longer 13-footer can come into play. The new Thomas Turner 12ft Classic+ Quivertip is often the first rod out of my holdall for fishing most stillwater and river swims. It has a two-piece equal length format with a quivertip installed, which allows pre-tackling and storage in a ready style holdall. Having slightly longer sections results in better feel factor and a bit of extra power lower down the rod. It’s supplied with a versatile set of 0.75oz, 1oz, 1.5oz and 2oz carbon quivertips, which round off a great package.
ODD BEGINNINGS
My first go with the Thomas Turner Classic+ 12ft Quivertip was on the River Wye near Hereford. After being told by John Bailey we would be targeting chub and barbel, I took along some pungent Polony flavoured pellets. The double swim we fished had a strong flow, so somewhat unusually for a river I decided to use a heavy pellet feeder, combined with a short hook length. It worked a treat with hair-rigged and banded 6mm pellets, which helped to defeat the numerous minnows. The meaty bait was a bright pink in colour, so I got a few bemused looks from John. It looked weird, but the heavy sausage aroma made up for that. I crammed a mixture of 2mm, 4mm and 6mm sizes into a 40g feeder.
Thomas Turner Classic+ 12ft quivertip in action
DUAL APPROACH
This was a swim Mortimer and Whitehouse fished in their popular Gone Fishing TV series. As a consultant for the shows, John knows it well. I caught a decent chub early on, but eventually got swamped with minnows and small dace using a stick float with hemp and casters. J.B. was having no such trouble with the new Thomas Turner Classic+ 11ft Avon, combined with Scopex boilies. A huge swirl next to my feeder rod signalled he had got attached to something big. John was using a light rolling leger set up, which consisted of four slightly strung out SSG shot. It was clever because the sound of the large shot hitting the water was similar to a handful of boilies going in. Big fish were on it straight away.
Chub caught by Dave Coster using the 12ft quivertip
MY TURN
After John landed a cracking 5lb chub, I hit into something big on the feeder. I felt a heavy thump as the fish realised something was wrong, but then it hit into a previously unknown snag and everything went solid. I lost that one and missed a savage take next cast, quickly winding in because J.B. was playing another good fish. It fought differently to a chub and turned out to be a wonderful River Wye barbel. After that I stayed with my pellet attack and my quivertip suddenly dropped back dramatically. I was into a good fish and the TT 12ft Classic+ Quivertip rod dealt beautifully with all the surges and thumps, as something wild at the other end of my line used the strong current to try and prevent me from bringing it in. I eventually netted this cracking big lump of a chub.
ANOTHER WAY
Back from my trip to the fabulous River Wye, I decided to further test my new 12ft quivertip rod on some local deep lakes. Is was suddenly winter and very cold, so different tactics were called for. I set up a helicopter rig with a maggot feeder, combined with a short fluorocarbon hook length and small hook. After much trial and error, I’ve found Drennan base weight Carp feeders, or Kamasan Black Caps are the best blockends to use for this way of fishing. I only use small sizes, finding both designs release their contents quickly, even in icy cold water. I like to cast regularly to provoke a response, putting small amounts of curry flavoured red maggots in and using a two grubs on a size 16 hook.
WINTER MAGIC
I’ve tried lots of formats with helicopter rigs, including ready made set-ups, multiple rubber line stops and all sorts of other gismos. But in the end a simple setup with a short fluorocarbon hook length attached to a swivel bead, locked with two number 8 weights below it and one above, did the trick. The lower anchoring shot are set two inches above the feeder and pinched on firmly, while the Stotz weight above is only lightly closed so it can easily move. This is important because as anything hits hard against the weight of the feeder on the way in, the top stopper slides up the line. This lessens any impact, resulting in far less fish being bumped off as they are played in towards the landing net. Apart from big roach, perch and hybrids, plenty of quality skimmers fall for this top winter method.
SILVER BONANZA
My simple helicopter rig worked wonders many times last winter during extensive testing of the Thomas Turner Classic+ quivertip rod, which has now become a firm favourite. Using small feeders cast regularly to stimulate interest, it only required around a pint of maggots per session. I know many anglers use much bigger feeders and larger quantities of bait with this method, but my gentler approach consistently pulls in tricky to catch quality roach and elusive big hybrids. I rarely see anyone else catching fish like these on heavily fished day ticket waters, where the inhabitants have seen it all. I’m not keen on out-and-out heavy bolt rig set ups anyway, much preferring to use lightly loaded feeders, combined with 1oz or 1.5oz quivertips to signal indications in a proper manner.
Dave Coster fishing with the Thomas Turner Classic+ 12ft Quivertip
ANOTHER WAY
Having confirmed the new 12ft quivertip rod was equally at home sorting out river lunkers, as it was conjuring bites in the depths of winter on icy lakes, another test was to get some unpredictable power-packed carp attached. A favourite way of doing this is to switch to a straight leger set up after priming a swim with pellet waggler tactics. Regularly pinging small helpings of large pellets around a float for several hours, invariably sees some of the free bait getting through shallow feeding fish and down to the bottom. Anything big that moves over what’s down there normally sends up small clusters of bubbles. When I spot any of these, a small bomb and banded pellet is cast over them.
Dave Coster with his torpedo carp
SIMPLE EFFECTS
I might use modern methods, but they are normally tweaked because I don’t like lazy fishing and by that I mean self-hooking set-ups. Free running tackle has worked for me on many types of venues, from canals to rivers and various sized lakes. Apart from big fish that slam a sensitive quivertip around, tiny indications can also be connected with, often caused by something decent. I remember many years ago fishing for the big bream in Walthamstow Reservoirs. They were notoriously finicky at times, only moving the most sensitive of quivertips less than an inch as they carefully inspected and mouthed hook baits. If you hit those slight movements, a huge slab of a bream would often be attached. This torpedo carp was a bit different, nearly pulling my distinctive green rod off its rest!
SHORT & SWEET
When I’ve used pellet feeder rigs with the 12ft quivertip rod, these have been free running with short 5-6inch hook lengths. When fish attack the feeder to get at its loadings of micro pellets, they readily suck in red maggots or banded pellets presented close by, sometimes pushing them in with the freebies. I prefer minimal hook lengths to be at least 5inches long, having pulled the hook out of too many fish with anything shorter. Skimmers in particular will keep coming off short traces as they thump against the weight of feeders. It was using pellet feeders that gave me the idea of trying similar tactics with helicopter rigs. The upper shot that keeps short traces close to maggot feeders, is only there for that reason, making sure this weight slides easily, so the rig is non-tether.
GOING BACK
Testing out the various rods in the initial Thomas Turner Classic+ range, I kept discovering older and more traditional tactics still worked their magic. It seemed right to use them too, combined with these beautiful green rods. This bream fell to a straight leger rig, which I hardly ever see anyone using for this species these days. I was lucky enough to get to know Ivan Marks many years ago, who won many huge competitions with bomb rigs. He was a master craftsman at catapulting out balls of groundbait, following them up with a leger weight cast dead centre of the resulting ripples. It was an amazing act to watch, and he made it all look so easy. Ivan was the most talented angler I ever met.
A TOUCH OF CLASS
Whether fishing traditional ways or modern, a 12ft quivertip rod is vital kit. With my one I can scale right down for finicky big roach with the 3/4oz indicator, or step up to 1oz when the water is towing. The 1.5oz quivertip comes into play when fishing long range or flowing water, while the 2oz ‘tip is kept in reserve for even faster river swims. These carbon quivertips are better than most I’ve used, being less harsh and more sensitive. Whenever I get a Thomas Turner Classic+ rod out of its plush Cordura tube, it always feels like it’s a special occasion. It certainly was that when I enjoyed catching River Wye chub with the 12ft Quivertip model, which is in my rod holdall most of the time now.
The post 12ft QUIVERTIP ALL-ROUNDER appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
Continue reading...
A 12ft quivertip rod covers lots of water, comfortably dealing with casting distances from 30 to 60 metres. Any shorter and 10ft bomb design takes over, while for further out a longer 13-footer can come into play. The new Thomas Turner 12ft Classic+ Quivertip is often the first rod out of my holdall for fishing most stillwater and river swims. It has a two-piece equal length format with a quivertip installed, which allows pre-tackling and storage in a ready style holdall. Having slightly longer sections results in better feel factor and a bit of extra power lower down the rod. It’s supplied with a versatile set of 0.75oz, 1oz, 1.5oz and 2oz carbon quivertips, which round off a great package.
ODD BEGINNINGS
My first go with the Thomas Turner Classic+ 12ft Quivertip was on the River Wye near Hereford. After being told by John Bailey we would be targeting chub and barbel, I took along some pungent Polony flavoured pellets. The double swim we fished had a strong flow, so somewhat unusually for a river I decided to use a heavy pellet feeder, combined with a short hook length. It worked a treat with hair-rigged and banded 6mm pellets, which helped to defeat the numerous minnows. The meaty bait was a bright pink in colour, so I got a few bemused looks from John. It looked weird, but the heavy sausage aroma made up for that. I crammed a mixture of 2mm, 4mm and 6mm sizes into a 40g feeder.
Thomas Turner Classic+ 12ft quivertip in action
DUAL APPROACH
This was a swim Mortimer and Whitehouse fished in their popular Gone Fishing TV series. As a consultant for the shows, John knows it well. I caught a decent chub early on, but eventually got swamped with minnows and small dace using a stick float with hemp and casters. J.B. was having no such trouble with the new Thomas Turner Classic+ 11ft Avon, combined with Scopex boilies. A huge swirl next to my feeder rod signalled he had got attached to something big. John was using a light rolling leger set up, which consisted of four slightly strung out SSG shot. It was clever because the sound of the large shot hitting the water was similar to a handful of boilies going in. Big fish were on it straight away.
Chub caught by Dave Coster using the 12ft quivertip
MY TURN
After John landed a cracking 5lb chub, I hit into something big on the feeder. I felt a heavy thump as the fish realised something was wrong, but then it hit into a previously unknown snag and everything went solid. I lost that one and missed a savage take next cast, quickly winding in because J.B. was playing another good fish. It fought differently to a chub and turned out to be a wonderful River Wye barbel. After that I stayed with my pellet attack and my quivertip suddenly dropped back dramatically. I was into a good fish and the TT 12ft Classic+ Quivertip rod dealt beautifully with all the surges and thumps, as something wild at the other end of my line used the strong current to try and prevent me from bringing it in. I eventually netted this cracking big lump of a chub.
ANOTHER WAY
Back from my trip to the fabulous River Wye, I decided to further test my new 12ft quivertip rod on some local deep lakes. Is was suddenly winter and very cold, so different tactics were called for. I set up a helicopter rig with a maggot feeder, combined with a short fluorocarbon hook length and small hook. After much trial and error, I’ve found Drennan base weight Carp feeders, or Kamasan Black Caps are the best blockends to use for this way of fishing. I only use small sizes, finding both designs release their contents quickly, even in icy cold water. I like to cast regularly to provoke a response, putting small amounts of curry flavoured red maggots in and using a two grubs on a size 16 hook.
WINTER MAGIC
I’ve tried lots of formats with helicopter rigs, including ready made set-ups, multiple rubber line stops and all sorts of other gismos. But in the end a simple setup with a short fluorocarbon hook length attached to a swivel bead, locked with two number 8 weights below it and one above, did the trick. The lower anchoring shot are set two inches above the feeder and pinched on firmly, while the Stotz weight above is only lightly closed so it can easily move. This is important because as anything hits hard against the weight of the feeder on the way in, the top stopper slides up the line. This lessens any impact, resulting in far less fish being bumped off as they are played in towards the landing net. Apart from big roach, perch and hybrids, plenty of quality skimmers fall for this top winter method.
SILVER BONANZA
My simple helicopter rig worked wonders many times last winter during extensive testing of the Thomas Turner Classic+ quivertip rod, which has now become a firm favourite. Using small feeders cast regularly to stimulate interest, it only required around a pint of maggots per session. I know many anglers use much bigger feeders and larger quantities of bait with this method, but my gentler approach consistently pulls in tricky to catch quality roach and elusive big hybrids. I rarely see anyone else catching fish like these on heavily fished day ticket waters, where the inhabitants have seen it all. I’m not keen on out-and-out heavy bolt rig set ups anyway, much preferring to use lightly loaded feeders, combined with 1oz or 1.5oz quivertips to signal indications in a proper manner.
Dave Coster fishing with the Thomas Turner Classic+ 12ft Quivertip
ANOTHER WAY
Having confirmed the new 12ft quivertip rod was equally at home sorting out river lunkers, as it was conjuring bites in the depths of winter on icy lakes, another test was to get some unpredictable power-packed carp attached. A favourite way of doing this is to switch to a straight leger set up after priming a swim with pellet waggler tactics. Regularly pinging small helpings of large pellets around a float for several hours, invariably sees some of the free bait getting through shallow feeding fish and down to the bottom. Anything big that moves over what’s down there normally sends up small clusters of bubbles. When I spot any of these, a small bomb and banded pellet is cast over them.
Dave Coster with his torpedo carp
SIMPLE EFFECTS
I might use modern methods, but they are normally tweaked because I don’t like lazy fishing and by that I mean self-hooking set-ups. Free running tackle has worked for me on many types of venues, from canals to rivers and various sized lakes. Apart from big fish that slam a sensitive quivertip around, tiny indications can also be connected with, often caused by something decent. I remember many years ago fishing for the big bream in Walthamstow Reservoirs. They were notoriously finicky at times, only moving the most sensitive of quivertips less than an inch as they carefully inspected and mouthed hook baits. If you hit those slight movements, a huge slab of a bream would often be attached. This torpedo carp was a bit different, nearly pulling my distinctive green rod off its rest!
SHORT & SWEET
When I’ve used pellet feeder rigs with the 12ft quivertip rod, these have been free running with short 5-6inch hook lengths. When fish attack the feeder to get at its loadings of micro pellets, they readily suck in red maggots or banded pellets presented close by, sometimes pushing them in with the freebies. I prefer minimal hook lengths to be at least 5inches long, having pulled the hook out of too many fish with anything shorter. Skimmers in particular will keep coming off short traces as they thump against the weight of feeders. It was using pellet feeders that gave me the idea of trying similar tactics with helicopter rigs. The upper shot that keeps short traces close to maggot feeders, is only there for that reason, making sure this weight slides easily, so the rig is non-tether.
GOING BACK
Testing out the various rods in the initial Thomas Turner Classic+ range, I kept discovering older and more traditional tactics still worked their magic. It seemed right to use them too, combined with these beautiful green rods. This bream fell to a straight leger rig, which I hardly ever see anyone using for this species these days. I was lucky enough to get to know Ivan Marks many years ago, who won many huge competitions with bomb rigs. He was a master craftsman at catapulting out balls of groundbait, following them up with a leger weight cast dead centre of the resulting ripples. It was an amazing act to watch, and he made it all look so easy. Ivan was the most talented angler I ever met.
A TOUCH OF CLASS
Whether fishing traditional ways or modern, a 12ft quivertip rod is vital kit. With my one I can scale right down for finicky big roach with the 3/4oz indicator, or step up to 1oz when the water is towing. The 1.5oz quivertip comes into play when fishing long range or flowing water, while the 2oz ‘tip is kept in reserve for even faster river swims. These carbon quivertips are better than most I’ve used, being less harsh and more sensitive. Whenever I get a Thomas Turner Classic+ rod out of its plush Cordura tube, it always feels like it’s a special occasion. It certainly was that when I enjoyed catching River Wye chub with the 12ft Quivertip model, which is in my rod holdall most of the time now.
The post 12ft QUIVERTIP ALL-ROUNDER appeared first on Thomas Turner Fishing Antiques.
Continue reading...