Broken rod - what next?

[Kevin aka Aethelbald]

Surely a new carrier section is only about £50/£60 ? It's not that long.

How long have you had the rod ? Never used it much ? And not caught anything of note ?

It's £90.00 for the carrier section, which I've ordered. I don't want to be spending this sort of money again, when I can buy a Daiwa feeder for £45.00 and probably enjoy it just as much, so I'm still looking around for alternatives if I sell the repaired Acolyte.

I bought it secondhand in May in hardly-used condition. Used it three times a week since then. Caught a 12lb pike with it last week, on 5lb line.... other than that, loads of perch, roach and chub.

Hope that answers your questions... any suggestions for a replacement?
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[Richox12]

I bought it secondhand in May in hardly-used condition. Used it three times a week since then. Caught a 12lb pike with it last week, on 5lb line.... other than that, loads of perch, roach and chub.

Which..................tells me it was not faulty. So I wouldn't let that mishap dent your confidence. Buy the new section and leave it at that. Save your money.

 

[Kevin aka Aethelbald]

Which..................tells me it was not faulty. So I wouldn't let that mishap dent your confidence. Buy the new section and leave it at that. Save your money.

Thanks for the reassurance. I never really thought it was faulty, but it broke for no apparent reason - or none that was apparent to me. At £90.00 a time for any further mishaps, saving my money would be selling it and buying a cheaper rod... not exactly in my DNA to buy anything cheap, but I thought I'd scratch the itch. Might buy a Daiwa as a back-up... after all, I only have one feeder rod - or, at the time of writing, half of one.

Hard to ignore the Acolyte-haters who seem to exaggerate the failures, and seem all too keen to rub salt into the wounds, but I was just re-reading a 13-page Acolyte thread on this forum - one of overwhelming positivity - which provides the reassurance you're suggesting.

Like I said, I've ordered the replacement carrier, so I'll probably do as you suggest and put it down to previous abuse, and/or bad luck. Cheers.
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[mikench]

I broke the tip on my Acolyte 13’ float about 8 weeks ago through crass stupidity on my part and in the garage. I ordered a new tip section through AD and got it within a week for £80. I love this rod and was willing to pay. I still have the end section minus 3” which I might try out of idle curiosity but , knowing my adhd I will know it’s a shortened tip and not like it. In my opinion you need a good few feeder rods of varying lengths and with varying tips. I have bought a good few second hand which I really like particularly a PI 11-13 ft feeder with the Asaki blank. It’s a joy to use and was recommended by Kev. I still intend to buy a s/h Shimano Technium feeder/ specialist when one comes up on eBay. I really enjoy taking a different rod out for an outing and to suit the venue. After all we don’t all wear the same shirt all of the time.

 

[Kevin aka Aethelbald]

I broke the tip on my Acolyte 13’ float about 8 weeks ago through crass stupidity on my part and in the garage.

I snapped the tip of my 14ft Acolyte Plus float rod last season by stubbing it into the ground when I was in a hurry to switch pegs. In all my years of fly fishing I always carried the rod handle first, rod behind... on this one occasion where I broke that golden rule, I broke my rod.

Howard, at the now defunct Manor Angling, told me to the keep the broken tip in case I needed it again... basically telling me to keep it for the next time I did something idiotic. Nice bloke, so I forgave him!

I do wonder how many of the 'multitude' of broken Acolytes are down to user error and the inability of a lot of blokes to admit to their own stupidity.

After all we don’t all wear the same shirt all of the time.

I wear the same lucky fishing shirt, socks and undies every time I go fishing. Not really.
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[@Clive]

I have a number of feeder rods from 1lb test curve upwards. I have never been disappointed with Greys or Shimano. And they are not expensive either. My old Alvio Barbel Avon / Quiver rod was bought for less than thirty five quid 18 years ago and has landed hundreds of barbel into double figures as well as nuisance species like these.

In the interim I have had a brand new Korum feeder rod that was rated at up tp 150g break while gently lobbing a 40g weight on its 7th outing and a Maver light feeder rod was broken when I opened the bag after travelling back to France

But the ABU Suveran quiver rod is a different animal altogether. It somehow combines power with sensitivity like no other rod I have used. The build quality is superb too. I don't know what they cost new, but the lightly or never used ones that pop up on auction sites are absolute bargains.

 

[Mark Wintle]

Roy Marlow getting someone to lift a kilo using a Suveran feeder rod:

 

[nottskev]

I wouldn't say I was an "Acolyte hater", and I made no comment on this thread earlier. But we used to hear such a lot from owners about how their rods were the lightest in class, lighter than this or that rod, as if that proved they were better, and some of us did ask whether pursuing lightness per se, in a world of already lighter than ever rods, might just be compromising resilience to withstand the inevitable little knocks and bumps of fishing ......

I never was fully convinced by the argument that because a rod didn't fail on first/early use, any later failure must be down to the owner. You can bend a paper clip a few times before it snaps. There is such a thing as a breakage waiting to happen. I have rods, not much heavier than Acolytes, that I've owned since the 90's which have had plenty of stresses and strains, from fish and user handling, but never failed.

 

[Kevin aka Aethelbald]

One day all rods will be made of fibreglass and virtually unbreakable... or was that 1973? I guess I need to aggregate my breakages over several years before coming to any particular conclusions, by which time I might have accumulated some of the older rods mentioned above and the individual failures will be insignificant. The answer to my original question might be to have several more rods!
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[@Clive]

I have three Hardy fibreglass rods from 1973 and they are as good as new. However, my ABU Feralitte Mk.6 match rod was bought new in the same year and unexpectedly broke in the middle section after 3 or 4 years so there is no guarantee.

This afternoon I have been practice casting in the garden using two built cane rods that are around 100 years old and they are perfectly servicable. So perhaps built cane is the future?

 

[Kevin aka Aethelbald]

I have three Hardy fibreglass rods from 1973 and they are as good as new. However, my ABU Feralitte Mk.6 match rod was bought new in the same year and unexpectedly broke in the middle section after 3 or 4 years so there is no guarantee.

This afternoon I have been practice casting in the garden using two built cane rods that are around 100 years old and they are perfectly servicable. So perhaps built cane is the future?

I never fished vintage cane. I inherited a few from my grandfather, who would have had them since the 1920s, but I was always worried that the cane and adhesives would have dried out. At least, that's what a chap at Farlows in Pall Mall once told me... do you think he wanted to sell me a new rod?
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[@Clive]

I never fished vintage cane. I inherited a few from my grandfather, who would have had them since the 1920s, but I was always worried that the cane and adhesives would have dried out. At least, that's what a chap at Farlows in Pall Mall once told me... do you think he wanted to sell me a new rod?
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Yes. And I bet he was called Ian something or other

 

[Kevin aka Aethelbald]

Yes. And I bet he was called Ian something or other

More like Hugo or Tristram.

 

[@Clive]

More like Hugo or Tristram.

Had you gone in for a pint of maggots?

 

[Ray Roberts]

Not all of the Freespirit gear is highly priced - the Feederlite's are £80.00 cheaper than the Acolyte's (although you could argue that the Acolyte is over-priced). But I do take your point - I was seduced by the look and feel of the Acolyte's, and felt the same when waggling the Freespirit Feederlite yesterday. On second inspection this morning, I'm not convinced about it.

Since a replacement Acolyte tip will cost £90.00, I'm going to check out Daiwa (and others) in the sub-£100 price range, as any further breakages of expensive rods will eventually hurt too much - although the irony of this one is that I sold an expensive Hardy fly rod on the same day, which somewhat softened the pain.
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Did you buy the rod new or second hand? I ask only because if it was second hand you can’t know what happened to it previously. If new, I would return to the dealer and see if they could do anything for you. I’ve broken an acolyte plus float rod and a FreeSpirit lure rod fairly recently and I couldn’t get anything from the manufacturers. It could be that they were caused by wraparounds I’m pretty sure the acolyte was. Both times I had to buy new sections, which was painful.

 

[Philip]

I have snapped plenty of rods through my own stupidity ...I am a master with car doors... ..but I can recall at least 2 that snapped whilst in what i would consider "normal" use in the last couple of years, both were quite modern rods from well known manufacturers. I have probably had more fail me over the last 5 to 10 years than all the previous years put together.

I get the feeling build quality has gone down generally.

 

[@Clive]

I have snapped plenty of rods through my own stupidity ...I am a master with car doors... ..but I can recall at least 2 that snapped whilst in what i would consider "normal" use in the last couple of years, both were quite modern rods from well known manufacturers. I have probably had more fail me over the last 5 to 10 years than all the previous years put together.

I get the feeling build quality has gone down generally.

Is this you Philip?

 

[mikench]

I couldn’t find my Acolyte in its plastic tube which was empty and then found it in a quiver which was suspended vertically from a set of shelves in the garage. Instead of lifting the quiver down to the ground down to remove the rod, I pulled the rod out gently but vertically and hit the garage roof with the end. I heard the crack and knew just what I had done. Sometimes I cannot believe my stupidity.

 

[Alan Whitty]

My favourite feeder rod is an old carbon fibre Drennan DRX River Feeder rod which I’ve used for many years without any problems at all; plus it has four Glass Quivertips too and has handled some decent sized fish including river Carp.

I won or got placed in several team matches on the Thames with some nice bags of Chub; and on several stillwaters with bags of Bream and Tench using this rod.




Keith

Keith, I believe all Drennan rods of around that era are sound and better than half the junk around now, you would find it hard to break a carrier section in those rods, being sponsored and getting rods as and when to promote their high tariff tackle, imho you can catch on the softer tips of the range better on lakes, plus you rarely break one of them...

 

[Crystal Bend]

If these are anything like the Heavy Match Rods you'd never get the better of it!
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