Harrison rods/ blanks

[davebhoy]

It's not hook pulls that are an issue,it is that through action rods absorb the lunges of hard lunging barbel imo,if you fish weed filled rivers(not slow necessarily),fish mustn't be allowed to get their heads down,many rivers I fish you just could not land a fish on a float rod,because of weed,only in winter do you have half a chance and do not kid yourselves that smaller river barbel are easier to get out than bigger rivers,they are nearer to any problems that might arise,the river i'm catching on down here each fish is scraping both banks looking for a way out of your net,luckily they are not big as that would be a problem...

Whenever I’ve caught where you’re fishing I’ve found that trying to hit and hold, or trying to get their heads up actually makes them more likely to head straight for the reeds. I used to sink the rod tip under the water and as someone described earlier they charged up and down the swim for a bit but never made it so far that I lost touch with them. I had them to over 9lb and it was only a problem when I hooked something big from the banker swim on the short walk and it shot up to peg 10. It was the same on the long walk, I very occasionally had the line part in the rockier swims because of the angle the line was at.

I used trot a lot with 6lb hooklengths and an acolyte plus so hit and hold wasn’t really an option

it was a tip passed on to me by someone who’d been told it by Keith Speers.

edit: just read tiggers post so maybe hit and hold was an option

edit: long walk not short walk

 

[chevin4]

Whenever I’ve caught where you’re fishing I’ve found that trying to hit and hold, or trying to get their heads up actually makes them more likely to head straight for the reeds. I used to sink the rod tip under the water and as someone described earlier they charged up and down the swim for a bit but never made it so far that I lost touch with them. I had them to over 9lb and it was only a problem when I hooked something big from the banker swim on the short walk and it shot up to peg 10. It was the same on the short walk, I very occasionally had the line part in the rockier swims because of the angle the line was at.

I used trot a lot with 6lb hooklengths and an acolyte plus so hit and hold wasn’t really an option

it was a tip passed on to me by someone who’d been told it by Keith Speers.

edit: just read tiggers post so maybe hit and hold was an option

I have caught Barbel to 9lb 7oz on the small stream you describe. I was targeting Roach using a soft 6/7 weight converted fly blank with a spliced tip. I used 5lb Maxima and size 18 hook to 2lb 5oz hook link. It is inevitable you will occasionally pick up Barbel on a single maggot. When using light tackle I play the fish with soft hands and a bit of patience. I have found that when even using heavier tackle you tend to lose more fish by hook and hold.

 

[mikench]

Believe me Tigger can hit and hold any barbel with either the Acolyte Plus or Normark Avenger. I've had carp on both to 10lb plus. The barbel await.

 

[108831]

We must be serious,hitting and holding on a match/float rod is not the same as hitting and holding on 1.75lb t.c. rods,the lack of power has to give more,this is a must to give protection to the 6lb line,yesterday on 'peg 10' I had a fish which if i'd have lost it i'd have sworn it was a decent carp,turned out I had lassoed it behind the pecs,the river was up with all the rain and I had hells own job with it,6lbs or so it was,on landing it I removed a size 4 barbed hook(barbless only rule),with a John Roberts bait band on it,two feet of line with an AA about six inches from the hook,a BB six inches above that,wtf was this person doing??? Just to say I dont hook and hold these barbel on the small river,I'm there to enjoy the hairyness of these hard fighting fish,plus there are no real snags apart from twigs that get stuck in the reed stems...
Just to add,the difference in hooking fish on the float is you hit the bite,therefore have a start on them,when you are on the lead and you get a three foot twitch the fish is already flying,else we would all be using such rods and lines for barbel.

 

[tigger]

Alan, seriously, I have no problems hitting a barbel and holding it on 6lb mainline and a decent float rod.
The fish in one swim in particular are right slap next to a fallen tree and as I strike I sweep the rod right back as far as I can and hold the rod there with my thumb clamped on the reels drum. The fish literally wear themselves out on the rod and line before I can start to gain a bit of line on them. Once i've gained enough line I can play the fish as normal allowing them to run a little, then wind back what they've just took.
I have used 1.75lb harrison chimeras in the same spot touch legering with 12lb line and didn't get the fish in any better. Another thing which sounds strange I admit, but the rod seemed to be pretty much as bend round as the float rod!
I tried a 1.25 test chimera also, and ... a hardy 11ft avon, a hardy 11ft 6inch avon, plus numerous float rods with pretty much the same outcome.

 

[chevin4]

Alan, seriously, I have no problems hitting a barbel and holding it on 6lb mainline and a decent float rod.
The fish in one swim in particular are right slap next to a fallen tree and as I strike I sweep the rod right back as far as I can and hold the rod there with my thumb clamped on the reels drum. The fish literally wear themselves out on the rod and line before I can start to gain a bit of line on them. Once i've gained enough line I can play the fish as normal allowing them to run a little, then wind back what they've just took.
I have used 1.75lb harrison chimeras in the same spot touch legering with 12lb line and didn't get the fish in any better. Another thing which sounds strange I admit, but the rod seemed to be pretty much as bend round as the float rod!
I tried a 1.25 test chimera also, and ... a hardy 11ft avon, a hardy 11ft 6inch avon, plus numerous float rods with pretty much the same outcome.

I think it would be a brave man or one with very deep pockets to use standard float rod albeit a good quality one for hook and holding with 6lb line. I have read several articles where float rods have shattered being used for this application. Knowing my luck if I abused my new 15ft Acolyte plus in such a fashion it would probably explode. The only float rod I would trust in my armoury which I would use for this application would be a Harrison 13ft SU very heavy in comparison to modern rods but tough as old boots have stopped 20lb carp on 6lb line with this tool.

 

[trotter2]

Wish I had fishing like that around here. The acolytes are a lot stronger than first impressions suggest. Once you get the tip bent round the blanks power up and its suprising how much pressure you can put on a fish. It takes confidence to do that with such a light weight rod ,but for me repeated useage and has given me me this. Had more than a few angry 5lb plus swale chub on my little acolyte ultra 13 footer to prove it.

 

[mikench]

I bought my 13´plus from Tigger after he had thoroughly road rested it. He once stopped what he thought was a speeding ice cream van using it and the hit and hold method but it turned out to be a police car .

 

[markcw]

I think it would be a brave man or one with very deep pockets to use standard float rod albeit a good quality one for hook and holding with 6lb line. I have read several articles where float rods have shattered being used for this application. Knowing my luck if I abused my new 15ft Acolyte plus in such a fashion it would probably explode. The only float rod I would trust in my armoury which I would use for this application would be a Harrison 13ft SU very heavy in comparison to modern rods but tough as old boots have stopped 20lb carp on 6lb line with this tool.

I had the Original Harrison 12' and 13' gti
spliced tip rods with sliding reel fittings.
A water I fished had carp in it upto around 15lb .
I have had them out around 12lb on these rods and 3lbs maxima line.
I was fishing for roach,crucians and tench at the time.
I had no worries of the rod breaking.

 

[chevin4]

The Harrison float rods although heavy and thick walled are certainly up to the task of handling big fish. I think I read somewhere that someone was doing a review on the 15ft GTI and even used it for legering for big barbel where there was a need to keep a lot of line off the water. I have one of these rods but find it too heavy for trotting and tend to use it for tench fishing

 

[Molehill]

The Harrison 15ft GTi S/U is a bit of a lump (in comparison to more modern float rods), but it does the job on big fish and I am 100% confident that I won't break it however hard I heave , my 'go to' float rod for tight swims. The standart 13ft GTi (not spliced one) is no slouch either for giving fish some stick!

 

[The bad one]

I’m just curious about these rods. Are they any good and better than say the equivalent Drennan, Shimano and Daiwa?

I’m not talking about carp rods but avons , float rods and barbel rods. Certain blanks have an excellent reputation, Normark, Hardy,Preston Asaki, shimano diaflash to name but four. Specialist rod builders use Harrison blanks but I suspect blanks from the main manufactures are just not available.

How do they compare ? They still produce them so there is a demand. Prices asked on eBay are usually high but are those prices warranted?

In shot, they are far better than 2 of the ones you mention. The third I can't say, as I don't own one. I love my Daiwas specimen II 11ft 6 in 1.5 TC. But even they cant hold a candle to the Harrisons specimens (4 of) I've got. The 13 ft GTI hollow tip float is a dream to play fish on from a 4 oz roach to a double figure barbel. Saying that it did struggle a bit playing one with 3 ft on the Ribble one time. Oh and my Barbel Torrix (1.75) did struggle a weee bit with a 25+ fresh springer Salmon I hooked under a bush on pellet when barbeling on the Severn that got it in its head it was going back to the sea.

As for Shimano I did have two Nexave Barbel rods recent new releases and broke a top on one, phoned this so-called great Co to get a new top stopped production of them and no spears left in the warehouse. We can sell you a new Hyperlop full rod if you want? Errrrrrrrr no thanks! I'll put another ton to the price of that, buy a British rod that I know I can get a new top for in 20 years time. Yes Mike that would be Harrisons and I know you can because I broke the top section of my GTI 20 year after I bought it. Phone Harrisons up told them what had happened, sent them a small section of the female end and within a week a new top arrived for the price of £38. Try that with any other make or model and I suggest you get the Shimano answer!

 

[steve2]

When talking about how heavy these rods are we are only talking about a ounce or two and I would much rather use older models than some of today's thinned wall rods.

 

[tigger]

We must be serious,hitting and holding on a match/float rod is not the same as hitting and holding on 1.75lb t.c. rods,the lack of power has to give more,this is a must to give protection to the 6lb line,yesterday on 'peg 10' I had a fish which if i'd have lost it i'd have sworn it was a decent carp,turned out I had lassoed it behind the pecs,the river was up with all the rain and I had hells own job with it,6lbs or so it was,on landing it I removed a size 4 barbed hook(barbless only rule),with a John Roberts bait band on it,two feet of line with an AA about six inches from the hook,a BB six inches above that,wtf was this person doing??? Just to say I dont hook and hold these barbel on the small river,I'm there to enjoy the hairyness of these hard fighting fish,plus there are no real snags apart from twigs that get stuck in the reed stems...
Just to add,the difference in hooking fish on the float is you hit the bite,therefore have a start on them,when you are on the lead and you get a three foot twitch the fish is already flying,else we would all be using such rods and lines for barbel.

I forgot to say Alan, I use the same techique in that spot when touch legering. Difference is I hold the rod and feel for a tap up the blank, as soon as I feel the little tap, which is pretty much the same kind'a tap as you get when vertical jigging and catching zander. As soon as I feel the tell tale tap I strike and pull back all in one movement just as I do when float fishing. Then just hang on until the fish tires before trying to gain any line back.
I have even touch legered there with my float rods but usually use a hardy avon rod of a pound test curve.
After saying that i've used numerous heavier rods also.

 

[108831]

I have an original Normark specimen match,that is a very strong rod too,not ridiculously heavy either...heavy compared to a plus though...

 

[hague01]

I have two barbel rods made last year on harrison torrix 1.75 blanks by peregrine. Expensive but truly magnificent to use. I cant rate them highly enough. I have been thro Free Spirit, Daiwa touneys, hardys etc. but finally have the perfect pair( for me)! Harrison still make some rods in house.

 

[mikench]

After a great deal of humming and harring I decided to buy a Harrison rod if a decent should come up . I have most marques but not this one. I liked the look of an old but well cared for Harrison Tryptich, 12' 3 piece and a tc of 1.5lb and so after some advice I decided to buy it.It arrived yesterday and I had a waggle. It felt nice in the hand, not too heavy and with a nice action . It will need a good fish to demonstrate how good it is but the seller had caught some cracking fish with it including a tench of over eleven pounds, a carp over twenty and a humungeous eel of over seven. The seller only sold it because of ill health and I consider I got it at a very good price which I will easily recover if I don't like it.i think I will.

Thanks for all the comments. I have a few rods but I felt I was missing a few. There are still a couple I fancy to keep me fresh.

 

[xenon]

After a great deal of humming and harring I decided to buy a Harrison rod if a decent sh one come up . I have most marques but not this one. I liked the look of an old but well cared for Harrison Tryptich, 12' 3 piece and a tc of 1.5lb and so after dome advice I decided to buy it.It arrived yesterday and I had a waggle. It felt nice in the hand, not too heavy and with a nice action . It will need a good fish to demonstrate how good it is but the seller had caught some cracking fish with it including a tench of over eleven pounds, a carp over twenty and a humungeous eel of over seven. The seller only sold it because of ill health and I consider I got it at a very good price which I will easily recover if I don't like it.i think I will.

Thanks for all the comments. I have a few rods but I felt I was missing a few. There are still a couple I fancy to keep me fresh.

You wont regret that-hav a few Harrison rods myself and they are top class in every respect.

 

[Molehill]

I built a Tryptic for my wife some years ago, although they are listed at nominal 1.5tc the rod always felt "stronger and more capable" than expected and could take a lot of stick against better fish. By todays standards it is probably slightly heavier than modern equivalents - which matters not a jot unless you are holding it all day - otherwise it is another tremendous rod from their range, imo.
It is still a rod I grab and use (a good allrounder) and have 100% faith in, a pity it is discontinued as the 3 piece is another bonus, but rods come and go like womens fashion and I suppose there is not the call for it nowadays.

 

[mikench]

I must say I find 12' 2 piece rods just that bit more difficult to get in the car, to navigate woodland and tight riverside swims and to negotiate overgrown paths through trees. They stick out too far in the quiver.

I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that made up rods are just too vulnerable to clumsy b****** like me so they get transported in a protective case. I'd rather spend 10 minutes on the bank than break a tip.