How did you get on?

[wetthrough]

Maybe it's just mine but the grommet is capable of expanding to 19.84mm. The tube is 18.5mm although I can only measure it at the bottom. The problem is that there isn't/wasn't enough friction between the grommet and the tube when it was 'loose' for it to even start to tighten, not that it had run out of range through wear. If it had run out of range through wear, as you say, it wouldn't matter how much elastic I put in there. The problem might have been exacerbated by the summer temperatures expanding the tube. I still think storing them loose (and cleaning the tube) is advisable.

 

[mikench]

Bluntly it shouldn't happen at all. The system is a flawed design and Drennan should help you rectify it asap. It isn't as though the handle is cheap.

 

[peter crabtree]

Club fixture today on the Oxford canal near Kidlington.
A first for me and most of the 12 who fished.
A very quiet place probably due to it’s remoteness..

Everyone caught but the fish were nearly all caught up the far shelf. I walked with the scalesman and didn’t see a fish over a pound.
The winning weight was just 3:7:0 ...
I had 1:3:0 which was 2nd to last out of 12..

Can’t win them all.....

 

[iannate]

Club fixture today on the Oxford canal

The winning weight was just 3:7:0 ...

I had 1:3:0 which was 2nd to last out of 12..

That brings back memories.

The canal looks as though there was a fair bit of boat traffic?

 

[sam vimes]

Bluntly it shouldn't happen at all. The system is a flawed design and Drennan should help you rectify it asap. It isn't as though the handle is cheap.

That's the angling equivalent of complaining that brake pads wear out.

 

[stillwater blue]

Drove to the river this evening for a couple of hours fishing lures for zander. It felt very autumnal and I was cold for the first time since summer and rarely feel the cold, I must remember to wrap up a little better in future! The river was surprisingly clear so I stuck to fairly natural colours and even managed to get away with fairly light jig heads as the current and wind wasn't as bad as I expected.

Managed a small pike from a deep margin near some over hanging trees.


A while later and a gentle take from the bottom of a deep trench that's usually a banker for zander threw up a good perch. As I was unhooking the perch I managed to stick the jig head into my thumb and it went in well past the barb ouch.


And last knocking I managed a hat trick of species with a chunky little zander, absolute belter of a take and surprisingly good fight that had me wondering if I'd caught another pike

 

[Philip]

I decided t o do bit of trotting on the main river for a couple of hours before moving to my prebaited spot for the last hour of daylight for the Roach. 6 different species turned up in the 3 and a half hours ..Roach, Chub, Barbel Ide, Perch and 2 Carp …amazingly no Bream ! Excuse the photos, I went for speed. The common gave a great scrap on the Roach gear. Sods law meant that this was the first time I went without any Carp tackle so had to get them all into the Roach net. I love them all to bits but I have become tunnel visioned on the Roach which didnt get a chance to get a proper look in. The Barbel c*pped out a load of my Pre-bait as I unhooked it.
Other notable thing was a Heron perched alongside Cormorants. Not seen that before.

 

[no-one in particular]

Just a walk up the pier yesterday, the sea was calm and a pea-green colour, it had cleared out a bit and it is giving it at 17c on the website but I am not sure about that. Spoke to one angler who said all he had was small Whiting. I think this my be a problem all winter. However, he said one Plaice had been caught earlier of a decent size and he had a Codling a couple of day's ago. A few reports of these showing up, maybe we are going to have a better year for them, that will be good. No Soles but the sea may have been a bit calm and clear for them for daytime or maybe they are starting to go.
PS-the website uses algorithms, just found that out so I don't trust the 17c, maybe not far off but not the actual temperature.

 

[mikench]

That's the angling equivalent of complaining that brake pads wear out.

I don't see the analogy at all. A landing net handle is twisted one way at the beginning of a session and then back again at the end. Some wear possibly but not in the same league as disks and pads which are put to use hundreds of times a day often hauling a 2 ton car from 70 mph to zero asap. Even then under those conditions a set will last for maybe 8,000 miles or a years motoring. I never complain about them wearing out as I know the treatment they take. I cannot say the same about my Drennan Twistlock.

 

[103841]

Ralph would have been the man to talk to, he is quite good at repairing these handles, unfortunately he doesn’t post on here any more.

 

[Molehill]

I have a drennan net handle, I do regularly take it apart and clean the inside of the tube and the expanding bit. All sorts of dirt gets inside the tube (the way I use it) and will speed up wear and tear. Otherwise no problems from it .

 

[seth49]

Just did mine yesterday after reading this, I just use Johnson’s baby wipes, inside and out, same as I use for my pole, push one through with the inner pole, followed by a tissue to check it’s clean, drop of oil on the threads doesn’t hurt either.

Usually clean it three or four times a year, I’ve had it at least twenty years, and apart from overtightening once, and needing too of us to undo it, never been a problem.

Worth the money, should last for years, and if the widget does fail, any tackle shop that deals with them, will be able to get a replacement from Drennan.

 

[sam vimes]

I don't see the analogy at all. A landing net handle is twisted one way at the beginning of a session and then back again at the end. Some wear possibly but not in the same league as disks and pads which are put to use hundreds of times a day often hauling a 2 ton car from 70 mph to zero asap. Even then under those conditions a set will last for maybe 8,000 miles or a years motoring. I never complain about them wearing out as I know the treatment they take. I cannot say the same about my Drennan Twistlock.

The part concerned is meant to wear. If it didn't, the pole itself would either wear more quickly, or be split apart. Perhaps they could find an even better material to make the grommet from, but at what cost?

Any friction bearing surface will wear in time, the Drennan Super Specialist handle is no different. Treat them badly and it accelerates that wear. Watch out for spigot and push over joints on rods, telescopic and push over joints on landing net handles, even the pins of a centrepin. Use them enough and they all fail in the end. Treat them badly and that end is only hastened.

The brake pad analogy is sound, it's simply that you don't want to accept that grommet on a landing net is expected to wear. There's a reason as to why Drennan dish replacements out for free.

 

[mikench]

I will request one ahead of time in that case.

 

[seth49]

I’m still on the original one, looking at it, it will probably see me out.

 

[nottskev]

I have happy memories of being a student in Sheffield in the mid 70's, but I've not been back often. Its beautiful river valleys didn't hold many fish back then; as Mick (Flightliner) put it, if you'd fallen in then, you'd have dissolved before you drowned! Back, at his invitation, today, the upper river Don was both beautiful, and, he assured me, full of grayling. I'm more for the B roads than the motorways, so I wish there was free fishing like this in my town



I met up with Mick and his friend Bill, and we walked through steep, wooded banks to the first area we fished. I'd seen Mick's foam blob floats adapted for the swift, shallow water, and I set up a titchy 3x no 8 stick float in my first swim



and the first run through got a bite from a trout



I couldn't swear that's the exact trout - I have pics of Mick's fish too - but it's close enough. 15 or so grayling followed, one or two little fingerlings, but mostly like this



Mick and Bill moved off downstream, and my swim went quiet, so I walked down and got installed in an even prettier and more comfortable swim



With a good flow right under the rod tip, I swapped to a much heavier float (3 x no 6) and a further 20 or so grayling came along, plus the odd dace



Trotting for fast-biting fish on light gear in a lovely, streamy swim - what a treat! It took me less than an hour to get home, even at rush hour, so I'll certainly be back. At one point, I gave my rod to Mick to try out. As he's left-handed, he had to fish with the handle on the wrong side, strike, then turn the rod upside down and reel in backwards. He nonchalantly caught 3 grayling from, I think, 4 chucks, so the last pick is him swinging one in on his own rod

 

[mikench]

I like that last pic; a dry bank without a 10' drop. I reckon Mick is ambidextrous .

 

[rayner]

Enjoyed your post Kev, I used to love my times spent on the Don. Even in the centre of town there were quite a few swims to fish.
Back then it wasn't so healthy both fish wise and health wise, fish could still be found in the right places.
Thanks for nudging my memory.

 

[103841]

It’s been an impatient time waiting for the rain to subside and allow me a session on the river to test out my new toys.

Someone on another thread asked what my new NGT trolley was like, first outing today and it did all that was needed, it did only travel over fairly level ground, I’m sure over some rough terrain it maybe not as stable.



My other acquisition, a Drennan Acolyte 14ft ultra, specifically for roach fishing the Stour where I was today.

Alternated between punched bread and bronze maggots, the maggots being the most successful.



My only other match rod has been an 11ft Matchpro Ultralight, the pickup and enhanced control was evident immediately with the 14 footer accy. The roach at Grove Ferry are pitifully small and not really giving the new rod much of a test, I thought I was into a decent perch but when it surfaced I had a huge smile, at last a decent roach of 18ozs found the net, easily a roach pb for this river, I love this rod!



Smaller fish continued to feed until a pike gatecrashed the swim and brought a premature end to the session.

 

[peterjg]

S63, I am pleased you like your new Accolyte. I have the same rod and use it a lot, great rod.