Stick Float Fishing

[@Clive]

Traditionally from the early 20th century most coarse anglers had two rods. If you were fishing for roach or other small fish you had a three piece rod made from two sections of whole cane with a built cane, greenheart or lancewood top section. If you fished rivers for bigger fish your rod would have one whole cane and two built cane sections. The pike rods were typically 10 foot built cane. That was it!

The rods sold by different manufacturers were all very close variants of these three types. The roach rods would weigh 10oz, the river rods 12oz and the pike rods 20oz, or slightly more if double built or steel lined.

Then, in the 1950's specimen hunting came into vogue and anglers started buying 10 or 11 foot wholly built cane rods of 1lb or so test curve that became universally known as Avons. Fibreglass rods were made in lengths and strengths that matched the old cane rods. When I swapped my train set for fishing tackle in 1968 most local anglers still only had a float rod and a pike rod. A few years later swing tip rods were added so match anglers had a choice of float fishing or ledgering and pike fishing seemed to decline in popularity. By then the length of float rods had extended to 13 foot or more.

I have (too) many rods and reels. However, I get a lot of pleasure using vintage tackle even if it weight ten times the weight of an Acolyte or doesn't have a single bearing. If I was casting to the far side of a big river I would use appropriate modern tackle. However, most of my river fishing is under the near bank or no more than half way out so an old cane rod is fine. If I miss a few dace or roach bites while wielding my 13ft fibreglass match rod it doesn't matter. I can always go back the following week with a stick of carbon.

 

[Mark Wintle]

My experience of the rods used locally started in 1970. Living in Wareham, Dorset where there were no carp, chub, bream or barbel, some pike in the river, with the main targets dace and roach, occasionally grayling, and local game and sea fishing meant that the freshwater club anglers only used match/float rods of fibreglass at 12 or 13ft (exceptionally, the club chairman used an Apollo Taperflash). There were no leger rods and no-one fished with Avon or carp rods, nor spoke of carp or barbel. With no chub in the Frome chub fishing experience amongst even the best of the Wareham anglers was very limited - one angler who'd caught a 4lber in a Stour match in 1971 - was still spoken of in awe a decade later.
By the time my mates and I braved the open match circuit in 1975 it was still just a 13ft match rod, followed by our first poles in 1976 at 5 metres. Fishing a waggler was also unheard of until a mate and I learnt the method in the mid 70s, and even then I don't recall the older anglers trying it on the river.

Back to the present. One thing I've found over the years that the really exceptional match rods can do most things really well. My first experience of this was the B&W John Dean slpiced tip rod which could handle big roach on small hooks and fine lines in a strong current, fish the lightest stick and big balsa equally well and was also good for waggler fishing. More recently the Tricast Allerton Premier match is of similar ilk but much lighter.

 

[markcw]

I used to use the original Harrison's GTi spliced tip rods in 12' and 13' lengths for all my fishing . Canals, rivers , lakes .
I have caught decent carp on them. Not by design though . At first it was squeaky bum time , after that it was a doddle .
I sold a Drennan IM6 or IM8 can't remember the number .waggler rod . No good for the canal , but ideal on large waters casting a fair distance . It was mid to late 80's.
I had the choice of the waggler rod or spliced tip rod they did . I chose wrong . The spliced tip rod was ideal for all , canal and lake .
As for flat floats , about 3 years ago when I was in Oxford , a bloke was making them small enough for pole fishing

 

[Alan Whitty]

Imho (good) rods that have a traditional match rod action are good stick float rods in general, Acolytes don't fall into that spec (again imo), certainly good rods, which shows by the numbers sold, I would prefer a Cadence to an Acolyte, but that's my preference, hey, what does that count for....

 

[@Clive]

Imho (good) rods that have a traditional match rod action are good stick float rods in general, Acolytes don't fall into that spec (again imo), certainly good rods, which shows by the numbers sold, I would prefer a Cadence to an Acolyte, but that's my preference, hey, what does that count for....

Your experience counts for everything when it is you that is holding the rod.

I saved up on the tackle shop's savings card scheme. Having a paper round and a Saturday job at Currys gave me more expendable income than most 14 year olds. Mr. Harrison let me finish 10 minutes early so that I could run up to Field Sports Supplies, buy some bait and leave money on my savings card. The same Mr. Harrison interviewed and employed me for an assistant managers job 8 years later.

With my savings scheme I bought an ABU Ferallite Mk. 6 match rod, an ABU 506, a Mitchell 300, an Ernie Stamford swing tip rod and a fibreglass pike rod. So, by the time I was 15 I was as well equipped as the local match anglers. I still have the reels, but not the rods. There was no river fishing, pollution from the coal mines saw to that, and only one carp in existance locally. Typical fodder were roach / bream hybrids, bronze bream up to 4lb and for two weeks in summer we fished for tench. Pike rods were set up with a stickleback on each of the treble hooks and accounted for some stupid pike up to 12lb.

My two fishing buddies had an ABU Mk.5 and a Milbro Enterprise that was bought in the sale when Co-op Sports Department exited the fishing market. The blue Mk.5 was nearly as good as my brown Mk. 6, but the yellow Enterprise was like a cowboy's whip. If you struck at a bite the tip responded several seconds, or so it seemed, after the butt began to move and then overtook it. But it could chuck a 1/2 ounce bomb further than Rob had line on his spool!

Joining a WMC fishing club gave access to waters that had chub, barbel and other species, but those three rods were never thought of needing adding to. As Mark says; river fishing was always float fished top and bottom, nobody ledgered and bottom only float attachments were unknown on rivers.

Now I can't shut the cupboard door for bl**dy rods!