3 x 10ft 3lb Torrix for sale

My annual 'what rods shall I build myself' spree went into overdrive this year and in addition to my tench rods I built myself another set of eel rods, which means last year's models are up for sale

As the post title says they are three 10ft 3lb Torrix. Build is minimal. American Tackle  1k woven reel seats, AT butt caps, Fuji Alconite rings, hook keepers on left side  dark grey thread. All lettering underneath except 'DLST' on top between the whippings for the hook keepers.

New build price would be £340 each or £1050 including carriage. Selling these three, hardly used, £700 including carriage.

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Rod news

First off I have a pair of one-off rods for sale at a bargain price! RODS SOLD! They are 12ft/2.25lb multi-carp blanks trimmed to 11ft. Suitable for close range carp or flood water barbel, maybe zander or canal pike.

Cork handles, American Tackle black DPS reel seats and AT rubber butt caps, seven Seymo Hardlon guides plus tip with black frames, hook keeper, black thread. Nominal test curve is 2lb 6oz, action through but beefy.

I've had these blanks sitting around for a long time after the need for them for myself went away, so in a quiet spell built them up to see what the AT reelseats are like on actual rods. If ordered new these would be £280 each or thereabouts. Selling as a pair for just £390 plus carriage.

American Tackle fittings are starting to become popular in the carp rod world, partly because they offer good quality black reel seats, and also (I think) because of their steel lined rings/guides. I can't see the value of the weight reduction these rings offer on distance carp rods that weigh a ton, but I guess they look nice! However, they are not recommended for use with braid, so of less use to pike anglers I reckon.

Some of the other AT products look more practical for pikers and I hope to be investigating them over the summer. I wouldn't say the finish on AT fittings is quite as good as that on Fujis, but it runs a close second. far better than other brands I've worked with. As a rod fitting nerd it is annoying that the AT 18mm DPS reel seats are ever so slightly wider than the Fuji equivalent. It's less than a millimeter, but I noticed it straight away! They come in black, matt black, carbon weave and the never recommended soft-touch finish. Soft coated reelseats look and feel lovely. Until the finish starts to go tacky and peel off. Maybe it's just something in my sweat that does it, but I ruin the rubbery grips on cameras and lenses in no time too!

I had a customer who had a craving for retro-fitting rubber RBC butt caps to his rods. The only problem was his silly Fox quiver had handle pockets that were too narrow. I had also had the same problem with an otherwise well designed Fox quiver. very annoying to have a good piece of kit that you can't use. Anyway, after a few failed dry runs I came up with some shaped Duplon that, combined with a Delrin button, makes a slim enough 'blob' to finish the handles off.

Being satisfied with the handles I put on my new tench rods I had another play around to adapt it to heavier rods. This time putting the shrink tube over the Duplons.Only a dry fit and a quick snap. I'm leaving this for a while before deciding if I like it. It's an option for anyone else though.

More rods in stock on my website.

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11ft 2lb Torrix rods for sale

Having no plans for any tench or bream fishing this spring I've decided to part with my three 11ft 2lb Torrixes. If I change my mind I've still got my trusty Interceptors.

Build is abbreviated Duplon with matt woven carbon insert DPS reel seats and black nylon butt button, metallic purple tipping at the handle whippings, hook keeper on left hand side, and Fuji BMNAG Alconite rings (25-8 six plus tip) in Rover Ringing style.

Cast two ounce heli-rigs and feeders well and have landed carp to 17lb so will cope with any tench that swims!

This build would be £245 each. Asking £480 including £20 UPS delivery for the three.

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Rods for sale

Owing to the fact I have far more rods than I actually need, and that I have at least two sets that would do the same job, I'm parting with my 11ft 3lb Torrix rods. I built them for my short lived carp 'campaign' in 2016, for which they were ideal. As that is well and truly behind me, and because I found them best when casting a lead and small bait, they are surplus to requirements.

As rods I really like them, they are light, well balanced, crisp in action. They were my eel rods last summer but for pike fishing I found them too tippy to use with half baits or heavier, and for playing pike and catfish the same applied. Stick a two to three ounce lead and a small bait like a boilie or a roach head on, though, and they cast like a dream.

The build is as shown. Fuji reel seat with carbon insert, abbreviated Duplon, Alconite rings (30mm butt to 10mm tip, Rover spacing), black thread tipped with khaki at the handle, hook keeper on the left. Butts and tips are numbered with dots (0, 2, 3 for some reason!).

The RRP for a factory build on these rods (Kigan rings, plain reel seat) is £252 each. This build  would be similar. I'm selling these three for £530 including carriage.

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Double frustration

It's unlike me to rush building rods but this year I've got ahead of myself and made a start on a few builds only for my customers to change their minds. Throw in a cancellation and a cock-up and I have a few fully built rods for sale. The list can be found here: http://www.dlst.co.uk/stock I won't split matching sets, but any rods ordered from the list during July will be carriage paid.

I was concerned that starting my eel fishing early this year might lead me to burn out before high summer arrived. I think it has. My last two sessions have resulted in one small eel and a blank. neither result encouraging me to have another try. Things are so bad I'm almost thinking of having a try for the vermin again! Or maybe I'll get some bream fishing done? Neither option is really filling me with enthusiasm.

With the rod building supply situation as dire as ever I have a stack of blanks sitting idly awaiting either reel seats or rings. Of the dozen I've put some cork on only two can be finished off until something arrives. I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall...

In an attempt to get round this blockage I ordered some rings from the USA. While I was browsing the website I bulked out the order by adding some stuff that isn't available at all in the UK. One of these was a spool of cord sold for wrapping around rod blanks to form grips. I'm not sure if it's an aesthetic that would work on our sort of specimen rods. As an experiment I've tried it as a grip on one of my landing net poles along with a colour combo of thread I quite like.

The first test match starts tomorrow. That might perk me up. Or not...

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The pattern continues

It's carried on being a case of all work and no play. With not as much work getting done as I'd like thanks to the continuing non-arrival of blanks and fittings. The law of sod dictates that the stuff I need most pressingly is the stuff which fails to arrive. You'd imagine that item A ordered before item B would arrive first. Not in the world of fishing tackle. Thankfully the weather has turned unsettled so slaving away at the work I can get on with hasn't been too frustrating. but when Tuesday turned mild, dry and sunny I headed out with the pike rods.

This time I ditched one of my set ups that I was playing around with and replaced it in the quiver with the tried and trusted float leger rig on a P-5. After clearing out the bait drawers in my freezer I discovered that I wasn't as well stocked with fresh baits as I'd thought. I still had enough to allow for a variety to be used, lamprey, herring and bluey as it turned out. I'll have to top up soon though.

Conditions seemed pretty reasonable despite the sunshine, but the first swim I tried failed to produce in the hour I fished it, moving baits around too. The second swim gave me access to a few decent spots and the baits were duly scattered around them. As there was scope for recasting to different areas I decided to stick it until dark in the swim.

With less than an hour to go a recently recast bait, the lamprey head, was picked up and a very twitchy take ensued. This was to the 11ft 3lb Torrix. Not the most powerful rod in the world. Even so it failed to take on a bend of any description when I connected with the bait nibbler. The reason was obvious when a pike of about one pound came to the surface. With just one point of the end treble right at the tip of its snout I managed to shake the fish off in the edge! I hoped that was the start of something of a feeding spell. I should have known better. When the micro-pike are out and about it usually means the big ones are lying low. There ended the session.

Rod fittings that I use on a regular basis are the ones that are scarce, which means that anything I don't use many of turn up without any problem. Among them recently have been an Alps reel seat. I understand that they look nice, but for someone such as me who likes to use practical fishing rods they are like stepping back 30 years.

Now

Then

Fuji's composite reel seats were hailed as a great leap forward when they were introduced, among other reasons for being lighter than metal seats, and also for being warmer to the touch in cold weather. Win win, as the saying goes.

I'll give the Alps seats one thing. It's fun spinning the locking nuts up and down the threads. Kind of like playing with an executive toy!

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Spring?

Over the last couple of weeks I've had a couple of short evening sessions trying to catch carp. One on the railway pond one on a bigger, deeper place. Both sessions saw me fishing into the wind like an idiot and freezing my nads off as a result. I should have had the wind behind me. I probably still would have blanked but at least I'd have been warmer.

I did manage a couple of runs on the railway pit, which was to be expected, but they both fell off for some reason. I suspect that my double boilie baits were too big for the daft little cyprios that picked them up and stopped the hooks doing their job. The other place was simply dead. Plenty of sand martins and a few swallows zipping about on the wind during the last hours of daylight, and a nice sunset though.

At least those two sessions have made my mind up to wait until things warm up before getting the tench rods out. Past experience has shown that if I start tenching too soon I get despondent before they start feeding and fattening up. May will be here soon enough.

Talking of tench I have one 11ft 2lb Torrix built with 25mm butt ring and five other rings to an 8mm tip and my standard cork handle in stock.

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Hopalong

At first it was work that was keeping me away from the bank. Then it was photographing poultry. Then I did my knee in and have only just started to remaster the art of kneeling down again. Pah.

While gathering the stuff for the Hardy 'tribute' rods (which the owner has now christened, by the way) I got hold of a few different coloured threads. One of which I rather fancied as a subtle tipping shade for the handles of the 'carp' rods I wanted for myself. They could double up for eels and pike. Athough probably not as I can never be bothered swapping rigs about, and i prefer braid for the predators. They're rather nice. Eleven foot (as is my current preference) Torrixes with a 3lb test curve, Alconite rings, and tarty reel seat. There are too many, and too small, rings on mine for any carp angler to look twice at, but they suit me.

In my quest for the ideal eel rod a few years back I built a pair of Baby Ballistas - also eleven feet long but with a 2.5lb test curve. These are not the same as my P-2s, which it turned out I preferred for the eels. The test curve is, to my mind, a little optimistic, and the action very forgiving (i.e. not really up to casting pike baits). What they did prove good for was chucking method feeders for tench and bream. They'd also make a decent rod for small river flood water barbel, and even small water carp - which is what they were designed for.

I've decided mine are surplus to requirements and are up for sale for £200 for the pair. Carriage included. They are fitted with six Alconites, Rover Ringing style, 30mm butt to 10mm tip. Black thread, Ultra Matt finish, full X-weave shrink handle with Fuji Rubber butt cap, DNPS reel seat with black collar. SOLD - 30/03/16

Rods for sale

The fishing has been dire. Hence nothing to report, unless you'd like to read about bootlace eels and blanking. It's been so bad I've given up. I think the eel rods will be in action next time I get the urge to wet a line. At least I should get a few runs - even if it's a return to the frustration of missing 90% of them!

Despondency

Rooting around in my stock of blanks the other week I found a 12ft 2.5lb Torrix in gloss finish. I don't know why it was there. I probably double ordered it. It's now built up 'carp style' with six Kigan 3D rings(40-12) plus tip Rover style, Japanese shrink butt grip with stainless button, DPS reel seat with stainless collars. All lettering underneath the rod.

Harrison factory build is listed as £288 RRP. I'm shifting this one for £200 inc delivery.

A few weeks back I put a quote in the to-build file and ended up mistakenly building three Ultra Matt P-5s with cork handles and stainless trimmings. Usual Rover Ringing with six BSVOG plus tip, 30mm butt ring. These would normally be £645 for the three but this set are on offer for £600 inc carriage.

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Another rod in stock (SOLD)

I've finished off the latest build of the 'where did that come from' blanks I have in stock. This one is a green 11ft 1.25lb  Chimera Avon whipped with dark green thread. My all time favourite rod for perch and roach legering.

Not much more to be said than that really. Price on my Rods in Stock page.

As usual you can click the photos for a bigger size.

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General Shufflehouses

If you're a listener to Test Match Special you'll know where this blog's title comes from. If you're not a TMS aficionado, tough!

After using my 12ft 1.75lb Torrixes for roach fishing last winter/spring (did we have a spring?) I decided to make myself a third Chimera Avon and get rid of the Torrixes. As it turned out a mate wanted a pair of Avons, and as he was in a rush for them I did him a deal on my existing pair and ordered up three fresh blanks for my own rods.

I had never been over happy with the experimental handles I'd put on the original pair but did like the handles I'd put on the Torrixes - apart from the blingy stainless bits. Being in an all-matt/all-blackphase at the present I cut down three reel seats to fit my small baitrunners. Going for the ones with the carbon spacers I removed the gloss varnish to match the Ultra Matt blanks. Then I shaped up some Duplon to go fore and aft. A standard slim Duplon butt grip with a black plastic button finished things off.

I almost used metallic aquamarine thread which looks good on woven blanks to tip the handle whippings but changed my mind at the last minute and went for something less obvious when I found a spool of purple deep in one of my boxes of threads.

The lettering is simply 'DLST' on top, between the whippings on teh side-mounted hook keeper, length and test curve underneath behind the reel seat, and numbering dots opposite the 'DLST' and on the tip sections.

Having used lightweight SiC guides (gunsmoke frames) on the Torrixes I considered doing the same on the Avons. However I chose to stick with the all-black theme and went for lightweight Alconites (black frames). As this blank has a very fine tip I fitted single leg guides as the final three. The pattern I used are fly rod guides which sit tight to the blank and I'm not 100% satisfied. They'll function perfectly well, but aesthetically they are less than ideal. That minor niggle apart I'm looking forward to sitting behind them waiting for a bobbin to drop.

With the Avons finished the Torrixes are surplus to requirements. Much as the 12ft 1.75lb Torrix is a lovely blank I just don't have a use for it at the moment as my roach fishing isn't being done at long range, nor am I doing any medium range bream fishing for which they should be ideal. For tench I prefer Interceptors for some reason - even though I have had tench to 7-13 (and a male a pound lighter) on the Torrixes. So, they might as well go.

The build is a bit off-the-wall. First of all the reel seats have been cut down to take small baitrunners (DL, D, OC in the 4000 size. You can just get a standard sized baitrunner in them if you wind the hood as far back as it will go, and then jiggle the reel foot. There are stainless steel butt buttons and collars at the back of the reel seats.

Ring sizes are small - 20mm butt ring to 8mm tip. Ring pattern is Fuji MNSG butt ring, LMNSG intermediates and MNST tip - all SiC. Gloss finish, black thread with metallic auquamarine tipping at the handle.

A new build to this spec would work out at £260 per rod. If anyone's interested, I'm open to offers in the region of £500 (including carriage) for the three.

Another blank that I handled and immediately tried to find a use for is the 11ft 1.75lb Torrix. It feels to have a stiffer tip than the 12ft version and slightly more power overall. I've contemplated a set for tench fishing, and like a fool I built myself one (on a brown blank with a cork handle, 30mm to 10mm BSVOG guides), but it seems a little too beefy to me. If I was in the habit of staking carp in snag-free situations I'd use it for that. It's one of those rods I can't fit into a niche no matter how hard I try. Make me an offer close to £140 and it's yours! SOLD

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Just thinking

At the moment this is just an idle thought, but an offer might make my mind up. Back in 2009 (how time flies) I built myself a set of 12ft 2.5lb Torrix with the intention of using them for long range bream fishing and maybe a bit of eeling. As it turned out my plans changed and the bream fishing has taken a back seat and I have other rods that serve for close range eeling. Two of the rods have been used a couple or three times and the other one hasn't been on the bank. As it stands I can't find a use for these rods. I could do some carp fishing with them I guess, but that's not in my plans.

Being stuck indoors due to the weather and with a few moments to spare while some glue was setting I had a play around with a camera and a flash gun. The trouble with having decent camera gear is that all the flaws in the subject show up. I was sure I'd cleaned all the dust off the rods, but there's loads of specks visible!

I've hung on to these rods simply because they feel great. I just don't have a need for them. No doubt if I do part with them a long range bream opportunity will immediately crop up and I'll have to build a replacement set.

A price? Currently a set of three 12ft 2.5lb Torrix with Fuji SiC rings would be in the region of £700. I might be tempted by half that... (Sold)

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Odd jobs and bodging jobs

Sometimes I get requests that I think are a bit off the wall. A pair of D-3s with folding 50mm butt rings was one such recent build. As the rods turned out they looked better than I anticipated, and the folding rings make a lot of sense at such a size. 50mm rings are prone to getting bashed, and they're horribly cumbersome. As the rings require a bit of pressure to fold I underwhipped them. Takes longer and is a fankle to do, but it should prevent any damage to the blanks from the ring feet flexing.

The bodging job was due to a confusion between the spec I thought I'd agreed with two Polish anglers and what they thought had been agreed. The result being two rods needing personalised inscriptions removing. As the blanks were painted this was never going to be straightforward as some of the finish was bound to be removed along with the top coat of varnish..

The long winded way would have been to strip the butts back to bare carbon, have then repainted, and redo the whippings. The bodge job was to remove the lettering and whip over the slightly flaked paint, varnish the thread, letter and top coat. I did this as an experiment to see if it would work. If it didn't then it would be the long way round. As it turned out they almost look as if that's the way they were intended to be finished.

The rods are both built on burgundy 10ft Harrison VHF spinning blanks with a casting weight of 15-45 grammes. One has a black reel seat and is whipped in burgundy with gold tipping throughout, the other is whipped in black with gold tipping. Both are rung with Fuji Alconite rings, 30mm to 8mm, and would have been £200 each. I'll have them on my Rods In Stock page soon at a knock-down price! If they don't sell before the LAS Lurefair, they'll be on display there. Had they been a matched pair I might have kept them myself as light carp/barbel rods. But I'm getting to be a bit of a tackle tart in my old age!

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