Chris Yates Merlin

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Rusty
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Rusty »

Well, yesterday was my first trip out with the Merlin on a nice secluded part of the Kennet. My fears about its weight were largely unfounded, you certainly know you’re carrying it but it never became a chore. What impressed me most was its ability to pick up line and strike at distance, I wasn’t expecting that. During the nice sunny afternoon I swapped to light ledgering and again the rod performed very well, bite indication from the tip was clear and quite distinct from movement caused by the flow. The tally for the day was four chub, three brownies, one rainbow, a perch and two small roach. The chub were all about two pounds in weight with one absolutely pristine example (pictured below). The trout were larger and the rainbow gave the rod a real workout in the fast current, heart in mouth time.

So my doubts are dispelled, the Merlin is indeed a very capable all round rod with the added bonus of looking quite stunning when the sun brings out the best in its finish. More than once I was caught out admiring the workmanship when I should have been looking at the tip for bites.

Image

Image

Looking forward to many more days enjoyment with it.

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Bumble
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Bumble »

Very pleased your fears were unfounded and you enjoyed waggling the new rod.
Bumble

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Snape
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Snape »

Excellent. So glad you like it. Love the reel by the way.
“Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers,” Herbert Hoover.
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Plumtart
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Plumtart »

This is a very interesting thread. I had one a few years ago. It was beautifully finished, like all E's rods, but I sold it PDQ because I just couldn't love it. The Merlin in NEARLY right, but it falls between all the stools. It has to be seen for what it is - a chub, tench, bream rod. It's not really meaty enough for bigger barbel, and it's too meaty for roach. There are any number of nicer and lighter trotting rods, and there are lots of rods I'd prefer for legering. Where does it fall down? I think this is a very nice lightish (say up to 1oz) lead rod that therefore needs low cradle rings, but which has strangely been equipped with stand-off rings. You might then say it's ideal for tench float fishing. Given low rings and a slightly shorter handle it would be a lovely chub lead rod. This is a nice blank looking for a re-think. On the matter of weight - you just have to accept that all E's rods are a bit heavier than you'd expect, but sometimes that doesn't matter. I had a stunning EB Kennet Perfection that weighed a full pound! Sitting in rests it was fine. I sold that too. I prefer his early Kennet Perfection that I believe he built on Chapman blanks. I waggled an Andrew Davis rod the other day. It had the same perfection of finish as an EB, but it felt somehow much more 'right' in the hand. For a lot of EB rods sitting miserably in 'collections' feeling right is never going to feature anyway. We're lucky to have both makers.
What Great Ones do, the Less will prattle on. Wm. Shakespeare. Twelfth Night.

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Das-Bolt
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Das-Bolt »

Rusty wrote:After two years of agonising (and saving) I collected my Merlin rod last Friday. It was ordered after a visit to Edward’s workshop and a good waggle of another customer’s Merlin which was in for repair. That particular rod felt light enough for trotting duties so I made it clear what I’d be using it for and took the plunge. Whilst what I have is a thing of outstanding beauty it’s a hefty thing of outstanding beauty, the rod alone weighs in at 14 ounces and adding a centrepin takes the total package up to 1lb 7oz. I’m no lightweight and I haven’t used the rod yet but garden waggling suggests that this is not going to be the ideal trotting set-up.

I do have some experience of split cane rods (a brilliant Paul Cooke MkIV Avon which is one foot shorter and three ounces lighter) so I was fully aware of the weight penalty but I didn’t expect a float rod to be this heavy. Is this representative of the Merlin weight do you think or is my rod an anomaly?

I’d be really grateful for some opinions and if you could pop a similar rod on the kitchen scales that would be great.

Thank you.
Rusty. FYI.
Edward Barder. Chris Yates Barbus Maximus weighs in at 16.3oz. 11' 9" made in 1992
Edward Barder Wallis Avon Whole cane Butt. 12.8oz. 11' 1996
All the best, enjoy using your rod.

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Vole
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Vole »

Edit: sorry, I only read page 1, but the weights provided may still be of interest:

" I don't think any wizard rod is a trotting rod"... Isn't trotting exactly what Wallis designed the Wizard for?

A few weights of Wizard/Nottingham type rods, whole cane butt, the rest split:
Harcol 12.3 oz,
"Avon Perfection" 10.7 oz,
Devanney (2" short (Blush)) 13.5oz.

By way of comparison, the all-split-cane "Eclipse" weighs 13.0 oz, and the Marco "Test" 13.8 oz.

And a decent "Bottom" rod, the Milbro "Valiant", with butt and middle of whole cane is just 10.8 oz

The heaviest trio of these, the Devanney, Eclipse and Test, are all powerful rods; if the Merlin is meant for modern super-barbel, then the extra ounce is probably well worth it. We all know that Wallis had a 14:06 barbel, but it was the record, and in those days, a seven pounder was something really special - surely the Wizard was designed for big roach, chub of all sizes, and barbel which might sometimes top seven, but not usually by much - basically, the bread-and-butter heavy float-fishing of the Nottingham Trent anglers, and of their holiday heaven, the Royalty fishery.
Today's "Big Boris the Bruiser" needs a bit more to tame him (to say the least), but if you insist on trotting for him, you'll probably have to do it in bursts, interspersed with all the things Snape suggests. "Resting the Swim", if anyone gets sneery. If you get a "double" on the float, I'd imagine they'll all go a bit quiet...
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Tengisgol
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Tengisgol »

Plumtart wrote:I prefer his early Kennet Perfection that I believe he built on Chapman blanks
Goodness, is that the case? I always assumed that Edward Barder handmade all his rods from the culm up. We're there any other rods built on Chapmans blanks and were they marketed as such?
Last edited by Tengisgol on Sun Nov 27, 2016 10:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Beresford
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Beresford »

@Bumble – is that Mr Yates' Merlin the rod you now own?

I'm fairly sure I've read that Barder's first real commission was for a group of Barbel society members who ordered a small batch of Kennet Perfection rods. If my memory serves me well, this story may be in Barder's blue catalogue. I seem to recall that he had just acquired Constable's planing formers and used these to make the rods. I've never read that he used Chapman's blanks before although the may have done in the really early days of his enterprise.
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Plumtart
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Plumtart »

Chapman blanks. Yes. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that. They are superb. And the first version of the Barbus was made from cut down Chapman Fred J Taylor roach rod blanks that did the job very well. Nothing wrong with that idea either, so it's not a moral criticism. I was just saying later rods with blanks actually made by Barder tend to be heavier. Some weight in the hand feels good anyway. If weight really mattered all that much we would not be using cane at all. It's the overall feel of the rod in hand that matters most. The Merlin is obviously all Barder, and it's a very nice blank. The person who bought my Merlin said it felt like a very stepped-up Craftversa.
What Great Ones do, the Less will prattle on. Wm. Shakespeare. Twelfth Night.

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Roachtench
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Re: Chris Yates Merlin

Post by Roachtench »

Hi Rusty
I have been fortunate (or unfortunate if you don't have a strong arm) to weigh many Merlins over the past 16 years. To my mind they average 13.5 ounces. But there is a slight variance. My own ‘standard’ Merlin was designed with a faster than normal tip to strike shy biting dace and come sin at exactly 13 ounces.
I do own one of the first batch ( as delivered to Chris Yates while he was fishing somewhere down south) and its a beautiful dark flamed semi hollow built rod that was originally made for reel and film maker Paul Witcher. It is inscribed ‘The 11 ounce Merlin’. But is closer to 11.5 ounces. perhaps the butt cap was changed for a larger button,
I set Edward and Colin the task a number of years ago of building me the lightest ever Merlin on the basis that many of us - Barder Rod Co customers – are getting older. It was part hollow built in the butt section, with ultra lightweight rings, lightweight aluminium reel bands and lightweight ferrules.. and a bespoke tiny ali butt cap. The deal was it had to come in under 11 ounces if the master craftsman was to be paid. I paid for the rod.

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