The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

For those interested.....couple of images of Ted Oliver's rods in action. These rods are superbly made....the best splitcane you'll find. The finish had a habit of being a bit standard but ask a modern maker (Andrew Davis) to strip it off and re-finish and then really does the rod justice.

The 12ft'er below is one Andrew renovated the other one is orginal finish (with rather nice 4.5" early pre-tension regulator Coxon).

ttfn

Beautiful rod Badger and truly wonderfully composed photo's, love the rod, net, reel and fish!

A custom made Oliver's 12ft Traiditonal Avon in action. Renovated by Andrew Davis a few years ago to a superb standard. With a barbel just over 9lb.

Very nice Badger1. :thumb:

i have been offered from a good source a Olivers of Knebworth carp rod 10ft like a mark iv anybody know anything about the rod, dont do a lot of carp fishing but was thinking of a stalking rod for Barbel any info would be useful.
Bumble

I have an Olivers MKIV and it is an excellent rod, it should be great as a Barbel stalker.

Don't worry bumble it'll make a fine stalking rod for barbel. Bought a whole range of Ted's glass blanks in the early 1960s. 1lb, 1 1/4 lb, 1 1/2 lb and 2 3/4 lb. All at 10 foot two piece. They performed well then and are still perfectly OK now. The original 1 1/2lb carp blank was in honey brown but he did have later blanks in green. The only refinement I have made is to fit spigots but the action is fine for barbel and I still enjoy using mine to this day.

If it's cane I'd bite the seller's arm off. Olivers made some stunning cane rods. All those I've handled (actually not many) have been fabulous things. I don't know anything about their glass rods.

Both the Oliver's "MKIVs" I have are super rods which I use for Carp/Pike through to Barbel, the Avon is a super rod too but they seem hard to find. The "MKIVs" however are not the same taper as a "true" MKIV. The taper is almost extended into the tip section i.e. a beefer bottom section which continues into the tip for a little bit. Great rods.

The only Oliver's rod which is questionable in a sense of why you'd want it is the 13/14' Tench rods. Masterfully made but god they are heavy despite being hollowed.

Oliver's Kennet Perfection in action last night. :-)