Allcocks combination on ebay

[Santiago]

There is a lovely Allcocks split cane combination coarse rod going for a song on ebay, the only snag is buyer collects. The seller lives in Chelmsford, so if you fancy it and live in that area you will need to bid just over £20.

I stupidly put a max bid on it of £20 before I saw 'buyer collect', but will not be able to collect it. So if I win it, is there anyone on the forum who lives in that area willing to collect it and post it on to me? Obviously, I will re-imbusre postage plus send one of my homemade swan quills to cover petrol etc., or the money, you choose!!!

[Snape]

Have you sent them a message to explain?
Sometimes people say buyer collects but actually are prepared to post it or you can arrange collection by using parcel2go http://www.parcel2go.com/ then email them the label.

[Santiago]

I plan to send a message if I win. Would you advise me to send a message before I know the outcome?? Parcel 2go sounds a good idea, thanks!

[Santiago]

My Allcocks combination arrives tomorrow, I paid £7 for it. Does any one know what rods it should make and if they be good?

[PDuffield]

From the 1968 Allcocks Guide:

[Santiago]

Thanks for the info. Hope the rod matches the description!! Does anyone else have one of these, or are they quite rare?

[Nobby]

Actually the Combination was made for many years and there are earlier versions made of flamed whole cane and greenheart, I have one in my loft.


Lovely and light for roach and the like......they look a little unusual with their snake rings more usually seen on a fly rod.

[Davyr]

Not wanting to put you off the rod (and for £7 you can hardly go wrong), but my recollection of combination rods - even Allcocks ones - was that, in common with most "multi-purpose" items, they weren't that good at performing any single job that well. They were designed for anglers on a limited budget (which was probably most of us in the '60s) who wanted to fish for a variety of species but couldn't afford more than one rod.

The solution that many took was to use a Wizard for very nearly everything!

[Santiago]

Thanks Davyr, I am aware of that, with combination rods the overall design tends to be just one big compromise. The picture on ebay looked like flamed cane. It should arrive soon, so I will know for sure if it's the older version!!

Has arrived. Looks like a 4 piece float rod. I'm baffled how to make any other rod! And it is flamed whole cane. Think this one might go in attic!!

[PDuffield]

Doesn't sound like you got all of it, I've got a few parts of one too. Although the fibreglass sections are too thick and nasty to use for anything like 'delicate' fishing, I was impressed by the quality of the two flamed cane sections that came with mine, really strong and straight. I've put them aside to make a cane landing net handle at some point, maybe yours could be similarly re-purposed?