The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Reading the advert we seem to have a fine example of the 11ft 2 piece GP rod used from trotting to ledgering. Small fish to big fish. I love the photo in the first thread....any background on it ?

Not wishing to spoil the thread , but my mind does wonder to the question of later equivalents .....


Thanks for the thread ....

Tench Dreamer wrote:Reading the advert we seem to have a fine example of the 11ft 2 piece GP rod used from trotting to ledgering. Small fish to big fish. I love the photo in the first thread....any background on it ?

Not wishing to spoil the thread , but my mind does wonder to the question of later equivalents .....


Thanks for the thread ....

Hi, that photo came from the Haig Coarse Fishing in Britain book.
Notice how low the reel is on the handle, to me the angler is a
fly fisherman who has turned his hand to trotting for grayling.
Venables also seemed to fix the reel low on the handle, the rod was
supposed to give a slower striking action in this position.

In fact, in my research of the craftversa's short life it seems that the
rod was favoured by game anglers that also wanted a general coarse
rod 'with plenty of action' for their occasional trotting and light ledgering.
If you look at the creel magazines and watch Anglers corner you will
see anglers like Herbert Normington use the rod for their grayling fishing
and declare it the best on the market for that purpose.

In it's brief hour of fame it seemed to lend itself to the gentlemanly angler
who fished mostly for trout but also wanted a top quality avon rod.
Then again this could be all rubbish..

Venables 'Mr Willow's cartoons featured the craftversa lovingly drawn
with it's reverse taper handle.

Lucky Strike wrote:

Tench Dreamer wrote:Reading the advert we seem to have a fine example of the 11ft 2 piece GP rod used from trotting to ledgering. Small fish to big fish. I love the photo in the first thread....any background on it ?

Not wishing to spoil the thread , but my mind does wonder to the question of later equivalents .....


Thanks for the thread ....

Hi, that photo came from the Haig Coarse Fishing in Britain book.
Notice how low the reel is on the handle, to me the angler is a
fly fisherman who has turned his hand to trotting for grayling.
Venables also seemed to fix the reel low on the handle, the rod was
supposed to give a slower striking action in this position.

In fact, in my research of the craftversa's short life it seems that the
rod was favoured by game anglers that also wanted a general coarse
rod 'with plenty of action' for their occasional trotting and light ledgering.
If you look at the creel magazines and watch Anglers corner you will
see anglers like Herbert Normington use the rod for their grayling fishing
and declare it the best on the market for that purpose.

In it's brief hour of fame it seemed to lend itself to the gentlemanly angler
who fished mostly for trout but also wanted a top quality avon rod.
Then again this could be all rubbish..

Venables 'Mr Willow's cartoons featured the craftversa lovingly drawn
with it's reverse taper handle.

Hour of Fame.... What dates are we talking about here and how much would you have paid for one of em new at the time ?

Not sure, I'll have to dig out my catalogues but early 60's I reckon.
It was the 'Master' series of rods, not the 'versa' series that were the top
of Milwards range and their Swimmaster was the most expensive.
Mr S Weeks once told me this and the catalogues' proved him right.

Without getting the books out, from memory, they were only made from '65 to '67 when Milwards shut down the tackle side of the business. It was actually the Spanish reed Featherlite series that were Milwards most expensive rods, not the Versas as people often presume.

Nobby wrote:Without getting the books out, from memory, they were only made from '65 to '67 when Milwards shut down the tackle side of the business. It was actually the Spanish reed Featherlite series that were Milwards most expensive rods, not the Versas as people often presume.

I stand corrected

Sadly, as someone who has all three versions of the 'Featherlite (10 1/2 ft., 12 ft., an 14ft) ... the cash values are not proportionately similar today ... but I love mine.

What a lovely illustration !

AshbyCut wrote:What a lovely illustration !

What a lovely quote !!

Troutbeck