The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Back in 1994 John Weaver & Son, who had by then acquired the Sharpes ‘Scottie’ impregnated rod brand, approached me with a view to them building an impregnated cane rod for carp fishing to be called, ‘The Chris Ball Allrounder 11ft Carp’. After several prototypes with different ring spacings, length of handle etc, I signed off on an 11ft 1¾lb rod. My own rod was given the serial number 00/00 and for the last 25-years has been a constant companion for my floater fishing. In that time its seen dozen and dozens of carp to over 30lb caught off the top.

At the end of last year it was looking tired and rather tatty around the edges. So on 1st Feb this year I took it to Jason White for refurbishment. Upon inspection Jason pointed out that the very tip of the rod was starting to delaminate, something I failed to notice.

Anyway, a few weeks back I went to pick it up. The transformation was quite extraordinary; a new onion style top to the handle, complete rewhip with blueing of the ferrules, the delamination fixed and the blank straighten with a gentle upward curve to the tip so when held in the hand the rod lays straight. No ‘hi-build’ varnish to the whippings just careful multi coats of varnish.

All in all it’s startling to think what I gave Jason and what I got back.

A big pat of the back from me and a hearty recommendation to anyone who wants a restorer to sympathetically bring a cherished item back to life.

Cannot recommend Jason highly enough, a superb craftsman and an all-round good fellow

Best Fishes
Roger

Great news – we are very lucky to have such talented craftspeople producing and restoring all these lovely things we collect. Would there be a chance of some close up shots at some point?

Do these rods ever come up for sale?

Lovely Chris.

I looked for a Jason White website but was unable to find it, can anyone provide a link to it please...just want to be nosey.

Wonderful

Thanks for the comments. Very occasionally I have seen one for sale, indeed a pal managed to buy one off eBay some years back. The rod was offered in two versions; impregnated (which I prefer) with no intermediate whippings, and vanished with intermediates. The number produced was around 100 with as many as possibly half going abroad. I once saw an order for 35 to be shipped to Holland.

There is no website at present but you can contact Jason directly on 07751 637359.

Here are some images of the restored rod.

That is one beautiful rod and a excellent rebuild mike

I can only fully endorse the comments of the fore-posters on this thread . Jason is not only a master craftsman but a bloody nice bloke . I've purchased 2 restored Hardy rods from him + an Octofloat de-luxe . All are superb .

If you're looking for a restored cane rod then I'd highly recommend a visit to Jason's workshop in Dorset . It's a virtual Aladins Cave of the finest rods ever created ...