The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Good morning all,

Yesterday I decided I would have a session on the canal as I wanted to try out a rod I obtained from last year's dispersal sale of Peter Aspindale's rods, it is a two piece 11ft Featherdale rod. I have been rather nervous of using the rod as it is a ferruless rod and very lightweight, when I obtained the rod there was a price label attached to it which has the weight of 8 ounces.

The label :-


The rod is a two piece and the female joint on the bottom section has a reinforcing collar which reassured me a bit as this was the aspect that I was a bit nervous about. The bottom section is whole cane and the top section is whole cane with a spliced in split cane tip. I had intended using it with a centre pin reel but changed my mind and combined it with an Intrepid New Deluxe fixed spool, mainly because my centre pin casting is not up to much.





Saturday afternoon during a conversation with my wife and a neighbour they both predicted that it was not going to rain on Sunday so on the strength of that I took my brolly out of my holdall, big mistake !!, as shortly after I had set up it started to drizzle and gradually rained heavier, I got soaked !!! but never the less I stuck at it.

The session went quite well, I fed in hemp and casters and started with maggot on the hook, I started catching very small roach straight away and the odd better sample every now and then. A switch to double caster brought me a bream of close on 1lb and the same bait accounted for a perch of about 6 ounces. In total I caught 47 roach, 1 bream and 1 perch, oh and 1 very tiny gudgeon. I was very pleased with the rod, it has a really nice tip action which lives up to its description of being a special match , I would like to see how it handles one of the larger bream in the canal.





About 11 o'clock I could see two boats heading towards me, one from either side, judging their speed and the distances I predicted to myself that they would cross in front of me, they did, but not before they crashed their bows into one another. The one from the left came so close that I had to pull in my rod rest and the one from the right stopped and reversed back completely over the swim I had been fishing on the far side , time to go home !!

Hope it is of interest,
Regards, John

Splendid stuff - indeed I have re-discovered the canal this year but hopefully as autumn draws on the boat traffic will significantly reduce and I can give my Aspindale Avondale a run out. Thanks for posting.

Some lovely mixed fish float fishing in your canal by the looks of things! I'm sure that your rod will be fantastic. Aspindales make some superb rods. That joint does look delicate. But I'm sure they knew what they were doing and it's tougher than we think.

I own an Aspindale Swiftdale - which I absolutely love. Perhaps the best cane float rod I have ever handled. Although my floatcaster gets more use, with it being a bit more robust and able to handle a little better a few small rouge carp which seem to be in almost every water these days. But find a water with no carp for a bit of floatfishing and I'd pick the Swiftdale every time. In fact you've just inspired me to get it out again. Thanks!

I don't fish canals for the frustrations you describe. Every time you build up a swim a boat seems to come along and ruin it.

That sounds a great rod! Any idea of the date it was made? Ferrule-less cane - a wonderful thing.

This may be sacrilegious, but would it harm to put an inch of yellow / green jasper thread whipping on the bottom end of that tip joint?
I know I would be tempted to do it!
Lovely looking rod, I am envious!

Forget that idea, I have just read the original post properly, and realised that I was looking at a male rather than a female.
Not something I have done often in my life.

That is a beautiful and very desirable rod John. Don't worry about the joint at all it will never break at that point. It will be a very slow taper fit and almost certainly reinforced internally.

I think if you keep your line rating down to around 3lb max, don't try long casting with weights over 1 ounce and you will have no problems at all.

Wal.

Wal,

Thanks for your comments, it was the joint that I was mostly concerned about but having now used the rod I am happy to carry on useing it and I will be restricting my use of it to the canal where you don't tend to encounter too many larger fish.

Regards, John

Olly,

Thanks for your reply, I am guessing it was a 1960s rod, probably towards the end of the 60s as fibre glass rods started to come appear in the early 70s.

Regards, John

I envoy you a lovely set up ,the Featherdale matched with the Intrepid deluxe.spot on, lucky man .Reelmaker

Thanks John. I thought it may be earlier than that , mid-late 50's. Ferrule-less rods were - I thought - made about that period. Wal?
I have 2 similar versions - whole cane - whole cane/spliced split cane but with metal ferrules.

I can only find 2 references to a Featherdale. One in Feb 2013 when a member of a forum - not this one - was shown one.

And Bigwood Auctioneers data when selling John's rod.

Was the Wasp or Hornet or Midge a ferrule-less rod? Believed to made by Aspindale & sold by TomWatson.