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Chris Yates Rod/Reel Collection

Anyhow - moving back to the original post...what would Chris Yates have in his study? :)

Are we in agreement his rod collection would be along the lines of:

Chapmans Hunter
Richard Walker MKIVs
Barder selection (Merlin, Barbus Maximus, Bishop)

If I believe all the various interviews and articles I've seen written about Chris, he must have quite a valuable reel collection. If we're split on his rod selection, surely we must agree he has some tasty centrepins? Pretty sure I heard talk of a few Richard Carter's and a Paul Witcher...and what was that aerial reel in the 'A Passion for Angling' episodes?
 
Whatever he has, after all this public speculation I very much hope that he has it stored off-site or at least a decent alarm system...
 
i too would love to meet Mr Yates, after watching and reading his work as well as a few of the appearances he has made on other programs over the years. just to gain some of the insight he has shown through the media at first hand. i had some vintage tackle years before PFA was aired but mainly because when friends of family found i fished their unwanted or inherited gear was passed on to me as a kid and occasional since then. Much of it was not fit for use and either passed on to those who preferred to angle through a display case or to kids with less than me, many many floats, small tackle items and a few reels ended up in their hands, one or two rods as well. the few bits i kept laid in boxes untill the early 90's when i got married and we spent our honeymoon on the norfolk broads, visiting a shop in Wroxham i was shown a B James and sons Mk4 Avon which seemed to make something light up my passion for things gone by, that coupled with the romance in the air from the reason we were in that area in the first place and that my wife told me to have it as a wedding present from her:D.
for 12 years that was the only 'proper' vintage rod i had until, after an accident, i found myself unable to lug huge amounts of gear around and opted for a more stealthy approach that meant i could go for an hour here or a day there as i felt i was able to.

finding places where a vintage rod would make the occasion more of a joy became more important than catching fish and this soon lead to the purchase of other rods, reels, often in need of repair and restoration. the reels were fine for myself to do but i found the repair of cane rods to a standard i was happy with was more than i had the time and skills for. luckily i was in a local tackle shop when the guy that did their repairs was dropping off some of his work and i asked him " do you rebuild cane rods too" a short chat and a trip to his home a week later had me sorted for a master rod builder that could turn my few tomato stakes into something of function and beauty at the same time. for the last 6 years he has restored the rods i have decided i could not do justice too and is at present building a very special cane rod for me. the las rod was a late 50's wizard, not a particularly good one but now a very usable classic.

reading about rods and makers from days gone by had me working out a list of the classic and vintage rods i would like to use, i say use as i can't bare the thought of them being in a glass case, and as i work through the list, only acquiring rods that need restoration so as to first keep the cost down and second to make sure they are saved for future generations, has been another hobby along side the pastime of fishing it's self and bringing the two together on a few days a year makes them both a joy only topped when a fish if involved too

through this side of things i have come in contact with a few like minded people and collectors, only a few in person, although an offer of some wallis casting lessons is still on the table from another, but through forums like this and from recommendations of articles written on sites like 'pure piscatores' that has fueled my 'passion for angling' further. i still mainly use more modern equipment but, when the air is right and the feeling is on me, it has to be a cane and pin day...
 
All very nice, I know the clips well. As someone who built a pretty mean cane rod from the Tonkin poles "up" in the 1970s, I very well know where you guys are coming from. Every year I take a unique (unique in several ways, too tedious to go into except for anoraks and trainspotters) home-built 11ft. 3-piece Wallis Avon rod) complete with one of F.W.K.'s very own reels, a Slater Wallis Zephyr (good condition but a bit "slow" owing to a well-worn pin bearing and attempted but botched minor repair by the man to whom Wallis's widow gave the reel in the 1950s), out to a leafy small pool somewhere and catch a very few, very average, float-fished tench. The same rod with a 4-inch 1915 Model Allcock Aerial and 3-pound mono fitted goes out once or twice to a river and catches some modest dace and roach and a few much-bigger chub. Lovely, short days chosen more for prevailing clement weather than water conditions and fishing prospects. I think to myself: "Yes, that was nice. Do it again perhaps before too many months. Now, back to the real world...".
 
Sounds quite idylic Paul. If I'm honest that's probably not a million miles behind what I have in mind, admittedly in my case its more of a naive folly into the split cane world to see what its like. I can't realistically see split cane taking over from my mainstay carbon rods - but for a few odd trips, it could be quite entertaining.

It's interesting that even Hardy acknowledged that fibreglass rods had properties beyond that of cane back in the day (cast distance, etc)...
 
I think there is an article being written in an upcoming AT about Mr Yates, maybe that might shed some light on what your looking for.

The thread seems to be heading towards a carbon vs cane 'discussion', as so often they do.

Surely there's still a place in 'the real world' for cane Paul?


Cheers
Adam
 
Hi Andrew... Sounds like its not just me then! I own and use all types of rods too but amongst them are a few special ones.
Although I've tried to fight it I can't get away from the fact that for me blanking in the rain with a favourite rod is somehow better and on red letter days when I catch something that 3lb chub on a B&W 11ft fibreglass avon and pin is just a little bigger than a three pounder on a Harrison.
Whilst things like luggage, seats and line are practical choices the choice of rod and reel is usually determined more by whats going on in my head rather than the river or pond.
The best way to find the 'best' rod is look at what other people use and then fish with as many as possible to choose one that you connect with. Just to complicate things a little more although two identical models of carbon rod usually feel much th same, cane (and to a lesser extent glass)rods can be totally different. I'm lucky enough to have owned and used a number of B James Rods but to me they have never felt right. I've also got a Barder Bishop which to be honest is slightly dissappionting.

Current special rods include

A couple of B&W Hexagraphs
A 11ft B&W glass Avon
A tatty 10ft glass carp rod (maybe sportex)
Sharpes Scottie version of a MKIV carp

and if I'm being practical a 4 piece Harrison or Fox Avon.

I'd also like to try a Chapman Hunter in glass or cane and a few other hexagraphs

My aim is to bring down my rod collection down to 2 'best' rods but I think I might be more likely to catch a brace of burbot on a handline.
 
Cane? Of course there is - at least that's what three two-pound grayling taken in two trips intimated to me on the bank last autumn, after being landed on a 6'10" 3-weight, home-built bamboo fly rod...
 
Something that puzzles me a little, do those on nostalgia trips go the whole hog and use the reel lines/hooklinks of the day?:confused:
 
hi Dean nice colection so far mine stands as
Cane
B james mk4 avon, the first one although i have had others this is still the bes and i wouldn't sell it, being a wedding present
B James mk4 carp
Chapmans 500 deluxe
Chapmans 550
Chapmans Fred J Taylor roach rod, first owned by Peter stone and restored by barder, a very very nice rod to use
Allcocks Wizard very useable with enough steel in the middle to make it a keeper
what is thought to be an Allcocks 14' Spanish reed float rod, has been used since restoration but not my favorite by a long way

then there's fibertube rods
Mitre Hardy float rod, with a fiber tube butt and built came mid and tip
Allcocks billy lane quiver tip, has twin tips one solid and one with a sort of floppy gut swing tip, not what most would see as a quiver tip, and has two butt sections, one full and one just a handle
Edgar Sealy 12' Black Arrow float rod with a repaired tip section that is very nice to use
Edgar sealy combination rod, 10'avon/swing tip, spliced tip float, 6' light spinning rod 6' heavy spinning rod and a 6' swing tip. all in one

fiberglass
Bruce and Walker MK4 carp lovely rod, had for years and only a classic now
Shakespear strike, as i had as a boy

Bruce and walker hexagraphs (6) fox barbel/specialist(8) shimano technium specialist(2)

and about 20 or so assorted modern course rods

as you said, it's more about what goes on in your head than anything, so i like to be prepaired;)
 
Andrew Green said:
Edgar Sealy 12' Black Arrow float rod with a repaired tip section that is very nice to use
Click to expand...

Is there any value in these things? I've got a 10 or 11' version somewhere that I learned to fish with as a kid. I dragged it out a year or two ago and was shocked at how soft and mushy it was. Give me quality modern carbon any day.
 
Answer to Chris's question above:

When I do my annual "Days of Yore Barbel Leger Day", it's with my from-new B.James Mk IV Avon, Mitchell 300 (or narrow drum Speedia - I didn't get a Wide Drum until I was 19, for a worrying 50p) and 6lb or 8lb mono and little Arlesey bombs, home-made legerstop (tube section and plug) with the mainline straight through to a modern, medium wire, wide-gape hook (I have remnant Au Lion d'Ors and even a few Model Perfects, but a man can only be so mad ... though baying at the sun and wearing a shoulder-length wig helps...).
 
Aaron Littlefield said:
Anyhow - moving back to the original post...what would Chris Yates have in his study? :)

Are we in agreement his rod collection would be along the lines of:

Chapmans Hunter
Richard Walker MKIVs
Barder selection (Merlin, Barbus Maximus, Bishop)

If I believe all the various interviews and articles I've seen written about Chris, he must have quite a valuable reel collection. If we're split on his rod selection, surely we must agree he has some tasty centrepins? Pretty sure I heard talk of a few Richard Carter's and a Paul Witcher...and what was that aerial reel in the 'A Passion for Angling' episodes?
Click to expand...





To quote from 'The Deepening Pool', Chris Yates writes.......


" I live in an old flint cottage which is half-timbered with split-cane rods. I am admiring my favourites as I write: the delectable little 10 1/2 foot Allcock Lucky Strike, straight as a needle after thirty years and countless big fish; the old reliable Wallis Wizard, which mastered another ten-pound barbel recently; a superb steely, original James Avocet; a Hardy Wanless, at 7 feet the perfect bush rod for carp and chub; a quick tipped pre-war 14 foot Hardy Thames style; the Mark IV Avon; and a powerful 12-foot Chapman Hunter, which was foolishly lent to me by the rod maker Edward Barder ( he may not get it back ). Then there are the fly rods. "

Chris describes using a 12-foot Fred J. Taylor roach rod when fishing for barbel on the Royalty in another chapter of that book.


As far as reels are concerned he admits to having owned and used a Shakespeare Europa and preferring an Allcock Ambidex to a Mitchell 300.
He evidently has several centrepins but wrote, ".....the wide-drum four inch Allcock Aerial is unsurpassed. "


Regards


Hugo
 
Chris Jones said:
Something that puzzles me a little, do those on nostalgia trips go the whole hog and use the reel lines/hooklinks of the day?:confused:
Click to expand...

A very good question. To go with the much lauded Match Aerial, Allcocks produced some "hooks to nylon". The bs of the nylon or gut was rated in X and the nylon or gut was glued to the shank of the hook. These hooks had no " eye" and the design complemented a discourger perfectly. Then some French firm came along with whipped spade ends and this was the beginning of the end. Eventually the knotless knot and hair rigs appeared which spoilt everything.
Some of the '60s reel lines were ok, for example braids were around in the form of Black & White spider.
 
Aaron Littlefield said:
Sounds quite idylic Paul. If I'm honest that's probably not a million miles behind what I have in mind, admittedly in my case its more of a naive folly into the split cane world to see what its like. I can't realistically see split cane taking over from my mainstay carbon rods - but for a few odd trips, it could be quite entertaining.

It's interesting that even Hardy acknowledged that fibreglass rods had properties beyond that of cane back in the day (cast distance, etc)...
Click to expand...

Aaron, your surmising is just about right. Cane most probably wouldn't and most definitly shouldn't take over as the mainstay of your angling. But, for a few odd trips, then it most probably will indeed be entertaining.

As a relatively recent convert I'd make a couple of suggestions to you. Firstly: don't spend a fortune on a cane rod as it's really not neccessary. Do a bit of research here for example —http://www.inthenetuk.com/pages/home.asp — and look for the value amongts the less well known names.
Secondly: consider restoring one yourself. It's really not that hard and if you manage to get yourself a decent blank you could easily make it up to a nicer rod than it ever was (many cane rods were sent out with poor finishes, poor whippings and fittings etc. but all on top of very good cane). The sense of satisfaction goes way beyond the normal feelings you get when catching a fish when you have done it on something that you made or restored.
Lastly: I know this is obvious but fish within the limitations of your rod. Cane does not like to be pushed to far and though I have yet(and hopefully never) to break one, if I ever did I would certainly be beating myself up over it for some time.

Give it a try. It's the perfect antidote to all the marketing and hype driven bull sheisse that we are constantly surrounded by, not just in angling but everyday.
 
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Chris's current favourite species are crucians and perch. He uses a Barder built one-off float rod for the former, a Sealey Octofloat with whole-cane butt for the latter. He uses all sorts for his offshore bass fishing, including a Hardy LRH and some fibre-glass.

I'm fishing with him in a few weeks so will ask him if that has changed since the autumn, when i saw him last.

I do have a Chapmans 500 and an Ambidex which were presents from him - the Ambidex is a crotchety old thing, much used at Redmire and restored now by Garry Mills. The 500 is lovely, though Andy Sliwa had to re-cork part of the handle - which he did very well.

He does possess an Allcocks President of mine, which he used in Norway for cod. He borrowed it from me 15 years ago, and I haven't had it back. He did once lend me a MkIV, which snapped as I played a 33lb mirror, so I guess we're even...

He's a lovely fellah, but would be amused/bemused by this thread!

Jon
 
Never seen a Hardy LRH but I have heard them mentioned a few times before as being a great rod. With the Hardy name though they are probably out or my price range.
 
Hi Haydn, they did three models - called the LRH1,2 and 3 - which vary in taper but are all ostensibly salmon spinning rods. Chris uses an LRH1. There's a pic of one on my website today, coincidentally, on the 'fish of the week' page.

Prices...if it goes above a ton, it's too much for an LRH. Some would say don't pay half that!

cheers

Jon
 
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