• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Chris Yates Rod/Reel Collection

Surprising Jon. Didn't think they'd be so cheap. IIRC Paul cook who is a very fine cane rod maker himself uses one. Might try and seek one out.
 
Jon - that's fantastic, for a giggle you should invite him on here to take a look at our posts! If there's one thing I'd love to ask Chris (if I was ever in your position) it would be to get him to show me how to properly touch ledger...I keep trying to mirror the way he does it - but I've never managed to fathom it out properly.

Learning from a master like Chris would be something, pretty sure many anglers would wish they could spend an afternoon fishing or even just chatting with. Dare you to ask him! ;) He could do a new book on it...a series of articles compiled by celebrated anglers/writers each with their own selected tips/advice...albeit in a lighthearted manner.

"Chapter 1: The Chris Yates guide to tea making via the Kelly Kettle" :)

Right, I'll shut up before I sound like a besotted teenager, best of luck on your fishing trip - pass on all our regards :)
 
Haydn,

The 'collector' prices seen at various game fairs, John Andrews sales etc are a bit daft; you will see LRHs and other fairly late cane rods at £200 and above - but they rarely sell at that. Keep an eye on ebay, where 'user' models are sometimes a bit cheaper. Someone like Andy Sliwa will turn a semi-tatty user in to a minter for a fair price. If the cane itself is good - straight, no issues with glue coming apart and so on - the cosmetic aspects can be sorted easily and quite cheaply. That's usually how I get mine.

The LRHs are quite recent by cane standards, being made until some point in the seventies. Perhaps that's why their prices have never matched rods like the B James MkIVs and Avons. Too modern! It's wise to avoid trends too - B James Avocet prices went silly after CY write about them, but equally good and similar rods were cheap as chips at the same time. Wizards often attract a disproportionate price for similar reasons, but every provincial rod company of the 50s and 60s had a similar model in its collection. Same with MkIVs; the B James models are much sought-after - i have a few myself - but the Constable and Olivers models were far better in my opinion than the later James models; trends, again.

Alternatively, as you say, there are good makers out there, and Paul Cook is certainly one of them. Most work with pre-made blanks, a few start from scratch, and all have their devotees.

Are they better than carbon? No, just different, and fun if you like that sort of thing.

If anyone here has seen the DVD 'The lost world of Mr. Hardy', it's quite revealing; there's interviews with Barder - who learnt his trade with them - and Chris Lythe, and an admission from a Hardy employee that they used to occasionally sabotage the fibre glass during preparation, to prolong the popularity of cane. Proper Luddite behaviour, that!

best,

Jon
 
Jon,

I hear the B James MKIV avons vary quite considerably, with the cane being quite average towards the end of production - whereas its the earlier one's that people look for. Have you experienced this with yours? There is supposed to be a link somewhere about B James MKIVs and what to go hunting for...I suppose as long as its straight and in good condition they're reasonably similar (granted that's a broad statement by somebody with no experience on the subject!).

Thanks

Aaron
 
Hi Aaron,

That's the one thing that gets forgotten about Chris when people discuss his writing or debate the usual 'harmless hippy or senile reactionary' stuff. He's a VERY good angler, and can read a water better than anyone I know. I was with him when he caught his biggest barbel, finding it in a backstream which ten anglers or more had walked past. Including me. I had the same fish a year later, from its usual haunt in a weirpool. A lovely capture, but far less impressive angling, fishing blind in to a hotspot.

Equally, a few of us went perch fishing in March last year, a trip Chris wrote up for the recent AT Christmas edition, and he caught three times as many as anyone else, including several 2s and a near-3. This time, from a drainage ditch off the main river.

For those interested, his new book is coming on well, should be out this summer. I've had a peak at the first part of the manuscript, and it was great. More of a nature book than a fishing book, but no worse for that.

Added: Aaron, i'm no expert on MkIVs - or anything else, for that matter - but the flared or onion-shaped handle models are older and almost always better. The donut handles are fine but less sought by collectors. Most of mine are 'donuts', but they do a job. As you say, it's the cane that matters. There are others around here who know far more, they may well post.

best,

Jon
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the information Jon, I'm quite envious you'll be speaking to Chris, to many of us he was quite an inspiration and not just because of the rods, tea drinking etc, but the fact that he was such a talented angler. Although I have since discovered a flair for Claret and Muscadet drinking thanks to him and Bob James. Fair play to him. Maybe you can request he adds his ledgering technique at the back of his new book, well its worth a try... :)

On other matters, thanks for the MKIV advice, I may just follow what you mentioned and buy a reasonably tidy model and get it restored...if the cane is ok, should make a nice rod.

Aaron

P.S. If anybody ever fancies finding one of the fishing pegs used in 'A Passion for Angling', you can find it at my website, here:

http://www.aaronlittlefield.com/apassionforangling.html

I need to speak to Hugh Miles about the pictures though (currently work in progress as I need to write to him for permission), I hope he doesn't mind for now...(Hugh if you're ready this please pass me your email address!).
 
Aaron, check out inthenet for further info on which MK IV to go for. They have a very good guide to other rods too. The chaps on purepiscator are helpful too. A couple of rods I restored for my self are on that forum so you will see what can be done. It's only fair to say I'm a French polisher and furniture restorer by trade so i have a good head start. Nevertheless, there are a few others that aren't and their rods come up just as good.

Jon, agree re. The Lost World Of Mr Hardy. Fantastic DVD that and a little bit sad too. When you see what we used to be able to do in this country, and what we can't do now....
 
Hi Aaron,
i have met up with Chris on 5or6 occasions, not only is he a great angler, he is also a great story teller, he is also a big Southampton supporter, ok not everyone is perfect, the last time that i met him was when he fished the Bridge Pool on the Hampshire Avon at Christchurch, i spent a long time watching him trot his old quill down the swim whilst he sat, very dedicated, in the Royalty punt.
Brian.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_1660.jpg
    IMG_1660.jpg
    81.3 KB · Views: 258
Last edited:
as said in Ian's post, Chris Yates has many fine rods but also some rods that are new even though being cane, namely from Edward Barder. My fred J Taylor, that was restored by Barder, is a great rod to use, if a little too valuable to me to risk some of the wilder places i like to fish, and was recommended as a rod for me by Mike, my rod restorer, who also uses one himself for barbel as well as general fishing. i asked him after collecting my 500 deluxe for a rod with a bit more length and a bit more mid section power, he showed me his and i was sold, just needed to find the right one, and then one of Peter Stones came up for sale, but at more than i could afford. when i didn't sell i contacted the seller and agreed a price and some time for me to raise it. love it so much i got another in December to use as a starting point to have a twin butt (standard and a short counter-weighted version), twin tip version made with a new Chapmans replacement tip and a new MK4 avon tip supplied by Mr Norman in Ashford, who also makes fully built new cane rods that will make your eyes pop out and are well worth a look, and i would love to have the likes of Mr Yates give some input on its construction and performance as i have gone in to it with mostly guess work but hope it will do what i need.

another rod in his collection i would like to try is the hunter, maybe a trade for a day could be possible. too much to hope for ;) but then stranger things have happened:D
 
This forum really astounds me, its quite a honour to be able to talk to you guys about all manner of fishing related stuff, thanks for putting up with my questions - I never would have thought I'd be speaking to people who actually fish with Chris too - how brilliant!
 
Thanks for starting this thread Aaron, I've really enjoyed reading all these posts. I once met the God angler himself at a fishing fair, where he signed all my Yatesy books that I'd taken along hoping to meet him. All signed with a little caption such has "May your largest landing net be far too small."

Paul
 
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...

I believe that Chris has a passion for antique things in general. I was passing the time of day with an angler on the River Stour one day when the subject came around to great anglers, Richard Walker, Fred J Tyler, Fred Bullhead, Peter Stones and Chris Yates. Apparently he had fished with Chris many times and had got to know him very well. It would seem that Chris collects classic/vintage cars and has cars dating back to the 1920s. They are kept in a remote location in a defunct brewery somewhere in the West Country. These classics include Model T Fords, Citroen Travant, Morgan 3 wheelers, to more modern classics Triumph Vitesse, TR5A, Ferrari Dino and a 1960's Bentley - and these are the only ones that I can recall! As soon as I showed too much interest, the guy I was talking to just clammed up, packed up his kit and walked away without another word. Maybe he thought that he'd given away too many clues where these cars were stored.
 
The Chairman on Sunday

Well! Really! Now the dear chap's copying me! It'll be Death To the Dangling Crimes (Otter Rot), plenty of life (rather too much, for someone my age) in One's Lady Guides and Worse Than Death to the Celebrities and F.F.s in The Castle Cellars next!

As ever,

B.B.
 
On a visit to a CLA gamefair and accompanied by my fishing mad 5 year old we briefly met CY. My son had a long earnest chat about Gudgeon and I couldn't get a word in edgeways.

Later in the day we listened to a presentation by Bob James. With Bob in full flow my son, full of confidence, advised him to try worms in edge when the fish weren't biting.

On a roll he also had a go at flycasting with one of the instructors but spoilt himself when he had a major tantrum as they wouldn't let him take a rod down to the River Test and catch a trout.....

Back in school he wrote a story about meeting the fishermen from the telly- Still got his writting somewhere-its a classic!
 
Looks like I've got my first cane rod...a Millwards Float Rover, 11ft

Not bad really, its all been restored - although I was curious about the tip ring being of the avon type (i.e. screw in adaptor for quivers), apparently these rods were quite favoured for both their float work but also they're ledgering - so maybe its of benefit. What do you guys think, will this affect it - I'm guessing screw in tips were a standard thing?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/EXCELLENT-VIN...tingGoods_FishingAcces_RL&hash=item2c5a04bd28

For £75, its not the end of the world...
 
well done, was watching that and the swimversa too. not bidding just watching, thought it would have gone a little higher so you did well;) now you need a reel to match:D
 
I'm wondering whether to ask the guy if he'd change the tip ring, unless Float Rovers did come with that style. Doe you think it warrants it...can't see myself using a quiver tip on it, particularly if its designed as a float rod predominately.

I'd like to keep the rod as original as I can i.e. of the same specs...never been a big fan of screw-in tips. I'm guessing a float tip would aid with striking?

I might do some light ledgering...would it help?
 
Aaron,
I have a completely original Edgar Sealey Black Arrow 2 Float Rod that has a threaded tip ring. I appreciate that your split cane rod may be from an earlier era but there's no particular reason why it couldn't be an original fitting. Strange that they would fit them to float rods but they definitely did at one point.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top