A Rod For All Seasons?
A Year With A Harrison Interceptor
A Year With A Harrison Interceptor
Introduction
We were enjoying dry warm weather in June and those days of deluges from above seem memories from the distant past. A quick check in the diary revealed that the two pictures below were taken with a little over four months separating them.
Warm, Lush and Dry Days in June
Could This Be The Same Place? February
By this time you�re probably wondering what this has to do with a fishing rod, but look at the pictures, most things are the same including the rod in use. The particular rod in question is based on a Harrison Interceptor 1.75 test curve blank which started life as a shop bought rod with abbreviated Duplon handles and fittings. It was just my preference for cork that led me to customise the rod to my own requirements after building another similar rod based on this blank. Yes, so impressed with the rod, I now have two Harrisons, although I only use one rod for most of my fishing sessions.
Technical Stuff
As standard this rod is a 12 Foot two piece 1 lb 12 oz Test curve with Seymo rings, abbreviated Duplon handle and Fuji NPS fitting. The rod is based on an unground HR40 blank.
This rod was originally designed for long range bream fishing. It has a very slim blank diameter of only 12.5 mm at the handle. It was designed to cast 1 to 1 1/2 oz bombs 100 yds, with a crisp action that can easily take up a long line and plant the hook. However this is not a fast taper rod but a true compound taper with the ability to control and subdue the most stubborn fish.
In Use
My normal setup is using 14lb Fireline and Shimano GTE 5000 reel. The rod has my total confidence with plenty of power for dealing with fish in flood conditions as well as in 'quieter' water. I've always believed in getting the fish quickly played out and the Harrison does this admirably. The rod has landed lots of fish now and has the sensitivity to make catching smaller fish enjoyable as well as being able to deal with those that go into double figures. The pictures above show the sort of conditions that I fish. For those interested, the two occasions when the above pictures were taken both produced fish just short of double figures. The weights used were 18g (around 1 ounce) and 125g (around 5 ounces) the latter one being of the flattened variety! With my fishing, casting is not usually involved - just a swing is usually all that is required on my local river.
Banded Up and Ready To Go Fishing
Conclusions
I have used this rod in both standard and customised form for around a year now and can find little fault with it. There is oodles of power when you need it and so far has inspired total confidence. In the customised version I have gone the full cork handle and SIC rings but retaining the original ring spacings. That's my preference but this shouldn't detract from the performance of the rod in 'standard' form. I have checked with Harrison and can report that a custom build version is now available - which may be well worth checking out with your supplier. In my opinion, a very good rod in that offers performance and good value. I have used various other barbel rods but this one always goes fishing with me.
Availability
Both test curves 1lb 10oz and 1lb 12oz are now available in the BFW Shop - Go To The BFW Shop
BFW Score
10 out of 10 - a very good rod for barbel fishing - look no further.
Bob Gill September 2001
Updated September 2004