In reply to Post #38
Yep, they may have their detractors these days (including me), but for innovation since the outset of 'modern' carp fishing, no other company comes close to Nash.

Also have to mention Richworth for bait (when it was still Clive & Malcolm) - first ready mades which had a huge impact. And often forgotten that they made the first proper carp fshing videos too.

LINKY POO™ https://www.youtube.com/@SidBoggle68

I've been a DDAPS member since 1985 (when I was 15!), and I recall the waiting list back then was about 6-7 years, but as mentioned if you had a DA postcode you usually got in within a year. I lived in Orpington at the time, but my Geography teacher at school lived on the main road above Kirby, and very kindly let me use his address, so I got in straight away. 

It should be mentioned the lakes along the valley were all very popular at that time, and at the forefront of how carp fishing was expanding rapidly, and other areas / lakes around the country were still somewhat under the radar.

As things evolved in the mid-late 90's, the waiting list went right down, and I think people were getting in within a year or two - you could actually turn up on a Friday night and get a swim!

And now it seems to have gone full circle again with a 10 year waiting list, which I guess must be driven by some extent to glory hunters wanting to have a go on Bennetts. A shame for anyone wanting to join just for some local fishing, especially if non-carp.

In reply to Post #5
I think your rods only end up splayed if you have your front and back bars ridiculously close together like some I see, which from a stability point of view makes no sense to me, so I think 1'' difference for 2 rod bars is about right for me.

I use 4'' back & 5'' front for small single handled reels (SS2600 / Baitrunners / Cardinal 55's)

4.5'' back & 5.5'' front for big pits (no folded handles)

And my 3 rod bars are 8.25'' back & 9.25'' front, but adjustable so they cover all the reels I have (although I generally tend to fish 2+1 if using 3 rods).   

Mine are all Solar Poziloc, and their range seems to have shrunk to say the least, as none of the above 2 rods bars seem to be available from them these days.

In reply to Post #3
According to the ESP website, they only now do ;

12' 3.25tc - 50mm
12' 3.50tc - 50mm

They definitely used to do 12'9'' 3.25tc & 12' 3.00tc with 40mm butts.

Which seems a bit odd given that Mr. Hearn himself, being more than a little old school, only seemed to use the 12'9'' 3.25tc with 40mm rings.

Must have just decided to cater for the fashionista's instead 😉

In reply to Post #58
Well, I decided to test a spool of the 12lb Technium from Bobco, and load up 3 x Weston shallow SS2600 spools.

Soaked it for 24 hours, and took some lengths to test at 4 different places (approx. 200 yards apart). Also did some less rigorous testing at various points while loading each spool.

And it all seems fine to me, literally cannot break it while pulling between my hands, certainly nothing like it 'snapping like cotton'!

So, I'm going to give it a go cautiously, and hope I don't end up with egg on my face. 🙏

Edit to add ; I did manage to break it between my hands by wrapping around some cloths to stop it cutting in, but with far more pressure than I could ever apply via a rod in a fishing situation.

In reply to Post #50
Yes, it doesn't inspire confidence does it. I shall give it a good test at some point.

It does seem a bit bizarre though, a rogue batch of line that only came to light because it was being sold cheap (as in is that why it was being sold cheap??) - there must be lots of people using it who never read this forum.

In reply to Post #17
With regard to the Technium from Bobco that was going cheap a while ago, I got a couple of spools that have been sitting in a cupboard.

I recall at the time some people saying it was crap, and others saying that it appeared to be ok.

Can anyone comment on this now as it was some time ago? Or is it really only good for backing?

In reply to Post #17
Having said that, for a range of rods made for a shop, I would expect they would want their name on them as well.

I found one of the Geoff Kemp rods that Vic Gibson did for Penge Angling around the same time, that sold on ebay ;

LINKY POO™ https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/116649128659?_skw=penge+angling&itmmeta=01KQYV5EN2NJFJ6V9K2AGX19SQ&hash=item1b28d472d3:g:W-QAAeSwcNdnxqgJ&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xAcQ94%2FK9%2BYe%2FzPvWBKh6NFgPWMx0LJLvv63JcTzDynzMX8oTNbQgqVC7%2FSllYyaDXdrgxSpCDzzAUeSGX4JpXJnZz%2Blrs1ESfH9iQKpNSFO7BrSKd3dixVmzarE1N8UKQ6uT4GF4kx--Y0sRGgcvPNv8LLSXFEI%2FvhkGHsCkGGzUmNVWN7XfKZAQLXjYg%2Bd%2BuwByRix0tcQJ0EYjl1WxOLZ%2FlyurUj3p0y2Jx3Jt16h6R7umZwwR8a1dzdVJvXfcM%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9Tqldu_Zw

You can see it has the 'Penge Angling' on one side, and 'Geoff Kemp Carbon No.2' on the other. I would expect something like that on a shop range, so I still think they may be his rods as there is nothing on them but his name (except for the length & tc).

In reply to Post #16
Well, I've just had a look back through his book, and found the following re; his time at Arnold's ;

He rang me up and said: ''Stick with me and you'll never have to work again. I want you to design some rods for me'', which we did on Tri-Cast blanks, with my name on the butt, and we sold a fair few.

So it looks like they might not be his actual rods then.

Or then again, they could be

In reply to Post #12
Yeah, I know Vic Gibson did lots of rod building for Penge Angling, and I've seen plenty of his rods. He did the Geoff Kemp rods for them as an exclusive as well I think.

Like you say though, they nearly all had 'Penge Angling' on them. He also sold direct so you could have whatever you wanted written on them.

My original question was whether the rods from the Arnolds range had 'Ritchie McDonald' written on all them (which I think is doubtful)......and if they didn't, then it would mean that these rods are very likely to be Ritchies own rods that he got Vic to build for him.