Dean Macey Gear 12ft Specimen Tri-Tip Rod

THE marketplace for multi-tip barbel rods is very crowded and competitive, and with so many manufacturers now getting it right, price is often the main selling point. Kevin Nash has long held a reputation for selling decent and highly usable kit at a good price and the new Dean Macey Gear range is no exception.

Functionality of a rod is more important than looks but, at the end of the day, we all like our major bits of kits to be good lookers and I was not disappointed as I took my first look.

A charcoal carbon blank with black whipping is pretty much standard these days, but the quality of finish was very good with graphics neat, subtle and understated. The handle is full cork with a screw reel fitting and perfect length for a river rod at 60 cm.

The guides were high quality with a double-legged butt and singles throughout the rest of the rod. Given the amount of stick my river rods take I spend a lot of time bending single-legged guides back into the correct position and would have preferred double legs throughout, but I’ve had no problems with these thus far and they seem well-whipped and surprisingly resilient to abuse.

With so many barbel rods of the twin tip variety these days it was nice to play with a tri tip model again. I am no great fan of quivertips for most of my barbel fishing but I will often switch from barbel to chub during the course of a session and the ability to switch to the tip can be advantageous.

Rated at 1.5 lb the quiver section is powerful enough to deal with barbel as well as big chub. The quivers themselves are a little on the heavy side for chub - although to be fair they are designed for barbel - but I found the 2.5 oz model gave me the subtlety I needed on a River Kennet which was up and pushing, and bites from the chevins were positive.

It was particularly good to see Nash recognise the importance of including through actioned glass quivertips as well as stiffer carbon ones. It really does make a difference with chub and shy biting species.

The Avon tops supplied were rated at 1.5 and 1.75 lb which are adequate for most normal river conditions but, with flooding and the need for heavy lead work now commonplace on our rivers, I cannot help but think a 2 lb top would have been a more appropriate choice for most barbel anglers.

The 1.5 lb top was nicely soft and I spent a couple of hours rolling meat with it on one of my smaller local rivers and found it beautifully sensitive and responsive, feeling every bump of my bait across the gravel.

With a powerful through action and a bit of power at the bottom end it will make a delightful rod for playing barbel on the summer river but with this trial conducted during the heart of some serious winter flooding I turned to the 1.75 lb top.

Again the action was a powerful and progressive through action and I had no trouble lobbing 3 oz of lead and PVA bag into a flooded and pushing River Kennet and the top did well to resist the steady build up of debris on the line.

Playing decent barbel in serious water is always challenging and, although I felt the 1.75 lb tip was a little undergunned, it coped well with the fish I hooked which were up to around the 9 lb mark.

During the fights with some of the more lively fish I realised there was actually plenty of reserve in the butt section if I really piled on the pressure.

This is not a big river barbel rod, nor is it designed to be, but it will cope with all but the very worst of conditions on the smaller and medium rivers with the added advantage of offering a nice degree of subtlety for chubbing or upstream legering.

I’m looking forward to giving it an outing for the tench this spring too as the 1.75 lb top has got just the right spec to be a top flight maggot feeder tool for the middle distance.

It has minor faults but given the looks, quality and the options it opens up this is a seriously nice and well appointed specialist rod for the price.

IN A NUTSHELL

Versatile 12 ft tri tip barbel rod with a through action comprising a butt section with 1.5 and 1.75 lb Avon tips and a 1.5 lb quiver section with push-in quivertips of 2.5 oz glass, 3 oz glass, 4 oz glass and 4 oz carbon. Nicely finished and very well priced it's excellent for light and medium barbel fishing with the additional benefit of being a nice stillwater feeder rod too.

PRICE £89.99
VERDICT 9/10

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Please note: English Fieldtesters and Retailers may now email orders to Janet at the following email address janet@nashtackle.co.uk

Dean Macey Gear 12ft Specimen Tri-Tip Rod - Angler's Mail