Here at Cotswold Rods our aim is to provide the best products and service in the rod building industry today. Our customer service is unrivalled, our craftsmanship unmatched and our ethos unique.
Products we offer
We build mainly on the vast range of blanks from Harrison and Century, both are UK companies and they produce carbon technology unmatched in the rod building trade.
Their U.K. built and designed ranges contain between them over 160 blanks and their expertise is the best available in the world today.
Every rod we build is built to order. We don’t do a standard range or ‘of the shelfs’. A custom rod should be just that, personal, individual and made to fit you. We can source a blank for any application, lightweight fly rods, floodwater barbel rods, 15ft trotting rods, through action carp rods, beach casters, you name it we can source it!! We can make just about any rod you desire, if you have a thought, dream or idea, we’ll try our hardest to make that reality.
There are many great blanks on the market today. Torrixs, Chimeras, Ballistas, NGs,FMJs etc all are great rods for the right purpose. As a consumer, the carp fisherman has never had so much choice and for most people, it can be a minefield choosing the most important part of their new rod – the blank.
We are quite unique in that we have a test venue where our customers can come and test blanks and make the right choice.
We regard our own range of blanks as the best available on the market today, if they weren’t they wouldn’t carry our logo, as we are perfectionists. Our R1 range has set the carp rod world alight, and we have sold more of these in the last year than any other rod, both here in the Uk and in Europe.! If you fish a large variety of waters, from the inland seas to the intimate waters where stealth is of the essence, and wish to use only one set of rods, these are for you. Powerful but forgiving and light in weight, they are a joy to use.
Our R1 Light is the ultimate smaller water rod, super light, beautiful to use and as with all our rods, engineered and built to last a lifetime.
Our XXs are based on the world famous Harrison Torrix, but lightened and refined to Cotswolds specification.
For more information on the huge Harrison range, please call or email us, or visit the Harrison website at www.harrisonrods.co.uk for a small insight into some of the products they sell. For more information from the Century stable, please visit the Century website at www.century.gb.com More information can be obtained on our complete blank availability by emailing us on contactus@cotswoldrods.co.uk, or giving us a call.
As rod builders, we are always searching and striving to bring our customers the best products available and the best possible value for money. With these points in mind, we decided to create our own ranges to cover 99% of the need of carp fisherman today.
Our own ranges
The R1 Range – Ultimate Rod Development
The new ‘’Cotswold R1″ is the result of an intensive co-operation between Cotswold Rods and Harrison Advanced Rods.
Available in 12ft 3.25lbs, 12ft 2.75lbs and 10ft 2.75lbs, these rods are light in weight, have a fast, crisp action, incredible recovery rates and a soft tip for excellent fish playing properties. The R1 is the perfect big fish/big water rod which can be used from in the margins to long range with confidence. It is designed to enable easy and accurate casting with straight leads and small pva sticks. The R1 is an effortless caster ,with buckets of power, combined with a soft tip that enables unrivalled recovery speed, usability and enjoyment. The Cotswold R1 is fast becoming THE rod for the big fish angler who wantsthe ultimate in rod performance. The R1 has undergone rigourous testing, and a lot of effort has been put in to make these about as perfect as a performance rod can be. When a reel is put on they balance out perfectly, not feeling at all tip heavy. The first thing our customers comment on is how light they are, shortly followed by a” wow,thats lovely, I’ll take three!”, straight after a cast! We recently put this through rigorous testing and it compares very favourably with thebenchmark distance rod, the Torrix TE in the casting stakes, just 9 yards between them using identical reel, line and lead set ups. We are not big casters by any stretch of the imagination, but we were hitting 165 yards (measured) with 12lb line with the R1, and 174 with the TE. Our advice is to come and try them for yourselves.
The price for the R1s is £250.
Included in the price there are the following options:
-non scratch lathe polished matt finish -full duplon handle or -full cork handle or -abbreviated handle -your choice of 40 or 50mm ringing (ALPS or Kigan’s) Personal touches like engraved butt caps, different ringing, personal writings or a certain colour of trimmings/whippings are still possible at a small extra cost.
The R1 Light
The R1 was such an amazing blank, we just had to make a lightened version to create the ultimate smaller water rod. Here at Cotswold we beleive that rods should be enjoyable to use, and this rod provides angling enjoyment by the bucket load. We tested the R1 blanks in lighter, refined guises, made a few tweaks to them, and now have what we beleive to be the ultimate in a smaller water rod. At 12ft and 2.75lb test curve, the R1 Light shares many of the same characteristics of its beefier sibling. Amazing recovery speeds, soft tip and super light in weight. Some things are missing though,so if you want a rod to cast to the moon with, this isnt the rod for you, but if you want a smile lasting a week when you play a fish, this is your perfect tool! When put in an arc this rod bends down into butt, where there is a large reserve of power to tame even the largest fish at close range. When the weather is a little kinder, we will put up some pictures of the R1 Lite in full fighting curve. Again, we cant explain everything on webpage, but we do recommend you come down and test these for yourselves.
Price for these are £240
Included in the price there are the following options:
-non scratch lathe polished matt finish -full duplon handle or -full cork handle or -abbreviated handle -your choice of 40 or 50mm ringing (ALPS or Kigan’s) Personal touches like engraved butt caps, different ringing, personal writings or a certain colour of trimmings/whippings are still possible at a small extra cost.
Oh and if you are wondering what ‘R1′ stands for, its simply Rod number 1!
The XX Range
We approached the team Harrison with a simple design brief,which was simply to build us the best all round blanks on the market today, the result is the XX Range The result is stunning and blew us away. Light in the hand, immensely powerful when needed, user friendly, the XX111 is all these and so much more. Available in 12ft 3lb, 12ft 3.25lb and 12’6” 3.5lb. They look beautiful, they are a joy to use and are a true all round carp rod. The blanks themselves weigh just 180grams, meaning they feel superb in the hand and can be finished to any build you desire. These rods are easy to use, they make accurate fishing at longer range a viable option for anglers who could previously hit the distance and are also a joy to use in the margins, their forgiving tip means you have no worry about the dreaded hook pulls at the end of the net. Talking about a rod will do it no justice, so we can only recommend you come and try one for yourselves, but be warned once you have used one, there’s no going back! They possess a beatiful progressive action, enabling easy casting even with larger weights and pva bags. Usually finished in a matt, scratch resistant finish, these rods are built to last and represent UK built rods at their best. Prices start at £230 All custom options available, please contact us for an exact quote
Application Rods
The Revealer
Our marker and spod rods are without doubt some of the best available in the world today. Our Revealer Rod in particular contains features found on no other rods on the market. The Revealer is a unique and purpose built marker rod. When we set out to build the ultimate marker rod, we sat down with a broad spectrum of anglers and discussed what requirements they thought were essential. The culmination of these ideas is our new marker rod – ‘The Revealer’ For most specimen anglers, the marker rod is probably the most important tool in their tackle. Without knowing what underwater features lie beneath the waves, bait placement and even swim choice can be a lottery. Most lakes (especially where we are based on the CWP) have a huge number of differing features, some more obvious than others, some more productive than others. Finding these features can mean the difference not just between a blank day and catching, but between an average and an exceptional season. The Revealer will help you to locate these underwater features with greater ease than ever before. Features of The Revealer include
- Stiff tip to aid feel through your braided mainline
- 4lb test curve with a progressive action, easy to wind up for a long cast
- DPS reel seat to aid feel throught the blank
- Painted tip to aid vision when pulling back
- Your choice of 40 or 50mm ringing pattern
- Depth markings at 6 inches, 1 foot and 2 foot to enable quicker plumbing
Of course, being expert custom builders, Cotswold Rods can alter these rods to suit you too. If you would like your tip painted orange instead of white, or left black, no problem.We can use any reel seat option you like, as well as our recommended carbon seats. Prices from £150
Spod Rods
Our Spod rods are available in 4, 4.5 and 5lb test curves, and we can supply our Harrsion ‘specials’, Torrix or Chimera. We have the option of faster or slower loading blanks to suit your casting style. Our Harrison specials are easy to use, bombproof, and will cast a heavy spod or spomb as far as most anglers will ever need. The Chimera and Torrix spod rods are slightly lighter, faster actioned and excellent for distance. Our Torrix spod rod won the award of ‘Best Long Ranger’ in the Carpology magazine spod rod tests, septemebr 2010, whilst up against most other rods on the market. Prices for our Specials start at £150, Chimeras £200, Torrixs £210.
The R1 Landing Net
] Our new landing net has been over a year in development and is a little different from our original net. We wanted to create the ultimate in functionality, useability and durability. The result is our new R1 net. The net consists of a 2 piece 8ft handle, with a push fit joint. Easy to take apart or assemble, as soon as pressure is applied it locks tight so no twisting can occur, as with other extending handles, or handles with smaller extensions. The 8 ft handle helps in so many ways, and can also be split and used at 4ft for boat work. The spreader block is lightweight but sturdy. The handles and 42 inch arms are custom made for us by Harrison to our specification, so rest assured they are bulletproof! The handle grips are Japanese Shrink Rubber for a non slip finish, but if you require them custom built to match your rods, we can do this too. The net mesh is lightweight and fairly shallow, to aid ease of use and practicality. It also comes provided ith its own waterproof bag. The R1 net is priced at £165. Custom additions are available but will be a little extra.
The options available…..
The options for rings, reel seats, handles and collars can be daunting for someone who doesn’t have an exact image of what they require in their head. If there is something you would like to discuss or require, please contact us and we will be happy to talk to you and give you advice. One of the advantages of being a Cotswold Rods customer is the ability to try before you buy at our exclusive venue set in the heart of the Cotswold Water Park. If you are torn between two models, what handles to go for or are unsure of what test curve you require, you can come chat with us, get some expert advice and have a cast (or 20!) to decide which is the rod for you. Please contact us for further details As well as custom building rods to your specification from scratch, we also offer a full rebuild, renovation and repair service. Building our own? We can also supply the DIY rod builder. If you require blanks, tools, threads etc, we can supply these in kit form should you wish to build your own rods. Please call or email us and we will be glad to help.
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