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 R1s especially are causing a real stir in the market and are selling like hot cakes! 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 XXs are based on the world famous Harrison Torrix, but lightened and refined to Cotswolds specification, for immense progressive power.
Our new 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.
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
It is incredibly difficult to produce just one rod to suit everyones fishing, therefore we have two options in our own range, The R1s and the XXs.
The R1s are a slighlty faster taper than the XXs, they are soft in the tip of the rod and possess unrivalled recovery rate. The soft tip makes them easy to use, easy to compress and deadly accurate. Because of their softer tip they are more suited to straight lead fishing as opposed to a large pva bag. The R1s, due to their immense tip speed, are great for fishing at all ranges and help to cast stiffer and thicker lines easier. Coupled with the Minima ringing option, they are some of the lightest rods on the market today.
The XX range is a slightly slower loading, and derived from a Harrison Torrix. These are immense all rounders and can cover every aspect of carp fishing, from lighter leads to pva bags. They are easy to cast, feel solid in the hand and have bucketfuls of progressive power.
The R1
The new ‘’Cotswold R1″ is the result of an intensive co-operation between Cotswold Rods and Harrison Advanced Rods.
Available in 12ft 3.25lbs these rods are light in weight, have a fast, crisp action, incredible recovery rates and a soft tip for excellent fish playing properties. These are slightly more powerful than the other rods in our own range, the XX111s.
The R1 is the perfect big fish/big water rod which can be used from in the margins to long range with confidence.
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 (Kigans or Minimas)
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.
Altough this is our lighter rod in the range, its no slouch either. In testing, our consultants have acheived over 140 yards with a 3oz lead. Here is a small video, in slow motion, of the rod in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyLXyVQaV8o
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 (Kigans, Alps or Minimas)
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 XXs
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!
The result is stunning and blew us away. Light in the hand, immensely powerful when needed, user friendly, the XX is all these and so much more.
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!
The 12’6 version has been introduced for the angler wanting to fish at long distance with a beautiful fishing rod. It is mellow when needed, and will swallow up and cast you put it through. Best loaded with a 4oz lead for distance, fishing in the 140+ is easily acheiveable.
Usually finished in a matt, scratch resistant finish, these rods are built to last.
Availabe in 12ft 3lb, 12ft 3 1/4lb and 12’6 3.5lb test curves, these rods represent UK built rods at their best.
Prices start at £230 fot the 12ft models
All custom options available, please contact us for an exact quote
As well as our own range products, we can supply any Harrison or Century rod you desire, built exclusively for you, made to measure and to your ideal specification
