Free Spirit Barbel Seeker Rod 12ft 1.75lb SU

The ‘S’ Range specialist and Barbel rods have been around for some time now and still remain very popular. Made from the 36t low resin Japanese carbon that has served so well for the actions needed for species like Tench, Bream, Chub and Barbel and fitted with full cork handles, stainless steel fittings, Clone reel seat with isotope slot and ‘S’- Lite guides.

They all feature a Perdurable finish meaning the blanks are finished and precision ground so you can admire the quality of material for years to come.

The Seeker Specialist is 12ft and designed for specimen fishing for Bream, Tench, Chub and smaller Barbel. With a somewhat progressive action that makes it easier to fish weedy waters where harsher rods can lead to hook-pulls or line breakage. The rod will handle small to medium sized feeders, wagglers should you want to float fish and bombs up to 3oz. One of Free Spirits customers in Canada even uses this rod to fish for Steelhead while trotting from a boat.

The Barbel Seekers need little introduction although Free Spirit have left this to Steve Pope – former President of the Barbel Society and user of this rod for many years to do this.

“If you’ve ever wondered just what the perfect Barbel rod would look like, then wonder no more because Free Spirit’s Barbel Seeker comes as close as you are ever likely to get. A very bold statement I hear you say but this rod pretty well has it all.”

Available in 11ft and 12ft with a test curve around the 1.75lb these are the all-rounders of the ‘S’range Barbel range. The 11ft is designed to fish the smaller rivers where accurate casting is needed and also copes well with snaggy swims and where overhead obstacles make the use of a longer rod more tricky. The 12ft will cope with most situations encountered with modern Barbel fishing except where strong flows require a bit more backbone. As Steve put it “this rod is aesthetically pleasing and an absolute joy to use. Its lightness belies the hidden power that will land you that double figure Barbel and its sensitivity will make playing a five pounder equally enthralling.”

The Big River Barbel was again developed with the help and advice from Steve Pope. Following the success of the Barbel Seekers he felt Free Spirit needed an additional rod with more power in the butt to middle to cope with the flows when rivers like the Trent, Wye and Severn are in spate conditions.

Steve brought to Free Spirit two rods that purported to be big river Barbel rods but were in fact 2.25lb carp rod blanks made up as so called Barbel rods. One in fact had the carp logo under a whipping! These actions are not right for the job since a light action carp rod is very progressive and has a shallow taper with not very responsive tip and soft butt to mid- section. They fold up when faced with powerful Barbel in big flows.

Free Spirit set about designing from scratch the blank and have produced a rod with bags of power in the butt and lower middle sections for stopping express Barbel in full flight and with a sensitive tip to allow registration of the faintest of bites.

The Barbel Seekers and Big River Barbels have a quiver top section with 3 push in quiver tips available separately.
Discounts are available for multiple purchases.

FEATURES
• 36T low resin carbon.
• Perdurable blank finish.
• Blank Weight 165g.
• Built rod weighs 302g approximately.
• Full cork handle.
• Handle length 455mm.
• Fitted with Free Spirit’s 3k carbon Clone reel seat with green isotope.
• Free Spirit S-Lite 3-leg rings on butt section and single leg rings on tip section.
• 10 rings total – RSL Double leg rings 25,20mm on butt section – RSLS single leg rings on tip 16,16,12,12,10,8,8 – RSLT 8mm tip ring.
• Stainless steel collars.
• Free Spirit stainless pointed butt cap.
• Logo tipped in metallic silver.
• Supplied in Nylon rod bag.

Quiver top section available – supplied with a 2oz fibreglass quiver tip and 2.5 oz and 3oz carbon quiver tips (product code 04211).
Spare quiver tips in other sizes available to special order – please enquire.

The Barbel Seeker rod range has evolved over the last few years and now offers a rod for every barbel fishing situation. They have also been successfully used in the pursuit of chub, tench, big bream and perch.

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