Toggle Nav
Budget Baggers - Float & Feeder Rods
Budget Baggers In the market for a new commercial tool but shopping on a budget? You need to check this lot out now!
With the level of technology and the sheer amount of choice out there in the tackle shops nowadays, getting more bang for your buck when it comes to budget rods is easier than ever.
To prove the fact, Coarse Fishing Answers got together 16 of the best budget rods available to have a closer look. Picking two paired float and feeder rods – all hovering around the £50 mark – from seven of the top manufacturers in the UK, if you’re after new kit to take on the commercials in style this summer, you’ll find it here.
Korum CS Series 12ft Float RRP £54.99 CS Series 12ft Feeder RRP £59.99
Feeder 60g max casting weight 3lb to 8lb line rating Supplied with two tips
Float 14g max casting weight 3lb to 8lb line rating
A brilliantly versatile pair of rods, the CS Float and Feeder from Korum have been available for a while now and are well worth taking a look at. Both are two-piece units, making them perfect for tackling up before a session as they can be carried around with ease thanks to the sections’ uniform lengths.
Well finished with a mix of cork and EVA on the handle and understated graphics, the great thing about the 12ft CS rods is that they’re at home both on both commercials and more natural waters, from canals to rivers. The CFA team have used them both to fish for carp, tench and bream and have had huge fun with them. Great rods for the money.
Buy The Korum CS Series Rods
Maver Abyss X Series 12ft Feeder RRP £49.99 Abyss X Series 13ft Match RRP £42.99
Feeder 80g max casting weight 3lb to 8lb line rating 193g total weight Supplied with two tips
Float 25g casting weight 3lb to 8lb line rating 210g total weight
Another versatile pair of tools, the Maver Abyss X rods are superbly produced rods for under £50. At 13 and 12 feet in length, the Float and Feeder are more traditional lengths so have application across both commercial and natural waters, giving you plenty of options from just one or two rod purchases.
The Float rod has a quick tip and plenty of power, making it a great choice for pellet-waggler work, while the Feeder will be more than at home casting fishing the Method, with two tips that both blend into the blank. Both rods are dressed with cork handles, EVA tops and graphite screw-down reel seats, making for classy units at great prices.
Buy The Maver Abyss X Series Rods
Garbolino Super Rocket 11ft Carp Match RRP £42.99 Super Rocket 11ft Feeder RRP £44.99
Feeder 75g max casting weight 2lb to 6lb line rating Supplied with three tips
Float 15g max casting weight 2lb to 5lb line rating
If you’re after a tool that will hold its own on any water but with a price tag that’ll make you smile every time you think about it, you’ve found it right here. Both the Super Rocket Match and Feeder rods come in at under £45, but don’t be fooled – you get a hell of a lot of rod for your cash.
Both rods are new to the Garbolino line-up for 2015: the Carp Match is a two-piece unit with a slim build and great action that will happily fire out pellet wags and tame carp all day long – again the two-piece build means you can store it fully set-up much more easily. The Feeder is a three-piece arrangement with plenty of power through the blank to fire out fully loaded Method feeders where they need to go. It comes with three tips – a 1oz glass, a 1oz carbon and a 1.5oz glass. Both rods feature cork/EVA handles and screw-down reel seats.
Buy The Garbling Rocket Carp Rods
Drennan Red Range 10ft Carp Feeder RRP £49.95 Red Range 11ft Carp Waggler RRP £49.95
Feeder 4lb to 7lb line rating Supplied with two tips
Float 3lb to 6lb line rating 5g max casting weight
You know when the name Drennan is involved you’re going to be dealing with a quality product, and that extends down to the value-for-money Red Range of rods too. Well balanced, light, responsive and feeling like rods well in excess of their sub-£50 price tags, both the Carp Waggler and Feeder are built for the rigours of commercial carp bashing.
With their burgundy colouring across the slim, attractive blanks these rods look like nothing else out there, and dressed with cork handles and a matt finish other anglers will be hard pushed to guess the price. Both rods are two-piece and handle the fishing asked of them with style. In terms of budget rods these are right up there for both ability and style.
Buy The Drennan Red Range Rods
Shakespeare Sigma 11ft Pellet Waggler £39.99 Sigma 11ft Feeder £42.99
Feeder 8lb max line rating 90g max casting weight Supplied with three tips
Float 8lb max line rating 30g max casting weight
The Sigma range from Shakespeare has become synonymous with value, and you can see why with rods like this.
At under £40 (now that is cheap!) the Sigma Pellet Waggler rod is 11 feet of commercial powerhouse. In two sections it has attractive, slim blanks, a cork/EVA handle and bags of power to punch big wagglers out and haul back greedy carp. The playing action is lovely, especially for a rod of this price, and there’s plenty of power to keep in you charge.
It’s a similar story with the 11ft Feeder rod too. Coming with one carbon and one glass tip, the rod is sturdy but light and well at home after commercial carp. Like the waggler rod the finish is good and the playing action a pleasure – especially when you remember the price tag.
Buy The Shakespeare Sigma Range
Shimano ForceMaster AX 11ft Commercial Mini Feeder £54.99 ForceMaster AX 12ft Commercial Mini Float £64.99
Feeder 70g max casting weight Comes supplied with two tips
Float 12g max casting weight
Not only does this pair of commercial rods from Shimano look the part, but they also perform too. Weighing in at over £50 and £60 respectively (although you will be able to pick them up for much, much less), these are focused rods at Shimano’s value end of things.
Both rods are dressed to impressed, with cork/EVA handles and slim and discreet blanks. Both offer power with accuracy, especially the Feeder rod, which with its 11ft length will cover pretty much all you want on the whole range of commercial venues.
Even if you fish with more expensive rods, for less than £100 for both – if you shop around – these will make brilliant backups, or just workhorses for real bagging sessions where they’ll soak up the abuse.
Buy The Shimano ForceMaster Rods
Daiwa Harrier Carp Feeder 11ft £49.99 Harrier Waggler 13ft £49.99
Feeder 2lb to 8lb line rating Supplied with two tips
Float 2lb to 8lb line rating
It’s fair to say, and in our experience too, that Daiwa does not make a bad rod. But what can you expect for sub £50 from the mighty brand? A lot, that’s what. New for 2015, the Harrier name is revived in rod format to adorn these brilliant, value-for-money tools.
The waggler rod is a traditional 13ft, three-piece affair that gives it legs across all sorts of waters, but it will and does perform brilliantly on commercials, rated for lines up to 8lb and with more than enough power to tame most fish you’ll encounter.
The Feeder is a modern two-piece construction, designed for Method feeder and other current approaches. This rod has a great action through a slim blank, which makes it a joy to cast and play fish on – it feels nothing like its price tag. As well as their fishing abilities both rods look like they deserve a much higher price tag, especially with full cork handles and their lovely matt finish. These are our pick of the bunch and rods you should definitely be getting your hands on for fishing commercials on a budget.
Buy The Daiwa Harrier Rods
