Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Mark Sawyer finds that Korum’s Ambition quiver rod sets the bar very high and is a pleasure to use
If you enjoy fishing for chub on small rivers, you’ll love Korum’s new quivertip rod, says IYCF’s Mark Sawyer
FEW months ago I attended Korum’s trade show where I first clapped eyes on the firm’s superb looking Ambition rod range. Even when Korum brand manager Matt Woods explained that they had been designed to provide anglers with a classic traditional tool suitable for whole range of uses, I have to admit to being taken aback by the build qualities and feel- especially at such affordable price. So, when the 11ft Ambition Quiver model arrived on my desk with a note extolling its virtues as one of the best small-river chub rods around, I was eager to get it out on the bank in double-quick time. I’m sure many of you can relate to my own angling career. I have spent my entire fishing life on small to medium-sized rivers in pursuit of chub especially in winter. I enjoy the empty fields, and employing watercraft to determine the fish’s whereabouts. In my case this started in my home county of Oxfordshire where I used to cycle to the banks of the Evenlode. Then, once I had passed my driving test, my horizons broadened to take in the Cherwell, Windrush and Upper Thames. No wonder, then, that I have a journeyman’s penchant for small-river chub rods. I have used everything from expensive hand-built wands to cut-down float rods with spliced-in quivertips. Materials have been as varied as tank aerials, split cane, glassfibre, carbon, boron, carbon composite, in fact Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all. I have fished with the lot at one time or another!
“This rod has been designed by someone with a passion for small rivers”
How many have I kept? Well, just the one. It was built at Gloucester Angling Centre at around the turn of the century. Anyway, moving on, the build quality of Korum’s Ambition is impeccable. This lightweight, highly responsive carbon twopiece rod has a most pleasing parabolic fishplaying action that perfectly blends finesse and power, making it ideal for big fish even when using light tactics. It comes with three graded push in quivertips, two of which are made from glassfibre and ideal for still or slow moving water, plus a stiffer carbon tip suitable for quicker streams. Without a doubt, this rod has been designed by someone with a passion for small rivers. Someone who knows exactly what they are doing. For my money the rod is at its best with the stiffer carbon tip fitted as there’s a little less casting recoil with it fitted. This makes it slightly more efficient in its distance casting parameters. When choosing lead or feeder weight the blank has more than enough clout to easily propel 40g-plus (1.5oz) casting weights. Korum says that the rod is usable with reel lines of 4lb-10lb and I have no issue with that. In my opinion, it can be used confidently with hooklengths of around 0.16mm and upwards, and hooks as small as a size 16. I was also hugely impressed with the power reserve the blank generates from the bottom of its butt section. It certainly has more than enough in its locker to dissuade even the largest of chub from that last-gasp headlong dive into the nearest snag… something all chub have an annoying habit of doing when they are close to the landing net. Despite my enthusiasm for the Ambition my live-test session on a backwater of the River Nene around Peterborough proved to be a very frustrating few hours. The gin-clear water made it tough going, and although I was lucky enough to snare a couple of decent fish, I couldn’t nail a big ’ un(over 5lb in my book) that I know live in this picturepostcard PDAA day-ticket stretch.