Unless you’re an angler who has been stuck on a desert island for the past 30 years you will probably be familiar with the name Dave Harrell.
If you have been stuck on that island, allow me to bring you up to date. Dave’s a former England international who has won hundreds of big competitions on rivers and stillwaters around the country with float fishing tactics.
So, when I heard that he had developed a new range of floats as the start of a new brand that has been created under his own name – Dave Harrell Angling – I was expecting something special in terms of design.
Now that I’ve had the chance to have a look at them and actually fish with some of them, here are my thoughts. There are four types of wagglers.
The insert peacock waggler pattern features a lightweight hollow plastic insert that is much easier to see at distance than painted cane or quill.
The insert length is spot on for each float and Dave has deliberately left the coloured orange or yellow insert paint on most of the tip as this will allow stillwater anglers to use them with big baits like meat or corn.
For smaller baits or for slow moving rivers, Dave recommends using a black marker pen to black out the insert so that just a small amount of colour is left.
The Straight Peacock wagglers, like the whole of the range, are superbly finished and very accurate in terms of shot capacity.
There are two types of Speci Wagglers in two different diameters and these are perfect for fast flowing rivers or for pellet waggler fishing.
The stick float patterns feature three alloy stem models – shallow water, shouldered tops and dome tops and these three patterns will cover virtually everything you need to do in depths from 3ft up to 20ft!
The biggest three floats in the dome tops take 20, 25 and 30No4 so its best if you make these up on winders at home rather than on the bank, especially in the winter!
There are two lignum base sticks, a shouldered pattern and a dome top version and these are very well balanced for anglers wanting to fish a top and bottom attached stick float at distance. For bulk shot or olivette fishing, there are three patterns.
The alloy stem Avon is a completely new design with progressively increasing tip diameters as the floats get bigger and the two bolo patterns both feature hollow plastic tips.
You can find stockist details on Dave’s website at: www.daveharrellangling.com and there’s a big section on there where he has described exactly how to use the floats in terms of shotting and correct float selection.
Dave has clearly put a lot of work into these first offerings from his new tackle company and I understand he has more new patterns in the pipeline for 2012. Check them out – I’m sure you’ll be as impressed with them as I am when you do!
DAVE HARRELL WAGGLERS
Insert Peacock 6 Floats – 3BB, 2AAA, 5BB, 3AAA, 4AAA, 5AAA
Straight Peacock 6 Floats – 3BB, 2AAA, 5BB, 3AAA, 4AAA, 5AAA
Standard Speci Waggler 6 Floats – 2AAA, 3AAA, 4AAA, 5AAA, 6AAA, 4SSG
Thick Speci Waggler 5 Floats – 2SSG, 3SSG, 4SSG, 5SSG, 6SSG
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DAVE HARRELL ALLOY STEM STICK FLOAT SIZES
Alloy Stem Shouldered Stick 6 Floats- 4No4, 6No4, 8No4, 10No4, 12No4, 14No4
Alloy Stem Dome Top Stick 10 Floats – 4No4, 6No4, 8No4, 10No4, 12No4, 14No4, 16No4, 20No4, 25No4, 30No4
Alloy Stem Shallow Water Stick 5 Floats – 4No4, 5No4, 6No4, 7No4, 8No4
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DAVE HARRELL LIGNUM STEM STICK FLOAT SIZES
Lignum Shouldered Stick 6 Floats – 4No4, 6No4, 8No4, 10No4, 12No4, 14No4
Lignum Dome Top Stick 6 Floats – 4No4, 6No4, 8No4, 10No4, 12No4, 14No4
DAVE HARRELL AVON/ BOLO SIZES
Alloy Stem Avon 5 Floats – 2g, 3g, 4g, 5g, 6g
Carbon Stem Standard Bolo 4 Floats – 3g, 4g, 5g, 6g
Carbon Stem Big Bolo 4 Floats – 4g, 6g, 8g, 10g
