Richard Walker MK IV Avon built by the Barder Rod Co in 2020.

This rod was built  as a companion to the c1998 MK IV carp rod featured in its own entry. It is in unused condition.

Its dimensions & details are all to scale with its big brother.

Richard Walker told of the steady development of the MK IV, and how it took, yes, four attempts to arrive at the rod he was aiming for. He went on to say that the Avon version, intended for ‘wildies’, tench, chub, big perch, barbel etc, took a few moments to design. He explained that by reducing the MK IV tapers by 10% voilà! The Avon was created.

This information was regularly misinterpreted in the Golden Age, and continues to be today by the occasional unwary rod maker. What Walker intended was for a reduction of the MK IV diameter of 10% throughout, so the Avon would be .012″ slimmer over its entire length than the carp rod. What a lot of people did was to reduce the dimensions by 10%. At the tip, this is .012″, which is as it should be. However, by the time one gets to the thick end of the butt, the reduction of 10% of .500″ is .050″, which is rather a lot! The result is a rod with a much, much slower taper than the MK IV and consequently a very floppy action akin to a rather tiresome old fly rod. One comes across such rods occasionally, even from B. James & Son. They must have realised their mistake because later MK IV Avons had fairly sensible dimensions.

The rod we are offering has a superbly crisp action and feel in the hand. It is, as you would expect, both a perfect companion to the MK IV carp and a very refined and attractive rod indeed.

Avons are tricky beasts and frankly, not always entirely satisfactory. This one most certainly is a super lightweight rod in the Avon style, a joy to use as Walker intended, for wild carp, tench, chub and perch.

I guarantee that the moment you pick it up and give it a waggle, you’ll smile broadly and agree that it is indeed an indispensable piece of equipment, perhaps on a par with clean running water, central heating, peace in our time and the electric toaster. Not sliced bread. It’s not the best thing since sliced bread. The stuff’s disgusting!

Specification.

Vintage Tonkin bamboo, flame tempered, grain split and straightened by hand. Precision tapered to tolerances of +/- one thousandth of an inch.

Whippings are varnish impregnated Elephant silk in the Walker style. The rings are Amberfin butt & tip with hard chrome plated intermediate bridge rings. There is a hook keeper secured with a hand forged nickel silver strap.

The hand applied marine grade varnish finish is impeccable, as always.

The 24″ handle has a Walker-style top and finely knurled nickel silver fittings throughout.

The reinforced, blued & lacquered nickel silver ferrule is a perfect honeymoon fit and has its hand-turned Olive wood and cork stopper.

The tailor made bag has traditional tie fastenings.