Feeder rods got their name because they are primarily designed for fishing with a Swimfeeder attached to the line to deliver food samples of the chosen bait or groundbait near the baited hook. They are sometimes, or previously known as ‘Quiver-Tip’ Rods because of the quivering action of the tip when a fish takes the bait. Quiver Tips used to be screw-in additions on the end of rods, which gave anglers great bite sensitivity, and in fact these tips are still available.

Feeder fishing is a form of ledgering, where the bait is cast out and fished hard on the bottom of the lake or river bed. The swimfeeder is filled with bait such as maggots, hemp, breadcrumb or groundbait and then cast out to the intended fishing spot. Some of the bait in the feeder will be dispersed into the swim while descending to the bottom, the rest will either crawl out (maggots or worms) and form an attractive deposit near the baited hook, thus hopefully attracting fish. Fair distances can be got from casting feeders because they are quite heavy when full of bait. Because of this a feeder rod will need to be quite powerful to deliver heavy loads, but also have a sensitive tip to register bites.

 

Types of Feeder Rod

There are various types of feeder rod available to suit different styles of fishing. There are feeder rods designed for ‘The Method’ for example, which involves moulding a ball of groundbait round a method feeder with the hook and bait buried inside. Method rods are usually stronger and heavier than most standard feeder rods because they often have to cast heavy loads of groundbait - perhaps up to 5ozs or more. There are specialized feeder rods designed for specific species such as Barbel in Rivers, Carp in Commercial fisheries. These rods are designed with the target species in mind, for example Feeder rods for Barbel are heavier and more powerful and longer (around 12 to 13 feet), these rods are also known as PowerFeeders.

 

 

What Length ?

Feeder rods for both Method and big River fish would usually need to be 12 or 13 feet as a rule of thumb, so that they can cope with casting distance with weight, and also to help keep line off the water when raised high when river fishing.

If you are targeting smaller species such as Roach, Perch and other silver fish then you can use rods from 8 to 11 feet and the rods should also be lighter for sensitivity.

 

Multi-Tip

There are a lot of Feeder / Quivertip rods available that have multiple tips. These are very useful if you are an all rounder and fish different types of venue and for different species. They would also make a great starter for the beginner. The TFG Matt Hayes Multi-Feeder rod is designed for commercial fisheries, but can be used for other fishing situations. It is a 12 foot , 3 section rod that comes with 3 separate tips: 2, 3 and 4oz. It is designed for mainline sizes from 4 to 8lb.

It has a cork/eva hybrid handle with power hump reel seat and comes with a lifetime manufacturers warranty.

See Video

The TFG Matt Hayes All-Rounder is not only a Multi-tip feeder rod, but it also doubles up to become a Float Rod as well. It comes with tips to form an 11′ Quiver, 13′ Power Feeder, 11′ Float & 13′ Power Float rod. A great idea, very versatile and very popular and useful for beginners.

 

 

 

 

 

Manufacturers

There are many good manufacturers of feeder rods. I personally tend to favour Shimano because I find them very sleek and professional looking and they just feel good when playing fish. Here are a list of top manufacturers that produce good quality feeder rods.

Daiwa

Korum

Ron Thompson

Shimano

TFG (Total Fishing Gear)

All Feeder Rods

 

Conclusion

Make sure you purchase a feeder /quiver tip rod for the size and strength of the fish you are targeting and the distance you are casting.