Shakespeare Mentor Twin-Tip

I just bought the Shakespeare Mentor Twin-Tip (10'6") which has the usual multi-purpose Avon-Bomb type tip and a quiver tip. It comes in at around £40 but I managed to get one for £22 which is a bargain in my eyes. The finish is so nice, I reckon you could easily pass it off as a rod worth 3 times the price. It's really that nice and by God it's light. I can't recall the maximum casting weight but it suggests a line max of 8lbs. Make of that what you will.

The Avon top could be used for 101 purposes from legering at range to trotting a loafer for trout to touch legering for river perch and so on and so on. I can see this being my first choice for a multitude of purposes. It's not too beefy but I reckon if you required that extra bit of power, you'll find it there. I reckon a half pound roach would feel every bit as pleasurable as a 10lb carp.

Most ads tell you the tip is threaded for taking different quivers and swing-tips but mine didn't have one bizarrely enough. To be honest, it's a 5 minute replacement job an the price of a tip but I shouldn't have to alter things to suit. It's not an immediate job so it can wait until a situation arises where the alternative tip is under/over-gunned.

The quiver is probably a bit light for any real distance work but for anything less than 60-70 yards and the lighter feeders, it'll be sweet. I bought it for stillwater roach at short range and I think it'll be bang on.

The only thing I would criticise about the quiver is the tip sight. It's only about 6" of fluoro orange. By the time you've put a bend in the tip and you're looking down the length of the rod, you may as well be looking at an orange speck. I think some insulating tape or tippex is in order but that's not a major fault by any stretch.

For £22 I think it's an absolute steal. So much so, I think I might look at their Mentor Heavy Feeder and leave the standard tip alone on the rod above.

8/10


.....Andy MacPandy....