A strange thing happened to me this year. Not for many a Christmas have I received a fishing rod, but this year, by courier, a new Bomb rod appeared, free of charge, for me to try out and comment on.

I admit that I am fortunate in my job and that I do get a lot of gear sent for my approval... or not. It’s a perk that explains why I have scores of rods, and everything else, languishing in my tackle shed.

But this rod has something about it, a personality that intrigues me somehow. Perhaps it is my history with the concept, a long-running saga that takes me way back to 1973 when John Wilson and I realised that a wand-light tip rod might prove to be an important tool for shy-biting Wensum roach. What we constructed was no use at all. An Avon body with a bit of glass stuck in the top neither hit bites well nor played the odd fluke fish even remotely satisfactorily.

It took the advent of the Marks and Marlow Persuader and then the Drennan IM8 to make Bomb rods work for us and, to be honest, I haven’t thought about using either rod for 20 years perhaps. As I say, though, this new rod appeals somehow.

It looks nice, it feels nice and I’m sure it will be nice in use. But do I need a Bomb rod is a major question, and does anyone come to that? I guess match anglers will be glad to have them in their armoury, but what about us run-of-the-mill types? The older I get, the fewer rods I seem to need - a 13ft float rod, an Avon type rod and a couple of 2.25lb test curve light pike/carp rods seem to do me for 95pc of my coarse fishing these days (my fly fishing equipment is similarly pared down too and it’s an age since I even thought about wielding a beach caster!). But hey, old dog, new tricks and I have been running through what the Bomb might do for me in sessions coming up.

It’s 10 feet long, butt to tip, light beyond believe and you feel a stickleback bite would pull it round. It’s crisp but soft with it and I have a real faith that those roach bites that Wilson and I fretted over could be a job for it. So, a cold snap, a clear river, a slow bend or glide and as the light fades I’ll take this rod out and see what it can do. I have in mind a belting perch swim too. It’s all crowded in with trees and the float rod struggles to cast and play a fish without foliage hang ups.

This rod is three feet shorter and I guess a lob with just an SSG as weight will do the job to perfection... in my imagination I can see the tip jab a couple of times and then pull strongly around. Come to that, I’m confident that if I wanted to be a little more mobile, the rod would be a perfect drop shotting tool, though I ‘d probably substitute a lob again for a rubber fish on the hook. Magic.

And what about chub, even barbel, when the cold is really intense and bites are so tentative that even a float would barely dip? If a fish even sips at a bait, this rod will show it up loud and clear. I’m convinced that it also has the spine to play a bigger fish in a decent current, even whilst seemingly so fragile.

What I’m coming round to is a feeling that my new Bomb rod might well be a real mate through the rest of the winter. I know I’ll relish using it and it reinforces my concern that so many of us are fishing ever more heavily. The vast majority of pike and carp rods sold  have a 3lb or even a 4lb test curve and whilst there are situations where extreme power is a boon, surely using beefy boys like this as a norm is somewhat OTT? Especially when you throw in the observation that big pit reels seem to be used for every job by so many… I’ll team my Bomb rod up with a reel that will fit snugly in the palm of my hand! What a cuddly partnership they’ll make.

I really wish all of you a magnificent 2023, but with the way things are, if the coming year is merely acceptable many of us will breathe more happily. I’ve been made aware by a deeply caring friend that we don’t need to do everything for a reason and sometimes it does us well simply to drink in the good things of life with no ulterior purpose. So I will enjoy just sitting behind that Bomb, whatever the fish decide. I’ll drink in dusks when the sun briefly shows, admire the goldcrests  and feed the friendly robin.

Tough times perhaps ,but I’ve been made aware that fishing is alive with unlooked-for pleasures to cheer us all. So, Happy New Year and tight lines to come.