Hello everyone, as you can see I am a newbie. I have made a few experimental posts and even got the hang of adding pictures but have no idea how to add a pic next to my name. I have recently moved out to the country and have taken up fishing again after a few years lay off. I went to a small day ticket water yesterday which was bunged with carp (is this what is known as a commercial?) ……anyway I caught a few small carp and one not bad one but missed hundreds of superfast bites. I had my waggler tip very low in the water and I kept my rod in my hand and applied ultra-concentration and still missed the buggers, very annoying! What was even more annoying was a couple of guys on the opposite bank hauling them in like they had used dynamite. They were using poles, a thing I have never owned, but can poles really be that much more effective? Please don’t tell me I need to buy a pole…I wouldn’t know where to start.

i have a pole and a rod and prefer my rod over my pole anyday.

Gobio - you need 15 posts before your account will allow an avatar picture.

After that you can select from one that Elton already has available or if you wish, you can email him a pic you'd like to use and he will size it and add it to the available avatar selection.

Hi gobio and welcome to AN! fishing is a matter of preferences, yes, it is possible to catch more fish on the pole BUT the fish are, as a rule, smaller.
I have both, and use both. I fish a Carp lake near me, using a pole, and catch Roach and Rudd to 2lb and Perch to 3 and a half lb while the Carp guys TRY to catch Carp.
I use my feeder on larger waters, castable Islands and rivers. So you see, both are usable and both catch fish!

nope u dont need a pole unless u want 2 fish matches then i would advise it.

Gobio - welcome!

What bait/hook size were you using?
Maybe the anglers bagging up were using big baits while you were using maggots or similar and getting lots of quick bites from small fish?

cheers

Hi Gobio
nothing to do with havin' a pole, you were getting the bites, you've gotta play with your tackle mate.

Thanks guys,

I am pretty sure we were all fishing on the bottom and using corn or meat, perhaps my float etc. was too heavy, like you say spodrokit I will need to play around with it if I ever go back to that place. The GOOD news is my new house is a few minutes walk from the river Avon so I really should join the local club and fish there. I had a walk along there this evening and got chatting to a pretty decent bloke who was catching well. He gave me good advice on the local style of fishing. In the past I nearly always fished for tench in gravel pits and rivers and ponds stuffed full of carp were unknown to me. The other good news is I don't have to buy a pole *phew*

not looking for a lodger are you...

the fortunate thing about poles is you can use really small floats ,use the smallest you can actually see shotted well down that gets rid of the resistance ,then ofcourse it comes to line and hooks ,if the water is clear then the fish can see the line and shot ,my mrs was fishing in a very clear bit and even using an 18 ( 1 3/4lb bs bottom)we could see the line nearly all the way to the bottom (about 3ft deep) if we can see it the fish sure could
unfortunatly with a rod we need the shot to cast and the float larger in comparison ,so use the smallest possible ,the smallest hook possible and plumb the depth its no good fishing 6ft deep in 5 ft of water the fish have plenty of time to spit the bait out and trying to catch finicky fish on large hooks just makes it worse

[ 06. August 2004, 09:06 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]