DarrenW

Thanks for yet more advice, its very helpful. I think its more my inexperience that lost me the fish and i suppose its trial and error, although at the time it was rather frustrating to get 3 fantastic opportunities and to blow it. I,m sure i,ll get there in the end though! Thanks again.

Thank you very much for the info. Being relatively new to the pole it can be difficult to get things right initially. The water was 3ft deep pretty much all over as i plumbed most of the swims. I,m not sure if all the carp are commons but i managed to land a 4lb common last year from the same lake on a waggler and a 1.14lb hooklength using the drage of the reel. At the weekend i was catching baby mirrors on the pond around 10 oz. As for snags there looks to be only 1 or 2 over hanging trees to get into. When the carp were hooked the just tore off all over the place, i just held on with the pole slightly submerged putting no pressure on the fish at all, the fish just ran until the elastic would stretch no more, i even added a section on the second fish. The hook was a drennan feeder carp which was quite thick guage. My maver pole (which i did not take) is fitted with hydro elastics in 10/12 , 14/16, would these be more suitable for Carp situations? Anyway, thank you agin for some very helpful information. Regards, Darren

On a fishing trip this weekend on a small water i encountered 3 large carp which in turn, snapped my rig one after another. I was fishing a pole at around 6 metres. The first to snap me was on a size 6 elastic, as i was fishing for silver fish and to be honest i knew i was not going to land that fish after its roaring run. After that incident i replaced that top for a power top 2 with a size ten elastic (thinking i may still hook silver fish too)..shortly after i hooked into another good size carp which stretched my elastic until it bottomed out and the hook pulled from the fish. As i only had two tops with me i had to fish on with the 10 and, hooked into yet another carp, which in turn bottomed the elastic out and snapped my rig. Could anyone please advise me on what size elastic i should be using for carp in the 5lb to 12lb range? and also the strength of the rig/hooklength and advisable hook size for fishing maggot or pellet? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can anybody tell me how much these whips were new? i have googled it but cannot find any information on the whip.I know they are probably discontinued. Any idea would be great. Thanks.

Of course, i purchased the pole from Fosters of Birmingham (great website). Excellent customer service and very friendly staff,just give them a call. Now ,as regards holding a pole first thats fine if you live close to a huge tackle store in Manchester, Birmingham etc but up here in the North east we have no stores that have poles available to hold. In fact very few sell them up here to be honest. Therefore anglers like myself have to rely on information from magazines or forums or calling tackle dealers. I am new to pole fishing, but have been an angler for over 20 years, mainly Fly fishing, but the same rules apply. If some fellow anglers or magazines recommend a particular rod or reel etc, its usually because they ARE good items of tackle. As regards the pole, i basically went for the lightest pole with the best extras included for the price.I was also told by several tackle dealers that the Shimano was on par with any Maver rod costing £500.00. These poles sell! I am in the midst of purchasing a Maver 151 competition thats a little under £500, i,m curious to see how much difference there is in weight/performance when i get to using it Anyway, i hope you eventually get your new pole mate, best of luck to you.

Hi, I too am new to Pole fishing and bought a Shimano technium XTA a few weeks ago after reading some great reviews. I have to say i think its fantastic for the money and pretty light too, even at 13 metres. My first pole was a Diawa TD Fast Carpin( which i still have), which is excellent but i find it heavier than the shimano and was more than twice the price when new. All in i bought the shimano for £260. That included all 3 tops elasticated, fitted with adjusta bungs and bushes etc,3 sections fitted with maver joint noses and a expanda bung. That price included next day delivery too! Great value for money.

Thanks Mark, you could well be right.The elastics were fitted for me when i purchased the pole. They all have adjusta bungs fitted. I,ll give that a go. Thanks for your time.

I,m relatively new to pole fishing and although i am enjoying it immensley i seem to be bumping an awful lot of fish. The fish in my club waters in the main are less than a pound, with the odd few fish above that weight. Most fish i have encountered have been between 2 and 10 oz. All of my fishing so far has been with a No6 elastic with light rigs of around 2.5 to 3.5lb and an 18 or 20 barbless hook. My pole is a Shimano Technium XTA Competition. I have tried lifting to fish delicatley and a little more positive but i,m still bumping a lot of fish off or missing bites altogether. So..any advice on what i may be doing wrong, or how to hit the smaller bites would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi, Chris is correct, the one i was after was the blue disc with the red insert. I was watching a pole fishing dvd ( as i,m new to this!) on which the bread punch was demonstrated and it was so easy and very effective. I have already bought standard Drennan Bread punches and also meat punches and although they will be fine for cutting the bread, it will be a long process if i want to cut some for feed. The club waters i fish consist of mainly Roach,Perch, Ide,Gudgeon,Bream and Tench up to a pound or two. Bread seems to do quite well and so i wanted to give it a go. Out of curiousity..what is a Garden Liquidiser?..can you tell i,m new to this? Many thanks.

Hi Maddog, I think it is the only option, shame they stopped making those gadgets..nevermind. Thanks for the reply. regards, Darren

Hi, Firstly i,m new on the Forums and this is my first post Can anyone help me source a Multi-Punch for bread?..i,m told they are not made anymore but i would love to get my hands on one. I know i can get single punches but this would take quite a while i would imagine, especially when punching say 5 slices of bread for hook bait and to mix in feed. Any help would be appreciated. many thanks