common jon

hello mate, just read your question about poles or rods. this is a session carp fishing forum and members chat about fish welfare.. i could imagine somebody turning up at say beaver farms snipe lake with a 16m carbon beast and a cube of meat or a pellet just to have their pole destroyed by a 40lb carp or a 60lb cat, luckily most fisheries would point you in the direction of the pleasure lakes as soon as they saw such an expanse of carbon with an elastic band instead of a reel... plus for the price of a proper pole you could expect a good 2 rod carp set up and if its your cup of tea even a bait boat! i spoke to a guy with a 2 grand pole and he was catching skimmers, i've used bigger livebaits caught with a £5 roach pole that even came with a rig! ... if you intend to bang little carp out of commercials then a pole is a good option but if you want to fish alongside the real speci boys please, please, please get yourself as close to 4 rods as you can! a bit of braid on 1 of your spare spools will convert your 4th rod to a marker rod which can prove invaluable on larger, tricky waters.. although paying for 3 rods on a day ticket can be quite costly. best of luck with whatever path you choose!

hi everyone, this is an issue that i always take into consideration when casting my chosen rigs into the water... a helicopter or chod rig in my opinion needs a length of leadcore! but i see people using a metre long leader 3 or 4 metres from the rod tip, all we need is to exercise some common sense... 50% of the time bite indication and presentation would probably improve by going back 10 years and having nothing pinning down the line and fishing mono straight to the hooklink with a slack line and a light bobbin. backleads can be more of a hinderance in some situations in my opinion and i avoid them unless absolutely neccesary....

no worries mate.. glad to help out, just hope your next session is a bit less frustrating and you see a few nice lumps in the net! slightly shave bits off your bait and tip it with a piece of pop up corn or a mag-aligner grub to get a neutral buoyancy and add some visual attraction, i've had success on busy day tickets and tricky syndicates alike with that tactic and im sure it will work for you too!! good luck Jon

hello mate.. i had to register just to comment on your question. i fished a day on terrapin the other day, i fished for 5 hours and used dynamite baits source boilies, people told me i wasnt going to catch but everyone blanked and i had an 18lb 8oz common with 1 rod! get your bait into a nice little snag beyond the corner swim and be patient, if your presentation is good and you use a good quality bait you will catch! good luck