powlesY

All the rigs are obviously a few metres long when you buy them (by default), to go shallow, you've got to snap the line and redo the loop knot yeah? Say i have a rig of 4 foot deep but i want to fish a margin less than a foot, does that mean i need to cut the rig everytime to suit where i'm putting my float in the water? With rod and reel, you can easily change depth on the float, with pole the whole process seems tedious or leaving you with having dozens and dozens of rigs for the right depth. I'd get into pole fishing proper but to me, that seems to be a big minus point.

Fancy tackle is a load of rubbish, a waste of money. The standard of tackle only goes up to a certain point where it's in anyway beneficial. I've seen matches where theres guys using £3000 poles, £500 seatboxes, speciality groundbait & pellets...and a bloke with a £15 kingfisher rod and a tin of corn smash them all. It's fine to spend a bit of money. A bit extra on a reel for durability is fine, but another £30 on top for the motion to be 5% smoother? Get a grip. And the more higher-end you go, the bigger the price differences are for the smaller the upgrades. Only thing worth spending a decent amount of money on is a seatbox or chair, one that you know'll last you a decent while, will be comfortable and you'll use it a lot - even then, you shouldn't go spending no more than £100-150.

Are you meant to use them in a few sessions or do they keep for ages despite being dried out in the sun and whatnot?

I don't think so, i reckon it's more to do with elitism and bias towards your own method which is quite petty. I don't mean to anger any pole fishermen here but a lot of serious pole anglers look down on people using other tackle, especially on commercial venues. It's like if you haven't got at least a 12m pole then you're not a proper fisherman. I've actually heard a couple of people on the pole insulting and chuckling about a bunch of teens for having a bog standard shakespeare box to sit on and float fishing. It's a pleasure activity ffs :/ Those who think using a pole catches you more fish (and a lot swear by it) have clouded judgement. Can someone please tell me a difference between using a 13ft rod fishing the margins and a couple metres of a pole doing the same thing?

The thing is, most people i see pole fishing just fish in an open area no more than 2 metres in front of them anyway and unless you've got a poor throw, it's pretty easy to drop the bait in the right place consistantly after a while. I dunno, i just think pole anglers have some of quiet arrogance as opposed to other anglers, they thing it leads to them catching more fish when technically that makes no sense whatsoever. End of theday they are used to make sure you fish your own peg in matches and to get to hard to reach spots without snagging (islands, between reeds, overhanging tree etc).

Well in the closed matches on this pond they have a guy sponsored by Map on £50k a year as well as an Improve Your Coarse Fishing editor. I'm not sure on the standard of the open matches as anyone can ring up and book a place. Yeah they use poles all the time but as long as if got a rig with a float and a hook plummeted to the bottom, i should do alright yeah? Still probably come last but there isn't that much depth to pole fishing is there?

My mate keeps bugging me to join in this match, he's going the fishing route of loving his pole and getting into matches...i'm going the route of rod and reel and targeting bigger fish. Anyway, it isn't that difficult to do half decent on a pole without getting embarrased right? Any tips for a match pond thats predominantly F1 carp? What sort of rig i should use? Should i fish on the bottom? Baits/groundbait? etc One more thing, the rigs you buy seems to be far too long. How'd you adjust the deepness/shallowness of it? Snap the line and do a loop knot to the tip? After you go too shallow though doesn't that mess you up if you want to go deeper again? Seems a silly way of doing it. Thanks in advance guys.

I see where you're coming from. It's just the competitive attributes that draws people in. Winning local matches gets you known and respected aswell. I prefer just to do it for fun, but if there's a match going on where the entry isn't too expensive, why not? If you win you may even get your hands on a bit of money or new tackle.

Thanks for the welcome and i hope to become a regular here after just rediscovering my love for fishing. (White Acres, Newquay, Brilliant) The big issue is that my mate is a huge pole fanboy and won't have it any other way. Am i letting him down if i don't want to enter Poles pair matches with him 'cause he's got no one else to enter with? At the same time, being as i haven't pole fished that much, is it something that i haven't given a proper chance too and maybe it'll grow on me in time? Hell, i can't even get my head around how you alter to go shallower and deeper on demand without changing rig altogether or biting the line and doing another loop knot onto the pole to go shallower or having loads of stray line between the float and the tip. BTW, does anyone know if you can buy those rubber stoppers things that go on the end of pole tubes/landing net tubes? As i said, my pole is a few years old and i've lost both ends to the tube (my cousin actually lifted it up and i had to deal with watching all the sections hitting the concrete, gravelly floor, don't want that to happen again). Thanks again.

I'm one of the people who believe it's not about the tackle but the fisherman. A rod capable of landing the fish you intend to catch and a basic reel with some decent line on it. I've fished rod and reel with a float all my life and love it. Around 6 or so years ago there was a big pole buzz that i just can't understand. With a reel you can change the depth you're fishing easier, customise more easily at will, and the fighting and landing of the fish seems more satisfying. I bought a Carp Cadet pole for like £70-80 from Argos all those years ago, fished with it around 4 or 5 times and went back to the traditional method. I'm back to fishing with an old mate who swears by pole fishing and he wants to enter pairs matches with me that are pole entry only - seems ridiculous to me. Fair enough there's an advantage to baiting the same area your hookbait is with a pole cup but any decent fisherman can land their bait where they want too, it's not exactly difficult (especially when fishing the margins). Only advantage is fishing far away island and not getting snagged but to me, rod and reels advantages greatly outweigh the pole. I gave the pole another try Monday just gone, caught a few nice 5-7lb carp but it just didn't seem as enjoyable for me. Now i've got to make up my mind of continuing fishing with a pole and learn it all properly or continue doing what i prefer currently and always have done.