Well im confused !

[countryman]

Im looking to buy a new pole,I realy dont want to go any shorter than 13m and it should be capable of tackling the odd decent carp as well BUT im on a strict budget of £250 maybe £300 if I talk to my beloved realy nicely.Ive had a look thru some of the mags that are about and there just seems to be loads of them,ive also had a chat with a couple of my local tackle shops and to be honest most of them didnt want to know unless I would spend over £400 and its just not possible for me to spend that much.A couple of mail order places will do me a MAP 16m pole for around the £250 mark are these any good ? or should I look at the shorter ones such as the middy works battle zone which looks a good buy on paper ?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers all,

Trev

[rourke7719]

Im looking to buy a new pole,I realy dont want to go any shorter than 13m and it should be capable of tackling the odd decent carp as well BUT im on a strict budget of £250 maybe £300 if I talk to my beloved realy nicely.Ive had a look thru some of the mags that are about and there just seems to be loads of them,ive also had a chat with a couple of my local tackle shops and to be honest most of them didnt want to know unless I would spend over £400 and its just not possible for me to spend that much.A couple of mail order places will do me a MAP 16m pole for around the £250 mark are these any good ? or should I look at the shorter ones such as the middy works battle zone which looks a good buy on paper ?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers all,

Trev

 

Depends what you want it for?

 

If you want a pole for fishing commercials then really you don't need much more than 13 metres. I have a 16 metre pole and when fishing commercials I have never used more than 13 metres.

 

Unless you are willing to up your budget then I wouldn't bother going for a cheap 16 metre pole, they will be heavy and sloppy and difficult to fish with, my pole cost almost double your 300 quid budget and that can be difficult at 16 metres.

 

I would be looking at at 12.5 - 13 metre "carp" pole capable of taking up to 16 - 20 elastics for commercials, due to the popularity of commercials at the mo you will find quite a few poles on offer suited but I think Fox, Maver and Preston do some decent ones at that price.

 

Try something like this:

 

Maver Pole 14.5 metre

 

The other option is to look atb a second hand pole, you may be able to get a better pole for your money.

 

I would reccomend North West Angling Centre in Wigan, I have always had good advice from them regarding tackle, whatever my budget has been www.nwac.co.uk

 

I would say if you can get to a tackle shop where they have the poles set up (as NWAC does) you can get a feel for them and compare different models but if your shop isn't being helpful then try the net.

[Andrew Burgess]

I got myself one of the MAP CFS F16 pole package last year and use it quite a few times despite I am specialist angler!

 

It is very nice to hold at 13 metre to 16 metre without any trouble what so ever. But I do advised to use a front bar rest when holding against the side winds. It is also easy to unship the pole section due to the super smooth diamond finish - I couldn't ask for more. In my opinion it is worth every single penny that I spent on getting a new upgraded pole. The only snag about it - is the bottom rubber cap which fit on the spare extension section (to go up to 14 metre, 15 metre etc etc)which is a bit loose and you could find it missing one of these days if not look after!

 

With all the other spare tops and power top section are fitted with different strength of elastic so I can use the pole almost any venues. I also advised to buy some spare top section if you buy the pole but it is up to you.

 

I caught quite a few of small carp up to 10lb with no trouble. Skimmer bream, roach and perch.

[Dick Dastardly]

What did that cost bruv and whats the lightest top three/laccy you can use with it?Oh and is that the same as the one we looked at in Brundal AC the other year?

[Andrew Burgess]

The MAP pole cost me around £230? if I remember right as I did haggle the price a bit! With the pole you do get spare 2 x top section and 1 x power top section and also a cup section with the kit but it cost me an extra £50 (intead of around £150) to have a few more spare top and power top section with different grade of elastic!

Edited June 11, 2008 by Andrew Burgess

[countryman]

Thanks for the advice people,I will be mostly using it on commercials should have said that in my original post.

Cheers Trev

[tincatinca]

You can get some excellent second hand poles off e-bay and one that would be worth looking at is a Maver Medusa. It is a 16 metre pole but it is very nice at 13 metres. It originally came with a match top three and three power top twos and is at home fishing for silver fish or carp up to low doubles. It is very versatile, reasonably stiff and light and will take up to 20 elastic. The one single thing with a pole is that you need to be comfortable with it and at 13 metres you may be better off going for a good second hand pole as opposed to a new one.