Which do you think is the best option?

[Jim_UK]

I have just "won" a new pole on an Ebay auction and it has 5 tops, one a match, one a cupping and 3 power tops.

The decision now of course is what to set these power tops up with. I usually fish waters were the average carp size is about 8 to 10 pounds but with some fish up to about 18pounds.

Set them up with ordinary elastic or go for the more expensive latex or even the hollow elastic. That is the question.

I am contemplating just setting up two of them to begin with and had thought maybe with identical elastic but different rigs one having plumbed the margins and another having plumbed further out.

 

Any dedicated pole anglers care to share their thoughts with me on this?

 

Jim

[Sportsman]

I have just "won" a new pole on an Ebay auction and it has 5 tops, one a match, one a cupping and 3 power tops.

The decision now of course is what to set these power tops up with. I usually fish waters were the average carp size is about 8 to 10 pounds but with some fish up to about 18pounds.

Set them up with ordinary elastic or go for the more expensive latex or even the hollow elastic. That is the question.

I am contemplating just setting up two of them to begin with and had thought maybe with identical elastic but different rigs one having plumbed the margins and another having plumbed further out.

 

Any dedicated pole anglers care to share their thoughts with me on this?

 

Jim

 

Hi Jim

This isn't the most pole orientated forum on the net so it's nice to talk to another user.

I regularly catch carp in the size range you mention and I use black hydro which I find works perfectly. I have it set quite soft but it is on Pulla bungs so I can tighten up on it if I need to. I have landed carp up to 20lb on this.

It is a bit more expensive to begin with but lasts well and most people who try it are converted.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Sportsman

[Jim_UK]

Hi Jim

This isn't the most pole orientated forum on the net so it's nice to talk to another user.

I regularly catch carp in the size range you mention and I use black hydro which I find works perfectly. I have it set quite soft but it is on Pulla bungs so I can tighten up on it if I need to. I have landed carp up to 20lb on this.

It is a bit more expensive to begin with but lasts well and most people who try it are converted.

 

Thanks for the reply. The Hydro is one of the hollow elastics I think(?) and I know that instead of being a dedicated size they cover a range of strengths such as 12 to 15 and 14 to 16 etc. What strength range is the Black one and do you think my idea of setting them up with identical elastics is a good one?

I have had carp to 16 pounds on a number 12 solid but the last one I elasticated I went up to a 14 as I felt the 12 was "pushing my luck".

A few months ago I caught a 3 pound perch and that bottomed the 14's elastic

 

I always thought that pole fishermen fished for the small stuff and that was all the gear was capable of but I know better now.

 

The pole that I won was a Maver Grim Reaper which normally sells at £399.99 but I spotted one being auctioned by a tackle dealer with a starting price of £249.99 a saving of £150. I kept watching the auction and there were no bidders so I did not show my hand until the end of the auction when I stuck in a bid with seconds to go. As a pensioner that £150 made a big difference to me and I felt like Xmas had come early.

 

Jim

[Sportsman]

Thanks for the reply. The Hydro is one of the hollow elastics I think(?) and I know that instead of being a dedicated size they cover a range of strengths such as 12 to 15 and 14 to 16 etc. What strength range is the Black one and do you think my idea of setting them up with identical elastics is a good one?

I have had carp to 16 pounds on a number 12 solid but the last one I elasticated I went up to a 14 as I felt the 12 was "pushing my luck".

A few months ago I caught a 3 pound perch and that bottomed the 14's elastic

 

I always thought that pole fishermen fished for the small stuff and that was all the gear was capable of but I know better now.

 

The pole that I won was a Maver Grim Reaper which normally sells at £399.99 but I spotted one being auctioned by a tackle dealer with a starting price of £249.99 a saving of £150. I kept watching the auction and there were no bidders so I did not show my hand until the end of the auction when I stuck in a bid with seconds to go. As a pensioner that £150 made a big difference to me and I felt like Xmas had come early.

 

Jim

 

Hi Jim

I have a Maver Ascension and have three top sets all with black Hydro. It seems to work for most things very well.

If I need a lighter set up I have an old DAM pole which I use with a 6 or 8 elastic.

 

Bit more detail about the Hydro

http://www.daiwasports.co.uk/products/coar...0/1/hydrolastic

[Jim_UK]

Hi Jim

I have a Maver Ascension and have three top sets all with black Hydro. It seems to work for most things very well.

If I need a lighter set up I have an old DAM pole which I use with a 6 or 8 elastic.

 

Bit more detail about the Hydro

http://www.daiwasports.co.uk/products/coar...0/1/hydrolastic

 

Thanks for the info.

I always have a look on Ebay to compare prices and can get it on there for about £2-50 less but it is still far more expensive than other hollow elastics that I have see. I guess that is because of the liquid filling it has which begs another question does it not?

Am I correct in assuming that you do not cut it to length but use a winder bung at one end. I would imagine that your top kits are the same length as mine.

Do you use any sort of special bush at the tip or just standard ones and is it a standard stonfo connector to pole rig you use?

A lot of questions but that is how you learn and I am never to old to do that. Spent 2 years so far pole fishing and still seeing new ideas.

 

I bought one of the clever claw pole rests earlier this year and quite impressed with it.

 

Jim

[Sportsman]

Thanks for the info.

I always have a look on Ebay to compare prices and can get it on there for about £2-50 less but it is still far more expensive than other hollow elastics that I have see. I guess that is because of the liquid filling it has which begs another question does it not?

Am I correct in assuming that you do not cut it to length but use a winder bung at one end. I would imagine that your top kits are the same length as mine.

Do you use any sort of special bush at the tip or just standard ones and is it a standard stonfo connector to pole rig you use?

A lot of questions but that is how you learn and I am never to old to do that. Spent 2 years so far pole fishing and still seeing new ideas.

 

I bought one of the clever claw pole rests earlier this year and quite impressed with it.

 

Jim

 

I use a pulla bung but any winder bung is fine.

I use an internal bush at the tip and I have been using dacron connectors instead of stonfo for quite a while.

I have tried other elastics including hollows but I prefer the hydro,

[Phone]

Sportsman,

 

For what it's worth. Goodyear innertube cut on the bias at 3/4th inch is about a 45 lb elastic. That's what I use on the river. In the old days you could get innertubes that were gum arabic and natural rubber or something equally exotic. They were great! but subject to degrading in the sunshine. We never used over about 5 meter one piece poles.

 

How's that?

 

Phone

(ps: 5 lb carp make perfect bait)

[Jim_UK]

(ps: 5 lb carp make perfect bait)

 

I for one will not rise to that bait.

 

Short poles are used over here as well. They are known as Margin Poles and used as the name implies to fish against the bank and close in vegetation that carp like to patrol. They tend to be very beefy poles as you need to be able to extract fish from weed very quickly to be in with a chance of landing them. Nearly all the largest carp I have caught have been bankside rather than far out.

 

Jim