Fishing Rod & Carp

[henda11]

hiya, i no im probably a nusense with all my posts lol.

anyway , the rod i use for float fishing is a kingfisher float , is this rod ok for carp fishing?

[Dick Dastardly]

For smallish carp in reasonably clear (weed and snag free) waters yes but not using heavy carp leads or feeders/pva bags!

[Newt]

As noted - the heavier tackle is more for handling the weight of the rig when casting than for landing the fish.

 

Unless you will be dealing with long casts where you have to really thump 4-5 oz to a great distance, dealing with fish of 30lb and up, or fishing close to snags where you have to be able to stop a fish, most any rod will do the deed.

 

In the US where carp fishing is a very occasional thing for most anglers (if they ever do it) you will see them using 6-7 ft fixed spool lure rods for carping and while there are certainly advantages to longer and more through action rods, they seem to manage quite well.

 

I've taken some decent size carp and catfish from rivers with significant current using a rod that is about 1.5 to 1.75 lb T/C (we measure rods differently and T/C is not used).

[Unimexsol]

Yes, it is fine. That's the short answer.

 

The longer answer is:

 

From your question I'm guessing that you haven't been specialising in carp fishing and are now considering it. If you decide that catching big carp is what you really, really, want to do then you will move on to more expensive equipment as your knowledge progresses. To be honest, and I hope that others will agree with me, the fish cannot see what rod you are using. Of far more importance is how you are presenting the bait. I constantly rail against the idea that you have to spend lots of money on specific rods to catch specific fish - however there is a level where you get to when having a specific rod will help a little.

 

One way to think of it is how much difference would a pair of £50 football boots compared to a pair of £150 boots make to how good you are at football? For me the boots could cost £1000 and I'd still be useless. However to a professional footballer the extra £100 might make the difference between great goal and inch wide.

 

What I'm trying to say is that until you become a specimen hunter then almost any half decent rod will be ok.

 

Of course most tackle shops will just see ££££ signs as soon as you mention the word Carp.

 

BTW, txt spk is not gr8 4 4rums.

[Guest Brumagem Phil]

I'd go along with budgie on this one.

 

Its all about how much control you NEED to exert over the fish. Earlswood lakes near me is 60 acres and has some right hard scrapping carp up to 20lb but your rod would be fine because its a huge expanse of water with few snags and no weed so you do not need to force the rod to do more work than its capable of.

 

You wouldnt however want to use the same rod to try and catch a river carp in a wierpool.

 

See what we are getting at?

 

Kingfisher do a carp rod for under 20 quid so worth perhaps getting one and using the two rods in different situations to help you learn why certain rods are better at some jobs than others (try float fishing for tiddlers with a carp rod for example and see how few you land! LOL). I used to think a rod was a rod was a rod but I've now learned otherwise (although I still feel there is too much tackle snobbery in our hobby).

 

Hope that helps.