Before choosing a particular pole, you need to decide what sort of pole you require for your fishing. There are 3 main types and here is a breakdown of the 3:

Match poles: Match poles generally have a maximum elastic rating of around a number 10 or 12, they are the lightest to handle, very stiff and generally very expensive. These poles are designed for catching Roach, Bream and other silver fish on canals, rivers and silver fish waters. They will of course with care handle bigger “bonus” fish, but are not designed for catching big hard fighting fish all the time.

A rare thing nowadays, a genuine match pole that only handles up to a 12 elastic

Carp poles: are a lot heavier than match poles due to the shear strength that is required from the pole to tackle some of the Carp that are in waters today. Most Carp poles available are fairly sloppy to handle, even the more expensive models and are heavy. Designed for elastics from 10 to 20

A carp pole, pure muscle to handle those BIG carp 

All-Round poles: By far the most popular poles nowadays, manufacturers soon cottoned onto the fact that not everyone could afford to by a match pole and a carp pole so they have created all round models. They offer stiffness, strength and are fairly light and can be bought at all price ranges. These come complete with 2 different kinds of top kits, match top kits (Elastics up to 12) and power top kits (Generally up to size 16 elastic, sometimes up to 20). Putting a match kit on will change the feel of the pole completely, this is due to the fact that the match kit is a lot lighter then the power kits, making the pole feel much better than when it has a power kit on.  

The most popular poles now are all round poles, designed for all forms of pole fishing

Top kits – Why do I need more than just one? 

Most poles now come with at least one EXTRA top kit as standard. Extra top kits are essential simply due to the fact that there is no single elastic that will do everything. You could use heavy elastic (Let’s say a 12) and be catching Carp at a commercial fishery, but then you go to a river for some Roach fishing but you keep missing the bites. This is simply down to the fact that the elastic will be too heavy for the fish you are trying to catch and will cause hook pulls. Elastic too heavy will drastically affect your hooking rate and having more top kits allow you to have several elastics to suit different situations without having to break down the elastic to install a new size before you start fishing. On the other hand elastic too light will reduce your chances of landing that big carp or tench that has decided to take your bait, not impossible, but chances are not high.

Weight –

A lot of anglers (even experienced ones) are influenced by the stated weight on the pole. This in most cases means nothing to the actual feel of the pole. The most important factor when choosing a pole is the stiffness and balance. A stiff and better balanced pole will feel slightly heavier but much better for using on the bank especially when it comes to using the pole in the wind. It also helps with the strike as the pole will be “faster” on the strike.

Now I know what type of pole I want, how much should I spend?

This is a question only you can answer, but my advice would be spending as much as you can afford. There are poles at all price ranges from £50 up to £5000+, however you won’t get much enjoyment from using a £50 pole due to its heaviness, sloppiness and basically crap quality. Buying a pole this cheap will put you off from upgrading to a more expensive pole in the future as you will not have enjoyed your first pole fishing experience. I advise you spend at LEAST £150, but ideally you want to start at £200.

£200 from 5 years ago were the poles that are £50 now and were again crap, but now technology has progressed so much that £200 poles would easily fetch double its selling price. They have come a LONG way. Poles in the £200 range are all round poles and most have an elastic rating of up to a 16. Some of the poles in this price range come with a match kit and a power kit, but this is not so common until you get over the £400 mark. The top kits supplied with poles of around £200 are capable of holding there maximum elastic rating, but do make sure you check this as some DO come with a match and a power kit.  

Although £200 poles are great nowadays, if you have more money you are willing to part with then do it, the pole will be lighter, stiffer, and supplied with more top kits. However, another way is to buy a £200 pole and if you have say £100 extra to spend on the pole itself (Excluding accessories) then spend that £100 on 2 or 3 extra top 3 kits, which will give you far greater choice when it comes to your fishing (More on that later).

Finally when looking at poles, make sure you can set them up to full length and also be seated on a seat box, preferably a one similar to yours at the leg height you mostly use so that you can feel how it would be whilst you are sitting down on the bank. I have seen some people take there own seat box to tackle shops to try poles out, so that is also an option but ask the owner first!. Make sure the pole feels comfortable for YOU! Although your friends can and will recommend a particular model, if it’s not comfortable for you, look at something else. Start holding the pole at 6 meters and then add sections on until you are at full length, most of the time you will have at least 1 section (based on a 13meter pole) behind you whilst fishing, so if its not too comfortable at 13 meters, don’t worry as most budget (£200) poles are although usable at this length are not always usable by the beginner until they are confident enough.

Other factors to consider when buying a pole

Its not just stiffness, balance etc you need to consider when buying a pole. A very important factor is the price of the top kits, spares prices and availability if the worst happens and you break a section. Its not good buying as expensive pole as you can afford and then not being able to afford more top kits, also no good buying a non branded or small companies pole and then not being able to get spares later on. Most of today’s top brand names have reduced the prices of all there spares by as much as 30% over the last 3 years and it’s never been a better time to own a good selection of top kits to suit all fishing situations.

Spares availability, another VERY important factor in the selecting a pole, large number of the manufacturers/brand names carry a guaranteed spares availability of at least 5 years after the pole has been discontinued. Poles generally are in the manufacturers range for a maximum of 3 years, although generally its every 2 years they are changed, this is then when the spares availability of 5 years starts. This is generally plenty of time as most anglers change there pole after 3 years of using it (some anglers I know change every year!).

Well if you have read the above thoroughly and understood it, you should now decided what sort of pole you want/need, how much to spend and to make sure you have your box stable with a nice leg system or indeed a new box. If you have a new pole now, well done and I hope you have made a choice YOU are happy with.

Next is the most important part of the setting up of the pole so that it is ready to go fishing. You need to fit the elastic that is correct for the fishing you are doing.

Maybe your pole came with a complete elastication kit but you do not know what each item is and there functions. Well here is a run down of everything you need/should have for the elastication of your pole.

1) (left) Elastic – Choose the size you need by using my guide below. There are also a few different materials used for elastics nowadays, but more on those later.

2) (Right) Connectors – These are tied onto the elastic so that you can connect your rig to the pole. Very simply there is a sleeve that you slide back revealing a hook, now hook the loop on your rig into the hook and slide the sleeve back over it. Simple!

They come in sizes to suit all elastics and now most packets in the tackle shop are clearly labeled with which elastic size is ideal for size of connector. Later I shall show you how to tie this to the elastic the RIGHT way; there are also other ways of connecting your rig to your elastic and that I will also explain later.

3) (Left) PTFE Bushes – This keeps the elastic from being chafed on the carbon at the end of the tip, this simply slides over the end of the tip (or inside it) to keep the elastic running smooth and trouble free. Two sorts are available, Internal and external, details on these a little later on.

4) (Right) Bungs – This locks the elastic in place at the other end of the desired top sections. There again are various types which I will go into further detail later on and also how to fit and tie this on correctly.

5) (Left) Diamond eye threader – a long peice of thin steel to help pull the elastic through the sections. VERY HANDY!

6) (Right) Lubricant – Personally I do not use these; they are highly overpriced and instead I just dip the tip into the lake or river and pull the elastic to get elastic nice and wet. Do this a few times a day and your elastic will run smooth. There are also a few alternatives including shampoo conditioner… More on that later!

The right elastic for the job!

Most likely you have bought a pole that comes with at least one extra top kit or indeed you have bought more (Congratulation if you have bought more!). This will aid you in having several sizes of elastics as I have wrote above. So what size of elastics do you set in your top kits?

Well this depends on a few factors that include:

1) The size of fish you are aiming to catch

2) If the venue you fish is one where there is a lot of snags

3) River fishing requires a slightly heavier elastic if the flow is fast.

Fitting the right elastics for the fishing situation you are likely to encounter is crucial. It would be silly to use a very light elastic for carp fishing as any self respecting carp would stretch the elastic to its limit (also known as: Bottom the elastic out) immediately and probably snap the elastic too leaving a fish swimming around with a length of line that could possibly snag and result in a death.

So how are the elastics graded?

It starts of with a very light number one up to a mighty 22 elastic for bullying those carp.

Elastic needs to be set through the top 1, 2 or 3 sections of your pole depending on the size of the elastic you are going to use. Here is a guideline I use to determine how much elastic I need to install:

A guide to elastic sizes and there uses can be found here

Elastics bigger than 14

Personally I don’t feel that there is any need to go higher in elastic size than this. I feel anything over a 14 is starting to get into the bullying Carp in. I have seen a few anglers (unfortunately don’t know there names) literally drag Carp in with a 20elastic, and these fish are near on double figures. It does NOT make us anglers look good in the eyes of the general public and is also another crowbar for the anti angler organizations such as the PETA in there aim of banning angling. Some anglers argue that getting them in quicker with heavier elastic and lines will mean less stress for the fish. In my opinion this is total rubbish and if they think that bringing in a fish of several pounds within 30 seconds is less stressful then I would like to see there evidence. Of course you have to decide yourself if you want to use a heavier elastic than this, but remember don’t bully the fish at the same time as not making the fight so long that it cannot recover fairly quickly.

Elasticating your pole