What pole?

Posted by Lee Wood

 

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 three:

 

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 in strength rating.

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!).