Hi all,

 Having recently gotten back into fishing, I've been taking two of my kids out with me armed with a couple of junior rods and reels. I seem to be spending most of my time sorting out tangles/broken lines etc on their rods and not getting much fishing time on my own rod!

 I've just been given a couple of margin poles (actually what I would call telescopic whips) of 4 and 5 metres. I'm happy about how to set up suitable pole rigs for them which loop straight onto the eyes on the end of the poles, but am a bit unsure of how best to land fish with them. The lake where I usually take the kids is best fished around 3 foot deep near the margins. If I was to hit a decent sized fish of 1lb or more what is the technique for getting it into the net. Obviously with a normal pole you would remove sections at the rear and pull it into the net. Is this the same for a telescopic (i.e. fold it down to get the fish in netting range?)

 Thanks in advance for the answers.

 Phil

With a whip I use a small bottom only waggler like a Canal Grey so that I can cast further out than the tip (Pole floats are not designed to be cast).

I have the line approxinately 3ft shorter than the whip so that I can fish to hand.

 Im no expert but this is how I have been shown by others.

hi maggie ,you can use a mini waggler on the whip as you have been told ,you are fishing a bit short i have the line around 6 inches shorter than the whip as a rule but am able to adjust the length by not tying the line to the tip i connect it by trapping it with two sleeves ie bits of stiff tubing one about 4 inches down the whip the other longer one and thinner diameter over the end of the tip so that it is tight against the line and an inch proud of the tip this trapped line has a tail of six inches and can be adjusted by slackening the sleeves and pulling the tail .

i prefer to use pole floats ..if using a light float for roach they can be cast or rather flicked out with a under arm side cast when fishing on the drop, a heavier float wih a dropper or ollivette for example .5 . 7 of a gram is swung out using the weight of the dropper for bottom fishing this becomes the simplest form of fishing with a little practice .

the line an be sunk to the float on both methods ...when larger fish are swung in to hand simply raise the whip to compensate for the bend in whip .....hope this helps.

Thanks for the responses.

 So just to be clear, I need to set up some rigs with line length just a bit shorter than the whip?

 Think I'll get the kids involved building some rigs tomorrow so that they appreciate what's involved before we go fishing at the weekend.

What may also help in the long term Phil,is don't fish yourself,sort the kids out first.

You can fish when they are more competant at untangling themselves

Phil, what i do when i take my 2 youngest is set them up in the same swim, 1 on the left, 1 on the right and i sit in the middle.

if i want to fish i will ledger, you dont have time to float fish.

then i can bait/cast/unhook/untangle either of the kids if needed(the 9yr old can do most of it, the 6yr old struggles at times) all with out moving and rushing about.

if i get a bite the rule is simple, both have to bring their rods in and place them on the ground out the way, it stops tangles and the worry of having 3 fish in the same swim. 

being organised is the key, having bait(get them on maggots its cheap, easy, and dosnt matter if you only stay a few hours) baiting tools, nets etc to hand with out moving from the chair.