Is this pole any good?

[derwentbob]

I have an old carbon pole that I bought second hand but unused maybe ten years ago. I have never used it because I haven't been fishing waters conducive to pole fishing, I am usually fishing with my back against a concrete dam wall. However after my maiden trip to a commercial fishery I might give it a try there.

It is a Leeda Powerhouse Powertube 1100, 11m elastic rating 14, 990g. It has been elasticated but I don't know with what so I may re-do it myself, especially as it has been unused for over ten years. It won't have been an expensive pole, I only gave £20 for it second hand, but will it be OK for commercial carp and silverfish? If so what elastic should I fit and will universal top kits such as the Drennan ones be likely to fit?

Any advice you can give will be gratefully received.

 

[john step]

With tongue in cheek I say any old pole would be good to give a commercial a try If ever I decided to give golf a try and I had a few cheap old clubs in the garage I would use those first to see how I liked it.
If there be monsters use the heaviest elastic the pole is rated to. 14 Would cope with most. But as you say, new elastic is a must as it is part of the line and you wouldn't use old rotten line.
The commercial aficionados will have more on this.

 

[peter crabtree]

I would take out the old elastic and take your topkit and the section it pushes onto to your tackle shop. Buy some medium elastic ( eg size 10 ) .
Use your existing bung but buy an appropriate sized Stonfo connector.
You can also see if the universal kits fit your 3/4 section. I think you can cut them down if they're too big in diameter. I'd imagine it will be ok to use at 9.5m but may sag a bit with the 11m section on.
And if you haven't got one already, get a roller.

 

[derwentbob]

Thanks guys, I will give it a go. The biggest fish I am envisaging is about 4-5lb, nothing huge and the majority seems to be silverfish in the 1-1.5lb region. I know nothing about pole elastic ratings so I didn't know if 14 was useful or not, there seems to be a lot of different kinds out there. I will see if my local shop has top kits otherwise I might have to get one on spec and see if it will fit.