Ian - thanks for replying. I appreciate you have a duty to your sponsors, so we'll let that one go. However, I do feel the article didn't reflect the majority of carp fishing scenarios; citing large open waters one the one hand and small, enclosed ones on the other is all very well, but most carp waters are neither. I would say the vast majority of carp fishing carried out in this country (in terms of angler numbers, not necessarily individual rod hours) takes place on lakes and pits between two and ten acres. Few will have fishable areas where it is necessary to creep and crawl through the undergrowth, and fewer still will have enough space to accommodate the kind of tournament casting antics that require a powerful thirteen foot rod. If I were cynical, I'd think those two extremes were chosen simply to illustrate reasons for purchasing that kind of tackle!
I reckon a twelve foot 2.75lb test rod is adequate for just about all the middle-ground waters; with practice it is perfectly possible to cast a hundred yards with one of these, should it be necessary. In fact, in more than twenty five years of carp fishing on a wide range of waters, including several lakes and pits of thirty acres and more, I have only found it necessary to cast this far a handful of times - and I was able to do so with a 2.25lb test rod and 1.5oz lead. On smaller waters I prefer a ten or eleven footer with a much lower test curve myself, but the twelve footer will do if you don't want to have two sets of rods.
Talking of which, it is not necessary to own a dedicated marker and spod rod. I don't, and never have. I use one of my carp rods if I need to use a marker, and clip up and mark the line before I wind it in. I then remove the float, add the rig and, by aiming at a far bank feature, I can put the bait back on the spot. I can then repeat the process with the other rod.
If I need to 'spod' any bait out I use a pocket rocket mini spod, which can be cast quite comfortably with a regular carp rod. I can leave the marker float out on the first rod, spod with the second - an advantage of so doing being both rods are automatically clipped up at the right distance.
Carp fishing is in danger of becoming a process, whereby every would-be Danny Fairbrass needs to own powerful rods, marker rods, spod rods etc etc etc. It's good for business undoubtedly; there'll always be something new that one simply must have. I despair when I see youngsters kitted out with hundreds of pounds worth of kit, hurling markers and spods all over the place like they do in the DVDs, and then failing to catch anything. If you try to help, and suggest an alternative tactic, they don't want to know; carp fishing is all about spodding and marker float work in't it?