Shock Stikk

[fishplate42]

I had not heard of a 'Shock Stikk' until it was mentioned in a set of rules for fishing a commercial as something that was banned.

I looked it up and apparently it is (was?) something made by Middy. It looks like what I call a tele-pole; one of those sub £10 whips fitted with elastic. I have done a search of the forum and that threw up a few posts from 2006 when it was first introduced (it seems).

I gather it is a stiff pole with heavy elastic for dragging big fish from the margins just to make weight (much heavier than my tele-pole). There does not seem to be much finesse about the thing and I can only assume it is very likely to damage the mouth of the fish if used aggressively.

Does anybody use such a thing today? Sound's like a awful way to fish to me, no wonder the fishery banned its use, or am I missing something?

Ralph.

 

[sam vimes]

It's pretty much as you've found. However, the reality is that it's not significantly different from a few other similar products from other manufacturers that aren't singled out in the same way. Ultimately, it's only as heavy as you want it to be, depending on the gauge of elastic used and strength of line. Just like any type of gear, whether or not fish are dragged out on such kit is entirely down to the angler on the end of it. I suspect that the name of it is at least part of the problem. Along with other similarly named products (Yank'n'Bank, anyone?), it does engender a negative opinion for many.

 

[markcw]

The Shock stik is basically a 3 metre slim carp rod without the eyes and elastic through the top section, retail around £80 I think, I have a version of it, it has 14 elastic through the top section, I use it when I want to fish down the side under brambles or overhanging branches, only because I do not want to use expensive top kits, the fish are not dragged out, a bit of side strain put them into open water, there a few manufacturers have similar short margin poles, such as shimano with the 4 metre margin extreme, I also have one of those, also have a 10 metre yank n bank which is more of a standard pole in my eyes, the number 1 has to be cut right back to get a 12 elastic through it, the top 3 is around 2.7 metres high, it gets used for narrow venues with light elastics ,12 is the max, the yank n bank name is very deceiving. I think Andy Gregory held the match record somewhere using shok stiks and the way is was done gave them a bad name at some places,

 

[John Keane]

A better product is the Daiwa Power Margin Carp at 5.5m and with 1m sections rated to 20+ elastic. I use mine with Red Daiwa Hydro. I usually feed the margin with micros during my feeder fishing and have the Daiwa to hand for when the weeds start to move. Counter to popular belief a 10lb+ carp on an outfit like this is not just skull-dragged out but at the same time it isn’t wearing itself out and risking a break-off on elastic that is too light.

 

[markcw]

That is what I meant about side strain and in open water, I have 18 through the number 1 on my shimano, as long as the tackle is balanced there should be no problems playing the fish and less chance oh a hook pull, which can happen more or less with whatever set up you use, pole or rod and line, A friend of mine has the Daiwa and he rates it as a good margin pole,

 

[markcw]

John. what waters do you fish ? I have noticed you are from the North West .

 

[John Keane]

John. what waters do you fish ? I have noticed you are from the North West .

Waters around Sandbach, Chester, Middlewich, Antrobus, North Wales, etc. Do a bit of coarse, predator, sea, fly, etc.

 

[markcw]

Holbar on Partridge Lakes is good down the margins and on the feeder. also the lower to middle peg 20's on Badger Pool at Lloyds Meadow for down the side, you possibly fished some of the same waters as I have,

 

[kenpm]

On one of the match carp lakes now a specimen carp lake it was not unusual for big weights of Carp being caught on landing net poles elasticated with catapult elastic from under the boards they were fishing from.
The various shock sticks came from this line of thinking.

 

[sagalout]

I have a cheap (£3.50) telescopic 3m whip cut back to 2.5m and fitted with an 18 elastic through what is essentially the "top two". It is brilliant when they come in under your feet. If you keep it low and straight the elastic does it's work if you start to loose them into the snags you can put strain on the whip which bends the whip and stops the elastic running so freely due to friction between the elastic and whip side.

 

[steve2]

This thread just goes to show how badly and how far some “anglers” will go in order to drag fish out of the water. Reminds me of films we use to see about rod caught tuna. Just look on you tube and you will see what I mean.
YouTube

Is there much difference between this and modern day match carp fishing

 

[mikench]

I doubt I will use my dedicated carp rod ever again !

 

[kenpm]

The problem with Drayton was that most of the pegs were on a wooden walkway so as soon as a Carp was hooked it would shoot under the boards into the snags and once they got in there they rarely came out,if you used a conventional pole there was a very good chance that you would break the pole hence the stepping up of tackle 10/15lb line straight through.

The modern "superstocked" fishery where 200 lb plus weights are normal are very much a fish race where the quickest will usually win which is not a million miles from catching 300 Bleak in an hour,the record is 515 hard to imagine.
The difference is Carp are much larger and require a more heavy duty approach but match fishing is fishing against people as well as against fish and somebody will always come up with an edge that might win them a few matches until everybody else catches up.
Classic example was the Winter League Final at Mallory Park when the original Method Feeder was first nationally revealed if you did not have that edge on the day you struggled to compete with those who did and the rest is history up to today when its the most common form of stillwater feeder fishing.
Commercial fisheries have a lot to answer for but they have speeded up the evolution of of many method but if you do not like them there are plenty of other venues to visit.

 

[markcw]

At Clattercote Res near Banbury they reckoned you could tell what make of pole it was by the sound it made when it broke from being snagged up by carp, Most if not all the major brands do margin poles, Maver do a cheap 9 metre one called the Abyss, you have to take the number one out to put decent elastic through it so it will run smoothly, daiwa do them from the lower price to £500, Shimano do the beastmaster, tricast do one, the list is endless but each has a following,and if used correctly balanced tackle will land more fish safely than going overgunned just because you have a margin pole.

 

[sagalout]

If a moderate breaking strain hook link is used (and to get bites on heavily fished waters I would suggest it is a must) then does it matter what is above the hook link?