How important are cupping kits?

[antiquea]

I know they allow you to feed very accurately, but will this mean more fish in the bag?

I normally just bowl a few groundbait balls into the swim 15 mins before I start a session, and this tends to work ok.

Obviously I am very new to pole fishing, and would like to get better.

Whilst I am not a match angler, I would still like to bag as many fish as possible.

Sorry for the newbie question.

 

[antiquea]

I'm also new to fishing 'lines'. I normally just fish straight out at 2 o'clock at around 6m, and also move over t 3 o'clock when the fishing gets slow.

 

[binka]

As a generalisation cupping is more important when you are feeding for large numbers of smaller fish with smaller baits, imo.

Not always though.

There are occasions where I prefer to spread the feed around such as when I'm expecting a large head of fish on, say, a gravel pit and where the rest won't spook so easily if they're spread over a wider but still relatively tight area when one is hooked.

Despite giving up pole fishing many years ago I still use a homemade cupping kit which comprises of a circular, pint bait tub which screws onto a 12' landing net pole for when I need to be spot on when fishing off the rod tip and it often involves 'bombing' the feed down in wetted and riddled seed compost due to the heavy tow on some of the stillwaters I fish.

I think you've got to decide what you want to target and on what type of water along with what's likely to be going on beneath the surface, if you're scratching around on a canal then I would say the accuracy of cupping is very important but it's not going to be the best option for a bait 'n wait approach for large shoals of fish grazing around a gravel pit.

At the end of the day it's simply a method of introducing feed so decide how tight an area you want to feed, the quantity and frequency you want to introduce and choose the method of introduction accordingly.

 

[sagalout]

You don't neeeeed a cupping kit, just use a pot on the end of your top kit. I use the top of a sports drink/kids fruit shoot/water bottle a lot of the time for small accurate feeding or a 15ml medicine type cup for larger amounts. pass an old bit of pole elastic through the base of the "pot" and tie the ends together. Put the pot on your top kit and pass the laccy under the pole and over the pot. Jobs a good 'un.

See the maggotdrowners forum teepee pots for full invention and details.

 

[antiquea]

I'm going to be mainly fishing for bream on my local canal, or my clubs little silver only snake lake.

 

[Richox12]

Essential. Maybe not a dedicated kit if you can adapt an existing kit and fit it with a removable pot big enough (so 250ml or even bigger). It depends what you want to feed and where. Whether fishing for lots of fish, small fish, big fish or just one fish I would never go without a cupping kit.

 

[markcw]

I agree with Rich, you can either dump pot 200ml in in one go, sprinkle it in a line or a bit here and there depending on what you are fishing for, you cant do this with a small "kinder" type pot on the end of your pole, by all means have one on the end and use it for feeding small amount of bait after each fish to keep them interested, whether it be half a dozen maggots or a pinch of pellets, even a nugget of groundbait.

 

[soft plastic]

Wouldn't be without one. Try putting groundbait in your swim with a match top kit.....ouch!

Sent from my E6633 using Tapatalk

 

[markcw]

I got the daiwa tournament cupping kit with my pole package, it retails around £65 if I had wanted to buy one,
It is not as stiff as I thought it would be so I bought the PI spot on cup kit, it is extendable, so if your match kits and power kits are different lengths it can be adjusted, it is a lot better than the tourney and a lot cheaper, around £40.
I converted a power kit to a cupping on one of the poles I used to own, it was not the same as having a proper cupping kit,so it went back to a power kit, If you are seriously thinking of one, buy one, don't convert kits.

 

[antiquea]

Why is a cupping kit better than just bowling in a few balls of groundbait?

I understand accuracy, but most of the time I fish over a carpet of feed.

 

[sagalout]

If you can put the feed you want where you want then a cupping kit is of no use. I throw like a girl and couldn't hit the side of a barn from 3 feet away so I like to be able to pot in, I also like to pot in a tea spoon of feed every fish.

 

[antiquea]

If you can put the feed you want where you want then a cupping kit is of no use. I throw like a girl and couldn't hit the side of a barn from 3 feet away so I like to be able to pot in, I also like to pot in a tea spoon of feed every fish.

I'm quite accurate with my throwing due to a love for cricket haha. I can understand the pinpoint accuracy of a cupping kit, or pot.

 

[Richox12]

Balling in 10 balls by hand - say - and cupping in the same 10 balls can & will have very different effects on what you catch & when.

 

[rayner]

Generally I feed through a small pot on my pole, early in the year.
As soon as fish are active I fish up in the water right through until Novemberish. Feeding with my throwing sticks.

 

[antiquea]

Balling in 10 balls by hand - say - and cupping in the same 10 balls can & will have very different effects on what you catch & when.

In what way?

 

[Richox12]

Different venues, different fish, different behaviour.

Where I fish if I wanted to fish the feeder at 30m at the start but prime a pole line I'd cup the feed on the pole line. If I balled it there the fish would have come straightaway, eaten & gone by the time I came off the feeder.

Also if I ball it I'd be plagued by bits (regardless of the gbait content & mix) but if I cup it I won't be as bothered and will get my bait to better fish more often. Same applies to loosefeed. Sometimes feed every chuck, twice or three times a chuck etc and others feed a lot in one go and fish it out.

Many species of fish come to noise. Sometimes it's right to ball/feed by hand but sometimes it's wrong. You just have to feel your way in and fish places regularly to work out what's best.