Price of carp rods

I'm all for buying the best you can afford and with rods I know a £20 rod will catch fish just as well as a £100 but I feel with my coarse fishign rods I want a rod that is as light as possible but retaining the strength to land the fish without breaking.

But for my carp rodsI've not spent more than £50 - since they spend most of the time on a rod pod I don't feel the need for ultra light rods - I've seen some at over £250 and can't think the need to pay this - is it just the "name" or am I missing something

i think that once any angling equipment has carp put on it the price goes up but not always the quality,i cant see any reason to pay £250 plus for rods(or reels for that matter) other than for others to be impressed by them on the bank,my barbel rods were £45 each and have some abuse over the last 3 years and havent let me down so why pay more for something to sit in rests.

50 quid rods will be fine for general Carp angling, however if you use them a lot and at range they will suffer over a short time! If you have used the "best" then you would know the difference already.
It all depends how serious your angling is, and ultimately your budget! One thing is for sure, there are better mid priced rods today than there was say 20 years ago, and these rods would have been top money back then, and this is not only Carp rods!

When it comes to carp rods, I am now on my third lot. Cost all of £10 for first ones, dreaded dragon Carp. They did give me a cheep taster to carp fishing. I moved up to Middy and a JRC around the £40 to £50 mark. Did okay but bit lacking in strength. The JRC was useless, had a 8lb carp take me all over the place as its action was too soft. I am now on Shimanos 2.75 tc, bought a pair complete with reels at special offer. Don't ask the details as I don't know without going into the loft. Paid less than £250 with line on all spools.

I do like quality but will not pay over the odds. Always look out for special offers and seek recogmendations and reviews.

2 century NG's - Superb rods......very expensive
2 Century Armalite 2's - Superb Rods..... very expensive

3 ECGA blanks with custom line guides ordered from america. Customised by a lad in my tackle shop. 170£ for 3....... If heineken did carp rods........


Seriously ive owned some really nice kit. But there are bargains out there to be had that make these top end rods look silly.

I wouldnt put the century kit in the same bag as my ECGA customs. And before someone has a pop at me about casting distance. They are 3lb t/c 13ft and i can put a fully loaded bait with sinker 200yds with them. I bought em to fish A1 pits and I can pretty much get near to the main features from bankside on pit 6. An its... big.

Essentially I got 3 quality rods. For the price of one of my old ones. I sold the others off and bought a car.......

nuff said.

Well I'm not a "serious" carp angler and most of my carp fishign is at palces where 20lb is a good carp so I've not had any problems with my rods

1 a 2.5tc £20 Dragon Carp - first carp rod and for the money good
1 a 2.75 tc £50 30 plus carp nice rod casts well

Lord Paul of Sheffield said:

Well I'm not a "serious" carp angler and most of my carp fishign is at palces where 20lb is a good carp so I've not had any problems with my rods

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No, but if you were and wanted rods that could easily cast 120-140 yards and put you bait right on the money every time and land a big fat carp of 40+lbs and you were spending a greater percentage of your life fishing than with the wife, it might be worth spending £250 - £300 on each rod. Maybe more and that's before you get to the reels, another £350 each. Then there's the £700 bivvy, £200 rod pod, spod rods and reels, £1000 bait boats with built in sonar, divorce settlement and solicitors fees.

Best stick with a cheaper rod and go now and then eh?

if you are looking for distance then its not just the rod and reel that count although the right ones can help but mostly its about technique, i have seen anglers with expensive tackle that to be honest couldnt cast a shadow, i have also seen them outcast by anglers with mid range priced tackle and their answer has been to buy even more expensive rods and they still cant cast,i have paid for expensive rods in the past and in my opinion not many anglers can get the best from them, i know i cant.

There's certainly a lot of hype and bull droppings associated with carp tackle. You've only got to look at the carp forums to see how often the subject of best rod (or for that matter best reel, line, hook, bait, bivvy, kettle etc) comes up. There's also a big fad for custom-built rods, so much so that in some circles, if you're seen using off-the-peg rods, you're a noddy.

There's a good side to all this though; the second hand market is replete with excellent tackle at bargain prices. I have three production rods which I bought third hand (at least) for £150 the set, and I have absolutely no intention of upgrading them. They're 2lb 9oz test (which is regarded as too light for an all-round carp rod by many) but I've every confidence in them.

In fact, I only use them when I'm fishing snaggy waters for big (20lb plus) carp; for open water and smaller fish I prefer a pair of old glass 1lb 12oz test compound tapers. With these and a reel loaded with 10lb line I can put a 1.5oz lead further than most people using 3.5lb test thundersticks and 4oz leads, and I get fewer hookpulls into the bargain. They double up as nice long-range tench and bream rods, or for light deadbaiting for pike.

Hi Mark,

Your correct, there is a lot of hype out there, and you don't have to pay the earth to catch big fish. Look at Mark Bowler, Drennan rods and Okuma reels?

But when you fish with a very good rod blank (not always the most expensive) you know it, you really do.

I moved from Nash Pursuits onto Harrison Torrix some years ago. The first thing I noticed was the weight. The Harrison were a little heavier (the blank walls were thicker) and better quality. But it was when I fished with them I really noticed the difference.

My first carp rod were Daiwa AKNs I still regret selling them, and I bet someone is still catching fish on them!! You will not get that with many of the cheap rods, they just will not last.

Some of the cheaper rods do have decent blanks, but most are just cheap and nasty.

You can get from A to B in a Lada but it's better in a Golf. Get my point?

As with everything in life to a degree you get what you pay for. However for a long time the rods in the £50.00 bracket on the whole have been very good. Rods like Chub Outkast , Fox warrior and Wychwood have all be very good products.
Before you make a decision though this article may help a little to help you understand what rods are about so you don't get dazzled with the usual lift rod whilst shop assistant grabs the rod tip and pulls it hard ! whilst you hang on for grim death like we all fish like that ?.

So you want to start carp fishing? Pt1