Pole Fishing from the Beginning ? Part 1

Blimey! Peter, I don't know about a fishing station that is more like New Street station :0). Aren't I just glad I am out of all that, the thought of carrying all that gear starts the old ticker racing.

Incidentally what happened to the waggler rod then mate?

I suppose there is a reason but why is this in carp fishing and not match fishing where it belongs, is that my fault?

Yep, it's your fault Graham. Anybody who starts a new thread chooses where it goes.

I'll move it now to the Match Fishing section.

Hand is duly smacked, sorry Graham.

Good advice Peter. I came to pole fishing very late (Jan 06) and still only own the one which, as you say, meets some of the requirements some of the time. As I've become more experienced in this gear, I reckon I now want a variety of tools for the various situations I find myself in. But money dictates!

I really enjoy fishing the pole and have had Carp to 21.06 on the beefed up gear as well as some superb Crucians from a very tight swim where presentation and location were key. I've also had some success on my local very overgrown river where I presented the rigs in otherwise "impossible" swims.

I'm still learning about how the different types and sizes of elastics work and with different tensions and pairing those to the right kind of rigs. It's a fascinating method and I look forward to more informative reads.

Good stuff Peter, but how do you reconcile all that high tech gear and ergonomic fishing station with a passion for old tackle, split cane and centre pins?
A 14.5 m pole is a neccessary evil these days, but for pure pleasure one good fish on a Richard Walker MKV Avon is worth ten on the carbon wand!

Neil,

A well presented bait on a short pole in those little holes in the weeds on the Avon can be a superb method for the bigger Roach and Dace.
I have been fishing the pole for quite a few years and am still learning, in fact every trip out you get to learn something new.
In the last part I will cover a lot of the points that you raise, including elastic strengths matched to line diameters and rig making.

Peter,

Simple answer is that as a (retired) match angler I still get a lot of joy from fishing the pole, just not to the exclusion of everything else, and the skill set required to successfully fish the pole stands you in good stead for all sorts of other methods as well.

A lot of people might not believe me but the first time I fished a pole was back in 1963, on **** Walker's stretch of the Upper Ouse. It was ****'s of course and looking back, it was certainly a horrid bit of bored out Tonkin cane with a fine split cane tip. It was about 18 feet long I guess, and boy, was it heavy!

But it was great for dropping float tackle into the gaps beween the lilies, which would have been impossible with a normal rod and reel.

And by the way, Peter gets his "man" to carry all his tackle.