Which Pole

I want to get into pole fishing however I have never used one so I was thinking about a 8/9 m pole to begin with,however, these all seem to be "margin poles", when I read the blurb relating to these poles it always states will handle large carp in the margins am I to assume then that unless fishing for carp these poles will not be sensitive enough for silvers for instance,sorry if this sounds stupid but as I say I have never used a pole before.
Also any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks

Best to look at 13m all-round poles and start using it@ at 9m. Once you get one and learn to use it you'll want it longer and longer.
Don't forget you'll need to buy roller(s) and other accessories too...

All poles are insensitive, they are not rods or whips, you play the fish on the elastic. All t means when it says it's a carp pole is that it has a higher wall strength. Ideally for silvers you want a match 3 or 4 to make the top lighter on the strike.

I'd deffo go with peters suggestion, I know when I first bought a pole I made the mistake of buying one that was too short, I changed it after 6 months or so, go for a 13 metre they're a lot cheaper and lighter than what they were so shouldn't set you back too much.

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Thanks everyone for your very much appreciated comments, Sagalout, you mention a top three to make it better for silvers do I take it that you can purchase these kits separately and could they be fitted to a margin pole.
Also I can understand the logic of buying a longer pole but only using part of it to begin with.
Once again thanks to all for comments

You would need to check with the pole manufacturer if they do a top three for the pole you have in mind. There are some universal kits available but I would always go with a manufacturers proper item. I would also look closely at the cost of replacement sections and top kits before buying because breakages do happen and some sections can be very expensive, extra top kits is something you are likely to want if you get more into pole fishing so you can have different elastics for different swims.

You haven't given a budget, but the Shimano 850 Beastmaster margin pole, at 8.5m, is about £170 new with 2 power top 2s. A new top two is about £50. Then the Shimano Catana 13metre is about £299 and the Maver Respect at 13m is also about £299. Both of these have top 3s and 2s available for the £50 to £60 mark.

Having had a waggle of the 850 in the shop, I thought it felt light and balanced and would make an excellent margin pole and be fishable all day at full length. The low cost 13m poles are not fishable for any length of time at full length, not with any degree of comfort or pleasure anyway, and will be droopy and floppy at full length but fished one or two sections short they will be very nice.

Just going back to the section cost for a minute, as an example say you were to buy a £1500 16m pole and then broke the number 5 section, you could easily pay £350+ for a new section whereas the lower end of the market the cost is more likely to be £70.

Remember if you are waggling a pole in the shop the elastication will add weight at the very extreme of the pole and will alter it's feel considerably at full length. I have owned two budget 13m poles and at less than full length they where great but at 13m they were'nt nice and would be useless for silvers, far to much droop and bounce.

Thanks for that sagalout, taking the shimano beastmaster as an example would I be able to put a top 2/3 kit on that for smaller fish,also would this make the pole slightly longer?

isaac walton said:

shimano beastmaster as an example would I be able to put a top 2/3 kit on that for smaller fish,also would this make the pole slightly longer?

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As I said you need to check with the manufacturer but I can't see a top 3 kit kit for this listed anywhere however some of the reviews I have read say it is a shame you have to cut the top section back so far to fit a heavy elastic and that suggests to me that you could cut it back less and fit a small elastic and thus have the effect of a top three and is this case yes that would then make it slightly longer but I would think it will be less than 8.5m though because normally the pole lengths are quoted before any cutting back.

If you want it to be longer then do a 1.7m butt extension for £82 taking it to 10m, but then you are into £250'ish and maybe you'd be better off looking at a 13m pole. The 850 always seems to fetch good money 2nd hand on ebay. Also adding the butt extesion may make the 850 floppy and droopy whereas the 13m poles at 10m will be nice.

Here's an old test/review on margin poles MARGIN POLES UNDER £300 - TESTED! � Anglers Mail Anglers Mail where the 850 won best buy.