Feeder Rod Tip & Line Query

Chaps, I`ve bought a cheap (but not too nasty I hope) power carp feeder rod. It comes with a 1.5oz & 2oz tips and I wondered if anyone could enlighten me as to whether that means the rod is suited to casting out feeders/ledgers weighing equal to or less than 2oz? Is that how it works?

Forgive the dopey question. I`m still learning as you`ve probably gathered by now /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

A 2oz quiver tip means that the tip will bend so that it is at 90 degrees to the thick end of the quiver, held horizontally,when a load of two ounce is applied to the end of the tip. Itdoesn't mean that the quiver tip itself will cast a load of two ounces.

A 2oz quiver is medium stiff, whereas a 1oz or 0.75oz is fairly soft and is more sensitive

Myguess is that your rod will be designed to cast combined weights ( feeder and groundbait inside the feeder ) up to about 3 oz, andwill probably handle reel lines up to 7 or 8lbs bs. If it's a good rod it normally gives this info on the rod butt.

Keith, cheers for that. Its not the best rod in the world but when the pockets are almost empty one has to look for an ebay bargain. I did try looking at the rod butt for the maximum line it will take or the test curve but sadly it had neither. It just says "Carp Power Feeder". I`m planning on using it Monday at a lake where most of the carp caught are between 8 & 14lb. I`m not targetting carp specifically but anything that`ll bite. My pb is 5lb so I dont have to aim too high to beat it. I`ve got a small and medium method feeder and plan on using that on monday as part of a semi-fixed rig and using vitalin as groundbait.

I do hope the rod will cope!

Cheers for responding so quickly.

Hi Alan, I'm far from an expert myself but hopefully I can be of some help aswell as Keith. I totally agree with what he passed on regarding the line strength your rod will be able to handle.

What I'd advise you to do is start off using the smaller of your method feeders and don't load it with too much groundbait.

When you cast out make sure you line your cast up with a fixed mark on the far bank and use this as your target each cast so that you cast to the same area each time. Have a drop of around 3 feet from rod tip to the feeder and don't try to reach the horizon!! Try to feather the feeder down again so you hit the same area each cast. Once the feeder has landed tighten up to it so that you have a slight curve in the quiver tip. This will show any drop back bites aswell as the more likely wrap arounds I'd expect you to get.

Once you have used the rod a few times you'll get a feel for how it performs and will be able to adapt your fishing to it.

Hope this helps and good luck. You'll have to let us know how you get on.

Cheers face, I appreciate the advice. I`ll let you know how I get on after Monday!

No probs. Alan. If you have any more questions after monday please ask as I'm sure someone will be able to put you right. Alot is just down to you gaining confidence in your tackle and your own ability. Once you've cracked that it's easy !!!!

Cheers Face /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

When using a quiver tip rod ---the cast is more of a 'lob' than a full powered cast .....

Make sure your rod is at an angle so you can see the bite eg if your fishing the line at 12 o'clock put the rod at 7 o'clock so theres a slight bend in the tip ,this will tell youwhen there is a bite .Which will be one of two ways the wrap around which could wrench the rodout off the rest or the line will go limp which means thefish is comming towards you.Hope this helps.

Alan, the bending strenght of a quiver tip (1oz, 2oz) etc is a measure of how much it is deflected when a fish takes a bait and swims off with it. A 2oz tip will have less deflection (be less sensitive) than a lighter tip.

To measure the casting power of the rod you need to assess its test curve. Basically, a 1lb test curve means the rod is suitable for medium legering or heavy float fishing, using a line strength of about 5lb bs and an optimum casting weight ofaround 1oz. On the other hand, a 2.5lb curve is a fairly powerful rod for pike and carp fishing, using a line of around 10lb bs and a casting weight of around 2.5oz. You can still use slightly heavier/lighter lines and weights if you want.

A simple way of measuring the test curve is to fix a reel to the rod, thread the line through the rings, and tie a plastic bag on the end. Put something weighing a pound in the bag ( can of beans or luncheon meat etc).Hold the rod handle and lift the rod horizontally, till the bag is dangling from the rod tip. If the rod tip is pointing downwards at 90 degrees to the rod handle, the rod has reached its test curve of 1lb. If it isn't then put heavier weights in the bag and repeat until the rod tip points vertically down. Take care to add weights in small amounts to avoid overloading the line and rod.

If you are using method feeders, I think 5lb line is rather light and I woulduse a heavier reel line.

Cheers Keith, and everyone else who has replied. I`ve used a quivertip rod before but I`m going fishing somewhere on Monday that contains fish of between 8-14lb average in weight so I want to make sure that I`m using a rod and line to cope with a fish that big as well as my medium-sized method feeder laden with groundbait. As my rod doesn`t have any info on the butt about maximum line strength and test curve I`m a bit wary of using line too strong for it so am in a bit of a quandry. I`ve got a reel that takes line between 10lb & 14lb plus I`ve bought a spool of 10lb line as well as 8lb hair rigged las-soo hooklengths.

Cheers again chaps

That should be fine Alan. My 1 bit ofadvice make sure you have a couple of the same pellets in the feeder that match the hookbaitas i big pellet can scare the fish away a few will trick it.

Speci, are you saying you think that reel and line should be ok?

The rod is a Max Performance Power Carp Feeder. It was sold as a heavy feeder on ebay and I`m still waiting for the seller to respond to a question I posted yesterday asking if he knows the maximum line the rod can take.

I checked the two method feeders I have and one weighs 0.5 oz and the other weighs 1oz so I`m hoping that with groundbait attached that rod should be up to a gentle "lob" out into the lake I`ll be fishing.

Cheers for getting back to me, its greatly appreciated.

yes it will be ample just make sure your drag is set right.

Cheers Speci, you are a diamond /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

no worries for ground bait , i've had succsess with dynamite halibut pellet , vde sweet and secret but trail and error is the way forward as you may find a different combination works on your lake than mine plus make sure your that any additives complement your bait eg don't use sweetcorn if you are using pellet or vise versa. Good luck