One Rod or More?

I know that you can sometimes improve your chances of putting a bait in the right spot on a large lake by using two or more rods, especially if you are unsure of where you should cast or if you can put your bait into two different hotspots where runs are at a premium but why do I see so many anglers using two rods on a river when legering for Barbel, Carp, Chub or large Roach?. Think about it: <ul>[*]How many times have you used two rods and had 95% of your bites on one rod?[*]How many times have you missed bites on one rod when concentrating on the other rod or rebaiting/casting it and subsequently spooking the rest of the fish in the process?[*]How many times have you cast two rods either side of a hotspot in your swim thinking that you will double your chances when a single rod cast directly into the hotspot would have been far better and caused less disturbance?[*]How many times have you had a fish run into your other rods line while playing it?[/list] Chances are you would have had one or all of the above happen to you.

Surely it would be better to concentrate 100% on one rod in the right place rather than spend 50% of your time on each of two rods in nearly the right place?What do others think about this? Do you use more than one rod in these situations and why?

I prefer to use one rod and concentrate on it 100%.

I do however sometimes put out one more at the beginning and put that to one side, then concentrating on my other rod for the remainder. This I feel is the best way of maximising my chances, as i can focus on a float for roach or perch all day, while leaveing out a spare rod for a bonus carp or bream.

I only ever use one rod when river fishing as I feel it is dangerous to use more than one.

On the Trent I fish two rods, one out and one down the inside line.Or, one upstream and one out, or down stream.

If I find that bites are coming too regularly to safely land fish withtwo rods, one comes in.

Usually the non productive rod/bait.

On a river like the Trent with the space around you, it's a way of locating the fish, however, there are times when even on this river two rods get in your way and can lead to biggerfish fouling your other line.

At all other times I prefer to only use one rod.

As Fred says depends on the river location and bites. Always carry two rods on Ribble if fishing just one swim if swim hopping then i will use just the one. If i find a big shoal of barbel then i will bring one in. I will however still rotate the one rod in both swims. I find this rest the swim ater a fish.

I remember one evening were i was getting a bite every 20 mins average of 8Ib from downstream. Upstream average 5Ib. I had over a dozen fish out before the moon came up and the feeding stopped 2 hours later the cloud cover came back and the feeding began again. Over 20 fish that evening.

I also do this when fishing for tench on the canal. I ish one rod but two swims one to the left and one to the right. seems to bring more fish that way.

I rod 100% concentration , other rods may be set up on bank . i dont fish long sessions.

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Dave Slater wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>I only ever use one rod when river fishing as I feel it is dangerous to use more than one.</blockquote>


Totally agree but sadly the norm these days is two. On the ribble I would say 85 to 90% of anglers use 2 rods.

I have always advocated that it is not safe to do so on there. When the barbel move in, they do so in numbers and hoover up. I get fed up of seeing people with double hook ups in all kinds of a mess.

What gets on my nerves is the same anglers have ****y fits about float anglers using keepnets but see nothing wrong with having two barbel racing off at the same time with 3oz of lead attached with 12lb line. /forum/smilies/baring_teeth_smiley.gif

In all the years I have fished I have never used two rods at the same time, though most times I have had two set up. A personal choice in my case because I like to relax a little when I am fishing but that doesn't mean I don't watch my rod, I do, two rods seems like hard work to me and not very relaxing.

Fishing is like some male`s ideal sort of sex-one can have two set up but only one at a time gives satisfaction.

Two at the same time just leads to problems/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif

Only ever got one in play...sometimes another set up but never two at a time.I tried it once...couldn't cope.

/forum/smilies/big_smile_smiley.gif

<blockquote class=quoteheader>Stephan wrote (see)</blockquote><blockquote class=quote>

Fishing is like some male`s ideal sort of sex-one can have two set up but only one at a time gives satisfaction.

Two at the same time just leads to problems/forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif</blockquote>


hahaha, pervert /forum/smilies/smile_smiley.gif/forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif

2 or 3 rod's on still waters, unless stalking, one on rivers with a second set up.

I only fish one rod at a time, and would not know how to set up an electronic bite indicator. I often have more than 1 rod set up, but coming from a match background I usually have had enough after 5 or 6 hrs, I'm either a) bored from not catching or b) bored from catching too many fish (I'm dreaming again). Like slimey I prefer shorter sessions, it makes you concentrate more & try harder.

I have no beef with using more than 1 rod, as long as good manners are used i.e not tying up half of the lake and driving every one else barmy with noisy bite alarms. Multi rod setups do not suit my preferred style of fishing, but when trying to land a specimen in a low fish density lake I can see the point. Also when roving on a river trying to pin point the best swims it could save you a lot of time.

I fish one rod on the river.