Striking - upwards or sideways??

I have recently taken up pole fishing, and I have a couple of things I need some advice on.

First of all, when a bite occurs, should I strike by lifting the pole upwards, or should I strike to the side?

Also, I have a problem with the eye on the float, catching my hooklength, a very annoying problem, which I have remedied a little by keeping the hooklength in the water at all times (striking sideways & keeping hooklength in water when shipping in/out). only problem is I seem to miss a lot of bites because I am striking sideways.

The problem is, if I forget to keep the pole tip low, the hook swings around in an arc, trapping the line below the float on top of the eye. and if youre not careful you end up with an almighty tangle!

Is there any way of stopping this? its a carbon stem float with a 3/4 inch tip. Please dont say buy another float, cos I can't afford one, and besides, the bloke in my local tackle shop reccommended that float for the pond I fish

I always lift upwards when pole fishing then, once I've got the fish on and it's a sizeable fish, I point the pole at the fish and let the elastic do all the work. When it starts to wear itself out, that's when you start to ship in and pay it out on the top 3 or 4 sections that you are fishing with.

As for tangles, I can't say as I've had one. What weight is the float you're fishing with as this can have an effect on the number of tangles you're getting. I always ship the pole back to check and, if needed, change the hookbait.

If you're after some tuition, either watch more proficient matchment or get a copy of the Maver Pole Fishing Video. It's plastered with their products obvioulsy, but there is some good advice on there.

Hope this helps.

A

Hi Jason,
When striking on th pole it depends on how much line you have between the float and pole tip and what's above the pole tip (bushes or overhanging trees etc), I usually strike to the side as I have about 10" - 12" of line and an upward strike can cause a tangle if I miss or it's a line bite when the line springs out the water, where as a side ways strike causes the water to take the momentum out of the strike if it doesn't connect with the fish and I can reposition the rig.

Instead of threading the line through the eye on the float I use a small piece of pole tubing as this holds the line against the float and helps stop the line going around the tip.

Also when flicking out the rig, keep the line taught and follow the rig down through the water at the same speed it sinks, this will help keep the rig straight and help with the tangles you're getting and don't try to fish too far past the end of the pole tip.

HTH.

I fish with a D.A.M Skipper XL 6m whip which is elasticated with an orange elastic of unknown strength.

I have about 1 1/2 ft between tip and float.
I normally strike sideways anyhow, as I found out by trial & error that it stops tangles when you miss the bites.
Great tip about the float rubber Rodney!

Does this info help you to give me some more advice?
Any advice gratefully recieved.

hooklength is 2.1 lb as I wont fish with any stronger line than that as I dont know the capabilities of the whip and elastic yet.
Float is only light it's all black with a 3/4 inch tip & carbon stem. in all float is 5-6 inches in length

The only other tip is to check the way you have the shot distributed along the rig.

If you are fishing on or near the bottom, a bulk about ? of the way down the rig and 2 or 3 dropers stopping just at the hooklength knot will pull the rig down quickly and let the last 2 or 3 dust shot slowly go through the target zone.

If fishing up in the water then a shirt button style pattern with the shot spread evenly down the line is the way to go.

cheers bud