Advice on gear/setups/styles

[jjekland]

Hi all,

I went fishing last week for the first time in about 9 years and am super excited to be getting back out and fishing.

Unfortunately, I have little knowledge as 13 year old me did whatever my dad set me up on and that was usually basic.

So currently I'm making do with a 12" leeda carp rod and spitfire (assume it's a carp reel?) 50RD. Equipment from when I was about 12!

I wanna get into mainly just course fishing for carp or tench and mainly will likely fish in match lakes and carp using floats.

I can make a standard float setup and fish that (though I still don't really know what I'm doing other than casting out and waiting/hoping for the best) Though I watched a load of videos today and saw that most setups use like hooks to nylon and main line/hookline if anyone could explain that? Usually I would just chuck a float on, some splitshots and then bang a hook on the end of the line and away I go mg: Caught a couple nice little mirror carp last week like this, but the guy just down from me was pulling out much larger fish and a lot more frequent so I feel like I'm probably doing something wrong/too basic haha

Guess I'm just looking for advice on what rod, reel, landing net and unhooking mat to get and general gear for fishing for carp I guess anywhere from 5-15lbs and maybe heavier in future.

Also have been looking at pellet waggler fishing and would like to give that a go to change it up from basic float fishing.

So yeah, sorry I'm a big ambiguous, but it's a big world I and don't really know what I'm doing, so any advice would be ideal!

I probably have between £100-200 to spend on a rod and reel at the moment, but ideally would like to get a decent landing net with that budget too!

Cheers,

Jordan Ekland

 

[flightliner]

A Shakespeare pellet waggler(11 foot) would be a good rod to add to your collection, £29-99 -a really useful bit of kit.

 

[jjekland]

A Shakespeare pellet waggler(11 foot) would be a good rod to add to your collection, £29-99 -a really useful bit of kit.

Thanks, I'll take a look at it! Would this work for standard float fishing as well as pellet waggling and also, does 8lb power rating mean it's likely to break if a fish over 8lb is on? Sorry, probably a dumb question!

Also, any ideas on a reel to complement the rod?

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

An 8lb line is ok on the reel at it is designed to break at 8lb pressure but will not break if you play a fish over 8lb correctly

If you have 8lb line on your reel you could use a 5 or 6 lb line for your hook

The idea is to have a lighter liner attached to your hook than your reel line so if it breaks you don't leave a fish trailing line with a float attached that could snag and kill the fish

I would personally go 6lb on the reel shimano exage and 4lb hook length then just play a decent carp steadily

Only go heavier if chances are the fish will go in to weeds

 

[flightliner]

It' s a lovely tool for light, standard float fishing, I had mine coupled up with an old Trudex centrepin a week or two back with a three pound hooklink and was happily taking some lovely crucian carp up to two pound in weight,
No problems with it breaking with a bigger fish than its line weighting, many an angler has landed fish far bigger than the breaking strain line they have opted to use with skillful handling.
Most fixed spool reels in the 3000/ 4000 size should be ok to use with it, centre pins too if thats what you prefer.

 

[jjekland]

It' s a lovely tool for light, standard float fishing, I had mine coupled up with an old Trudex centrepin a week or two back with a three pound hooklink and was happily taking some lovely crucian carp up to two pound in weight,
No problems with it breaking with a bigger fish than its line weighting, many an angler has landed fish far bigger than the breaking strain line they have opted to use with skillful handling.
Most fixed spool reels in the 3000/ 4000 size should be ok to use with it, centre pins too if thats what you prefer.

An 8lb line is ok on the reel at it is designed to break at 8lb pressure but will not break if you play a fish over 8lb correctly

If you have 8lb line on your reel you could use a 5 or 6 lb line for your hook

The idea is to have a lighter liner attached to your hook than your reel line so if it breaks you don't leave a fish trailing line with a float attached that could snag and kill the fish

I would personally go 6lb on the reel shimano exage and 4lb hook length then just play a decent carp steadily

Only go heavier if chances are the fish will go in to weeds

Thanks for the advice guys, I shall have a look at the rod and those reels!

Think we got mixed up a bit there though, I was referring to the 8lb power rating of the rod (that's a specification of it on Ebay?) Which I figured might be the breaking point for the rod, but that sounds stupid now, as the line would just break first I imagine mg:

Thanks though, the lighter line for the hook definitely makes sense! Would I just buy a hook to nylon that is say 6lbs and then loop knot it to the 8lb mainline?

If I were to eventually start catching fish in the low doubles, up to mid, maybe high, would that rod suffice or would I need a slightly stronger one?

Sorry for all the questions haha! mg:

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

If you had a rod rated to 5lb and put a put 12lb line on a reel and used it without a weaker hook link then it may break the rod

If you are constantly catching fish to low doubles the today would be ok but if it's high doubles then you may fine it difficult to cope

Fishing for carp in the 20 then a line of say 12 or 15 lb and a rod of say 1.5lb or 1.75 test curve

 

[Keith M]

Think we got mixed up a bit there though, I was referring to the 8lb power rating of the rod (that's a specification of it on Ebay?) Which I figured might be the breaking point for the rod, but that sounds stupid now, as the line would just break first I imagine mg:

If I were to eventually start catching fish in the low doubles, up to mid, maybe high, would that rod suffice or would I need a slightly stronger one?

Sorry for all the questions haha! mg:

Just because a rod is rated for 8lb line it doesn't mean that it can only handle fish up to 8lb as you are not likely to be taking the full weight of the fish on your line; you are only going to be trying to tire the fish out and trying to steer the fish away from any snags and towards your landing net.

If you hook a large Carp in a swim full of nasty snags then you might need a stronger rod and line to hold the fish away from snags, but a lot of the waters we fish are not like this and a rod rated for 8lb should be capable of handling a Carp of twice this weight (and even bigger) on a water that is relatively clear of nasty snags.

For example heres a 21lb carp that I accidentally caught from a lilly strewn estate lake on 6lb line while I was fishing for tench using a tench rod; I was lucky to be able to steer the carp around a lilly bed at one stage but the rod was doing its job and handling the fish fine.



Just don't try to bully the fish in too quickly, and check that your clutch is set correctly; and use the rods action to tire the fish out whenever you can; and when you get it close in ready for the net; be prepared for the fish to take a final dash for freedom (I usually loosen my clutch a bit more at this stage and place my finger on the spool).

Tight lines

Keith

 

[jjekland]

If you had a rod rated to 5lb and put a put 12lb line on a reel and used it without a weaker hook link then it may break the rod

If you are constantly catching fish to low doubles the today would be ok but if it's high doubles then you may fine it difficult to cope

Fishing for carp in the 20 then a line of say 12 or 15 lb and a rod of say 1.5lb or 1.75 test curve

Just because a rod is rated for 8lb line it doesn't mean that it can only handle fish up to 8lb as you are not likely to take the full weight of the fish on your line; you are only going to tire the fish out and steer the fish towards you and away from snags etc. and steer it towards your landing net.

If you hook a large Carp in a swim full of nasty snags then you might need a stronger rod and line to hold the fish away from snags, but a lot of the waters most of us fish are not like this and a rod rated for 8lb should be capable of handling a Carp of well over twice this weight (and even bigger) on a water that is relatively clear of snags.

For example heres a 21lb carp that I accidentally caught from a lilly strewn estate lake on 6lb line while I was fishing for tench using a tench rod.



Keith

Okay, that makes sense! So definitely use a hook length with lower strength than the main line rather than just the mainline. And when I move up to specifically target large carp, a stronger rod may be needed?

Another question... mg: When using the pellet waggler method, do you attach the pellet to a hair rig, or put it straight on the hook?

I shall have a word with my local tackle shop and see what rods they have in and look for something like the waggler rod above for now whilst I figure out what I'm doing! and see if they have something like the shimano reel or that exact one!

Thanks guys!

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

A hard pellet needs to be hair rigged

 

[MRWELL]

As already been said,the rating of 8lb is the safety the makers put on the rod for the max line strength,however it does not mean you can only catch fish to that weight,i have landed carp of 20lb on a 6lb line,it is how you play the fish that counts...remember that all reels have a line recomendation on them,if it states 8lb then that is the max line strength you use on the reel...you're hook length should be 2lb lighter than you're main line,so use 8lb main to 6lb hook length,hook to nylon is best if you do not know how to do you're own hooklengths,these come already with hair made so all you do is attatch you're hook bait to it of course you could use a pellet band if you do not have hair rigs,the choice is you'res.

Do you're home work on the venue so you know what kind of weight the fish go to,this will help in getting you the right set up,it is best to use the lightest set up you can get away with and always find the dead depth of the swim,because then that opens up you're tactics more,it is easy to do the wrong things but do the right things and you will do better.

 

[rubio]

hello mate good to hear your already having fun. It's all as simple or complicated as you want it to be. For me simple is usually my favourite, just a float and a few maggots or some bread. Even that means understanding about what type of float, and how it's weighted, and how far to cast out and at what depth etc. Seemingly endless variations and possibilities, but actually straightforward principles that have stood the test of time are all any of us really need. There are some highly experienced anglers on this site who are often generous with their advice, and I believe most anglers are the same.
I would be inclined to have a chat on the bank with people catching. We have all learned off others and very few are unwilling to pass on useful tips. It's pretty obvious pretty quickly if someone doesn't wanna chat in my experience.
Don't spend ya money too quickly cos there is always summat else you gonna desperately need for the next trip.

 

[tom_moran]

Last season I caught a 14lb 10oz carp on £9.99 9ft Ron Thompson feeder rod using 6 lb line and it handled it fine. Just took my time and only applied steering pressure when it went for the rope or the bush