''Tackle accessories touted as indispensible''.

[Derek Gibson]

This reminds me of as a youth, we used to go in to the local boots, and ask the teenage Saturday girls, where the fitting room for the condoms was, security usually rapidly removed us.

Now that is truly a tackle accessory.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

Now that is truly a tackle accessory.

I think you will find they fit some form of tackle

---------- Post added at 20:20 ---------- Previous post was at 19:50 ----------

For those who don't know, you really don't need to, but here goes.

Distance sticks.
They are a useless bit of kit, all in all just like a bank stick, but without any screw fixing in the top. If you took the outer of a bank stick and cut the top 4 inches off, that is just about what a distance stick is.

The idea is, you find the spot in your swim with a marker float, and clip up on the reel, and wind in.

Set your two distance sticks in the ground, a rod length apart.

You then take your marker float attach it to one distance stick, then take up the rod and move the top of the rod towards the other stick, going around it, and back to the other stick again, letting out line as you do so, and Counting how many times you go backwards and forwards. Still with me ??

You do this until you hit the line in the clip. Then you take it all off again by winding the line back onto you marker rod reel.

So lets say you go around the two sticks 15 times.

You stand in the same spot, take one of the rods you are going to fish with. Attach it to the same stick you had the marker float attached to, and go backwards and forwards around the two sticks 15 times to give you the same distance. By the time you have done 3 rods, its now pitch black and you can't see a thing.

What ever happened to having your marker float in the swim, and casting to it to get the distance. ???? DOH thats to easy.

Some will say casting to the marker float disturbs the swim. Hang on, you have just been casting the marker float around in the swim for about an hour to find a spot in the swim, doesn't that disturb the swim ????

I rest my case, distance sticks, and camo alarms, what a joke.

 

[S-Kippy]

I'm delighted to say I have absolutely no idea what a distance stick is so my life is unlikely to be enriched by buying one.

Update : I Googled said sticks and see no reason to amend my original view. What utter tosh !

Sorry, Ray.....my post and your revelation of the mysteries of distance sticks must have crossed in the ether. People pay money for these ?????

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

Update : I Googled said sticks and see no reason to amend my original view. What utter tosh !

Sorry, Ray.....my post and your revelation of the mysteries of distance sticks must have crossed in the ether. People pay money for these ?????

Skippy,

Sadly yes, people do pay money for them.

I think its time to have a distance stick hammer on the market mg:

 

[sam vimes]

There was a time when I'd have heartily agreed that distance sticks, even if they cost nowt, were a waste of time. However, after being given a thorough demonstration of angling superiority by someone using them, I no longer think them a waste of time.

No doubt that many anglers will never need to use them. It's also true to say that there's more than one way to skin the same cat. Personally, I'd sooner use sticks than muck about with a marker rod, especially on a familiar water where you know your marks. However, I'd suggest that anyone believing them to be a total waste of time has maybe not seen them used well.

 

[dannyboy1]

So Sam why wouldn't you just use a bank stick?

Sent from my HP 8 G2 using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 21:28 ---------- Previous post was at 21:19 ----------

I think that Carp fishing tops the lot for catching anglers, they fall for it every time.

If you talk tackle tarts, then the carp boys are at the top, for buying complete rubbish.

You don't need distance sticks, bivvy heaters, TV's, what is that all about ???? Bait boats is another, i wish i had a sub to sink the F**kers.

The bait spoon is another.

I bet if someone came up with a machine that cast your rods for you, the Carp boys would buy it. Then DF would say Korda came up with the idea. You saw it here first mg:

Not so sure Mr Daywalker, while the campers do excel themselves the matchfishing lads are just as guilty, with the latest must have feeder, hook pattern, or that box with a sprit level and 6 multi adjustable legs on it to get yourself 100% level on a level platform on a man made puddle purpose built for fishing.

Oooh let's not for get that float with the dart flights on it, yep be screwed without that

Sent from my HP 8 G2 using Tapatalk

 

[sam vimes]

So Sam why wouldn't you just use a bank stick?

Use whatever you like, I'm not defending rip off tackle, just the method in itself. I certainly used bank sticks for a while. However, knurled top ends caused me all sorts of problems and I got sick of that in the end. I wasn't going to hack up perfectly serviceable banksticks. I fancied trying to use oversized knitting needles, but couldn't find any long or sturdy enough. Frankly, I wanted to use any cheap alternative. Unfortunately, my imagination failed me. The alternatives I thought up were either inadequate or more expensive than rip off purpose made distance sticks.

 

[binka]

This is not my specialist area (not many are lol) but I'd never heard of splash mats until recently.

I'm highly suspicious though, could these be a contender?

Can anyone in the know confirm or deny...

 

[Philip]

I've never actualy seen a boga grip in the flesh but have seen them used on the TV. They seem popular overseas and are supposedly fish friendly.
I don't think i'll ever be getting one but what don't you like about the Derek / Peter ?

I dont see that much wrong with them either. Allot of anglers on the continent use them.


As for "indespensible" tackle items...anyone remember the gardner hammer head ? ...basically a thing you screwed into the top of your bankstick so you could bash it with a mallet without damaging it. ...in fact I think they might even still sell it.

---------- Post added at 22:46 ---------- Previous post was at 22:43 ----------

This is not my specialist area (not many are lol) but I'd never heard of splash mats until recently.

I'm highly suspicious though, could these be a contender?

Can anyone in the know confirm or deny...

This is true ! ...they use to be called rod mats I belive...Julien Cundiff I recall used to use them & bemoaned that no one made them anymore. I think Nash may have made one in the dim and distant past !

 

[sam vimes]

This is not my specialist area (not many are lol) but I'd never heard of splash mats until recently.

I'm highly suspicious though, could these be a contender?

Can anyone in the know confirm or deny...

If you insist on teeny weeny banksticks, that leave your £750 quid reels a few millimetres from the ground, splash mats can be more important than you might think. You really don't want splashback grit and mud in your Basiairs every time it rains. Why they don't just use banksticks more than six inches longer is another matter entirely.

There is loads of stuff out there that can seem utterly pointless to anyone uniterested in the discipline or tactic concerned. As ridiculous as it might first appear, there are usually reasons, even if they aren't particularly good ones, for their existence.

I'm no fluff chucker, sea angler or piker. There are loads of items for all three that leave me perplexed. However, I've got very little interest in any of them.

 

[markhib]

This is not my specialist area (not many are lol) but I'd never heard of splash mats until recently.

I'm highly suspicious though, could these be a contender?

Can anyone in the know confirm or deny...

Why is it camo?
Are they angling for flying fish?

 

[binka]

Why is it camo?
Are they angling for flying fish?

Lol... Maybe it's to match the camo bivvy that also stands out like a sore thumb

 

[terry m]

I must admit that I am also a staunch defender of the distant stick method (albeit I use banksticks).

Casting to a float is fine, but resetting in the middle of the night, or when the marker has been retrieved is more of a challenge.

 

[Keith M]

As for "indespensible" tackle items...anyone remember the gardner hammer head ? ...basically a thing you screwed into the top of your bankstick so you could bash it with a mallet without damaging it. ...in fact I think they might even still sell it.

I carry one of these cheap but useful small mushroom shaped items (mine doesn't screw in but just slots into the top of a bank stick).
I don't use a mallet on it but it is still very useful when I am trying to push a bank stick into hard ground with the palm of my hand without damaging my hand LOL.

Keith

 

[steve2]

Can someone tell why most bivies aren't in camo colours. When a splash mat is. Is it because the carp can see the mat and not the bivvy.

 

[Keith M]

Can someone tell why most bivies aren't in camo colours. When a splash mat is. Is it because the carp can see the mat and not the bivvy.

It's because a lot of the Carp anglers wouldn't be able to find their bivvie if they camouflaged it, and the splash mats are camouflaged simply because it hides all of their spilt beer stains and vomit, so they never need to clean them. LOL

Keith

 

[S-Kippy]

I must admit that I am also a staunch defender of the distant stick method (albeit I use banksticks).

Casting to a float is fine, but resetting in the middle of the night, or when the marker has been retrieved is more of a challenge.

Not for the carpers I meet. You simply angle the beam of your head mounted searchlight onto your chosen spot and keep casting until you see a splash like an artillery shell and coots scattering in all directions. Then its set the alarms to Ac/Dc concert level and go back to bank walking and burning out the retinas of other anglers.

Not all carpers are like that of course....just the ones that follow me around.

 

[Pete Shears]

I didn't realise the reaction to distance sticks.I think the method is sound it's just the price of 2 banksticks with the top cut off - you would think they would be cheaper than a bankstick.

 

[Philip]

I must admit that I am also a staunch defender of the distant stick method (albeit I use banksticks).

Casting to a float is fine, but resetting in the middle of the night, or when the marker has been retrieved is more of a challenge.

Not trying to tell you how to suck eggs but in those situations I use the line clip on the reel and then mark the distance with a small bit of electrical tape on the line. You then just need to clip up to your tape marker and cast in the direction of a point on the horizen...specific tree, Pylon etc ...

 

[robtherake]

I carry one of these cheap but useful small mushroom shaped items (mine doesn't screw in but just slots into the top of a bank stick).
I don't use a mallet on it but it is still very useful when I am trying to push a bank stick into hard ground with the palm of my hand without damaging my hand LOL.

Keith

They're brilliant, Keith; I've had mine for 30 years or more. This is what they look like, for those that haven't seen one before:

---------- Post added at 21:09 ---------- Previous post was at 21:05 ----------

Why is it camo?
Are they angling for flying fish?

Why aren't the reel handles folded in? Is that fad out of fashion already?