Poles

Poles became more popular in the 1970's in the UK and had already become the first choice method in Europe, particularly in France. As manufacturers became more efficent in the extrusion of carbon fibre they became longer, lighter and stiffer which could easily be handled even up to lengths of 12m. Nowadays the precision of this extrusion process has increased beyond belief and it is not uncommon to see match anglers using poles up to 17m long.

The main advantage of this form of fishing is bait presentation is hugely improved by only having a short legnth of line btween the tip, the float and the hook. It is also posssible to accurately go back to exactly the same spot over again which may not possible using running line methods. In addition to this by attaching a small cup to the tip small amounts of loose feed may be introduced very accurately.

There are two types of pole in use today and these are the long pole which is up to 17m long made up of 10-12 separate sections which are put together to acheive it's maximum length. Generally this version is elasticated through the top 1,2,3 or 4 setions and it is this elastic that is used to play the fish. These are fished with a short line normally equivalent in lenth to the top 3 or 4 sections, but maybe longer in deeper swims.

The other type is a whip - these tend to be shorter, normally no more than 6m long. Instead of elastic these use a 'flick tip' which is a tapered, sensitive piece of carbon fibre which is used to play the fish. Whips are usually fished 'to hand' in other words the length of the line attached to it's tip is such that without breaking down the pole, fish, once hooked can be swung back straight into the hand of the angler. Whips are used generally for speed fishing for small fish by match anglers when a large amount of small fish can be caught very quickly.

Buying a pole could quite possibly be the single biggest investment you will make when buying fishing tackle so do your research carefully. So please feel free to click on the links of our sponsors that advertise on this website - they are all legitimate tackle manufactures or on line tackle shops. You will find these sites have a wealth of information, specific to the type of tackle you will need, which will complement the information here. Alternatively use the search bar below to search this website or the whole of the web for specific items of fishing tackle.

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