SammyT

Cheers Bluelable. Glad to able to talk to some real anglers for a change might I add guys. Love the picture by the way she's a belter mate. I couldn't imagine the owners face if I rocked up with a centrepin & split cane rod, I think he'd have a heart attack lol. Would be fun though. Tight lines buds.

I know Framey, in my reels case though it were bad maintenance. I have a very good mate in his now mid 50s whom I lovingly call the old god taught me damn near most of what I knew when I started out as a carp angler and same said with barbell fishing. In actual fact my barbell fishing even to this day remains vastly unchanged from what he taught me unlike my carp fishing which has progressed massively over the 11 years since I started, I've learnt to adapt my technique to incorporate some of my old match tactics from my years as a junior matchman hence the massive love for short handed rods with low tcs and such small leads. But even he's said many a time a true angler should be able to land a big carp without needing to touch the clutch, thinking back I'm amazed he never had me blindfolded on 1 foot on the bank learning to play carp just by feel true Karate Kid style lol. To be fair Carpmaster, the only time I break out the centrepin is if I'm trying my luck for trout or want a good day out for other small river fish on the fly. I had looked at Carp fishing on the fly but never had a venue close enough to accommodate it which is a shame as I really wouldn't mind giving it a go. Like I think most of us have agreed so far the fight you get on such an "under gunned" low tc rod is exactly the reason many of us get so hooked on fishing in the first place.

That's true Carpmaster and like I say he hasn't told me I can't use them on his specimen lake he just seems to be under the belief that my rods wouldn't handle a 38lb fish. I don't think he understands I'm a seasoned angler of nearing 20 years and that I have always fished this style for Carp. Like I said to Framey I offered to fish his lake on my 7ft spinning rod to prove my point lol. You hold a very valid point Bluelabel. Proving it's not about the rods tc or even the overall set up its about each anglers ability to be able to judge when to let the fish run and when to bring the fight to the fish. Like I said in my original comment my PB Common is 22.5lb caught on a 1.75lb tc barbell rod, this was very early in my Carp fishing days and had accidently broken the clutch on the previous trip which I hadn't realised. I literally had to let go of the reels handle when the fish wanted to run and then catch it again every time I wanted to start playing her again. Yes it was a ball ache but I loved the fight, heart in mouth and the relief when she finally hit the net was beyond words lol. Like you said 44 and 51lbers caught on cane rods with centre pin reels. This is something I never knew, thanks for that mate.

Lol yep pretty much mate. I catch most of my fish from margins and always love the heart in mouth feeling I get knowing I'm attached to a nice double on such a small tc. I fish another Fishery on a regular basis and he loves watching me fighting against his fish with such light tackle. I will try and find a photo off my cloud drive of at least 1 of the fish I have landed on said rods from the margins.

Hey Commonly, I know exactly what you mean about playing lumps on such small tc's the feeling is almost to great for words. He never said I couldn't use them but claimed I would be massively under gunned. I'm predominantly a margin angler for carp using small inline leads or feeders usually ranging from 10g - 19g as I only drop the line directly onto the chosen location and walk it back to my rest so don't need to cast and when I do cast it's usually just off the marginal shelf. So with that said a massive 12ft rods make no sense for my style of angling. Personally speaking I think chucking large leads for miles is A, over rated unless fishing a large open water and B, more likely to spook the very fish you are targeting out of the swim all together. Again this is just my opinion. Hey Framey, lol I think he'd have been okay with any of those options to be fair 😂. I did tell him I would gladly do a 24hr session using just my 10 - 30g 7ft Spinning rod if he wanted lol. No mate he never asked us to leave as we had paid to fish his "Intermediate" lake and he was happy to let me fish that using said rods this lake containing an upper 20 and a large head of good high teens and was supposed to be a hard lake to fish. He was almost lost for words when me and my brother told him we had landed 9 high teens, lost 4 and landed to under 10. Like I said above he is willing to let me fish it using said rods "just" but claims I need massive lead chucker's to fish it properly?

Hi all, I would love to hear your opinions on this one. I got told last weekend by the owner of a local fishery that my 8ft 2lb TC Carp Stalking rods would be under gunned to fish their specimen lake because it contains fish up to and not exceeding 38lb. Now I contested this theory of his as my current PB Common of 22.5lb was caught on a 1.75lb TC Barbell rod using may I add a very precarious reel that meant I had the fight of my life with her but still managed to land her. In fact more to the point it took my brother twice as long to land a 12lb Mirror on a 3lb TC with a fully working Baitrunner. I also contested the fact that his lake is not big enough to warrant a 12ft 3lb TC as I would end up fishing the lake right next door. Any thoughts on this would be great. Thanks Sam.