Margin pole recommendations

[Ryank]

Hey all, 

I'm looking for advice on a new margin pole. I'm looking for something strong enough to handle my locals monsters as it holds carp touching 30lb. I don't hit them to often but anything topping mid teens to twenties often snap me off. Upping the rig or elastic any higher would probably result in a broken section sooner or later. My current poles a solid 10 years old and I fancy a upgrade. 

Current train of thought is a Browning hyper carp margin pole, likely 9.5m over the 6m.version. 

 

Budget probably around £400 max but for something special i would hold off and wait a little while to purchase it. 

Any advice would be great :) 

[Carpbell_ll]

shimano used to do their beast master range they were made for larger carp. looks real boring though, all that shipping in and back out in order to play the fish.

[Ryank]

I'll have a look into that cheers, I see your point. Personally after a few months of sitting watching bait alarms I fancy a bit of engagement while still being able to land decent sized fish.

[...]

I had a full match setup until about 18months ago...in it was the Drennan Acolyte 9.5m & Middy White Knuckle...the knuckle was mainly used by my lad but i had fish upto 17lb (PB) 

It was hairy stuff but managed the fish(after about 20mins)

Think i paid around £210

http://www.drennantackle.com/products/poles/acolyte-margin-carp-9-5m-pole/

[Ryank]

That's a nice little package I must admit. I'll be doing some research into that thank you 

[ianain]

It's down to personal choice of course, but, I would not suggest using a pole for carp fishing simply because you have no control over it; I would suggest float fishing using a medium to heavy feeder rod as an alternative.

[salokcinnodrog]

14 hours ago, ianain said:

It's down to personal choice of course, but, I would not suggest using a pole for carp fishing simply because you have no control over it; I would suggest float fishing using a medium to heavy feeder rod as an alternative.

I must confess I have reservations about pole fishing for carp. The pressure on the mouth constant up pull I think is responsible for a lot of mouth damage, especially when the elastics are increased to 20, even 30 and I recently saw a 50!

As a fishery bailiff, and having been on a number of waters, it does seem that match fished pole waters fish do seem to have a fair bit of mouth damage, more so on high stock waters than more natural fisheries. It also seems that carp are more susceptible than other species to this mouth damage, possibly with the exception of tench, which are probably the two hard fighting species.

 

If you must, I know the Middy White Knuckle works, in fact it was a short margin White Knuckle that I first got my son years ago.

[Ryank]

I completely agree that poles in the wrong hands on silly elastic ratings could most certainly cause damage. The water I fish is nice and open, no reason to bully the fish and honestly I don't go in expecting to hook one of the beasts. But they are there and if I hit one I'd rather have a chance of getting it in; in decent time to avoid stressing or exhausting the fish out or leaving a rig in its mouth for that matter. 

But again, I agree i have caught plenty of march water carp to notice the damage some of these match men cause by speed fishing for large carp with silly gear dragging them in so I do completely agree. 

[bluelabel]

As an all rounder I think that Carpers and Matchmen have a lot to learn from each other.... to lay the blame of mouth damage at the door of matchmen solely is inflammatory at best... I see loads of "Carpers" on commercial puddles with 3.5lb T/C rods and 15lb line where the fish rarely go above mid doubles... and call the fish soft mouthed when the hook tears out because they don't know how to play fish properly on such heavy gear...

 

I have landed carp to 16lb on the pole (with a puller top two) with no mouth damage at all (other than the usual hook mark) on size 16 elastic which is very light considering the elastics nowadays go up to size 30, the fish went back fine after being weighed and given time to recover in the net... (not in a keep net)

 

And Matchmen would do well to heed the carpers ways of handling fish with larger landing nets, weigh ins at half time to avoid stressing the fish, and not tip them wholesale into weigh-buckets

[cyborx]

i have to admit that the pole in the wrong hands can and quite often is bad for the carp, but the qualifier is 'in the wrong hands' if a match is arranged on a water known to hold carp in the doubles then most of the fault for damaged fish is down to the event organizer.

as most of you know, i often use the pole (among other methods) for surface fishing for carp and yes it can get hairy but no more than on a rod if you know what you are doing.

for one thing Nick, the pull on a large fish should NEVER be up unless you are filling the net with carpy goodness, i personally ship in two sections then drop the tip under the surface, this not only exerts the pull to the front side or rear (whichever way the carp is pulling) but also aids the elastic to behave more like a flexible line.

while landing fish up to low 20s i have only ever lost one and that was a ghostie who TBH was too close to an overhanging bramble.

my set up is an 11mtr Leda Assassin carp with #14 elastic and 4ft of 8lb bottom to a #10 wide gape barbless, this ensures that the bottom is way weaker than the main as it should be and given the flexibility of the main and pole it should be the weakest link.

my pennyworth anyhoo