Pole Fishing
Q. What is a Pole?
A.There are two types of pole in common use today, Telescopic (often referred to as a Whip) and Take-Apart (often referred to as Long Pole). We will discuss the Long or Take Apart pole here as this is the most popular. With the use of modern materials and manufacturing techniques poles of 14 metres are both light, stiff and strong and prices have tumbled in recent years. As a general guide a Long Pole will be between 11 metres and 14.5 metres long, made up of eight, nine or ten hollow sections that fit together with "put-over" joints. Put over joints refer to the way in which the sections fit together, where the butt of the smaller section fits "over" rather than "into" the top of the next larger section.
Q.What is a pole roller?
A.When fishing with a pole you DO NOT remove or add one section at a time as not only would this be very time consuming it also leads to single sections laying on the bank, and these are much more liable to roll or be blown in. So to prevent this happening the pole is shipped in and out in one piece with the top kit only being unshipped. To make this easier a Pole Roller is positioned behind you to rest the pole on when you ship in and out.
Q.What about elastics?
A.Elastic is normally fitted through the top two or three sections of the pole. This is to act as a shock absorber when fish are hooked because, unlike a rod, poles are designed to be as stiff as possible. Elastic is available in a range of sizes, 1 to 20, and the choice of which to use depends upon factors such as strength of line, size of hook and expected species to be caught. As an example for small silver fish a number three elastic through two sections would suit lines of 12ozs to 1lb and hook sizes 20 or 22 whereas for carp of around 4lbs to 6lbs a number twelve elastic through three sections would balance with lines of around 2.5lb and hook sizes 14 or 16.
Q.How is the elastic fitted in the pole?
A.In order that the elastic can be fitted the top section of the pole has to be cut back to a point where the internal diameter allows the elastic to run freely. Anglers are understandably hesitant to chop the end off of their new pole but it is far better bite the bullet and cut back far enough. A PTFE bush is then fitted, either internally or externally, to the cut end to prevent the elastic chaffing on the edge. To stop the elastic pulling out a "bung" is fitted that sits inside the bottom of the second or third section, and at the other end a "Stonfo connector" prevents the elastic from disappearing down the tip. It is to this "Stonfo connector" that the line is attached when fishing.
Q.How do you decide whether to fit the elastic through two or three sections?
A.As a general rule elastic numbers 2 to 5 would be fitted through two sections 6 and 8 could be through two or three and size 10 and heavier would be through three.
Q.Okay, so now what do I do ?
A.Choose a suitable pole rig for the water you are fishing and start bagging !! The choice of design and size of pole float you use is dependant on two things, type of water i.e. still or flowing, and depth. As a general rule the deeper and faster flowing your swim the bigger the pole float needs to be. Most pole floats fall into one of two categories, Body-up (with a pronounced shoulder at the top of the body) which are used on flowing water, and Body-down (where the body is shaped like a pear or tear drop) for use on stillwaters. Apart from one or two exceptions, such as Dibbers (small flat top floats for use in very shallow water) all pole floats will fall inti one of these two categories. With regard to the size I would suggest that under normal conditions the most suitable float for depths of four to six feet in stillwaters would be between 0.5 and 0.75 grammes, and in flowing water, dependant upon the pace anywhere between 1 and 4 grammes.