POLE FISHING:

Modern pole-fishing has come a long way since it first caught on in the UK some quarter of a century ago. There has never been any doubt about the accuracy and presentation advantages of the method, in the early days poles were cumbersome, heavy fibre glass jobs and it required brick outhouse arms to fish with them. In those days a nine metre pole would have been just about the limit, but more recent advances in carbon technology mean 14 metre poles are commonplace. The perfect pole combines strength with lightness and rigidity, the technology is there to produce first class 20 metres plus poles and only price is holding such advances back. But enough, of the history lesson. What I intend to do over the coming months is guide you through the pole-fishing maze to make sure you can confidently set up your own poles and choose the rights elastics, floats and rigs for your style of fishing. I need to remind some of you are still unsure about the difference between the pole and the whip, so here goes. Put simply, a pole is fitted with an internal elastic which cushions the fight of the fish, whereas with a whip there is no elastic and the rig is simply attached to the fine tip. Whips are usually telescopic with maybe one or two ‘put over’ sections at the butt end, whereas poles usually have a telescopic top two or three.. sections into which the elastic goes, with the rest being ‘put-over’ sections. Poles are generally 10 metres long or more, whereas whips are generally seven metres long or less.

I’m happy to express some of my own preferences here, but no doubt you will develop your own favourite brands as you progress Good pole-fishing and may the force be with you. The top two or three sections of your pole will be what’s called ‘telescopic’ - you can’t slip the lower section into the upper and instead have to pull the sections out until they lock. These are the sections into which the elastic goes. ‘Power’ top kits for ‘bagging’ will be thicker at the tip than those designed for catching smaller, silver fish. Below these sections the pole will be what’s called ‘put over’. That means the lower ‘male’ section pushes into the upper ‘female’ section and locks in place. Some older poles are what’s called ‘put in’, where the lower section fits over the upper one and then locks. If your ‘pole’ is all telescopic, it’s a whip! Choosing the right elastic is vital - the higher the number, the stronger. I use Preston Innovations in sizes 2-5, Vespe and MAP in sizes 6-10 and Preston or Future for bigger sizes. Elastics come in all manner of colours on winders or coils generally holding 3-5 metres costing £1 .50-£2. Sadly there is no colour standard across the different brands.

You will need something to help you thread your elastic through the hollow carbon top sections of your pole. You can use a piece of wire or thick (20lb plus) line, or you can buy a ‘diamond eye threader’ from the tackle shop which is made for the job and costs around £2.50. The elastic locks into the diamond-shaped bit. ‘Bushes’ fit to the end of your pole. They are made of soft PTFE over which the elastic can easily slide without sticking and without any damage. The size you choose must suit the elastic. ‘Internal’ bushes fit inside the pole’s hollow tip but require you to cut the pole tip back considerably and thus are not a good choice for the thicker elastics. ‘External’ bushes are more popular and are easier to fit, and you don’t have to cut back as much of the tip as you do when fitting an internal bush. Both bushes and connectors are available in many colours which can be matched to the elastic colour if you want.

Bushes cost about £1.30-£2.50 depending on size/brand. Connectors fit the rig to the elastic. Stick with ‘stonfo’ connectors if you are quite new to pole-fishing (I still use them). Most of the connectors on the market are pretty good. Connectors should cost you about a quid each. The elastic runs inside the pole from the connector to a ‘bung’, which fits inside the pole and locks there. The size of bung you need will depend on whether you are fitting the elastic into one, two or three sections of the pole. Standard bungs cost around £2-£2.50 and I like the blue Preston and MAP bungs and the black Mayer ones. Some bungs also allow you to alter the tension once the elastic is fitted, and these would be my first choice. I especially like the Vespe bung, which allows you to wind on quite a bit of elastic which can be useful if the elastic starts hanging out of the pole during fishing.

FITTING THE BUSH

generally I'd fit elastics 2 - 6 through the top two sections, and bigger elastics through the top three.

1. Choose your elastic and check you have a bush it easily slides through.

2. Cut the pole back by rolling a Stanley knife over it...
   ... until the bush fits snuggly over the tip of the pole.

3. Gently clean out the end and then check the elastic slides through.

4. Now smooth off the tip with fine sandpaper or a file.
   

5. The rough edge will help the glue hold the bush securely.
   

6. Wipe off any excess glue and leave to dry.
   

THREADING THE ELASTIC

This is all pretty self explanatory I think. If you don't have a diamond eye threader, a length of strong line (20lb plus) will do a similar job. The reason for doubling up the elastic for the few inches above the bung is that if you hook a big fish which charges off and bottoms out the No3 elastic, you have a short length of doubled-up No3 - effectively a No6 - to act as a buffer and hopefully stop the fish before it breaks your line!

1. Push the sections into each other and push the threader through.

2. When it appears, hold, and push the telescopic sections out until they lock.

3. Lock the elastic into the 'diamond eye' of the threader.

4. Now pull the threader through your pole top sections.

5. Pull through until you draw the bung into the pole. Just push the bung in gently until it won't go further,

FITTING THE BUNG

I really like this Vespe bung. It cuts out the need for a tag end of line at the bottom because it comes with a special attachment to remove the bung and there's also an invaluable fitting to allow you to alter the tension. The key is to wind three turns onto the tensioner when you set the elastic up. If you set the elastic up too tight - which is easily done - you can release a turn or two, and if it's too loose you can wind another turn on.

1. Pick a suitable bung and mark where it jams in the section.

2. Now cut off just below this mark so the bung will fit inside the pole.

3. Take your elastic and attach the bung with a double overhand loop.

4. Double up the elastic for about eight inches above the bung.

5. Dampen the knot, tighten it, and then trim off the loose end.

6. With this bung I now wind on about three turns of elastic. With many bungs you will need to attach a length of thick line below.

FITTING THE CONNECTOR

The hardest bit is to get the elastic 'just right', so that the connector slowly slides back into the pole. It's all too easy to set it so that it snaps' back too hard (in which case you may bump off small fish) or hangs out the end (in which case line will tangle around it when fishing. One of the keys is to fully stretch the elastic that will be in the pole before you actually attach the connector

1. Stretch the elastic to ensure the bung is set correctly inside the section.

2. If using a standard bung, now's the time to snip off the tag end.

3. With the elastic slack, snip off about five inches above the bush.

4. Thread on the stonfo's collar and then the connector itself.

5. Stretch the elastic about three inches and slide the connector to the tip.

6. The stonfo should be tied on under a tight elastic. A single overhand loop is all you need. Keeping everything tight... Now push the collar up, lock in place, and trim the loose end.

7. In theory the stonfo should gently slide, not snap, back to the tip.

POLE FISHING - RIVERS
MANY ANGLERS are uncertain about exactly what advantages pole fishing offers over ordinary rod-and-line fishing, and do not really understand why match anglers often choose the pole in preferenee to all other methods. Well the advantages, under certain conditions are huge and can literally quadruple your cateh compared with a conventlonal running line set-up, or may even result in you catching fish while other anglers catch none. The differences that a pole makes are quite simply accuracy and presentation. With a pole it is extremely easy to plumb up the water, and when you have found the depth of your swim you can place the hook in the end of a section of the pole and mark the depth of the water on the pole itself using Tippex. This will give you a handy marker to ensure that you are always fishing at the correct depth. It is also useful to mark the distance from the bank at which you are fishing on the butt section of the pole. This means that at all times you will know exactly where you are fishing compared to where your feed has been going in - slightly short, to the right, or precisely on the correct spot. You will also know exactly how far you are fishing off the bottom, or whether you are actually on it, just by looking at the Tippex marks. This allows you to be so accurate that you can actually place a number 10 shot so that it is just touching the bottom with absolute confidence, or set up your pole so that the end of the maggot is tripping the bottom. You can never he quite that accurate when fishing with a stick float, or waggler. When you do plumb up, look for submerged ledges and if you find one fish at the bottom of it. Be sure to run the float through the swim a few times on your intended line before you feed anything, to check it is not weedy or snaggy, If it is, try a different distance.

Matching the Loosefeed
Rivers obviously flow, but not all layers of the water are necessarily moving at the same pace. The top layers of a river travel much faster than the water below it. This means that if the bait is being dragged along the bottom at the pace of the float, as it is when you are waggler fishing, the bait is behaving differently to all the loosefeed that is being gently carried along the bottom. With a pole you can change this. By holding the float back, or edging it through the water slowly, you are able to mimic the behaviour of the bait on the bottom. It really makes all the difference on some days when fish are suspicious of anything out of the ordinary. For the best results it is necessary to vary the presentation in terms of the speed at which you allow the float to move, the depth at which you are fishing and the shorting pattern you use, until you get the right combination for the day. The pole allows you to alter all these options more efficiently than any other method.

Selecting Tackle
Generally speaking, you should set the rig so that there is quite a lot of line between the pole tip and the float, as this allows you to run the float through plenty of the swim. If it is windy, you should use a number 8 back-shot positioned three inches (7.6cm) above the float to pull the line behind the float under the water. Pole floats designed for river fishing have a 'body-up' shape, which means that the bulk of the shape is towards the bristle (the top end of the float). This shape is designed to allow the angler to hold the float back against the flow of the river without it dragging under. It 'rides' the flow. The other big advantage of the pole is the elastic, which runs through the centre of the top 2-3 sections. It acts as a cushion and allows you to use fine, pre-strerched lines without fear of being broken off. Pole elastic is available in variety of different, numbered, breaking strains. Unless the flow is particularly fast, a number three or four elastic is suitable for most situations. The faster the flow and the deeper the water, the bigger the elastic you will need to set the hook and to play the fish with some degree of control. If there are a lot of big fish around, like chub and barbel, the pole is the wrong method to use and the correct tackle would be a conventional rod and running line set-up. If the fish are feeding on the bottom, a wire-stemmed, body-up float shorted up with an olivette and a couple of dropper shot is ideal. If the fish are higher up in the water, it is better to use a cane-stemmed float with the shot strung out. For general fishing an ideal rig can be made up using 2lb (0.9kg) breaking strain line attached to a 1.5lb (0.7kg) hooklength. When loosefeeding, remember to feed upstream of the float so that the feed arrives at the bottom where your hook bait is. Hemp and bronze maggot are two excellent pole-fishing baits to use on rivers, and you should remember that if you are feeding both, you should feed the maggot further upstream of the float than the hemp, as the hemp sinks faster. You should try to get all the loosefeed to hit the river bottom in the same area.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT POLE FLOAT
With the myriad of differently shaped pole floats available at your average tackle shop, it's hardly surprising many anglers find themselves using a float not suitable for the venue or conditions they are tackling. Hopefully this short guide to shapes, sizes, stems and bristles will simplify things for you.

POLE FLOAT STEMS
You will find that pole floats, in the main, feature three different stems, they being carbon, cane and wire. Pole floats also have a number of different styles of sight tip too, either wire, nylon, cane or balsa. And, of course, there is a multitude of different body shapes. Let's detail stems first. Wire is the heaviest of the three stem materials, followed by carbon and then cane. A wire stemmed pole float will sit upright when placed in water, even without shot added, therefore this weight pulling down on the float body makes the float very stable. Taking this into account, in the main wire stemmed floats are better suited to deep water or running water. Both carbon and cane stemmed floats lay flat on the surface and only cock when the shot settle, a perfect float for fishing a strung out shotting pattern for taking fish on-the-drop.

POLE FLOAT SIGHT TIPS
Choosing the right pole float sight tip (or bristle as they are sometimes known) is just as important as selecting the right body shape and stem material. After all, it is the sight tip which the fish needs to pull down in order to show you the bite. By far the most sensitive bristle material is wire, often just a continuation of the wire stem pushed right through the float body. Obviously wire sinks, so it takes an experienced angler to shot these sight tips down and, with this in mind, they are probably best left alone! Another fine, slim alternative is nylon bristles. These are also very sensitive, showing even the slightest of bites, but they aren't very buoyant therefore they are best used for presenting lightweight baits such as maggots, punched bread or casters either off or just touching the bottom. Cane and balsa sight tips are the most buoyant of the group and are perfect for presenting larger baits, such as worm, meat or sweetcorn, well overdepth. Short, fat, dibber pole floats incorporate balsa sight tips and they are often used for suspending large baits at mid-depth or used when fishing big baits on the bottom for the likes of carp.

POLE FLOAT BODIES
There are all manner of pole float body shapes and sizes, but in the main they can be placed into three groups; slim, round and pear-shaped. Slim, slender pole floats are best for still or slow moving water (lakes, canals, drains) when presenting baits on-the-drop using a lightweight, strung out shotting pattern. As the balsa body is slim the floats require very little shot to cock them correctly, therefore anglers can use very delicate shotting patterns when incorporating these style of floats. Finally, slim floats are best used in water no deeper than 5ft. Pear-shaped bodies are best used on still and slow moving water and, as the bodies of these floats incorporate more buoyant balsa, they require more shot than the average slim pole float to cock them correctly. The best shotting pattern for a float of this style incorporates a bulk of shot, or an olivette, around two feet from the hook followed by two or three small dropper shot below it. Round bodied pole floats are perfect for river fishing or for tackling windswept lakes suffering from strong undertows. Why? Because anglers can tighten up the line between pole tip and float and gently hold the float back against the flow or tow without pulling it out of the water. This action keeps the bait stationary if the angler is fishing well overdepth, or it makes the bait flutter up off the bottom if the rig is set to just touch the bottom. The round body is very stable in rough water too. Ideal shotting patterns for floats of this style are similar to that of pear -shaped floats - a bulk positioned two feet from the hook followed by two or three small dropper shot below.

POLE FISHING - CANALS AND STILLWATERS
YOU CAN be even more accurate when pole fishing on canals and stillwaters than you can on rivers, because there is rarely much tow to contend with. In both cases the fish usually like to be very close to natural features, such as reeds and overhanging trees, and the pole allows you to push a float right into these features. To do this you need a very short length of line between the pole tip and the float, and this is called short-lining. On canals you have to short-line at a distance, so you are able to reach the far-bank ledge where the big fish are to be found. On stillwaters you may have to fish a long pole to reach an island, but quite often you should be fishing really close in, almost under your feet, especially on commercial carp fisheries. In this case you need to have the pole set up behind you, so you can quickiy push the pole together and chase a fish as it charges off after being hooked. If you are groundbaiting, it is useful to locate a place where the balls will settle on a flat, rather than sloping, area of the bottom. If you throw balls onto a slope they will roll away and spread the bait over a larger area than intended. Carefully plumbing up is required. As with river pole fishing, you have some excellent presentation advantages over more traditional fishing methods when using a pole on canals and stillwaters. As well as the ability to fish virtually into snags, you can also move the bait about over your groundbait or loosefeed, dragging it from side to side or lifting it up and down. This is an excellent way of getting bites from finicky fish which may be watching the bait hut only be prepared to grab it if they see it escaping. As with any pole fishing, if it is windy you should use a back shot above the float, but another good tip is to fish overdeprh in really windy conditions, with shot actually sitting on the bottom. This keeps the bait still, no matter how windy it may be above the water. The same technique applies to stillwater waggler fishing in windy weather.

Selecting Tackle
Pole floats for stillwater fishing have an elongated or a 'body-down' shape. They allow for more sensitive shorting than the body-up pattern used on rivers. In choppy water a wire-stemmed float with an olivette set-up offers the best stability, but a more delicate presentation can be achieved by using carbon and cane-stemmed floats with strung-out shorting patterns. The choice of elastic and line strength required depends on the fish you are targeting. For small roach and gudgeon a No2 elastic with 1.5lb (0.7kg) line is right, for larger roach and skimmers a No3 or 4 elastic with 2lb (0.9kg) line, for big roach, small carp, tench etc., a No5 or 6 elastic with 2.5lb (1.1kg) line, for tench and bream a No8 elastic with 3lb (1.4kg) line, and for bigger carp a Nol0, 12 or even 14 elastic with 3-6lb (1.4-2.7kg) line. For far-bank fishing on canals, a float called a dibber was invented. This is a very short float which is perfect for the shallow water of the far shelf. Dibbers carry only a few tiny shot yet have a big top which allows them to be used with big baits like corn, paste and luncheon meat without the weight of the bait pulling them under. They should be shorted so that the bottom shot is actually on the bottom and the bait about a foot (30cm) overdeprh. Dibbers are usually used when targeting big fish, such as carp and rench, with biggish baits and should be attached with quite strong line of 3-5lb (1.4-2.3kg) breaking strain, biggish hooks sized between 14 and 16 and strong elastics ranging between number 8 and 12.

THE VAST majority of decent coarse fishing rods are now made from carbon-fibre as no other material can compete with its combination of strength, rigidity and lightness. But that is just the start of it, as you can buy rods from six to 20 feet (1.8 to 6m) long with as many different actions as there are species of coarse fish.

Float Rods
Float rods tend to come in three sections of equal length and be 12 to 15 feet (3.7 to 4.6m) long and designed for use with lines of 2-41b (0.9-1.8kg) breaking strain. Rods for waggler fishing tend to have a hollow tip section and plenty of ‘give’ below, which allows you to make long, sweeping strikes at a distance without the possible risk of snapping light hook lengths.
If you do a lot of stick float fishing you will require a different action. With this technique you have to hit lighting-fast bites from wary fish, such as roach, and consequently stick float rods tend to be quite stiff up to the top two feet (60cm), allowing you to pick up line very quickly, but have a soft tip ‘spliced’ in to absorb the initial force of fast strikes into fish at short distances.
Unless you intend to concentrate on match or specialist fishing, it is advisable to buy one float rod, and spend as much as you can afford on it. Overall, a hollow-tipped 13ft (4m) match rod with a nice snappy action, but a forgiving top third, will suit most pleasure fishing situations you are likely to come across. While there is no doubt that having exactly the right tool for the job is useful, the best advice for the newcomer is to keep things simple.

Leger Rods
Leger rods are generally two-piece rods measuring between 9 and 12 feet (2.7-3.7m) long and designed for use with lines of between 3-61b (1.36-2.72kg) breaking strain. Most have either a screw thread or are hollow at the end, to accommodate the use of screw- or push-in swingtips or quivertips for bite indication. They usually have quite a forgiving (bendy) top half, but have plenty of power in the middle-to-lower section allowing you both to cast good distances and set hooks at that range.Some of the better leger rods come with a selection of quivertips, and these are the best buy for the beginner. These tips will be of different strengths, measured by their test curve (the amount of dead weight it takes to pull the tip of the rod to an angle of 90 degrees to the handle) in ounces. A 2-3oz tip is stiff and designed to be used on fastish-flowing rivers, while 0.5-1oz tips are more suited to stillwater fishing.

Specialist rods
These two-piece rods of 11 to 13 feet (3.4-4m) length are measured by their test curve. They are designed for casting big baits and dealing with big fish, and tend to have much larger rings than leger and float rods. An ideal all-round choice for close-to-medium range fishing would be a l2ft (3.7m), 21b (0.9kg) test curve rod with a medium to tip action, which means there is plenty of give in the top half of the rod to enjoy the fight of a big fish, but plenty of backbone in the lower half to allow you to cast big baits and bully fish away from snags.