Middy Muscle-Tech 1150 Precision Carp

This tackle editor has learnt that when Middy calls to tell you about its latest tasty bit of kit – in this case the new Muscle-Tech 1150 Precision Carp pole – it pays to sit up and take notice.

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So, when the new postie threw the aforementioned item on to my desk with a resounding thud, I never feared for one moment that I’d open the tube to find shattered shards of carbon. If anything, my desk would be the injured party.

Sure enough, no damage at all, and no surprises considering the pole employs the new T-Core
anti-shatter technology. It’s as tough as boots, yet surprisingly light for a power pole weighing just 675g at 10.3m and rated to a pec-popping size 20 elastic. 

Reinforced section joints, and top kits with reinforced carbon side puller wraps on the second and third sections, further add to the pole’s impressive credentials. 

You get a Power 2 kit in the pole and another as standard, with a bonus cupping kit. A Precision F1 2 kit is available separately to fish at a precise 10m length – all top kits fitting on to the third section.

Middy claims its Muscle-Tech has a balance ratio of 17.6 Newtons, which I have no reason to doubt. The only Newton I know anything about is Sir Isaac, who had an apple fall on his head while the tree was being whacked for windfalls by some 17th Century Sawyer with a pole…

Seriously, though, I know Middy has invested a lot of research and development in this pole and is rightly proud of it. So where to live-test the new Muscle-Tech?

Few commercials can boast fish as weighty and numerous as Decoy’s Oak strip lake. One of their favourite tricks is to launch themselves up the lake at the speed of a cat with a banger up its behind, resulting more often than not in broken line, elastic, pole and dreams. I had, though, kitted the pole out with Middy’s Reactacore Hollow elastic, the yellow Saturn size 14-18... hellishly strong, soft at the hook-up stage, but gradually tightening up the more it’s stretched – brilliant.

The new Muscle-Tech soon accounted for a netful of huge fish (see image) that had often been written off as irresistible forces or immovable objects.

Verdict: 

If you're in the market for a super-dependable commercial carp pole, then definitely have a close look at Middy’s latest Muscle-Tech 1150 Precision Carp pole. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did. 

It’s easy and comfortable to handle, and much lighter and stiffer than you might expect for an out-and-out power pole. 

An adequate, though not extensive, spares package gives you a couple of tactical options.

Price: £499.99