Sensas Power 614 Carp
PACKAGE
Three Fighting Carp top-2 kits
Cupping kit
Mini-extension
Pole bag
PAY AROUND
£425
The workhorse of the family, at 13m it is brutally strong and gives no quarter. Said to be one for the carp boys, it would make a great addition to most matchmen’s armoury too.
Sensas Power 624 Carp
PACKAGE
Three Fighting Carp top-2 kits
Cupping kit
Mini-extension
Pole bag
PAY AROUND
£599
Said by the manufactures to be 14.5m of solid power, and a real lump-stopping piece of kit, it maintains a quick response and is also suitable for silverfish work with a lighter elastic.
Sensas Power 644 Carp
PACKAGE
Four Fighting Carp top-2 kits
Cupping kit
Universal extension
Pole bag
PAY AROUND
£725
At 14.5m and supplied with no fewer than six top kits (including one inside), this well-priced pole is sure to prove popular with the club match angler on commercial fisheries. It looks to be extremely strong and well balanced.
Sensas Power 654 Carp
PACKAGE
Two UK top-2 kits
Three Fighting Carp top-2 kits
Cupping kit
Two Match extensions
Pole bag
PAY AROUND
£999
This 16m pole really does tick all the boxes. Light yet incredibly strong and well balanced, it is said to be a joy to handle, with a super-fast responsive tip action.
Maver Elite Carp Series 1 14.5m
PAY AROUND
On special offer at £799.99 (13m) and £899.99 (14.5m)
The current crop of Maver poles that includes the top-end Signature, Elite Carp, Enigma, Armageddon SX and Retribution SX models can lay claim to being the best this company has ever released.
In terms of specification, price and kit packages, Maver has got it covered. But if we are talking ‘the best of the best’ for net-busting commercial work the Elite Carp Series (four new poles priced from £800 up to a wallet-wincing two-and-a-half grand) are the ones to go for.
The original Maver Elite Carp pole caused a stir on the match scene as it combined all the power needed to tame big fish with the feel, balance, stiffness and handling qualities of an all-rounder. Maver was at pains to point out the cutting edge carbon technology that went into this pole, and its top-notch build credentials.
The latest Elite Carp Series pole is a worthy successor, using the latest high-tensile carbon cloths in conjunction with new resin formulations and finishes.
The Elite Carp Series 1 selected for Live Test duty is built around a nine-piece mandrel. The 450 grade high tensile carbon cloth is reinforced with super vibration-damping Epoxy and 4Mat resins which, for the entry-level model, is quite something. In pratical terms this makes for a very rigid, strong pole that is not overly heavy and is easy to handle.
It weighs in at just 725g at 11.5m, and a mere 1000g at 13m. Other technical attributes include a classy grey Sun Core finish, which stops the sections becoming too hot to handle in bright weather and improves its shipping qualities.
The pole comes with the latest Maver Powerlite top kits, rated for use with up to size 20 elastics and complete with side puller slots and factory-fitted PTFE bushes.
With all the technicalities out of the way, it was time to find out how this pole – in 13m or 14.5m options – shaped up when faced with hard-fighting commercial fish. Well, hand on heart, it would be easy to confuse its performance with that of the top-of-the-range Elite Carp 4 pole. Only when a niggling side wind got up and buffeted the pole around a bit did it become apparent that this was the much cheaper entry level model.
It maybe a little bouncy at its full 14.5m length, but what is loses in linear stiffness it makes up for in power and strength. At 13m you wouldn’t even notice that it moves around a bit in the wind.
As for shipping in and out, it’s as slippery as a soapy eel. The joints are all sound and look unlikely to come apart when you least need them to. Reassuringly strong section walls make it ideal for both margin and short line paste tactics, that by their very nature will show up any deficiencies in the pole. This one passed the test with flying colours.
Middy Baggin Machine CS24 Synaptic Series 13m
PAY AROUND
£199.99
The original Middy Baggin Machine pole, introduced in September 2005, sold more than 3,000 units and went on to become the company’s best seller.
This latest reincarnation, the Baggin Machine CS24, has many of the no-nonsense characteristics of the earlier model, but is built from a completely new Synaptic carbon that’s designed to withstand all the pressures of heavyweight carp hauling.
Face it, this is a specialist tool that won’t appeal to every angler. However, if you’re catching big fish from snaggy swims, or need something that can take a bit of heavy-handed abuse without splintering into a thousand carbon shards, this may be just the pole you have been looking for. At around £199 the price is a steal, and I’d expect you to find it even cheaper if you shopped around a bit.
The CS24 comes with two spare top-2 kits with huge diameter tips that are ideal for fitting large-bore PTFE bushes without the need to cut them back. That, along with three full elastication kits and a mini extension, adds up to more than enough pole to tackle your local commercial fishery with confidence.
The pole is rated by Middy to a maximum of a whopping great size 24 elastic, but I would suggest that there is yet to be a laccy created that would damage this thick-walled thunder stick.
I loaded the test pole with reasonably powerful size 10 hollow elastic threaded through its sturdy top-2 kits before heading off to Oakfield fishery, a small commercial on the Bucks/Oxfordshire border where the carp in its Swallow Lake grow Godzilla-like.
As you assemble the granite-like sections of the 13m Middy Baggin Machine CS24 Synaptic it soon dawns on you how well-built it is – brute force and brawn combine in a pole so strong it could probably drag a charging elephant up a flight of stairs… backwards!
Unfortunately, all that muscle comes at a price, and in this instance the payback is in the pole’s complete lack of stiffness. It is all a bit too bumpy and bouncy at its full 13m length, but note that it is also available in 11m and 9.5m versions, which should be much easier to handle.
No matter, for margin or close-in tactics with heavy lines and elastics the 13m pole has its place. If you are given to the odd ham-fisted moment or wayward strike, its wall strength makes it very forgiving.
Basically the Baggin Machine does the job for which it was intended, and for that reason alone it’s worth more than a second glance from any would-be commercial fishery carp angler.
Garbolino G Max Super Legion
PAY AROUND
£2,699.99
Anyone lucky enough to have owned an original Garbolino Super Legion will remember it fondly as one of the strongest and most reliable top-end poles ever made. Now the French company has created a worthy successor very much in the same mould, and despite the somewhat rich £2,699.99 price tag it is sure to find fans among the next generation of serious match anglers.
You do get an awful lot of pole for your money. The new G Max Super Legion has a build quality that shouts strength, rigidity and balance, even at the full 16m, and comes with a very impressive spares package
Special attention has been paid to the pole’s profile, with new mandrels used on some sections. Key stress areas have been tweaked and redefined using new carbons and resins. This technical makeover results in the impressively low weight of 648g at 11.5m and just 895g at 13m. This is phenomenally light for such a powerful 16m pole intended to withstand the rigours commercial match fishing.
Interestingly, Garbolino bills the latest Super Legion as being ‘built to fish with on the bank, unlike many other showroom poles’. That’s a brave statement to make, but it tells you just how much faith Garbolino and its UK general manager Darren Cox have in their new arrival.
So, would the pole live up to its bullish billing? On a cold, grey and very wet afternoon at Decoy Lakes’ Six Island Lake it was time to find out.
The first thing you notice on assembling this pole is the quality of its joints. They are uncompromisingly tough, cannot be squeezed out of shape, and slide together positively in a manner that tells you they are not going to come apart until you decide they should. Wall strength is also hugely impressive, and once you start to ship it out beyond 12m you forget just how powerful it actually is.
Being so light, the pole feels as though it were custom-made for your hands, with no leaden qualities or ponderous bounce. I liken fishing with it to sitting in a fairground bumper car that happens to have a two-litre turbo engine under the bonnet. Once you press the pedal to the metal you know you’re going to enjoy the ride a lot more than those around you!
It’s when you fish beyond 13m, though, that you begin to understand just why Garbolino rates this pole so highly. Linear rigidity at its longest lengths is sublime, and it’s really speedy at the tip, with little or no post-strike recoil. What’s more, it ships as smoothly as any pole I have ever handled.
Best of all, it has power to burn without being a beast of a pole. It will be every bit as good on a river or canal with light elastics as it is threaded up with heavy hollow latex, bagging commercial carp.
Make no mistake, this G Max Super Legion is up there with the best flagship poles in the world.
Frenzee FXT 16m
PAY AROUND
£2,399.99
The Welsh match wizard’s flagship pole is said to be suitable for any size of elastic making it spot on for commercial fisheries. It’s also supplied with eight top kits as standard to make it one of the best equipped packages available.
Maver Enigma Series 1
PAY AROUND
£799.99
The first car I bought cost less than the asking price of this – but the car turned out to be rubbish held together by rust, and this pole has proved itself to be one classy bit of kit.
Two 16m poles make up the new Maver Enigma range – this Series 1 with a probable ticket price of £799.99 in the shops, and the high specification Series 2 for £999.99.
The Enigmas replace the well-regarded Maver Armageddon range but, in my opinion, this new carbon feels a cut above.
The Enigma 1 seems a great buy for the discerning pleasure or club angler looking for professional quality and feel at a price point still well under the psychological £1,000 barrier.
It’s tough enough to fish size 20 elastics through Power kits for big bags of match carp week-in, week-out, yet will finesse lighter silver fish rigs on Match kits on rivers, canals and lakes.
The Enigma 1 package consists of the 16m pole with an integral Match kit, three spare Easy Flow Power kits, a mini extension, cupping kit and a top quality holdall including protective clear tubes.
All top kits come with factory-fitted internal PTFE bushes already in place, so they don’t need cutting back at all. They’re also all the exact same length for cupping accuracy, and the quality of the work can’t be faulted.
Another top feature in my book is that all the long, strong Power 2 kits come with professional, factory-fitted ‘Easy Flow’ slots so you can use a pulla kit.
If, like me, you feel uneasy at drilling top kits yourself to fit pulla systems, this is a pure Godsend.
The lads at Maver sum up both Enigma 1 and Enigma 2 poles as having: “Carp pole power with match pole feel.”
At up to 13m the Enigma 1 is light (just 838g), balanced and nicely rigid – but then you’d fully expect it to be. You’re paying for how this pole feels with the last two sections in place.
At 14.5m it’s sweet! Over three hours, despite a tricky breeze, I managed to land a string of F1 carp and, at the end, had a smile on my face, rather than a grimace of pain.
Going to full 16m length I then picked up another three, chunky, bonus F1s weighing 3lb apiece that had backed well of the feed.
On a tough winter’s day that extra 9lb, made possible by being able to hold a good pole still at full length may have made the difference between framing or failing in a match, and the winnings could have paid back a nice chunk of the initial asking price for the Enigma 1.
Maver Signature 400 16m
PAY AROUND
£1,199.99
The introductory 16m Maver Signature 400 pole shares an impressive array of features with its top-of-the-range 1000 stablemate, The real difference is in the cost – the 400 works out £2,000 cheaper!
With that in mind, you might expect the eminently affordable newcomer to be built in an altogether different way – perhaps using leather-strapped coffee table legs for butt sections, or having top kits fashioned from bamboo.
But not of bit of it. The Maver 400 makes use of high tensile, high modulus 450 grade carbon cloth and super-tough epoxy resins, martying them together with the latest impregnation processes. The smart cloth is lovingly wrapped by an Italian Reglass carbon technician around exactly the same 11-sectioned mandrel as is used for all four Maver Signature poles.
That said, this pole is not in the same league as the flagship Signature 1000, and nor could it be for what you pay. It doesn’t have quite the same rigidity, balance or tip speed, and it would be quite wrong of me to try and convince you otherwise.
Nevertheless, it is still one of the best commercial fishery poles that I have ever handled at this price. Obviously the differential in cloth tonnages between the poles (1000 and 450) means the Signature 400 is heavier, with less linear stiffness. But unless you need to ship silvers in at breakneck speed, or fish at 16m every time you go out, the additional weight and cushioning Is a positive attribute – particularly when faced with windy conditions, big fish or bagging situations.
The inclusion of super-sturdy fighting fifth and sixth sections will be a real boon to the commercial fishery regular, eliminating any chance of breakages to the pole’s standard
sections when using top-2s plus two or three. These are the lengths most useful when targeting carp with bigger baits such as paste, meat or worms. In such cases the striking action is nearly always upwards, very fast and quite severe, potentially leading to breakages as the elbow cracks against the section, or the section snaps clean in half with the force of the strike. Having a spare fifth and sixth section is good insurance, should you suffer an untimely accident.
Live testing at Northamptonshire’s ever-reliable Lakeside Fishery was very interesting. The wind, that had tried its hardest to blow the pole from my hands all day, waited until I had shipped the entire length back across two rollers to net a fish before delivering a gust so ferocious that both rollers collapsed at the same time.
As anyone who has had this happen to them can testify, the usual result is a multiple fracture of your pride and joy. So imagine my joy as I turned around to view the expected scene of carbon carnage, only to find that I would not after all have to face the wrath of the larger-than-life Maver MD Phil Briscoe.
The Signature 400 was still in one piece – it had bounced off the road with two rollers landing on top of it and survived. Now that’s impressive!
Maver Signature 1000 16m
PAY AROUND
£4350.00, SSP £3250.00
What better way could there be to kick off new year than to live test the jaw-droppingly exciting Maver Signature 1000 flagship pole?
This 16m marvel has more pulling power than Brad Pitt at a speed dating centre, and is quite simply the most beautiful pole ever to come from the Italian Reglass factory.
Not content with giving us the most technically sophisticated 16m pole of the modern era, Maver has topped it off with a strikingly elegant black Suncore finish that is likely to leave you drooling like a labrador eying up the leftovers from a Sunday roast.
For the technically minded, the Signature 1000 is built using a totally new mandrel that will though interchange with the top five sections of any Maver Elite pole. However, that is where similarities with its predecessors end.
The flagship 1000 and indeed all four new Signature poles are constructed from high tensile, super high-grade carbon fibre in a unique Retglass 4MAT pre-pregnated process. That, along with Nanolith technology, results in the ultimate fishing action in a long pole.
To the layman that means Maver has thought hard about what it’s doing, and brought out a pole that is a whole lot more than a bit good. It has a wonderful balance, is more rigid than a steel girder, and is blessed with an enviable lightness and ease of movement that would cause Darcey Bussell to flush with embarrassment. Response is crisp and there’s strength to burn, putting the Maver Signature 1000 among the top five poles available in the world today.
This flagship 16m pole is suited to extracting anything from small roach through to sizeable commercial carp from their watery homes. Maver has also rather cleverlyincluded two fighting fifth and sixth sections which are ideal for short-range UK commercial fishery tactics. These have rock-hard walls, are as tough as old boots and are built to withstand an awful lot of punishment. As they have the same joint sizes as the standard sections, they can be easily fitted on to to rest of the pole, should you ever need to ship up to follow a big fish out. They are also an incredibly handy back-up in the unlikely event of a breakage.
With the new Powerlite side puller kits in situ, it would be my call that the pole would be more than capable of handling anything but the very heaviest of hollow elastics. At the other end of the spectrum, with the Match kits top fitted, the pole takes on a slightly faster action and a lighter, more responsive tippy feel that is ideal for silverfish speed tactics.
There is no need to further extol the virtues of this breathtaking piece of kit. Anyone willing to hand over the wrong side of three grand for a pole should already have more than a fair idea of its capabilities.
I did contact Maver to ask if the Signature 1000 would be retained as its flagship model long enough to establish itself and hold a good residual value. Sure enough, the company assures me it will not be superseded for at least 12 months.