Middy Reactacore XQ-1 10m pole review
AS ANGLING Times tackle editor I fish quite a lot – because testing rods, reels and poles, unless I’m beside the water, isn’t really going to mean much, or give you any idea of how they’re likely to perform.
I only mention this because of late, whether I’ve been out fishing weekend matches or testing new gear, it’s become abundantly clear that we have a lot of new anglers in our midst.
There they are, all perched on shiny new seatboxes or immaculate fishing chairs, waving around newly-acquired poles and rods and, more importantly, all catching a few fish. It’s wonderful to see, and I hope the trend continues for the rest of the summer and beyond.
When wearing my official Angling Times regalia I always try to have a quick chat with anyone who looks even remotely like a new angler. I’m not being pushy, I just like to see how they’re getting on, maybe give a bit of bait away, or chat about rigs and tactics.
Let’s face it, talking fishing is easy, but by its very nature our sport is quite complex. Things like spooling line on to a reel, or what hooks and bait to use, are taken as read by the seasoned angler, but they’re not obvious when you’re new to the game.
On the right lines
That said, having spoken with quite a few chaps and chap-esses, it seems most have been well advised by their mates on the kit front. Tackle shops too, to their credit, are sending people to the banks with the gear they need, without having them over.
Fishing tackle that comes at a sensible price is what most newbies are looking for, which is where this week’s live test item, Middy’s new Reactacore XQ-1 10m pole, hits the spot.
In my opinion it’s absolutely perfect for the rookie pole angler looking to spend a few hours bagging decent-sized carp on their local commercial.
Price-wise it’s bang on the money, and it’s tough enough to withstand the odd over-enthusiastic moment or two. Rather handily it comes with a couple of spare top kits, and it’s not heavy or unwieldy, which is a big bonus if you’re not used to handling a pole.
Off to the lake
The live test was on Decoy’s day-ticket Lou’s Lake, just the sort of place to cut your teeth on the pole. On warm days you can get bites up in the water, down on the deck and at all points between, not to mention the margins. Nor are the carp in this lake particularly fussy about what they eat, so little more than a tin of corn and a bag of pellets will suffice.
Most importantly, Lou’s has stable and level fishing platforms, with plenty of flat open ground behind you to position your pole roller – as a rule of thumb, around four paces behind your seatbox will be spot-on.
You could thread pretty much any size or type of elastic you wanted through the XQ-1’s top kits, but I kicked off the session up in the water, using a middle of the road 10-12 hollow elastic in conjunction with the short Phantom (grey coloured) top kit that comes inside the pole.
The Phantom top kits
I also rigged up the spare Margin Phantom top kit with a super-heavy 20-24 hollow that would hopefully seriously test the pole’s section strength and pulling power later in the day when I targeted the margins.
Heavy elastic would test the pole’s strength
In truth is it hasn’t got quite the rigidity needed for slapping shallow rigs up in the water, but it’s stiff enough to allow you fish shallow comfortably enough using a catty and pellets. At its full length, just under 10m, it didn’t feel top-heavy or suffer the dreaded top kit pole droop.
The super smooth S-Slide finish made handling quick and clean, and it fairly sped over the roller. It didn’t suffer from sticking section joints, nor did they come apart other than when I wanted them to.
To assemble sections without pushing them on too far or hard, slide them together, give the uppermost section half a turn to the left or right and they’ll lock together but come apart again easily when required.
Middy Reactacore XQ-1 10m pole sections
Having caught quite a few half-decent fish shallow, it was on with the heavy elastic top kit to see if I could drag a margin munter from its lair. No problems, and I didn’t think there would be, as the top kits carry a 30 elastic rating.
One thing that makes the new Middy Reactacore XQ-1 stand apart from any other pole I have fished with at this price is its stiffness. Most power poles of this ilk have an action that spreads across the top four or five sections, and I’m sure that readers have seen lots of bendy pole shots on these pages.
However, take a longer look at the inset pole image and you’ll see that this model stays straighter than the road to perdition when a fish is hooked – basically it’s very, very strong.
This is a very strong affordable pole
Price: £275 (but shop around)
Daiwa 13m Power Carp X pole bankside test
IT WAS feeling like an awfully long time since I’d been out to live-test some new kit.
So when lockdown restrictions eased, I couldn’t get back out there fast enough to put a new pole from the all-powerful Daiwa stable through its paces.
The car’s satnav was programmed to home in on Izaak Walton fishery in Chebsey, Staffordshire, a five-lake, fish-filled venue that I hoped would be perfect for providing the elastic-stretching action I needed to give the 13m Power Carp X a proper workout.
I knew that the venue’s Bottom Lake in particular was paved with hard-fighting carp, including some well into double figures – the perfect adversaries – so after choosing a peg I began setting up my kit in the early summer sunshine.
But I wasn’t here to get a tan. I wanted to see just how good the pole, which carries a pretty reasonable price tag of £425, would be at dealing with the fishery’s resident stock.
In a world where a top-end pole can easily set you back several thousand quid, the look and feel of budget-priced models can leave you a little underwhelmed.
But I was feeling hopeful. This new all-carbon offering from Daiwa certainly looked the real deal, with its classy black livery giving the impression of a bit of kit costing three times as much.
The package is pretty impressive, and the pole comes supplied with a mini reversible Phex section which, when fitted into the end of the butt (eighth) section, takes it to its full 13m length.
Alternatively, it can also be fitted into the end of the 11.5m (seventh) section to provide a bit of extra length, as well as acting as an elbow guard, preventing the section from being cracked or snapped if you’re occasionally a trifle heavy-handed on the strike.
My initial impressions were that the Power Carp X certainly looked and felt like a powerful pole that would be perfectly at home at just about any commercial carp water.
But never mind the looks, what does it fish like, and how does it handle? These must always be your primary concerns when choosing any new pole, whatever your budget may be.
Well, as the name suggests, the Power Carp X is primarily designed for catching big fish using heavy elastics – in my opinion up to a maximum size 20, or the ever-popular Daiwa red Hydro.
I chose to fish it at its longest 13m length, and while not the lightest pole on the market at 1,245g, it was remarkably easy to handle. Its rigidity and section stiffness were particularly impressive. The shipping out process was an entirely wobble-free experience, and I managed to get my tip-fitted pole pot out to the spot without any premature spillage whatsoever.
Feeding 8mm pellets and fishing the same on the hook, it didn’t take all that long for a few greedy carp to turn up in the swim for a nosebag.
As it happened, the first bite of the day turned out to be a foul-hooker, which is always a sure sign that you’re feeding too much, so I cut back what I was putting in by half.
As many of you will know through experience, foul-hooked carp take off at an alarming rate of knots and can often be pole-breakers, especially when that unbridled first burst of acceleration is backed up by body mass.
To begin with it was a case of holding on and hoping that this wasn’t about to become the shortest live test of all time.
With the heavy hollow elastic streaming out of the tip, the pole hooped over and I suggested to my cameraman Tony that maybe now was the time to take a shot before everything came to grief amid a shower of carbon shards.
How wrong I was! Although I couldn’t yet start shipping back, the pole and its robust elastic started to slow the fish’s initial run, and inch by inch I gained ground until the pole’s side puller top-2 kit was safely within my grasp.
Now the roles were reversed. I stripped the elastic slowly at first, piling the pressure on to the fish, which eventually came up tail-first and was safely scooped up into the mesh of the pan net.
Not quite cricket, I know, but the encounter had certainly proved the pole’s mettle and instilled in me a huge degree of confidence in its abilities.
I’m confident that’s just what you’ll discover too if you invest in the Power Carp X which, in my honest opinion, represents astonishing value for money.
Price: £425 (but shop around and you may find it even cheaper)
Maver Signature Pro 821 pole review
Pulling into Decoy Lakes in Cambridgeshire for the latest live tackle test, I was glad that I’d layered up my thermals. It was a decidedly frosty start to proceedings, but as I unloaded the usual mountain of tackle from my car, I knew that before too long the venue’s prolific stocks of hard-fighting carp would be giving my circulation a much-needed boost.
I was there to put Maver’s new flagship pole, the 16m Signature 821, through its paces. Damson Lake – my focus for the day – is stuffed with small carp to around 5lb, as well as plentiful numbers of feisty F1s, so I knew that the pole would be getting a thorough workout.
This latest offering is a proper top-end bit of kit, and at just under two and a half grand, I know that many of you will be thinking ‘I could go on holiday with the family for a lot less’. That’s probably true, but the fact remains that a few short weeks later you’d be back, sat on your seatbox in your peg, using your same old pole, enviously eyeing the sleek carbon being wielded by the angler in the next peg along.
The Signature 821 may well fit firmly into the object of desire bracket, but in many respects it represents great value and, believe it or not, in the long run could end up saving you money.
Impressive add-ons
First up, unlike many poles on the market, the 821 comes complete with a mightily impressive spares package that includes no fewer than 11 top kits and a cupping kit, so you won’t have to shell out a penny more on post-purchase extras going forward.
You also get two short four sections, two Bi-Conical extensions to fit sections 6-7 and 7-8, plus clever little Pole End Protectors that fit into the ends of the 11m, 13m and 16m butt sections to stop them from splitting. Fit them with skid-bungs and they’ll perform even better. All these kits come with pre-bushed PTFE tips and side puller slots, too. The savings keep adding up.
Serious stopping power
After setting up in a peg that had served me well in recent matches, it was time for me to start the session.
With a pair of rollers in situ, pole sock in place, and with two top kits fitted with No6-No8 hollow and heavier No10-No12 elastics, I tied on the appropriate float rigs. The heavier of my two set-ups, using the single section Power Kit, was perfect for any big fish that might turn up down the margin to muddy the waters.
This kit has a much wider PTFE bore size than the standard commercial kit, and is designed for use with really beefy hollow elastics up to a 20. Incidentally, match up the single-section Power Kit with the short four section supplied, and it handily comes out at the same length as the two-piece Commercial Kit. This Power Kit stiffens the whole pole up, but you do obviously lose a little length.
There, though, the similarity between the two top kits ends. The Power and short fourth combo is the ultimate whopper-stopper, but doesn’t throw the pole out of balance the minute you ship out past 11m. For catching hippos on steroids, this is just the ticket!
All-round ability
The lighter elastic set-up in the Commercial Kit is a pure joy to use, and it will easily handle up to 8-14 Dual Core elastic. Striking and tip recovery are lightning quick and that, plus the steely linear rigidity and lightweight feel it exudes, make this pole a seriously impressive bit of kit for all styles of commercial fishing.
As if that’s not enough, the Suncore anti-friction surface on the pole allows even the most ham-fisted of pole anglers to ship in and out with consummate ease throughout the session, even when being used at the pole’s longest 14.5m and 16m lengths.
During my four-hour morning session on Damson Lake, it performed every task I asked of it with absolute aplomb. Bite after bite was met with a crisp strike, and I didn’t lose a single fish to a hook-pull.
I finished with a superb net full to bursting with small carp – the like of which I wish I’d landed the last time I fished a match at the venue. Then again, I wasn’t using the Maver Signature 821 on that visit!
Maver is a company with a rich history in producing excellent poles in all price brackets, and classic marques such as the Jurassic Carp, Super Lithium and Elite ranges are well-known and loved by all, from pleasure anglers to world champs.
Pound for pound, in spite of its high asking price, the Signature Pro 821 is a stand-out performer and looks sure to follow those legendary bits of kit into the pole angling hall of fame.
Price: £2,499.99
Maver Darkside Series 2 16m pole
THE PACKAGE
Darkside Series 2 pole fitted with
Powerlite top-2 kit with a Match tip section
Six Power kits
Mini extension
Cupping kit with cups
Rated to a 20 elastic with Power kits or a 12 with Match kits
Three EVA Clean Caps
Maver Deluxe pole holdall
SPARES PRICES
Power top-2 kit with side slot: £79.99
Match kit: £89.99
Short fourth section: £79.99
PAY AROUND
£1,599.99
I first clapped eyes on Maver’s Darkside poles at the company’s first trade show of 2015. At the time I was somewhat shocked that the company was going to replace the Elite Carp range which, in my humble opinion, were great poles that hadn’t been around long enough to be sidelined.
After waving all three Darkside poles around in the show’s pole alley, though, I conceded that they had impressive handling and a steely rigidity normally only associated with flagship models.
However, ‘impressive’ alone doesn’t cut it these days – price, versatility and spares packages all need to be taken into account, as must the company’s back-up service, should anything go wrong. Should you break a section, you need to know that it can be replaced quickly and without fuss.
It must be said that these days nearly all major pole manufacturers, Maver included, carry plenty of spares in stock. After all, with potential buyers having so much choice, no company wants to see its products castigated by the impatient Moany McMoanface keyboard warrior clan.
So, would the force be with you using the new Darkside? It boasts a raft of carbon features including a unique new resin matched to high-tensile carbon fibre cloth, said to make a stronger, stiffer, lighter pole.
All sections are finished with a unique black Suncore anti-friction finish which, interestingly, is a fine metal honeycomb structure that enables the angler to ship at speed in all weathers and provides additional wall strength.
A superb spares package includes more than enough top kits (seven in all) to fish any match, and they are all Power top-2 kits with a reinforced carbon side puller area and internal PTFE bushes. To that little lot you can add a cupping kit with cups, a mini extension, EVA Clean Caps and a deluxe pole holdall.
The pole is classed by Maver as a true all-rounder, and it would certainly get my vote as a commercial fishery pole. It proved its mettle in the strength department, as a procession of big, angry carp were led to the net during the live test at Stretton Lakes, just off the A1 in Rutland.
Rigged with a hollow size 14 elastic, and up-in-the-water pellet rig fished at 16m, the Darkside was impressively stiff with a fast tip reaction speed, exactly what you want when you’re fishing long and shallow.
Big carp hooked shallow on any deep lake have a tendency to dive for the bottom, which puts tremendous pressure on the fourth and fifth section, especially if the fish gets itself underneath the pole. But there are no worries. Every section held fast, without so much as a creak.
As you might expect of a pole that is likely to set you back the best part of £1,600 it ships like a dream, and its Teflon joints butt up with a reassuring swish and not a hint of sticking.
I also found that fitting the pole with its half butt elbow saver section had no negative effect on its balance – a common fault, but not with the Darkside. It’s also extremely light, weighing in at 875g at 13m. That’s with its mini extension fitted, so its silverfish talents can shine though.
Linear rigidity, tip speed, shipping prowess and modest weight all combine to make the Darkside probably the best all-rounder Maver has ever produced.
VERDICT
Without doubt the Darkside Series 2 is one of Maver’s best true all-rounders for still and running waters. It’s not the cheapest pole around, but when you consider this is a top class and highly versatile model you can make savings by not needing to carry separate margin and power poles. Maver’s trade spares, incidentally, are very reasonably priced.
Middy Nano-Core XT15-2 13m pole package
RRP
£525
Even I would agonise over what to buy if I had £400 of my own money to spend on a pole.
But I’ll tell you something: Middy’s Nano-Core XT15-2 would be high on my shortlist. Most of my fishing is done on commercials, but because I’d still rather catch 25lb of roach on casters than 100lb of carp on pellets my pole would have to double for silverfish work at reasonably long lengths.
So a strong carp-capable 13m weapon, well-balanced, easy to ship and at home with delicate rigs and light elastics is right on my radar. The Nano-Core XT15-2 will deliver all that and more.
It weighs in at just 720g at 11.5m, so its handling qualities are quite exceptional for a pole at this price.
How can this be possible, I hear you ask? Well, the carbon cloth undergoes a unique curing process under extreme pressure, forcing out tiny air imperfections. This gives the pole a consistent linear action and increases section strength. The graphite used in this pole can also withstand temperatures equivalent to over 3,000ºC which does help to keep all nine sections stable and fishable even in the roasting summer heat.
Other key features include a section alignment system, top kits interchangeable across the entire Middy Nano-Core range, and a new distance numbering system on the butt section for precise fishing and feeding.
Colour-keyed bands show exactly where you need to cut the tips when fitting bushes. And, like all Middy Nano-Core poles, this one comes with a Safe-Zone mini reversible butt. This fits both the 11.5m and 13m sections, and the EVA domed end protects the pole when shipping it back.
The spares package includes a Match3 G-16 top kit ready fitted, an F1 G-16 top kit and a Karp2 G-22 top kit. You also get Hi-Viz elastication kits and and Xtreme pole holdall – not an eye-popping package, but one that suggests the bulk of the asking price has gone into the pole itself, rather than added extras. If you do want more top kits an F1 G-16 costs £39.99 and a Karp2 G-22 £47.50.
So, under a sun-drenched sky with fish cruising all over the surface of Old Wood Lake on Newark’s Portland Waters, I fished a 12/14 elastic through the resilient Karp2 G-22 top kit. Bites were easy to come by as a procession of small roach, ide, crucians and F1s proved only that the pole is nicely balanced and quite at home shipping in silvers and other small fish without so much as a wobble.
Using a slapping rig to attract the larger carp proved a harder test for the pole’s rigidity and tip speed, but although it was a little bit bouncy it wasn’t all that difficult to handle. Soon elastic was streaming from the tip as a larger fish grabbed the hard pellet hookbait. Side strain stopped it running through my neighbour’s peg, and the Karp2 top kit was powerful enough to make short work of the netting process.
For the money (it’s available for well under £400 if you shop around) the XT15-2 has all the features I would look for.
VERDICT
Middy’s Nano-Core range has undergone a transformation, and these poles are now reckoned by many to be as good as anything else on the market. There’s something for everyone, no matter what your angling status or skills set. The XT15-2 would make a great second pole for the keen club or pleasure angler. It’s easy to use, comfy to hold and will cope with both silvers and carp. At such an affordable price, who could reasonably ask for more?
Middy Xtreme M3 Animal Tamer pole
TECH SPEC
Lengths: 13m Xtreme M3 Animal Tamer
Two extra Power-2 kits
One 2-Portal mini butt
Carry case
Two elastication kits
Pull-It side wraps on 3rd and 4th sections
Size 30 Elastic rating
PAY AROUND
£549.97
Landing double-figure carp on the pole is always a challenge. But it’s one that’s becoming ever more commonplace as the cyprinids in our commercial fisheries continue to grow fatter and fitter on a high-protein diet of pellets, meat and boilies.
To stand any chance of safely banking one of these turbo-charged leviathans, your kit needs to be up to the task. Any weak points in your set-up will be exposed, making landing a ‘Barney Rubble’ almost impossible.
So, it’s no good having the latest whopper-stopper elastic fitted through your pole’s top kit if the pole itself isn’t up to the job. What you’re looking for from a pole is rock-solid section joints and section wall strengths, matched with loads of powerful playing action across its top 5-6 sections.
Middy’s brand new pole, the Xtreme M3 Animal Tamer, certainly fits the bill. In fact, it is purpose built to cope with heavyweight hauling, a statement that’s underlined by the fact that the manufacturer has given the pole a gargantuan maximum elastic rating of 30! This goes some way to proving just how much confidence Middy has in this new model, the top pole in the Xtreme Animal Tamer range.
On the technical side, the carbon technicians at Middy have built the M3 Xtreme using the latest G-Pulse carbon cloth, matched with a Proximate Helix construction. In layman’s terms, this means that the pole is blessed with a superb parabolic fish-playing action, and a rock-solid section wall strength, while Middy’s Silk-Slide finish makes for easy shipping pole wahtever the weather.
The new Xtreme M3 also comes supplied with a twin portal mini extension, which comes in very handy when you need that little bit more length, as well as adding an additional safety factor when the pole is being used at shorter lengths. It also has a decent spares package, which includes two extra side Pull-It power top kits, plus two elastication kits, and a carry case.
But the good news doesn’t stop there, because for those who enjoy their margin fishing, the new 4m M1 Xtreme Animal Tamer pole can also be fitted directly into the M3’s fifth section, offering you even more flexibility – and spare sections – should you need them, and it’s hardly likely to break the bank with an expected asking price of just under £50.
In use, the pole is remarkably lightweight, considering just how much pulling power you can call upon, and while I wouldn’t label it as being rigid at its full 13m length, it certainly won’t leave you with the veins in your neck sticking out like knotted ropes after a few hours of bagging up.
The M3 is ideal for commercial fisheries, and is every bit as strong as its manufacturer claims, plus its striking silver graphics give it a seriously cool top-end look.
Unfortunately, during the live test I didn’t manage to nail a ‘proper-un’ for the cameras, but a procession of stockies certainly provided me with enough confidence to know that should I have hit into a lump the outcome would have been Tackle Editor one, margin monster nil.
VERDICT
Another sure-fire winner from the Middy stable. The top-of-the-range 13m M3 Xtreme Animal tamer, which boasts a 30 strong elastic rating, is more than capable of handling the largest commercial carp. Its good looks are matched with solid no-nonsense performance and ease of handling, placing it among the best poles of this ilk and price.
Mark Sawyer
Garbolino UK4 Power Carp pole pack
PACKAGE
3 x Power Lite Puller kits fitted with PTFE pullers; 3 x Power Lite top two kits; Half-reversible multi-extension to fit 13m and 14.5m sections; 1 x two piece potting kit plus pots; 1 x short fourth section (not shown); 10 x PTFE large internal diameter bushes (not shown); Deluxe holdall (not shown)
PAY AROUND
£1099.99
The Big One show recently in Farnborough was the perfect place to see many of the leading tackle firms’ latest products.
Once again, thousands of anglers descended on the event, and one of the busiest stands was Garbolino’s, whose striking open-plan blue and white arena had been dressed to perfection with an enthralling collection of new seatboxes, rods, luggage, and accessories.
It was ‘Garbo’s’ new UK pole range which really set tongues wagging though. In fact, many seasoned open match anglers could be heard proclaiming the firm’s flagship UK1 Accomplice Pro model as the best they had ever handled.
The show was so busy that it wasn’t until late on Sunday afternoon that I managed to get a closer look at the new range for myself. It was well worth the wait, as was the uninterrupted commentary from England International and Garbolino UK boss Darren Cox, who, along with match ace Simon Fry, talked me through all of the poles’ finer points.
Was I impressed? You bet I was! After much begging and pleading, I was able to grab the new UK4 Power Carp model that is set to replace the iconic Power Legion, for an impromptu Angling Times live test, but under strict instruction that it was to be returned unblemished within two days!
So, first thing Monday morning saw me pulling in the car park of Decoy’s Six Island Lake, awaiting the arrival of Bauer’s head of photography Mick Rouse, who is set to retire after many years’ superb service to angling!
It isn’t so often that I use this lake for live-testing purposes, and as I tackled up it occurred to me that my first-ever job for Angling Times was at the same lake, with Mick, more than 10 years ago. Was this, then, a case of unexplainable weirdness, or simply coincidence? Who knows, but the fact is, this would, sadly, be our last ever shoot together.
To add even more strangeness to events, the phrase ‘keeping the best for last’ kept ringing loud in my head, especially as the new Garbo UK4 galloped through the live test with a grace that I hadn’t expected from a claimed ‘Power’ model.
For instance, its section joints are incredibly smooth, with the blue tinged carbon reinforcing used to give the joints added resilience, coming together with a resounding thump when shipping-up. When the pole had a little too much weight hanging over the roller (due to the proximity of another lake behind me) taking the sections apart was a cinch, even with a hard-fighting fish on the other end.
Neither did the joints so much as threaten to stick together – 10 out of 10! The test pole’s side puller top-kit had been pre-fitted with hollow No10, which was probably less than half of the elastic strength rating the pole could easily cope with.
Boasting a ‘Power Carp’ tag, you would expect its sections to have robust wall strength, easily capable of coping with a heavyweight hauling session, and they certainly don’t disappoint in this department. I didn’t actually try jumping up and down on them, but I felt I could. You’d struggle to even annoy one with a fish!
So all that brutish force must come with a downside, yes? Surely this pole has to be top heavy, or as well balanced and stable as a giraffe on a step ladder on ice! Well, the answer is no!
It’s amazingly stiff, with a good tip speed, and I used it all day with little more than a few inches of line between pole tip and float at 14.5m without any trouble at all. Oh, and check out the pole package. It’s very impressive!
VERDICT
The clue’s probably in its name. This is an out-and-out bag-up, no-nonsense power pole. All joking aside, though, ounce for ounce and pound for pound this is almost certainly the strongest and best balanced pole of its kind that I have ever picked up.
Browning 2EX-S 50#1 16m pole
TECH SPEC
Pole: 16m 2EX-S 50#1 pole with top kit inside (also available at 14.5m)
Package: Five spare pre-bushed top-2 kits, extra third section, cupping kit, Square Pole Protector
Weight: 1,477g at 16m
PAY AROUND
£999.99
German tackle giant Browning has launched some stunning poles over the years, such as the Xitan range which came with features that were a revelation to UK match anglers.
The poles had single length pre-bushed top kits, intermediate dolly sections and elongated butt sections. These days all these features, novel in their time, can be found on virtually all top-end poles from a number of manufacturers.
Then, last year, came Browning’s Euro-inspired Hyper Carp rods, a pair of carbon enforcers with enough grunt to halt a charging rhino and more than capable of landing the largest of carp when teamed with the right elastics.
That brings us nicely up to speed, so what have the Germans got in store for us this season? Well, in keeping with what’s happening here in the UK, where there’s been a resurgence in silverfish matches on natural venues, Browning has introduced its new
four-model 2EX-S range. These are all-round poles, at prices to suit most pockets.
The one likely to generate the most interest among UK match anglers, I reckon, is the sub-£1000 2EX-S 50#1 16m pole. I can’t begin to fathom how or why Browning came up with this mightily forgettable name, but I’m sure anglers will come up with their own – ‘To Excess’, maybe?
However, it’s what’s going for it in the fishing department that’s important. Allow me to enlighten you as to its technical attributes.
This 10-section 16m pole is built from a mix of graded carbons which have allowed Browning to keep it light and stiff without sacrificing too much power.
Each one of its numbered sections has handy alignment points, as well as overwrapped joint ends which add to its longevity. Browning has also incorporated strengthening stress points, and visible grip areas towards the tops of the fourth, fifth and sixth sections. These help with shipping out and breaking down.
To that little lot you can add a revolutionary Square Pole Protector section which makes it more comfortable to hold at longer lengths, and five pre-bushed top kits (plus one inside the pole) which require no cutting back. Just add elastic and go fishing, which is exactly what I did at the picturesque day-ticket Stretton Lakes just off the A1 north of Peterborough.
With the wind trying its damnedest to blow it from my grip, its wasn’t ever going to be easy to judge how good or otherwise the 2EX-S 50#1 was at its longer lengths. I’d be fibbing if I said it was as easy to fish with at its full 16m as at 13m or 14.5m lengths. That said, it fairly zipped through my hands, which was handy, because a string of small roach that had become more of a hindrance than a help were able to be dealt with in double-quick time.
When the odd carp did start putting in an appearance, though, the added security of the reinforced sections definitely engendered a feeling of confidence.
And as the winter sun dipped below the horizon I was glad I had stayed on fishing till the close of day – something that only happens when you’re really enjoying yourself!
VERDICT
What’s not to like about this pole? it looks good, has great technical features, and comes with an impressive spares package of pre-bushed same-length top kits that don’t need cutting back. It’s equally at home on natural venues and commercial carp fisheries, making it an ideal buy for the serious club match angler who gets to visit lots of different venues over the course of a season.
Mark Sawyer
Maver Oculus 999 16m pole
TECH SPEC
Oculus 999 16m pole, one Match kit housed inside the pole, fIve Powerlite Power kits (pre-slotted and bushed), Mini extension
Elastic rating: 20-plus
Extras: Three EVA Clean Caps, deluxe pole holdall and protective tubes, informative DVD
PAY AROUND
RRP £1,335 SSP £999.99
Besides being most anglers’ dream job, the role of tackle editor does give you a unique insight into exactly how and why companies develop their products.
That’s pretty much what happened when a chance visit to Maver HQ last year saw their boss Phil Briscoe handing me an unnamed and unfinished 16m pole. He was hoping to develop it into the best of its kind for under a grand.
My first thought was that the raw pole was good, very good in fact, but at its full length it had a little bit too much mid-section softness. As a result, the tip section had too much movement – so its backbone would need stiffening up a bit if the top section were to have more recovery speed.
Moving on a few months, I again found myself at Maver’s Redditch base, this time to cover their excellent product launches for 2016. As you would, I asked Mr Briscoe if the pole with no name I had seen a few months ago was ready to be unveiled.
“We’re nearly there with it, Mark,” Phil replied. “It’s been a bit of a long slog, but well worth it. Here, take a look for yourself!” – and he handed me a holdall full of sections. Those as-yet unadorned carbon tubes came together with an altogether different feel to the last time I had handled the pole. Now it felt really stiff at its full length, with little discernible movement post-strike at the tip.
I remember thinking that Phil had accidentally handed me a flagship three grand model, such was its rigidity. It boasted Teflon joints on its third, fourth, fifth and sixth sections for added longevity, and just like all good modern-day poles, it came with pre-fitted PTFE side slotted top kits.
The technical side of its construction was then fully explained to me, and without sounding overly geeky and dull, it’s pretty impressive. The pole is made from high-tensile Japanese carbon, reinforced with toughened epoxy resins, before being treated to another strengthening process.
Add Nanolith fibre technology and the bottom line is that this is one tough cookie. Yet its lightness and finish make this pole just as much at home speed fishing for silvers as crunching out commercial carp.
All that it lacked was a name and some graphics, and Mr Briscoe promised me that as soon as he had a finished sample he would send one through to Angling Times. Lo and behold, two weeks ago a large package arrived from Maver.
It’s called the Oculus 999. I don’t know about the Oculus bit, but 999 no doubt refers to the fast-response services this pole offers the serious angler.
A few hours spent with it at Lincolnshire’s impressive and pristinely kept Westwood Lakes fishery saw the Maver Oculus slicing its way through shoals of ide, roach and skimmers at 13m using light elastics, small hooks and maggot rigs.
Then, later in the day, and used at its full 16m length up against an island with heavier elastics and winter corn rigs, it proceeded to trawl its way through carp of all sizes. Faultless, completely brilliant.
I simply cannot believe that a pole of this stature, with so many admirable qualities, can be owned for just a penny under a grand.
Come to think of it, that probably explains its 999 configuration more accurately than my own take on it – and as for ‘Oculus’, well, it’s an eye-opener well worth looking out for!
VERDICT
Maver’s Phil Briscoe set out to make the best all-round pole on the market for under a thousand pounds, and in my opinion he’s done just that. Yes, I know it’s all been said before, but technology marches on and pole production techniques are still evolving.
Take my advice, if you’re looking to upgrade from your current pole, or you have a budget ceiling of £1,000, get yourself down to your nearest Maver dealer, take a long hard look at it, then tell me I’m wrong!
Mark Sawyer
Matrix Nemesis 1000 16m pole
PACKAGE
Matrix Nemesis 1000 pole package (13m option)
Package: Three top-5 kits, Ethos holdall
Matrix Nemesis 1000 pole package (16m option)
Package: Four top-3 kits, top-4 kit, Ethos holdall
PAY AROUND
13m: £949.99
16m: £1,249.99
If you’re a fan of the commercial carp match scene, this latest Matrix Nemesis 1000 pole should definitely be on your radar.
The 16m model, available now following its pre-Christmas unveiling, is the second generation of Nemesis pole – and considerably cheaper than the original top-end model.
It is, though, built on exactly the same 10-sectioned mandrel as its flagship stablemate, which handily makes all sections interchangeable between the two. If you’re already a Nemesis owner, this offers cheap insurance against broken sections.
However, the Nemesis 1000 is not merely a cheap alternative to its predecessor. It’s a very decent pole which, just like its wallet-stretching big brother, is intended for out-and-out commercial fishery use.
Matrix front man Ricky Teale has a lifetime’s experience of match fishing to draw on and works with Matrix-backed commercial match aces Les Thompson, Warren Martin and Grant Albutt to design the very best commercial gear. Not surprisingly, then, every last inch of this pole is built with an eye to winning the coin. Starting with its slightly roughened, easy-grip finish that allows it to be shipped in and out fast, it simply oozes winning features.
It has linear build for section wall strength, and reinforced anti-ovalling joints to inspire confidence when unshipping and breaking the pole down under stress – this applies particularly to its most often used third and fourth joint areas.
I’d be fibbing if I said the pole performs as well at its full 16m as it does at 13m and 14.5m. But for a
sub-£1,000 model this is to be expected, and its overall performance is still very impressive.
At 16m it isn’t that quick to recover post-strike, but it’s more than usable and doesn’t show any signs of
top-heaviness. Its ample wall strength copes with margin work and it retains enough rigidity, even at its full length, to permit splashing a shallow rig or fishing tight up against an island with a very short line without the tip constantly hitting the water.
Just like its Nemesis flagship counterpart it isn’t the lightest pole ever built, nor should it be. It has been designed specifically for big fish and bagging-up tactics. In windy conditions you can really hang on to it, when its weight works in your favour, keeping the pole steady at all times. If you don’t believe me, just have a look at the poles used by some of the UK’s most respected big-fish anglers. It’s a fact that lightest is not always best.
Stiff without being top heavy, powerful yet sensitive, steady without being clumsy, the Nemesis 1000 ticks all these boxes. But best of all, it instils an enormous degree of confidence. There’s no question of sections splitting or wearing out.
What’s more, if you shop around carefully, the pole is currently available for under £850.
VERDICT
The new 16m Matrix Nemesis 1000 offers commercial match anglers of all abilities a powerful and reliable pole at a bargain price. Its performance is comparable with that of any pole in this price range. Unless you fished it at its full 16m length on every outing, you would find it very hard to find fault.
Mark Sawyer
Preston Innovations Response M90 16m pole
TECH SPEC
True length: 16m (with half butt fitted)
Closed length: 1,830mm
Top-2 length: 2,400mm
Top-3 length: 3950mm
Weight at 13m (8 sections): 790g
Weight at 14.5m (9 sections): 1060g
Weight at 16m (10 sections without half butt): 1300g
Number of sections: 10
PACKAGE
16m Response pole
Section 9/10 half extension
Three Match top-3 kits (3.95m)
Two Match top-2 kits (2.4m)
Six Roller Pulla Power top-2 kit (2.4m)
Section 7/8 Bi-Conical Mini Extension
Section 5/6 Bi-Conical Mini Extension
Monster Response Holdall
EVA Elastic Alignment cones with PTFE bushes
Kupping Kit and Kups
OPTIONAL EXTRAS
Roller Pulla F1 top-2 kit (2.4m)
F1 Short Stop (1.85m)
Short No3 section
Universal 1.7m extension
PAY AROUND
£2,999.99
Launched just a month or so ago, Preston Innovations’ new flagship Response M90 pole is ‘selling like hot cakes.’
That’s quite some testament to its performance, especially when you consider that now is the time of year when everyone is saving for the big family Christmas – historically, a quiet time for the tackle trade.
For the more minted in our ranks, this pole will set you back £2,999.99 – you could buy an awful lot of tinsel, crackers and fairy lights for that.
Still, as always, you get what you pay for, in this case a whole load of the finest grade Japanese Torayca carbon, wrapped around mandrels and transformed into a stunning 10-piece, 16m beauty – and a strong contender for the title of ‘stiffest pole ever’.
I haven’t spoken to Prestons about the hows, whens and whys of the pole’s development, but it’s my bet that England match aces Messrs Shipp and Pickering were both directly involved in its creation. I say that, because once it’s assembled the aptly-named Response 90 shows every sign of a master craftsman’s touches.
It’s phenomenally stiff without being brittle. It’s very light at longer lengths, which makes for quick and easy feeding and pinpoint rig presentation. Its shipping qualities make it a quicksilver-fast speed machine.
However there’s more, lots more, and if you slip on one of its 2.4m-long Roller Pulla Power top kits (of which an impressive six are supplied) it has ample section wall strength and linear flexibility to quickly tame the very largest commercial carp.
Yes, this stunning pole is indeed the match angler’s match pole, developed by the best, for use by the accomplished.
My live test session on the lump-littered Lou’s Lake at Decoy Fisheries confirmed the pole’s mettle in every department. Fishing long at 13m up against a bed of tackle-grabbing Norfolk reeds, with heavy elastics and matching rigs, I won every tug-of-war with fish up to around 8lb, despite their determination to get their heads – and my rig – into the roots.
The pole’s short Bi-Conical sections which fit on to sections 5-6 and 7-8 gave the necessary confidence for a spot of margin marauding, and proved more than tough enough to withstand the odd over-exuberant strike.
Female section ends are internally reinforced, while there are extra weaves on the male joint ends, greatly reducing carbon section fatigue.
This stunning Prestons creation truly comes into its own when fished at its full 16m (including its half extension). Wow! Its degree of stiffness is well nigh nonsensical. I have seen and handled poles with this degree of rigidity before, but they never had any sort of elastic rating, and were likely to snap when something less shocking than the sun disappearing behind a cloud occurred.
As you can see from the picture, I only had one pole roller with me – schoolboy error. But so excited was I by the pole’s performance that at one stage I shipped it back with a fish still pulling away on the other end, so its entire 16m length was hanging over the roller with all the back weight resting on the sixth section.
At this point most poles will break! it’s no fault of the pole, just poor angling practice. But not this time. Gingerly I fed the sections back out before breaking down at a longer length. What a test of section strength the Response 90 had just passed!
VERDICT
No-one who has seen or handled the new Response 90 would argue that it is Preston Innovations’ best-ever pole. It’s sharp as a tack, with the reaction speed of a striking cobra.
Built from probably the finest carbon fibre in the world, its steely sections impart the kind of confidence that comes from using the very best.
And it comes with the most impressive array of pre-bushed top kits and carbon add-on sections you will find anywhere.
Mark Sawyer
Daiwa Air XLS 16m pole
PAY AROUND
£6250
Daiwa’s award-winning Air pole has just got even better!
With critical adjustments made to key areas and redesigned final three sections adding 10cm to the length, the awesome Air now delivers even better feel and responsiveness at its full 16m length.
The pole package option now allows you to tailor all your top kits to your individual needs – there’s an option of Power or Match kits. Look out for an exclusive live test review only in Angling Times.
Maver Definition 14.5M pole
PACKAGE
- Two Powerlite slotted and bushed Power kits
- Match top-3 kit housed inside the pole
- Mini extension
- Short No4
- Cupping kit and cups
- Pole holdall and protective tubes
- Informative DVD
PAY AROUND
13m £499.99, 14.5m £549.99
The lads at Maver certainly didn’t hold back when they told me about their new Definition 14.5m carp pole.
“This is the best power carp pole we have ever built,” they said confidently.
“It’s manufactured using a new hi-tensile carbon cloth, it has all the best patented build technologies, and it comes with an impressive spares kit package – you’re going to be blown away by it”.
They were talking about a pole aimed fair and square at anglers who plunder commercial fisheries where the carp have grown big… very big.
So just how strong is this pole? One way to find out is to hook a huge fish tight to solid walls of rig-destroying reeds, then hang on as the beast attempts to bottom-out the strongest elastic known to man. It’s toe-tingling stuff, but any pole that survives that kind of test certainly earns its ‘power pole’ badge – as indeed this one did.
Maver rates the pole for a 20-plus elastic, so I armed the test model with a more versatile but no less substantial Maver Dual Core Retro 12-20, threaded through one of the brilliant Powerlite top kits which come both slotted and bushed (two are supplied with the package).
That done, I headed east to the day-ticket Westwood Lakes near Boston, in Lincolnshire, which is home to some legendary zoo creatures of the finny kind.
Assembling the Definition on the banks of the fishery’s picture postcard Hawk Lake only boosted my confidence in its power-playing abilities. A blind man on a galloping horse couldn’t fail to notice the pole’s obvious section wall strength. Squeeze hard on the fourth, fifth or six sections (the ones that take the most punishment) and you’ll have to strain to oval any of the joints.
After catching one or two bream and small tench fishing corn and chopped worm at dead depth, I hooked my first decent fish of the day.
Elastic spilled from the pole-tip, and with the imminent prospect of the fish making it all the way around the island I was sitting opposite, I dug in and pulled back for all I was worth.
When I do this in a match, it normally and rather annoyingly pulls the hook out. But not this time. Now, I have no idea how carp can get such a grip in water, only that they certainly can. However, just at the critical point of no return the pole did its job of, let’s say, ‘persuading’ the fish to come to heel.
Hugely impressive, and with an SSP of under £500 for the 13m model, I have no hesitation in saying that in my opinion, for the price, the Definition is the best all-round power carp pole currently on the market.
VERDICT
Not quite as strong or unyielding as the brutish Maver Invincible, the Definition is built on the same mandrel as the firm’s top-end Signature poles.
This makes it eminently affordable, and it makes more sense to use this, rather than your two or three grand Signature, in a peg full of section-busting snags.
Instead of hoping for the best as the float dips, you’ll be fighting big fish on your own terms.
Mark Sawyer
Middy Nano Core XP35-2 16m fishing pole review
Kits: Middy Pro-16 Match top-3 kit, two Middy G-22 Karp kits, Middy G16-F1 kit, Middy Cupp Kit
Sections: Extra-short No4 section, reversible dolly butt section
Extras: Middy holdall, elastication kit containing four different elastic grades, four bungs, four connectors, four PTFE bushes and a seatbox sticker, instructional DVD
PAY AROUND
£1,375 at 16m, but shop around for the best prices.
Hands up how many of you out there own a 16m pole but rarely, if ever, fish it at that maximum length?
I bet the answer is ‘not many’ and a lot of that is down to the modern commercials offering anglers carp to catch at less than half that length.
However, the time will come when those extensions need to be added to the pole to go to its maximum reach, and I reckon this is one of the greatest tests that a pole can undergo.
With this in mind, I was pleased to be given the chance to test the new XP35-2 from Middy. Part of the new Nano Core range, the XP-35 comes off the back of the well-received Shock Core Fusion range launched back in 2012, and if the new steed was half as good as those originals, it’d be a belter!
The Mk2 version has enjoyed a full upgrade with new Nano Core carbon fibres to make it lighter, stiffer and stronger – it weighs just 870g at 13m.
The package that sits alongside the main pole is also impressive and covers a lot of fishing styles, packing two of Middy’s G-22 Karp kits for use with thick elastics, a Pro-16 Match top-3 kit for silverfish work, plus a new single length G-16 F1 kit, designed for speed fishing when using shallow or short rigs with puller systems.
A neat little addition is an extra short No4 section, and there’s also a dolly butt and a Cupp kit included as well as an elastication pack boasting four grades of elastic, bungs, connectors, PTFE bushes and an extraction rod, all fitted neatly into a smart holdall.
So the XP-35-2 looks good, but how does it fish? With an island at 16m, the Kestrel Lake on the Westwood Lakes complex near Boston was a logical choice for the test. Full of hard-fighting carp and F1s, some massive barbel and lots of smaller fish such as skimmers, ide and tench, it’s your typical commercial water and I was particularly interested in using the G-16 F1 kit to see how it stood up to mixed fishing using No10 elastic.
One of my biggest issues with long poles is a poor finish on each section, which results in that annoying squeak when shipping out with hands caked in groundbait or fish slime – a juddering motion that can often tangle the rig around the pole-tip before you’ve even got half way. Thankfully, the XP35-2 has Middy’s S-Slide finish lavished on it, and that means a pole that slides through the hands like a greased eel.
Now, anyone who has fished Westwood before will know that it’s often windy, and today was no exception. All 16m poles will struggle when blasted by the wind but their beauty is almost always demonstrated by how quickly they recover after being buffeted and how well you can present the bait and strike at a bite.
True, the wind did at times drag the pole wildly off to one side, but the bait was soon back in position and fishing, and holding the full 16m against the gusts kept the carbon arrow-straight and ready to strike.
My first bite saw the pole ‘clonk’ into something big and not very happy!
Off it steamed, but the XP-5-2 didn’t groan or moan and even with the relatively short length of elastic in the top kit, I never once felt any danger. Changing the angle of the pole mid-battle was easy enough and soon a football-shaped common carp of around 8lb popped up to be netted.
Next drop in, the float dipped and the elastic roared off again. I was getting to like this pole! A smaller mirror was next to find the net, followed by its mate on the next drop in and then another. When bites are coming thick and fast you naturally want to be in and out quickly to make the most of it, and the XP35-2 allows you to do that.
A big ide was the next fish to test the pole before a nest of small perch and skimmers rocked up. Bites from these fish were faster and less pronounced.
A few were missed but the bulk were hit, and that’s credit to the pole’s balance. I was surprised at how good the strike rate was, given the wind, and at times it was possible to forget I was even fishing at 16m.
Take a couple of sections off and fish at 13m and the pole is a dream that even the most inexperienced of pole anglers wouldn’t struggle to use.
So if you’re the sort of angler who recoils in horror when the words ‘fishing at 16m’ are uttered, slap the XP35-2 in your hands and you can take on the fishing world. It’s light, perfectly balanced, super strong but not so delicate that it won’t take a fair bit of stick, something Middy is famed for. It’s one company that makes top-quality gear aimed squarely at the UK market.
Richard Grange
Maver Invincible 215 14.5m pole
PAY AROUND
Invincible 215 13m RRP £799.99, SSP £599.99
onInvincible 215 14.5m RRP £935, SSP £699.99
NEVER before have so many power poles been available to those fishing commercials – then again, the carp in most fisheries of this type aren’t exactly wasting away.
So Maver’s launch of the third generation of its Invincible pole at the recent Big One tackle show was understandably well received. Me? I couldn’t wait to get out on the bank to see just how well the 14.5m version (it’s also available at 13m) would shape up against some quite literally stiff opposition.
The original Invincible, which I live tested about eight years ago, was as strong as an ox… except for the top kits, which didn’t always stand up to the strain. Maver, of course, addressed that problem with the introduction of high performance Powerlite Power kits, which come ready-slotted and bushed for use with the Invincible 215.
These will take more stick than Tony Blair at a WI meeting, and for my money they rank right up there among the best top kits available.
As for the live test, as luck would have it we have a fishery not a million miles from the Angling Times office which is spot-on for use with this type of pole. The day-ticket Kingsland Reservoir, just outside the outside the village of Coates in Cambridgeshire, is home to some proper units. As man-made lakes go, this one is deep, very deep in fact, which means that the fish are most easily targeted in the margins.
However, once the sun comes out they also really enjoy being up in the warmer water, and like all commercial carp they are hugely attracted by the sound of pellets hitting water. Love or loathe this tactic, it does make them highly susceptible to a spot of furtive dobbing. Okay, I agree, it’s definitely not cricket, but I defy any match angler to tell me he hasn’t dropped a bait on the nose of the odd cruiser at some time… enough said!
It doesn’t take an awful lot of skill to pick out the larger specimens, and as long as you single out a fish that is swimming away from you, so it can’t see either the pole or the baithanging from it, plonk a bait just in front of it and it’s pretty much odds-on it’ll get snaffled.
The problem with dobbed fish from an angler’s point of view is the shock factor –a hooked fish reacts with lightning speed, running hard and fast and putting immense strain on your kit. Elastics, rigs and of course the pole itself all need to be up to the job. Maver’s bright orange 12-20 Hollow elastic is great for taming big fish in open water – it has a nice soft starting point but powers up quickly when you need it to, at the net.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that elastic of this diameter could be fitted into the Powerlite top kit without cutting it back. This, matched with a 0.17mm hooklength and heavy-duty size 16 hook, I was confidenty would handle just about anything that swims.
So what of the Invinclibe, which will set you back just a penny under £700 of your hard-earned? Well, for a serious power pole it’s not poker-stiff or particularly quick at it tip, and I found it much easier on the back muscles at 13m than at its full 14.5m.
Those minor points aside, it’s one hell of a whopper-stopper. The extra weight oozes strength and stability, especially when it’s being fished in a side wind. The joints are tougher than reinforced rhino hide, while the section walls offer more support than Madonna’s pointy bra.
Maver has got this pole absolutely spot-on. It will graft all day like a shire horse, but unlike those gentle giants you won’t need to feed it when the sun goes down.
Tri-Cast Venom Pro Competition 14m
PAY AROUND
£829.99
Owners of Tri-Cast rods and poles don’t just see them just as fishing tools, but as trusted companions on the bank. Indeed, one of my office colleagues has used an Arrowlite carp rod for nigh on 20 years for his margin fishing, and still reckons there isn’t a rod to touch it. That’s loyalty for you.
So I’ve little doubt that Tri-Cast’s latest 14m Venom pole will soon attract an army of starry-eyed followers. After all, the company specialises in the manufacture of composite tubular products (including poles), and is acknowledged as the European market leader in this field.
I wouldn’t claim to know diddly-squat about the scientific side of Tri-Cast’s business – in any case, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s classified information. But one thing I do know is that working with carbons and resins on a daily basis puts the company – the only one in England to actually manufacture carbon rods and poles – right at the cutting edge of material development. That’s why its products improve year by year without fail.
Yes, many moons ago some anglers felt that Tri-Cast poles were overly heavy and a tad unforgiving. But the weight issue, which may once have held water, is an issue no more. These days Tri-Cast poles measure up in all departments to their non-home-grown competitors, and the new 14m Venom Pro Competition is a classic example.
This pole combines high modulus carbon fibre cloths with newly developed resins, resulting in a lightweight, poker-stiff and super-powerful tool. Handily, it shares its top section mandrel with the Iconic Pro and Trilogy Pro 2 models, meaning all the top kits are interchangeable – a very handy feature.
Tri-cast says that the Venom Pro Competition will handle ‘anything that swims on a commercial fishery’. Well, that’s a bold claim to make, but if you discount the occasional matchman in possession of a 25-yards certificate who accidentally performs a backward-facing platform dive, it’s probably not far off the mark. The Venom Pro is said to accommodate everything from skimmers and F1s right through to the largest carp.
That would make it Ronseal in a pole holdall, so to ensure that it could indeed do ‘exactly what it says on the tin’ a trip to a well-stocked commercial was in order. Where better than Peterborough’s Decoy Lakes? On the day of the live test, despite a bitterly cold easterly wind to contend with, anglers were out in force – a sure sign that spring was just around the corner.
Assembling the 10-sectioned Tri-Cast Venom, I couldn’t fail to notice the exceptional wall strength and generous joint reinforcement – forgiving of the occasional user slip-up, but giving no quarter to big, bruising carp.
I had fitted the pole with hollow size 10 elastic, strong enough to handle Decoy’s feisty carp and barbel, but the Venom will actually take a size 20-plus. Its fish-playing action is relentless, and spreads through the top three sections. The pole seems pretty much impervious to windy conditions, and you can safely throw your shoulder into a fish knowing it won’t let you down.
At its full length its stiffness makes hitting fast bites or fishing up in the water an easy business. But what it does best of all is land fish quickly. It’s a bully boy rather than an all-rounder, yet it’s not overly heavy or difficult to manoeuvre. It does exactly what Tri-Cast says it will – handle anything that swims in a commercial fishery.
Drennan Series 7 14.5m pole
PACKAGE
13m or 14.5m pole, including standard top-2 kit
Two spare top-2 Carp kits
Spare Double 2 Carp kit
Top 2 Cupping kit
60cm and 64mm reinforced extensions
Four Roller Cones
Extractor rod
FIve skid bungs
EVA nose cones for No3 and No4 sections
Six each of PTFE bushes: 3.5mm (1.8mm internal diameter); 3.5mm (2.3mm ID); 4.5mm (1.8mm ID); 4.5mm (3.2mm ID); 5.4mm(1.8mm ID); 5.4mm (4.1mm ID)
Intermediate for No2 section
Four side pull beads
Polemaster pole pot
Two spare cupping kit adaptors
Visi case
4-6 tube Drennan holdall
AVAILABLE SPARES
Additional ST (Standard) top kits, Carp kits, Double 2 Carp kits, extension to 14.5m. All sections can also be purchased separately.
PAY AROUND
13m £649.99; 14.5m £799
Drennan International’s latest mid-priced 13m and 14.5m Series 7 poles are billed by their creators as all-rounders, equally at home catching carp or silverfish.
Now, that in itself intrigues me. Some months ago I was lucky enough to handle an early prototype of this pole. I thought it was well balanced and stiff, and its assembled length was spot-on accurate, not something that can be said of many poles. Nor did it need any cutting back to take the PTFE bushes, so no complaints on that score.
However, the pole I handled was definitely more geared toward silverfish than carp. I thought that it lacked a bit of brawn across its top sections, although it was well balanced and perfectly fishable at its full length.
In a similar vein to its award winning Acolyte Carp pole, Drennan supplies the Series 7 with top kits featuring its unique roller cone side puller system, along with a box of pole accessory paraphernalia that offers many elastication options. Skid bungs and EVA nose cones, which help to keep the pole in tip-top working order, complete the list of goodies.
What I was most excited about, though, was to discover whether the Drennan team had tuned the Series 7 up a bit from the prototype so it was able to handle much bigger fish. The Drennan way is to dot every ‘I’ and cross every cross every ‘T’ before a product is released on to the market, so I had few doubts that the pole’s ‘all-rounder’ tag would prove to be correct.
To put it through its paces I took the 14.5m Series 7 along to one of the best live test venues I know of. Oxfordshire’s famous Rolfs Lake is packed with big carp that have seen it all before, and are renowned for being battle-hardened. Believe me, over the years I have seen some seriously expensive and supposedly super-strong Match kits completely destroyed by these finned devils, originally stocked the creator of the lake, Rolf Wobbeking, and now lovingly tended by John Bennett.
With these Rolfs Lake fish having such a reputation for mayhem I chose a Carp 2 side puller top kit with fairly hefty Drennan Pink Bungee elastic rated 14-16 – despite this being winter, when fish are supposedly lethargic.
I kicked off the session with maggots fished on the drop at full depth, and caught a few small roach – not particularly exciting, as I had hoped for the odd big chub to put in an appearance. Still, it proved the pole had enough stiffness to generate a quick tip speed at its full 14.5m length, proving its worth for silverfish.
A change to a single grain of sweetcorn brought about an altogether different response from the Rolfs fish. I didn’t have to wait long for the float to disappear, and in an instant the pole hooped over as a carp, less than chuffed about having its lip pulled, used its tackle-snapping cocktail of strength and speed to attempt an escape. Now we would really see how powerful the Drennan team had ended up making the Series 7 pole.
Clearly, as you can see in the photograph, its flexing action still spreads across its top five sections, and while this clearly isn’t an out-and-out power carp pole, the section walls are beefy enough to instil an air of confidence, should you hook up with a unit.
When under stress the section joints all pull apart quickly and cleanly, and just to give the pole the full Rolfs treatment I even foolishly attempted to play a few fish off sections 5 and 6, just to see if it would collapse under the strain.
I can happily report that even when subjected to what would have to be classed as bad angling practice, the Series 7 remained firm and reliable, turning in a good all-round performance…. just as Drennan said it would.
Team Daiwa ZR1Plus 13m pole
PAY AROUND
£350
Having recently run the rule over Daiwa’s turbo-charged top-of-the-range ZR5 pole, I was keen to find out if the rather more modestly priced entry level ZR1 Plus could generate a similar high-octane performance.
Obviously lengths and prices would need to be taken into account, since the ZR5 16m will set you back just shy of a grand, while the 13m ZR1 Plus relieves you of less than half that, at just £350.
All poles in the Team Daiwa ZR range are pitched by Daiwa as credible all-rounders with a leaning towards commercial fishery work, but with typical thoroughness the company hasn’t taken the easy route and built the ZR1 Plus on the same mandrel as its less aristocratic relation. Too many companies, it seems, use the same mandrel with an inferior carbon cloth wrapped around it for their introductory models – not Daiwa.
The entry level TD ZR1 Plus is built to a unique set of specifications, ensuring just the right degree of balance, flexibility, power and stiffness through every section.
Some of those accreditations I went on to prove during a bitterly cold and windswept live test session at the recently reopened and restocked East Delph fishery near Whittlesey in deepest, darkest Fenland.
“What?” I hear you cry. “Catching carp from a recently stocked lake is like shooting fish in a barrel!” But let me tell you this. When the waters freezing cold and there’s a penetrating easterly wind blowing across the Fens straight from Siberia, nothing with fins wants to eat, even fish that may never before have seen a hook.
In conditions like these breadpunch is really your only option – the bait should be set to fish a couple of feet off bottom. Then it’s a matter of throwing down the prayer mat before sitting and waiting to see if something inquisitive swims along and knocks into it. Feeding anything at all only lessens your chances of catching but bites, if they do come, are rarely missed. The fish suck in the soft, swollen dough and virtually hook themselves.
Pole set-ups should involve the use of softishelastics, and mine on the day was white Hydro. Don’t fish too light a rig, as you’re never quite sure what you’re going to hook into. This was exactly what happened during the live test. After two hours of bone-chilling torment, out of nowhere the float simply disappeared, followed by a streaming ribbon of white rubber.
The Team Daiwa ZR1 Plus took on an unexpectedly beefy fighting curve and showed off its big fish power-playing action that kicked in over its top four sections. No bouncing around wildly like an unruly décolletage, the pole was snappier than a crocodile handbag and tighter than a duck’s rear end.
I had already been impressed by its rigidity while shipping it out and now I was mega-impressed by its loutish nature.
It certainly isn’t the lightest pole at 13m I have ever handled, but it couldn’t be classed as overly heavy or unwieldy. Nor is it top-heavy, as so often happens with a cheaper pole. The section walls are sturdy enough to instil angler confidence without appearing to have been chiselled from granite.
But, most importantly, Daiwa has cleverly built a pole with a very fast taper. Not only does this impart impressive stiffness, it also helps to give it a top-end feel.
To its smart build specifications you can add top kits with reinforced side puller kit areas, section alignment arrows, and a reversible mini extension that fits its eighth and ninth sections.
All in all the ZR1 Plus stacks up very well against its much more expensive flagship stablemate.
Middy XS5-2 8.5m Dual Action
PACKAGE
Slide-out flick tip, extra Karp2 G-25 kit, Safe-Zone Karp reversible mini-butt, one full Hi-Viz elastication kit.
PAY AROUND
8.5m package RRP £199.99, shop around price £139.99
In its silverfish guise, this super-slim 8m pole’s telescopic flick tip kit allows you to whip small fish from the water. However, an additional Karp2 G-25 top kit with Pull-It facility fits into the fourth section, transforming it into a short margin tool. At its full length, the XS5-2 pole fits on to the sixth section of all other Nano-Core poles.
Middy XM10-2 11.5m Power Carp
PACKAGE
Two full Hi-Viz elastication kits, extra Karp2 G-25 kit, Safe-Zone Karp reversible 10m/11.5m mini-butt extension.
PAY AROUND
11.5m package RRP £364.99, shop around price £225
The original Middy XM10 model sold in its thousands, and this new version is even lighter and more responsive. You won’t believe how rigid this pole is. It comes fitted with a Match3 G-16 kit.