Preston Pro Type Carp fishing pole
TECH SPEC
14.5m pole
4 x Roller Pulla Power kits
Cupping kit
Cup and adaptor
Half-extension
Weighs 1,100g at 13m
Preston Pro Type Carp pole. If I had £700 of my own money to spend on a pole I might agonise over which one to buy.
But one thing’s for sure – Preston Innovations’ latest 14.5m Pro Type Carp would be high on my shortest of shortlists. Most of my fishing these days is done on commercials, so I need a pole with an abundance of big-fish stopping power. Nor does it end there. Because I fish all year round, and most places I frequent have healthy stocks of fast-biting F1s that come into the reckoning as the winter draws on, my weapon of choice needs to be stiff and quick enough at its longest lengths to cope with delicate short-line/long-pole-and-pellet tactics.
That seems like a very tall order, unless you’ve got a couple of grand to splash out on a flagship pole. Realistically you can’t expect to buy much more than 14.5m of balanced and user-friendly power pole for under a grand. But it’s not all bad news – most commercials these days respond best to margin, two-plus-two or 13m approaches. A 16m pole is simply not needed. What you want is something well balanced, easy to ship, and fully at home with delicate rigs, light elastics and short-line work.
Naturally, then, Preston’s new Pro Type Carp is right on my radar – it will deliver all that and more. Its lower mass carbon build increases its strength and responsiveness and it feels good in your hands even at its full 14.5m. It boasts reinforced butt sections and joints, section alignment arrows, and an Easy Ship finish that slides through your mitts like a greased grass snake. A generous spares package includes four spare ready-fitted side-elastic Roller Pulla Power top kits, cupping kit with cups, and a half-extension that fits on to its 13m and 14.5m sections.
So, on to the live test at golden peg 6 on Decoy’s Lou’s Lake – the one that wiped the floor with the rest of the field during the recent Winter League final. However, under leaden Cambridgeshire skies whose dark clouds seemed to delight in stopping off to dump a cocktail of rain, sleet and snow over me, it seemed an unlikely place to sit and catch a few. The exposed forward-facing corner peg was being buffeted by a hacking side wind, making rig presentation, feeding and even at times hanging on to the pole something of an ordeal. But when I got it right, plenty of bites were to be had.
At 13m, the pole’s rigidity and unquestionable section wall strength gave me the confidence to lean into the wind, holding fast against the blustery conditions.Even when it was being blown about, the pole-tip remained stiff, and was responsive enough for me to connect with most bites. Most of the carp I caught were in the 4lb-6lb bracket, good weight-builders. And catching them was where the new Pro Type Carp really excelled itself. Look at the main picture and you’ll notice that there’s little linear movement other than along the top four sections. This makes shipping back with a fish on a quick and stress-free operation.
The Preston Roller Pulla top kits that are part of the package are faultless, and can be matched to any type or size of hollow elastic within reason. At its longest 14.5m length it isn’t quite as rigid and quick as it is at 13m, but it’s more than fishable, and would make a great commercial fishery weapon for most match and pleasure anglers
THE VERDICT
Across the board, this second generation of Preston Pro Type poles has much improved build specifications and spares packages over the originals. The new Pro Type Carp is designed solely for use on commercials – stiff but not overly heavy, with good section wall strength. It’s also exceptionally well balanced for a power pole and not at all top-heavy, and it ships flawlessly. The Roller Pulla side-fitted top-2 Power kits that are part of the package are ‘must haves’ and suitable for most elastic sizes.
Mark Sawyer
PAY AROUND
£699.99
Colmic Airon F66 16m fishing pole
TECH SPEC
Colmic Airon F66 16m pole
Eight EC200 top-2 kits
Force-4 section
Three mini half-butt sections
Cupping kit
Holdall
I've fished with Colmic margin poles and rods on several occasions, but until recently I’d never had the pleasure of wielding one of the company’s long poles.
Yet there’s a huge fan club among matchmen for its Italian-made Jolly Floats and Nuclear hooks, not to mention the iconic 16m Colmic X5000 pole and latterly the Airon F55 poles. Its successor, the F66, is on live test duty today. This flagship pole is a hot topic right now on virtually every match fishing website. It’s a full-blooded 16m competition tool, reputed to be able to handle anything thrown at it (almost literally). Light yet ridiculously strong, thanks to high-spec materials and a clever section design, it’s well balanced, with a responsiveness to hit the quickest of bites and the rigidity to tame big fish in less time than it takes you to read about it.
So far so good, but why drain your wallet to the tune of around £2,600? That’s the shop-around price tag, by the way. Live testing a pole of the F66’s pedigree wasn’t easy. It’s so far ahead of what you might reasonably expect it to do; it’s difficult to find a suitable test venue. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, so it was off to the day-ticket Cuckoo Canal Lake at Townsend Fishery near Wisbech.
This is a typical snake lake where fishing just down the shelf in a couple of feet of water in the cold, or tight against the far shelf in warmer weather, will always be a rewarding experience. Both tactics call for just a few inches of line between pole-tip and float, when a gentle lift will set the hook without spooking feeding fish. To do this perfectly requires a pole without bounce or wobble along its top sections.
There needs to be enough mid-section poke to move fish out of the swim without too much of a commotion, and you should be able to lean into the butt sections without fear of them going snap, crackle or pop. Well, in all my years of tackle testing I have never handled anything so uncompromisingly stiff at its longer lengths than the Airon. You feel as though you could lift a decent-sized fish straight out of the water and on to the bank, never mind into a waiting landing net.
These bullish properties are further enhanced by a unique mandrel design in which the 100-tonne, superbly rigid butt section with graphics is installed behind the No8 section to take it to 13m. For a 16m pole, add section No9 behind the butt section, effectively extending its length, and providing it with the added backbone and balance that the superior 100-tonne carbon-built section instils. The pole’s joints are all superbly well reinforced, with enough wall strength to make Hadrian wish he’d used carbon instead of stone.
As for the downside – such as it is – the pole does feel a little wider in diameter on its butt sections than some others, but with all that unbridled power it’s an unavoidable consequence I could easily live with. It still handles superbly, and despite my mini-mitts I never found it uncomfortable to manoeuvre around the swim, even at 16m.
THE VERDICT
Without a shadow of doubt the Airon F66 is THE big-fish pole of the moment, and should be your weapon of choice if you are the least bit reckless when it comes to striking, handling or playing then netting big fish. It will take far more punishment than most flagship models and still come back for more. The Airon is being promoted as an all-rounder, but if you intend to use it for silvers I suggest you invest in a couple of the relevant top kits readily available for this pole from Colmic.
Mark Sawyer
PAY AROUND
£2,999.99
Matrix Torque Carp margin pole
PAY AROUND
£42.99
This ridiculously strong 4.5m pole from Matrix will land the biggest commercial carp that swims, and is intended for use with the heaviest of hollow elastics.
Its powerful progressive action is ideal for snaggy margin work, and because it’s virtually unbreakable it will appeal to the most ham-fisted beginner.
Garbolino UK5 Procarp Match 13m pole
PACKAGE
Top kits: Three Power Lite Puller kits fitted with PTFE Pullers; Power Lite top-2 kits
Extras: Half-reversible multi extension to fit 11.5m and 13m sections; Two-piece Potting Kit and Pots; 10 PTFE bushes with large internal bores; Deluxe holdall
PAY AROUND
RRP £999.99, SSP £799.99
A few months ago I live tested Garbolino’s stunning new UK4 Power Carp pole. This basically backs up the company’s iconic G Max Power Legion, the first pole ever to be launched with a built-in puller kit.
The UK4 pole excelled under the spotlight – well balanced with power to burn – and proved capable of putting together big weights in double-quick time.
So when the opportunity arose to take another of Garbolino’s new UK Carp poles to the bankside for a workout, I jumped at the chance. However, before you join me at Stretton Farm Lakes for the live test, allow me to explain a little about this five-strong collection.
Poles are available to suit everyone’s needs and pockets, starting with the entry level 13m UK7 ProCarp, yours for under £500. It offers strength and rigidity, and is very easy to handle.
The UK6 ProCarp comes in at around £675, and has a super slip-and-slide finish which makes it easy to ship in and out in all weathers.
You can use it at its full 13m all day long without getting weary.
The already live-tested UK4 Carp Power should be on the radar of all serious bag-up merchants.
It’s as powerful a pole as anything I have ever handled, but its balance and rigidity make it a real joy to fish with.
So that just leaves us with the ‘on test’ 13m UK5 ProCarp Match. This pole is claimed by its manufacturer to be the stiffest and lightest of the new series.
To achieve weight reduction Garbolino has used higher grades of carbon-fibre cloth, but with special attention paid to all the key section stress areas and joints. This is exemplified in the super-strong ‘anti-ovalling’ female joints with reinforced areas picked out in blue – they are tough as old boots.
The pole also has impressive wall strength. Having put the squeeze on all nine sections, it’s obvious to me that most of its power is generated from the bottom three, which are nothing short of brutally uncompromising. It will take a lot more than the odd mistimed or overly enthusiastic strike to put so much as a dent in them.
All joking aside, there’s plenty in power in reserve even when you’re really leaning into this pole, which makes it fishable in the unruliest of weather and ideal for any open water venue affected by the wind.
It didn’t take much to keep my rig perfectly presented as a pleasant summer breeze ruffled the surface of Stretton Lakes’ day-ticket carp pool.
The UK5 coped effortlessly with a splasher rig, flicking the light float over with ease and speed every time without causing the pole-tip to smack down annoyingly on to the surface.
It was also nicely responsive when used in conjunction with a full-depth rig, allowing a full potful of pellets and corn to be shipped out without spillage.
Later in the day, and with the larger carp muddying the margins, a change to a heavier rig saw plenty of lively action and a healthy bend in the pole, which by then had come through the day ticking all the right boxes.
VERDICT
This Garbolino offering represents great value for money in a very popular sector of the pole market.
It’s very comfortable to fish with at its full 13m length, with enough clout to be used safely with heavy hollow elastics, and it comes with an enviable spares package which includes a reversible half extension to fit both the 11.5m and 13m sections.