Help!!

[Nails4breakfast]

Hi, Im thinking of starting carping next season but I only have coarse gear.
I need to get some new gear preferably a starter set. I have looked at argos and dragon carp as I am on a budget and I was wondering if this gear is any good as its so cheap. hope someone can help me out on this.
many thnx !!

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Ive never used or handled thier gear so cannot really say , but I dont think argus would sell total c==p as they are a big company but there is a saying " you get what you pay for ". Let us know if you do get any kit and how it works out as it would be good to know.

Oh dont forget your local car boot sales as there are a lot of people clearing out thier garages at the moment to free up some money

[Nails4breakfast]

cheers for the advice. Im going to keep my eye out for gear at the carboots etc

[mithrandir]

When you say you want to start carp fishing, how much gear and what sort of budget are you talking about.

You can get some serviceable 2.5lb Tc carp rods for around £20 each ( I still use a couple of Red Wolf ones that cost that much), reels are a big item too, but there are some real good ones under £50 each. I started with £25 ones, not really up to too much hard work, grit and weather soon made them graunchy. I now use Okuma Powerliner big pits at under £50 each.

Bite alarms, these are a minefield, Cheapies are fine on a summers day, but get a two day wet session in them and problems occur, I use Fox ultrons, not cheap but been 99% reliable ( had to open one up and apply a little candle wax to bit that suffered from a bit of water collection). I had some cheap ones but every time it rained they just beeped pathetically at no line movement, then sat silent as line tore through them.

Rod pods, another dodgy area, something simple and stable, to start maybe just a good set of bank sticks, but a cheap frame type if you are on commercial pegs ( hard core or wood swims are a bugger to get bank sticks in).

the bivvy and kit is another thing people blow loads of money on, I have a £70 bivvy, a £20 secondhand bedchair, a £20 secondhand sleeping bag. These have done me proud on long sessions ( had a week in france and the heaviest thunderstorm ever, still sound and dry).

Important thing is, fix a budget, do not get lured by "brand names" to start with, a full "brand name" set up will look good on the bank, give you great street cred, but does not put fish in the net.

Go with what you can afford, enjoy what you do, and when you can afford more, change that which you are not happy with gradually. Alot of your coarse gear will do for a start up, I still fish for carp with a heavy feeder, a baitrunner reel is nice, but you can fish open bail arm with a bite indicator, bite alarms are not needed until you do all nighters.

I hope you enjoy the carp, but do not break the bank trying to keep up with the Carp fishing "designer" gear.

[Nails4breakfast]

Hi , Many thanks for the advice. like you said I think the best thing to do is get the decent kit gradually. Ive got a half decent bivvy already so that will save me a bit. As for the rest I've seen some half decent rods in Boyes for less than £25 each and a baitrunner reel for £30 !. I think im going to stick with bank sticks until I can get a decent pod . Cheers again for the advice.

[grahamscas]

Do you know where is a great place to get your gear from ebay, honestly mate you can pick up some great gear on there and a lot of the time you get it at a great price as long as you don't mind travelling to pick it up.

[toomanyhounds]

pauls angling supplies on ebay. fladen carp rod and reel combo £29 + p&p