Beginner

[Jay The Fish]

I am very new to Freshwater fishing and I need a bit of guidance, I know there is a lot of different Methods of fishing such as Float, Ledgering, Pole etc, but can you do this type of fishing with a TF Banshee or will you need specific Rods & Reels for the method you would like to fish? For example if you want to fish for Pike, do you need a specific rod for that or is it what method you want to fish is the rod you need. Thanks

Jay The Fish

[BoldBear]

The type of fish you are after usually decides what type of rod and other tackle you will need.
There are rods that are deemed all-rounders but even they have their limitations.

For example a John Wilson Avon/Quiver rod is one of these all round rods which can be used for Large Roach and at the same time can be used for Carp up to a maximum of around 20lb although it is stretching it a bit at either end of this scale.

It has a normal Avon type tip section as well as a quiver tip section so can be used for close in float work or legering and also comes with a quiver tip section; however it is not that good at fishing a waggler at any range especially on a damp day because the line will stick to the blank due to not having stand-off rings like a true float rod would have, plus the blank is not as responsive so casting a light waggler more than a couple of rod lengths out can be a tad hard; plus a 20lb Carp will challenge its capabilities to the extreme.

Mullti-Purpose/all round rods are a ‘jack of all trades’ but not a true master of any type of angling outside of their main class. They are brilliant for an angler who only owns one type of rod but once the angler gets into freshwater angling a bit more he or she will soon realise that one rod will not suffice for all of the different types of fish or types of fishing he or she wants to do.

If I were to advise someone on rods who wanted to be able to catch most classes of freshwater fish without limiting themselves I would advise the following four types of rod:

1. A 12 or 13ft light float rod; for Roach, Rudd, Dace, small to medium Bream, Tench, Crucians and Perch, gudgeon, Bleak etc.
2. A Commercial float rod; for bigger specimens like small to medium sized Carp, Barbel, larger Tench, Bream, Perch and large Crucians.
3. An Avon/Quiver rod either a 1.25lb Test Curve or 1.5lb test curve; for Chub, Barbel, Carp at close to medium range, large roach, crucians.
4. A Carp rod of between 2.25lb up to 2.75lb test curve; for medium or long range carp fishing or at the higher test curves for Pike fishing.

Notes:
1 and 2 both have stand-off rings suitable for casting light floats a fair way accurately or for long trotting when needed even on damp days without the line sticking to the blank.

Additional rods that may be added to your armoury:
• lure rod(s) suitable for spinning or using other types of lure for fish like Pike, Perch and Chub.
• A decent Pole; These are excellent for presenting a bait precisely using very sensitive floats at up to around 14 metres; they can be bought to cover fish of all sizes including largish Carp; but are limited in length so are only good at short range.

I have loads of rods but the ones I currently use a lot are:

Leger rods:
• Greys 1.7lb tc Prodigy Barbel rod which I use for catching barbel, Chub and Tench on the leger.
• I also have a Greys Prodigy Specialist twin tip which comes with a 1.5lb and 2lb tip sections which I Use for Carp on rivers plus the normal Barbel Chub and large Tench. The 2lb tip also comes in handy in flood conditions when a little more lead is needed to hold against stronger currents.
• John Wilson Avon/Quiver: I use this for catching Chub and Perch.

Float rods:
• A 13ft Diawa Amorhous Whisker light float rod; A brilliant rod used for Roach, Rudd and Dace etc.
• A 13ft Drennan MKIV Tench Float rod; which is designed for lines between 3lb and 8lb and is a great rod for catching large Tench, Barbel and river Carp up to around 15lb-ish.

I have rods for all other types of fishing but I currently use the ones above most of the time.

Anyway hope this has been of some help to you.

Tight lines

Keith (BoldBear)

[chunky]

I was told last night by a chap working in my local tackle shop that a Shakephere Omni X 9ft quiver feeder rod cannot be used for float fishing.

Is this true, if so can someone please explain.


Many Thanks.


Edit:- I'm sure the answer is in the 3rd paragraph of Boldbears post above, so apologies for being dim.

[BoldBear]

Originally Posted by chunky

I was told last night by a chap working in my local tackle shop that a Shakephere Omni X 9ft quiver feeder rod cannot be used for float fishing.

Is this true, if so can someone please explain.


Many Thanks.


Edit:- I'm sure the answer is in the 3rd paragraph of Boldbears post above, so apologies for being dim.

A quiver tip rod cannot be used for float fishing because the quiver is too soft to cast a float very far and to be able to strike through the float to the hook.

Think about it, the line will go along the surface to the float and then down to the hook at a right angle, so you won't be fishing directly in-line with the hook.

When you strike you will need to be able to pickup this slack line through the float and down to the hook, so you need a crisp tip that will be able to pick up this slack line quickly and cleanly to enable the strike to reach the hook with enough power to set the hook.
Plus a rod of around 12ft to 13ft is advisable to help you to do this easily.

On the other hand a quiver-tip is just a soft and bendy bite indicator at the end of your rod for a line that goes directly down to the hook so there is a more direct strike to the hook when you strike, plus the power behind the strike is got from further down the rod.
Plus a quivertip rod can usually be slightly shorter as well.

I hope I have described this ok for you, as Im not very good at explaining things.

Keith (BoldBear)

[chunky]

Originally Posted by BoldBear

A quiver tip rod cannot be used for float fishing because the quiver is too soft to cast a float very far and to be able to strike through the float to the hook.

Think about it, the line will go along the surface to the float and then down to the hook at a right angle, so when you strike the force will need to go through the float then down to the hook, so you need a crisp tip that will be able to pick up the slack line quickly and cleanly to enable the strike to reach the hook;
On the other hand a quivertip (which is soft and bendy) is just a bite indicator for a line that goes directly down to the hook so there is a direct strike to the hook when you strike.

I hope I have described this ok for you, as Im not very good at explaining things.

Keith (BoldBear)

The penny has dropped now, many thanks for the explanation.

I can undertand it now clearly so you muct be good at explaining things.


Thanks again

Keith (chunky)