Went out for a day with work last week – borrowed a small margin pole, fished for trout on a lovely stretch of the Irwell and really enjoyed it.

Already have 30 year old glass match rod, so picked up a cheap reel (Shimano, naturally), a license, and headed to our local lake this morning.

Managed to catch a few roach and perch, more by luck than judgement, so I’m happy.
But my god, the faff – endless tangles with the lightweight rig and I’ve forgotten how to cast and how to use a reel.

I’ll be practicing with the rod and reel on local lakes, but fancy a pole, possibly telescopic, for faff free river walks.

Good idea?

Chap from work (qualified coach) recommends an 11 meter pole with a couple of tops, just using a few sections for lightweight river sessions, all of it for lakes and the local canals.
Fine, but I don’t really want to spend that much.

Will a cheaper, shorter pole, maybe telescopic, restrict me significantly?

Recommend anything?

Whereabouts on Th`irwell are there trout ?

For faff free fishing on the move get a short telescopic spinning rod and just spin for perch and pike. Easy to cast and lovely wandering along on summer evenings and having a cast at likely looking spot. Just a pocket of different spinners and a net.

heard of n + 1?

well it applies to fishing rods as well

impossible to have one solution for everything. short telescopic pole is the equivalent of a fixed wheel track bike – designed for something really specific, useable for other things, but not as good as the right tool for the job…

I have a wee shimano exage telescopic rod n reel that fit into a camelbak mule, perfect for liberating some ‘oppressed’ trout… 😈

cheekyboy – Member

Whereabouts on Th`irwell are there trout ?

Pretty much everywhere north of Manchester city centre, apparently. 🙂
We were in Nuttall Park in Ramsbottom and further down toward Irwell Vale.

csb – Member

For faff free fishing on the move get a short telescopic spinning rod and just spin for perch and pike.

Nobeerinthefridge – Member

I have a wee shimano exage telescopic rod n reel that fit into a camelbak mule, perfect for liberating some ‘oppressed’ trout…

Good point.
Had a very cheap telescopic spinning rod for mountain tarns and rivers a couple of years back – could be an option.
Tried combining it with bike trips, but I ended up freezing my arse off when stopped and having to drag too many bits and bobs about.

Still fancy the simplicity of a pole though.

The problem with telescopic poles, is control when you start trying to break it down to land a fish from distance, compared to the ease of putting on and taking of a section to add and remove length when required quickly.

At least two top kits, one with lighter elastic than the other is ideal, so when the little fish move out and the bigger fish move in, you can move up tackle to keep pace, another thing you can’t do with a telescopic.

The only telescopic poles I own are whip poles, so no elastic, but perfect for winter days were little fish and lots of them are the usual order of the day, winter bread punch a fun way to fish with plenty of fish, and often a surprisingly good weight by the end of the day.

Faff free fishing… Dynamite?