These are impressive I have to say

These are impressive I have to say, they secure the pole rigs well and are not difficult to undo at the end of the session. At the other end I have had Pulla Bungs fitted so I can easily shorten the elastic – thanks to Ryan Watson of Sutton (who is in this year's England U18 squad) and David Sandford who furbished the pole.

One extra I asked for is a short No 4 that is a useful piece of kit as it stiffens the pole even more.
The pole is very smooth but I am not totally convinced about the "suncore" finish which is supposed to keep things cool in the sun.

Although smooth, you certainly feel the joints as they go through your hands but the pole is extremely strong. I get the impression it can take more punishment than my old one.

My first outings with my new toy was to Hartleylands Farm and I told of my disasters there in last week's paper. Last Sunday I went with Wars to fish at Tylers Common's Horseshoe Lake near Brentwood, Janet and Arthur Birch run the fishery and always make me welcome.
I drew peg 25 on the far arm and decided to set up a pellet waggler, method feeder plus pole rigs.

To cut a long story short, the method feeder wasn't used and a small carp fell to the pellet waggler, thereafter it was all pole work. Maggots over ground bait gave me skimmer bream but it was cat meat that sorted out the carp. One mirror carp gave a very good account of itself and took 20 minutes to land. The pole proved it was strong with no noticeable give when gripped tightly, so apart from the cosmetics and lack of a short four, it is simply brilliant.

I fished with 38-8-0 for second on my bank behind Steve Allen of New Addington on 42lb. But we could do nothing against the top four on the opposite bank who had over 75lb.