# Question about carpin gear???



## rockbass (Apr 16, 2004)

Ok guys, I am not knocking any of you, I am just curious and confused.

What is it with these really long rods?? I mean a 12 ft or longer rod?? what does a rod like this do for you while carping that a 6 or 7 ft rod would not do?? I am wondering. To me, it is overkill. Also what about these fancy rod holders?? what do they do that a simple stick would not do?? Another over kill to me. Or are these holders just for these long rods?? Or are these rods and holders just something that goes along with carping for serious carpers. I mean if I go fish for carp, I just use the same baitcaster or open face I would use for channel cats or for bass. Seems to work just fine. Are these things just like maybe a 6500 Abu is to Catfishing?? Please be nice, I am just curious and know someone can fill me in!


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## crappielooker (Apr 5, 2004)

to me...and this is my opinion only..the longer rods are used to cast out bait at a good distance..im sure you can't cast 100yds with 7ft poles, and be accurate at the same time(i know i can't do it)..also the longer rods gives you a better fighting leverage when fighting the fish..i use my bass and steelhead rods for carp before i bought my real carp rods, and it never cause me any trouble..
as far as the holder goes, its just another toy that we(carpers) like to have..its able us to go and mingle with others while still fishing..we usually use a bite alarm along with the holder..it let us know when we have the fish on..thats it.
with that said, i know you can catch fish with just your rod and reel and some sticks..some people just take it too seriously..i'm included..


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## mrfishohio (Apr 5, 2004)

A long rod can take up alot of line fast, which is neccessary on distance fishing. With a short rod on a long distance, with the slack in the line & the stretch of the line, you wouldn't get much of a hookset. At least that's why I use them surf fishing for stripers, figure it's true of carp too.


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## TimJC (Apr 6, 2004)

Ditto what the others said.

The long rods and relatively light in action and they length allows casting distance and the ability to play these fish which have soft lips.

The Rod Pods or banksticks, when coupled with bite alarms and bite indicators, allow you when the fish takes line or runs back at you (backbite). The farther out you fish the more likely a backbite becomes. The Bite indicator is essentially a weighted swinging arm that takes up some of the slack, thereby causing he bite alarm to go off again. The rod pod and alarm are most effective when fished with a hair rig and bolt setup. This way when the alarm goes off the fish is usually already hooked.

Rod Pods are expensive, frivelous and not necessary, but the more you fish for carp (or even catfish) the more valuable they become. While there there are times where I don't a rod pod, this one single item makes bankfishing more enjoyable and a lot easier. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of fishing.


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## flathunter (Apr 5, 2004)

I think a 6500 is kinda on the bottom end of cattin tackle, I think these guys love there sport, and enjoy spending money on quality gear.


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## Miso_Ohio (Apr 6, 2004)

The long rods are overkill if you fish the margins are the shore like most people do. They are very helpful when fishing bodies of water where you may need to cast 60 to 100 yards with chum and bait to get to a shelf of flat that fish may feed on (I can get there with normal rods, but with no accuracy). They also can prove very useful in waters with a lot of slice offs, having a longer rod puts the angle of the line from you to the fish much higher, helping to avoid some of those sharp rock. Another helpful thing about these rods is that they are very limber, carp (especially the large ones) can be very skittish, and when they decide to run all out on you the soft rod tip help takes some of the snap to help keep the hook in the mouth, these fish are not like catfish, they have a very soft mouth,hook pulls are common. Me personally I don't use anything to fancy as far as rods, I have my normal Ugly Sticks and they work just fine for me 90% of the time.

One thing I about the gear I love is the Baitrunners, which are dual drag spinning reels, they let the fish take the bait and not the rod until you engage the fighting drag. Kind like a clicker on a baitcaster, helps me because I do not use baitcasters. Back when I was first starting I use to freeline a lot, where you sat there and watched your line twitch until you where able to set the hook. Every once in awhile a fish would just grab the bait and go, thus you almost lose the rod. Since messing with the hair rig I notice the last scenario a lot, you normally get no warning, the first time a fish touches the bait it is normally a hook-up and they take off as fast as they can go. Lost a few rods when messing with this, convinced me to invest in some baitrunners.

As for the fancy rod holders, I still like sticks, but you can't always find them. My first investment was something called banksticks which are basically a post with a drill bit end on them to screw in the ground. Then you have an assortment of things to screw in to them from Bite alarms to a simple rod holder. These work great and are pretty cheap, the next move was those crazy bite alarms, basically a device that beeps and flashes everytime the line moves. These work great for me for both catfish and carp. With them I can fish in complete darkness, something I like to do, and even doze off and not worry about missing anything because the alarm will wake me. 

Now for the Rod Pod (the really fancy rod holders), these come in handy when fishing a venus where you cannot use a bank stick or any stick for that matter. Like cement steps going into the water, crushed stone, a breaker wall where the ground is all stone and other places like that. This didn't bother me too much until I started traveling to more venues to chase larger fish. Laying a rod on the ground is not a solution with a fish with the reputation the carp has to stealing rods. When I finnally broke down to purchase one (used of course) I started using it more and more. When traveling I sometimes don't know what kind of surface I will be fishing on so I bring it along because I can use it no matter what. A bankstick (or normal stick in the ground) may not always be a solution.

So to answer your question in summary, what you describe is a great setup, I still use it when I head to buckeye to get in a few hours of fishing and catch a bunch of 5-12 lb fish (which use to be huge to me). When I go out on what we call a session, where I may fish for 6-40 hours, where I prep my hookbait area with chum and wait and hope for the bruisers, I like to have those fancy pods and bite alarms. Hope that helps.


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## cwcarper (Apr 5, 2004)

Those longer rods definitely help you cast more accurately...particularly if you are using some of the rigs/methods that require casting heavier weights (either in the form of sinkers, method feeders, packbait, or pva bags). That's the biggest advantage for me...but there are many other reasons for using the longer rods that the others have also mentioned.


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## rockbass (Apr 16, 2004)

Ok I guess that answers my questions guys. I guess if I were fishing where i needed to cast a mile, I would like the longer rods too. I understand with the pods as you call them. I have been in situations where I could not use a stick or one of me rod holders, I just made due with the rocks I was fishing. 

I am interested in getting on of the baitrunner open face reels for cattin. I like the baitcasters, but would also like an open face. That would also be nice for my dad because he can not use a baitcaster and when we night fish, he needs the lantern to see his pole. I don't always want to use a lantern, so that would help me out there. I just have not had the money to buy one yet!

Now when you start talking about hair rigs and bolt rigs, I get lost so I won't go there! Hair rigs to me are jigs for bass! bolt rigs are a kit for your car or truck!   Thanks guys for the info! I just don't want to go to a carp event some day and be laughed at or laugh at others because of this funny stuff! I simple worm or corn is what I always used, I just never reallt got into it before!


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## RiverRat (Apr 5, 2004)

Long rods:
Help cast longer distances with greater accuracy, play big fish on lighter lines, control fish better.Cast bigger sinkers for the many carp rigs we use.
-VS-
Short rods:
Short casting distance, no control over large fish, if to heavy of action, they are no fun to fight fish on, too light you cant cast heavy leads, method feeders, ect.

Fancy rod holders(this one makes me lol...)

Pods:
Stable as all heck in all weather conditions, can be used on all surfaces like concrete, rock, dirt, ect. Hold your rods very well and you can even fish "locked-up" when fishing close to snag areas. Also you can use rods from 4ft-15ft with them & you can use baitcasters with them.

Basic forked sticks:
Not stable(unless you cut down a BIG branch), can only be used on soft ground, truthfully just a starter rod rest for beginners or kids!!

Alarms:
Well you have to fish with them to find the answer...i will NEVER fish any bait on bottom with out some sort of baitrunner/baitcaster reel combo and my alarms.
Just finished a trip to the Ohio river and we caught a TON of fish using our rod pods w/ alarms and they are worth there weight in gold to us.Live baits for smallmouth bass, whitebass, hybrid stripers, drum...cut bait for channel cats & flatheads, other baits for buffalos & carp......all sorts of rods and reels, both spinning & casting work!

I have 4 rod pod set ups:
One that i use for my light rods, mostly 6-8 lb line for smaller species like hybrid stripers, smallmouth, ect.(Okuma EB20 & EB30 reels are AWSOME light action baitrunners, 7ft-8.5ft rods!)
A med one for channel cats, smaller carp, ect.(Shimano 3500BTR's & Okuma EB50's, long 12' rods)
A heavy model that i use on big fish....and one very old pod that my boys share when fishing with me. 


Guess some of us look at these LM bass guys and think thier $30k boats are WAY over-kill to catch an avg. 1-3lb bass in Ohio......but thats for another days topics...lol   

"To each is own"

Scott


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