Maver Enigma 1 Carp Pole 16m

After returning to angling 12 months ago I always new that an upgrade to my existing pole would be difficult to resist.

I'd had my Shimano Technium since 2006 and it had never let me down. However it had of course been superceded by newer technology and was "only" 12.5m long. Factoring in top section cut backs and the fact that you couldnt really fish it at full length meant I had a usable pole of around 10m in reality.

This in itself isnt a problem. How often do I, someone who doesnt fish matches,  really need to fish longer ? Well I was starting to fish some snake type lakes and was only able to reach 2/3rds of the way over, meaning a lot of options were blocked off to me.

So, I wanted - if not needed a new pole, as I could now justify a reason to upgrade to myself !. At first I bought a Maver Grim Reaper. A great budget pole but in reality not giving me the length advantage over the Technium, as I found back on the Oaks I was still 6 feet away from fishing near the far shelf.

So i sold the virtually new Grim Reaper,  reset my budget and after reading reviews, holding one in the shop and finding a price far cheaper than anywhere else I bought the Maver Enigma 1 Carp Pole 16m.

Wanting a 16m pole wasnt even  in the equation, If it was good at 13-14.5m Id be happy. After 4 trips I'm blown away by this pole. Now any opinions I form have to be tempered by the fact I've never fished with any other 13m + poles for comparison. I did compare the Enigma in the shop with both cheaper and more expensive poles and to me, it was the best balanced of all I tried.

So with that statement I can say I love using this pole and it has made my fishing more enjoyable and probably successful compared to its venerable predecessor. 

Its stiff and light. Virtually unoticeable at 13m and fishable all day at 14.5m (particularly if not in a gale as per my last trip !)

Its crisp on the strike and on carp to 7-8lbs has responded flawlessly.  I was slightly concerned coming from the Technium, which is built like a Land Rover of the pole world, that any new pole would shatter in use as im obviously used to being heavy handed.  However up to now the only issue has been a small crack at the top of the No.4 section, caused by my clumsiness - trying to stop a running carp on a top 2 by adding sections and not getting the pole together properly.

The pole finish is lovely and whilst it doesnt have some of the features of the more expensive Mavers it ships beautifully in my opinion.

The Enigma comes with 1 match kit and 3 power kits. The power kits all have side puller slots and are re-inforced at this point and work very well on the bank. Added to this is a very good quality holdall, mini extension for 13/14.5 and 16m sections and cupping kit with cups.

One huge benefit on purchasing this pole is having the top kits pre bushed. All my kits and cup kit are now the same length. No need to try and adjust where I drop bait when cupping in anymore.

I've added another match kit to the collection and have fitted a variety of elastics from blue hydro to 14-16 Drennan. Originally I was going to keep the Technium for margin work but sold it to help purchase the Enigma and I have no qualms about using it for this task, or indeed as a silver fish pole either.

I havent needed to fish longer than 14.5m but it seems manageable if not desirable for too long a session. 

As I said im not able to review the Enigma as a comparison to other poles in its price range but as an upgrade from my old pole the difference is amazing.

Im very satisfied with my purchase

Thanks .

Robin.

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Fowl and Foul - Fri 18th July 2014. The Oaks Sessay, Cedar Lake

Today would be my last fishing trip for the next 4 weeks, so I wanted to cram in as much as possible. I was undecided as to where to go, but didn't feel this was the time to search out a new venue. I decided to head back to The Oaks and back to Cedar Lake.

To anyone not familiar or fresh to my blog - Cedar is a snake type `canalised` lake approx 13-15m wide. Due to the way the lake twists and with the lush vegetation on the banks and islands,  most pegs feel very secluded and can give you a real sense of peacefulness if not heavily fished. In fact I didnt see or hear another angler all day. So much for holes in the ground !

Chris and Rob in the shop had said anywhere was as good to fish on the lake so I chose peg 5 on a relative straight. Firstly this peg had won the last 2 opens IIRC and secondly I had my back to the easterly wind that was forecast to get stronger as the day progressed. The trees behind me gave some shelter but there was still a nice gentle ripple from left to right (not that it would stay gentle for long !). In fact the day was red hot at the moment and getting hotter.

I`d brought the following for the day :-

2 pints of red maggots with a few whites mixed in
Micro and 4mm fishery feed pellets
A pint of hemp
2 tins of cubed 4/6mm meat
2 tins of corn
I also pumped up some 4 and 6mm expanders for the hook on arrival at the peg.

Finally, the night before I`d mixed up some groundbait - Dynamite green Swim Stim and Bait-Tech Sweet Fishmeal mixed 50-50.

So as per usual I'd covered most options and had to decide which way to start.

The peg had 2 bushes over on the far side with 8 feet inbetween but the stand out feature was 5m to my left, the margin had a cut out about 2 feet square in the reeds with an overhanging bush on the far side of the 'hole' from me.  Getting a rig in if the wind increased could take some manouvering.

I spend a good 20 minutes plumbing about. The cutout was only 8-10" deep which worried me a bit but a visit from Chris to collect the ticket money confirmed this would be the spot to target. I also had around 18" tight across at 14.5m and found a nice little hole 2" deeper than the surrounding water at the base of the near shelf at 45 degrees.

I wont go into all the minutae of my rigs as they are similar to previous posts but I did set up the following.

I would start off at 14.5m on a 4 or 6mm expander over some loose groundbait  and a few micros using a ND 0.2G mini gimp.

I fed 4 cups of groundbait plus a pot of hemp and corn combined in the margin swim and leave for a few hours or until I noticed fish movement. For here I had a 0.2G NG mini-diamond with a fatter bristle for bigger baits.

On the '5m' line I threw in a handful of hemp and 6 cubes of meat. I wanted to give this line at least an hour to settle so would throw in a few cubes every 5 mins. This would be approached with a NG Decker to fish starting dead depth.

Lastly at about 8m to my left I'd rigged up another 0.2G mini-gimp to fish shallow and would ping in 4mm pellets every minute to fish over with a 6mm.

I started on the long line. Checking the response before deciding whether to refeed or not. I had the float dotted right down in true F1 style and was getting dips straight away on a 4mm expander. Annoyingly even trying to lift into the bite was usually dropping the expander off but I did catch a roach before refeeding via a kinder pot and catching an F1 of a pound. 

I decided to try a hard banded pellet to get over the soft pellet fun but this just led to unhittable bites. Trying a bought hooker pellet seemed less appealing to the fish and I knew I couldn't continue as before. I'll admit that I'm no expert with using soft pellets and need to really develop this side of my fishing.  Combined with fishing at 14.5m for virtually the first time was not good. I decided to keep on feeding micros and some 4mm but with corn added.
This did the trick and after a chunky ide I was getting some more F1s. By now the glorious heat wave was replaced by rain and the wind had swung 180° to be in my face before settling on blasting down from left to right.

I refed and tried the short meat line but this only produced 2 skimmers in the entire day, despite feeding it for the whole session and trying shallow as well which surprised me a bit.

I'd already noticed tails up in the margin and couldnt resist.  Corn brought me a roach before a little mirror was added. I added another carp then nothing. Dead. I tried a variety of baits but couldnt get a touch.
I was worried I'd blown the swim for good so decided to refeed a pot of groundbait every half hour and leave for a while. I would look over every now and then but it really seemed dead.

This is when the local ducks decided to try and clear out the swim. Every time I looked away they were in, 3 of them upside down gorging on corn and groundbait.  Now I'm a real animal lover, I'm happy to feed birds on the bank and take in nature around me. But these ducks were the most persistent I've ever known ! Usually if they see a pole nearby they'll  politely  swim off. These ones would retreat 10 feet and stare at me waiting for ne to look the other way. It was becoming a battle of wits. I needed to nurse this swim to catch some fish and I couldnt see even the most greediest carp out muscling Huey, Duey and Louey in 8" of water !

Whilst the duck stand off continued the wind was now ripping across me. Id gone back onto the long line but with corn and was catching some nice F1s and carp. The fish were pretty switched on though and would try and bolt into the LHS bush when hooked.  2 of them managed to snag me but the rest I generally landed once in open water. But by now the wind was getting dangerous to hold the pole in. I changed the feeding pattern to catapulted 4mm pellets and corn and when the wind dropped I'd try going back over.

I dropped onto the shallow swim when the afternoon fishing lull kicked in. I'd gone through the soft pellet frustration again so converted the swim a bit by starting to feed maggots instead. This brought plenty of roach and rudd plus a large ide which I lost. But generally very small. I tried on the deck on this line but with very happening.

Eventually, in late afternoon the carp were back vying with the feathered trio for my bait. It was tricky negotiating the bait into position with the gusting wind and I had to fish with a bit of line above the float as the pole would spook the carp if too short. Corn brought a tiny roach before I changed to paste and started getting some more fish. At one point I had 2 in 2 drops for a combined 10lb. But I was now inevitably getting foul hooked fish. Some leading to inevitable hook pulls whilst others I would land.   Trying the slighty deeper water away from the edge just wasnt productive. The fish were where they and I wanted them just catching them cleanly was difficult.

I ended the session with about 40lbs give or take 5 and had plenty to think about. Id had a frustrating but good day.  I managed to lose 2 floats in the foliage (though my own ham fistedness...not due to them breaking) and lost easily twice what I landed.

Perhaps a heavier float in the margins would have caused less far hookers and a method feeder on the far line im sure would have caught once the wind got up and I certainly need to learn more about the art of pellet fishing.

As I packed away a solitary white goose swam around the margins hissing at me for not clearing away quickly enough. The birds obviously knew this was when they and the carp still wallowing in the margins could finally get to that bait without interference !

Thanks for reading as ever.

Please leave any comments, thoughts or advice. Its very welcome.

Tight lines

Robin

Review - Nick Gilbert Pole Floats

It's a well used adage in angling that pole floats catch more anglers than fish and its certainly true in my case.

I have dozens of floats that have never seen water and probably never will.Its also true that a handful of patterns would more than likely 'do' for the type of  fishing I partake in , however using the right tool for the job gives me confidence in my gear and presentation.

There is a trend at the moment for hand made floats to be en vogue and I've tried a few makes. Surely there are great mass produced floats out there as well ? Well there are. But again it comes back to confidence again. Trust that the float wont break or bend and do what's asked of it.

Which brings me on to the handmade and Commercial XT pole float range available on-line from Nick Gilbert.

I can easily say that Nick's floats are the best I've ever used. They are beautifully crafted and look good (enough reason on its own for some anglers !); they are strong enough to cope with commercial fish abuse; they carry the shot stated on the float (if I shot 1 float up in a tube, I know others will shot the same without having to go through the full process again) and they are all stable and do the jobs they are meant to do.

The 3 floats shown above are (from top to bottom):-

NG Mini Gimp - 1.5mm hollow tip and wire stem. Lovely short float ideal for fishing shallow, far banks on canal type lakes, or even as a margin float.

NG XT Mini Diamond - 2mm hollow tip and carbon stem. Ideal for bigger baits. However I have used this small float with paste and found compared to my usual long bristled paste floats that bites were more positive. From Nick's commercial range but with the same build quality as the hand mades floats IMO.

NG Decker HD - 1.7mm hollow tip and glass stem. Ideal for fishing on or near the bottom with bigger baits like meat or corn. Very stable float.

NG Gimp Glass (not pictured) 1.2mm hollow tip and glass stem. Tremendously versatile float, great for maggots, pellets etc for F1s and silvers on commercials. If I could only choose 1 float for all my fishing, this would it. Another stable, sensitive float.

The floats are available in a myriad of sizes with different tip diameters (& colours) and stem materials or diameters too, so you really can tailor the float to your own specification.

Nick's website is at  www.float-store.co.uk   The XT range are usually available from stock whilst there is a few week wait for the hand mades. The price for the hand made floats is possibly at the premium end of the scale, but these floats are not one session wonders like some I've used. If you've ever had an eye rip out or the float take on water and sit lower during your session you will know what I mean. The price and small waiting time for delivery are worth it and I'll be expanding my own collection soon !

Thanks

Robin

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4th July 2014 - Angel of The North..Lookout Lake

I'd decided to head back to The Angel for today. I wanted to get amongst some of their carp and also try a method I'd never fished before; the pellet waggler.

The forecast was for the day to be warm and overcast but with heavy rain moving in later. However the wind was strong and gusty which wouldn't be ideal. With this in mind I picked peg 1 on the island.

This peg is on the north-east end of the oblong-shaped island,   so would put the wind on my back and give some shelter hopefully as my last trip here had ended badly for my umbrella !

After setting up at my peg I had plenty of open water in front, although with the right side being out of the island's shelter it was pretty choppy and wind-battered. There was a very nice looking margin swim on the left under some bushes with 12-16" of water on top of the shelf.

After writing in this blog about needing to simplify my fishing I of course did the exact opposite and decided on a variety of approaches !

The pellet waggler was something I was determined to try so I set up a 4g middy float on 4.6lb mainline to a 0.14 hooklength and 16 B911  hook. I could comfortably feed 6mm fishery pellets at around 25-30m out and fish a banded 6 or 8mm hard pellet on the hook, fishing shallow in 5 feet of water.

I also decided to rig a bomb rod up with slightly heavier end tackle . I was going to catapult pellets regularly for a few hours before trying the waggler (unless I saw fish activity and I could try earlier) and felt the bomb could be useful on this line if they wanted it on the bottom, however this didn't give me any fish on the day for the little i tried it so I wont mention it anymore.

Bait wise I had 4mm pellets to supplement the 6mms and some micros that I would soak to make paste, something which worked well last summer. I also had dead and live maggots, some hemp and a variety of pastes and hooker pellets as alternatives.
For some reason I seem unable to use 1 groundbait and always combine a few; so I'd mixed a batch the night before from green swim stim, dynamite 50-50 and F1 black. This could be cupped in loose in the shallow margins, made into soft balls or even compressed into paste.

My main plan of attack would still be the pole. I set up 2 initial lines 1 at 6m at the base of the near shelf where I could feed by hand regularly after potting in a small amount of hemp and dead maggots.

I also wanted a long line but the wind was gusting strongly and swirling so I didnt want to take any chances with any breakages by fishing longer than necessary. As the depth was  pretty consistant from the base of the shelf I settled on 10m slightly to my left.

With this being open water I fed a bit heavier putting in a full pot of groundbait and a half a pot of hemp, 4mm pellets and dead maggots again.

I set up a few different rigs all on Nick Gilbert's excellent floats (my review to follow)  and Middy Lo-Viz /Matrix Power Micron lines. A 0.3g Gimp for 6m on .125 main to .105 hooklength with an 18 B911 F1 hook, a 0.4g decker  on .14 to .125 and the same hook in a 16 for 10m. On the same setup as the decker I had a .2g mini gimp in case the fish came shallow and finally a 0.2g mini-diamond on .165 Aspire to 0.14 hooklength and the very strong and sharp Maver CS23 for fishing bigger baits in the margins.

My plan had been to rotate the 6 and 10m swims before feeding the margin line later in the day. However after feeding there were already carp at my feed tails up. I quickly set up another rig and tried to mug an early carp but without any success.

So back to plan A. I started on the short line, and started catching small roach and ide and maggots. After 30 mins I rested this line and went onto the 10m swim, fishing a 4mm expander. With the wind playing havoc with presentation I fished a longer line to the float with a backshot but bar a nice 2lb mirror the fishing wasn't really any better than close in so I returned to 6m 

I'd fed the pellet waggler line over the last few hours so gave it a go. Soon I was into the pattern of feed, cast, feed again and getting some bites around 2 feet deep. These turned out to be, not from carp, but ide up to 1lb. It waa certainly a.nice experience getting back to a float rod (albeit quite a chunky one !) and obviously I'd just scratched the surface of this method. But it was enjoyable and a very active method of fishing, that I'll try again soon.

But now I was itching to get close in and catch some carp hopefully !

I'd dropped groundbait regularly in front of my platform and within a minute the fish were straight in. I wanted another option so as well as this swim I also fed 4 big pots of groundbait in the margin to my left. 

Leaving this line to settle I went back in front and I threw in some dead maggots and tried fishing a big bunch on the hook. I started catching a few  fish, carp between 3-6lbs. The fish always fight like mad here and today was no exception.  Some of the fish plodded around the swim whilst others took off and tried to get around the back of the island. Inevitably I lost a few and had a few foul hookers before catching  some perch. This prompted me to try paste,  which meant longer between fish and a host of liners but alternating between the 2 margin swims kept the fish coming.

Getting a bit carried away towards the end of the session I piled more bait in, trying to entice the bigger sized carp. Whilst this had the desired effect to a degree, it also pulled a load more fish into the swims and by the time I sussed it out I was getting more hook pulls, probably from foul hooked fish. I caught on all the paste I tried but the one made from the groundbait I was feeding seemed to bring the most positive response.

In the end I'd had a really enjoyable day. All my gear and myself were soaked but I'd had 25 carp between 2-7lbs and ide, roach, rudd, skimmers and perch. So a good 10lb of silvers and at least 70 lbs of carp. A great day's fishing and another real try out for the Maver Enigma which continues to impress me more and more.

Tight lines all

Robin

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