flick tip on the pole - last man standing?

[peytr]

I still have a flick tip on my poles and I'm very happy about it. Kind of 'refusing' to chance, I guess. I bought a nice Shimano pole years ago, elasticated it and never fished it. Always took the old pole with the flick tip. So I sold the Shimano unused to a very happy new owner. Bought another 11m pole that would take a flick tip and lived happily ever after.

I'm curious: Am I the last one who is not on elastic?

 

[nottskev]

A lot of people use flick tips on whips, where the small fish targeted and more supple action of a whip work out well, I very rarely see anything but elastic on poles, for the obvious reason that stiff long poles, light lines, flick tips and big fish, or even medium size fish, don't mix well.

There's a video of a famous match angler, Dennis White, fishing a deep river and catching good roach on a flick tip pole. He says he prefers the feel to playing his fish on elastic, which I get. In another vid, an angler catches some decent perch from a deep reservoir on a flick tip pole - he says it sets the hook at depth better. Both benefit from having a long line under the float, so more stretch.

I don't use a flick tip on a long pole, but, despite everyone telling me you have to cut the tip right back for elastic to work, I do, for small fish on canals etc, put a very light elastic, say no, 3, through the very thin hollow tip section most chop back or throw away. I find that set up works great for roach and bream up to a couple of pounds.

Where are you fishing with your flick tip pole, what are you catching and what line are you using?

 

[peytr]

Where are you fishing with your flick tip pole, what are you catching and what line are you using?

I'm fishing in the Netherlands canals of all sorts, sizes and depths and some lakes. No commercial venues; these are just not my thing.
Roach, rudd, skimmers and bream are the fish I catch no the pole. Hardly any carp or tench and to be honest: I'm in trouble if one of these bite.
I fish in 'free gear choice' matches most of the time and we all tend to grab the feeder when bigger fish is there.

Hook lengths from 0.06 (deep winter, small fish) to 0.14 on the pole, most of the time. I have always used flick tips and in fact 20 or 25 years ago everybody did. I think you are right: poles got stiffer and one might encounter trouble putting a flick tip on a very stiff pole.

Anyhow: for me it feels just right and effective and I'm not trying to start a debate about right and wrong but I'm just curious if anybody else still does it this way, besides on whips.

Please tell where you get the tip parts to wire the thin elastic through: I'm interested in your way of fishing with elastic.

 

[nottskev]

That all makes sense now. For a lot of people here pole fishing revolves around carp. They used to say there is a rat for every person in the UK. Now I think there's a rat and a carp. Obviously, flick tips are out of the question.

The thin elasticated tips I use are limited to specific places - smaller species in shallow water - but they work very well in the right circumstances. The general consensus here is that you must cut pole tips back to stiffen them or the friction/stiction between elastic and side of the tube will stop the elastic working. True, probably, in general, but with short tips of about 80cms and light elastics - the green one in the pic is 0.8mm - I find it works perfectly.

The tips below - bottom ones are standard size for comparison - are all just the top/number one section that comes with the pole or the spare top kit. Many anglers cut them down to a few inches or throw them away. I never understood why. They give you on a canal - our canals are smaller, about 14m wide and often1m or so deep in the middle - nearly a metre of extra reach for no weight gain and are just right with light line and small hooks.

There's a section on here called How Did You Get On. People do a small report on where they fished, how etc with maybe a couple of pictures.. Why not post us something about your fishing in the Netherlands. I always said we need to develop closer connections with Europe.

 

[silvers]

I know the older poles from 30 years ago and more were less insanely stiff, so more suitable for use with a flick tip.
but like nottskev, I only use whips with flick tips these days, although I do use whips up to 10m long. With this much
one in play there’s a lot of space to play the fish ... after all, how often does one actually give line to a bream or roach?

just like nottskev, I actually prefer to have a bit of “action” in conjunction with my lighter elastic in poles ... in some way I actually preferred the old silver butt Connoisseur to either of my more modern poles.
In the UK, many angler remove the no. 1 section completely when elasticating.

 

[108831]

Whips imo are a no elastic zone,for use bagging smaller fish to hand,we all know you can be lucky and land big hard fighting fish on a whip,but normally it's curtains,in fact I prefer long pole fishing for quality fish,if I use one at all,fishing an elasticated pole for small fish is a scratching method for me,when you are needing good presentation to catch a few fish...

 

[RMNDIL]

When I fished in Germany around Weisbaden the river was very powerful. You wouldn't want to fall in ! And the method was pole with flicktip !! Small float as a marker but with an ounce bullet and hold the float out of the water - just. Bites were on the flicktip (bit like pole feeder today). It seemed 'wrong' but worked really well. 4 or 5 maggots on what looked a B611 12 and lots of stones and gravel in your groundbait. If setting up 'conventionally' and with no prior knowledge you would have used elastic but with the rocks & boulders that would have got you into trouble.

 

[rob48]

It's a mistake to tag all whips as being the same. The stiffer tippy/faster actioned models are suited to putting weights of small fish together quite rapidly but other, through-actioned styles are easily capable of playing larger fish on the flick-tip. I've got various stiffish tippy whips, like the Milo Luxury, Cadence CP200, but I also have a 6m Colmic Superba which handles large chub on the tip because it's so mellow and forgiving. Like float rods, the actions of whips can vary a lot and different ones are suited to different applications.
When long take-apart poles first became popular they were supplied with built-in flick tips and only changed to hollow tips to meet the demand for elastication without compromising the length of the pole.

 

[peytr]

Thanks for all reactions!

Why not post us something about your fishing in the Netherlands.

I'll do that!

When I fished in Germany around Weisbaden the river was very powerful

Aah! this reminds me of ' De Nieuwe Maas' in Rotterdam, where I actually grew up. Not many people fish in the city but fishing is insanely good at times. The trouble is the current, especially when the tide is running out. Anchored feeders of 100 grams are used here. I used to fish there as a boy with a 5 meter glass whip, often too short for the depth at high tide and walking or even running drifts along the quay. Sorry for diverging but I need to go there one of these days.

I know the older poles from 30 years ago and more were less insanely stiff, so more suitable for use with a flick tip.

Agreed! I have one that's just over 30 yrs old and I wouldn't dare to put elastic in it. At just over 9 meters it's OK - with the extension at almost 11 meters it's (heavy) spaghetti. Another one I have is much lighter and stiffer and I could consider elasticating it. I took a good look at one of the better Browning poles recently and it shocked me in three ways: how light, stiff and costly these are. It's quite clear I'll fall of my belief if I would ever buy one of these

 

[rayner]

When I got my first pole it was very heavy only around 8 mtr in length a Diawa mate. That was the late seventies early eighties.
I never had a flick tip just a small crook 10" long with a number 5 elastic. Ist internal elastics was not around back then, my first internal was a homemade job that was shown to me by an angler who was in the same club. It was named by anglers then as beading through. It was a large round bead from a necklace in which the elastic was fastened too up to the tip where PTFE tape was wrapped around the exit with a swivel on the other end of the elastic. A little crude but it did the job. Not long after this beading came the upgrade from companies that have improved year after year.
Flick tips for me have always been for whips only, I also do not use a whip over 3 mtr, something I have done for nearly 40 years.
More the 3mtr I use a pole with elastic. I know anglers prefer longer whips, it is just how I fish.
Casting over hand seriously puts poles at risk that I have used.

 

[108831]

I won a match with a Lerc pole with a crook,12lb odd of gudgeon with the odd roach Billy Lane stood behind me for about an hour,the match was against his old club Coventry New Star...

 

[RMNDIL]

Would that be in green glass ??

 

[The Runner]

Remember those old Lerc glass poles. Had one 7 or 8m, mail order from Tom Watsons in Nottingham when I was 17 (1972 or 3), first person on Tyneside to have one. It was the colour of a hosepipe with an action to match. First used it on the tidal Tyne at Clara Vale, hadn’t a clue about handling it but had a few dace, next time out a decent net of roach from a local pond and could see the advantage…
Soon binned the crook and put a long thin end section of glass through and whipped a loop of nylon to the end with what was probably a sea anglers lead clip on it to attach the line.
By the 80s things had advanced a bit. Got back into fishing 1983 or so after a 5 or 6 year break and got a Sundridge pole fitted with an internal elastic system ,“everlastic “ I think it was called. Think it only came with the one elasticated tip and a flick tip. Soon upgraded as things rapidly advanced further .
Still ended up with about ten whips though , all lengths from 1.5 to 5 for the gudgeon venues and from 7 to 9 mostly for the Thames.
Seem to recall a fashion for a short while in the mid 80s of external elastic through a few rings on a long flick tip, which soon died out.

 

[108831]

Would that be in green glass ??

Red,quite short,I didn't say,Billy said 'well done lad',I was like a dog with two tails for a few weeks,lol...

 

[markcw]

One of my early poles had quiver tip eyes whipped on along the flick tips. Various grades of elastic with a snap swivel on one end and a small stonfo on the other were used, easy to change elastic, unclipped snap swivel from bottom eye and pull through, fitting different grade was a reversal, thread stonfo through eyes and clip snap swivel end to bottom eye.At the time I think the heaviest elastic was something like a size 8
My other top kits had internal elastics,
Pole was a Century Excalibur,

 

[Peter Jacobs]

I was given a Browning Black Magic pole by Jan Porter and that had a flick tip and I used it quite a lot in Norway and Sweden as well as in France . . . . it was interesring fishing in all honesty but I reverted to elastcated tops when back in England.

We were fishing a practice session on a lake outside of Oslo and I told him I'd tried to get a Black Magic pole but they were no longer available, anywhere . . . . when we were packing up he came over and said, "here take this one I have another back at home" which was just typical of the man . . . .

 

[RMNDIL]

One of my early poles had quiver tip eyes whipped on along the flick tips. Various grades of elastic with a snap swivel on one end and a small stonfo on the other were used, easy to change elastic, unclipped snap swivel from bottom eye and pull through, fitting different grade was a reversal, thread stonfo through eyes and clip snap swivel end to bottom eye.At the time I think the heaviest elastic was something like a size 8

Same as. Original was a green glass Lerc with ali crook and dangling elastic, then a grey coloured Sundridge SLV glass with internal elastic run through a hollow ali crook. Then my first carbon was a 2nd hand 11m LAVIS with external elastic run through eyes as above (probably 1984/5 as I bought a Silstar Royal Westminster in 1987).

 

[nottskev]

I'm liking this pole history digression. I suppose you had to be there to appreciate how this "new" pole business opened up new possibilities and inspired all kinds of home inventions and improvisations.

Somebody's shed clearance gifted me a glass Shakespeare telescopic 18' with a flicktip and a soft action. Armed with this I could flick a bit of peacock on a long line across an always gushing canal runner that ruled out rod and line and hold it up against the reed bed where the bream and tench lived. I had to telescope a section or two down to net a fish, and I stuck a plug of lead in the butt to help it balance.

Next was a Garbolino SLV 6m take-apart in green glass I went down to a shop in Wimbledon to buy. Superior to the cheapo Shakey tele, in theory, I never liked it. The tele at least was supple and played fish ok. The SLV had a stiff (ish) action, big diameter sections and a fairly useless flick tip. I elasticated it with a "bush" I made by taking the inner of a lined ring and aralditing it into a short glass tube that pushed over the section end. The elastic - can't remember where I got that - was held at the base with a cut from a pen top, It worked - I can remember a great catch of small tench from a brickyard pit - but the ring liner dragged on the elastic and it soon wore out. I was saved from this abomination by

The first proper carbon 10m pole to come out (or at least to reach Chester), was the Fothergill and Harvey ( now selling angling products as Tricast).
I tried a mate's first. Carbon it may have been, but light it wasn't. I sat on his box on the cut, pushed the thing out and just about managed to stop the pole swaying and the float dancing. When the float dipped I failed to overcome the inertia of the pole, and the float came back up. The next time it went under I swiped the pole to the side and tangled the rig. This wasn't easy, but I could see it was the future, so I shelled out £150 for one. The sections didn't store inside each other, as is the norm now - they were fastened separately in a black leatherette case. Elastication was still at the crook stage (the naff external elastic crook had been superseded by the naff internal elastic crook) but home-made set ups and shop-bought accessories were moving forward. I was relieved to trade this one in in 1985 ( I think) for an other Tricast model, the Maestro, which seemed about half the weight and could be used, with a bit of practice, at 11m.

 

[mikench]

Not a journey I wish to undertake in the name of nostalgia Kev. It sounds ponderous and laborious sadly.

 

[nottskev]

Not a journey I wish to undertake in the name of nostalgia Kev. It sounds ponderous and laborious sadly.

Yes Mike. You always say that. With an implicit put-down of the method. You don't need to impugn the art of pole fishing to tell us it's not your thing. Cumbersome, laborious and ponderous? No. But it's true it's not armchair stuff.