The Daiwa Air Z 16m More Power Pole is a match fishing essential that packs more punch than the More Match Pole, and gives you everything you need to be the best on the bank, and make the most of your match. Whether you’re new to match fishing, or an old hand at tournaments, you want to give yourself the best chance of coming away a winner, or at least making a decent show, whatever the challenges of the swim you’ve drawn.
This comprehensive match pole fishing kit includes seven Powerlite Interlastic Power kits, two Match Top Four kits, one Number 4 Section, as well as a tournament cupping kit, and a rod holdall, giving you a convenient way of carrying your rods and poles, whilst knowing that they’re fully protected from damage, and ready to go straight in as soon as the match starts, and really make the most of the water. There’s nothing worse than getting to the bank and finding an item of core equipment is damaged or broken, meaning you have to have an urgent rethink of your strategy, and may have to bring in tactics and techniques you weren’t planning on using during your match, to accommodate the loss of equipment.
The Match kits give you the light, easy feel you want during a match, with the different sizes offering the versatility you need when you’re pursuing smaller fish, such as dace. A cupping kit is a handy pole fishing accessory, allowing you to easily take your free bait out to the same area you plan to place your hookbait, encouraging the fish to forage and feed in the area you’ll be presenting your hookbait, and hopefully taking the edge off of their wariness. Quite simply, a tournament cup is a basic plastic cup that can be mounted on the tip of the same pole you’ll be using for your fishing, and filled with bait, which is then taken directly out, on the pole, to the area you want to fish. A cupping kit is ideal for placing a selection of all the hookbaits you’ll be using straight into the swim, together, so that the fish can try before they bite, and are more likely to be eagerly anticipating more of the same, giving you a much quicker take.
Match fishing offers a real buzz for anglers of all abilities, although club matches, rather than opens, are usually a better bet for the complete novice. As both entry fees, and therefore prizes, tend to be lower than open matches, competing anglers are typically more friendly, and more willing to offer help and advice to newcomers to the match fishing scene.
Aside from investing in the best quality match equipment you can afford, the most important aspect of match fishing is to ensure you know the rules of the matches you enter – for example, one match, which took place on a canal known for its proliferation of pike jacks, allowed pike to be included in the match tally, while most matches require pike to be thrown back; one angler, unfamiliar with the different rule regarding pike, immediately released a young pike that looked between five to six pounds, when keeping that fish (as that particular match allowed) would have won the angler in question the entire match outright.
Once you are familiar with your match’s rules, and are happy with the quality of equipment you’ve been able to purchase, ensure you are familiar with how accessories to match fishing poles, such as elastics and top kits, work, and that you have the right kind and quantity to be as flexible and adaptable as possible once you’re out in the swim. When it comes to elastics, the idea of flexibility may tempt you to mount each pole with a different elastic. However, this is not the best route to go down, as it means you will be limited to using specific rods for various scenarios, potentially losing vital seconds as you reach for a rod at the far side of your set up, or swap out a rod that’s ideally placed, but inappropriately mounted. A better option, and one which dramatically improves your match fishing efficiency, is to prioritise the mounting of light and medium elastics, with one or two poles mounted with heavy elastic. The light and medium elastics will handle most fish, while you can bring the artillery of the heavy elastics to bear on larger carp, or particularly feisty fish. With this arrangement, you should always have a pole in reach that is suitable for the fish and conditions you’re facing.
Using a pole during match fishing tournaments tends to bring much better results, as not only does it give you spot-on flexibility and reach, allowing you to position your bait perfectly, and easily feed the swim with tasters of your hookbait, a pole also allows you spread out your rig, which makes it easier for a variety of fish species, of different sizes, temperaments, and feeding habits, to feel comfortable taking your hookbait. It makes no sense to have a rig sized and spaced for dace, when there’s bream in the swim too – if you weren’t expecting the bream, having a spread rig makes it more likely you’ll get a take, or at least an attempt, and, once you know a certain kind of fish is there, you can set up another rod that’s specifically designed for them. By using a spread rig, even a poor quality swim with limited fishing can be turned around a little, and may just bring you a section win, even if you can’t win the match outright. A pole also offers a better fishing aesthetic, with better finesse and precision over relatively short distances.
Daiwa brings precision engineering and quality of focus to every aspect of its work, from design to production to retail, ensuring that, when you buy Daiwa products, you’re buying the very latest in fishing equipment technology, along with guaranteed performance that will last you for many sessions to come.