I have bought myself a pole

[blueskip]

Well I won it in a raffle having seen how successful pole fishing is in Malta I was going to get one anyway, it is up to 13m long, & has come with red solid elastic inside it. Reading the literature it seems that the elastics come in various "breaking strains", what would you suggest I would need for catching mullet, bream etc in Malta? Also there are ready made pole traces available on e-bay which have floats weights hooks already attached, they seem to vary between 3lbs breaking strain & 5.5lbs breaking strain with hooks varying from size 18 up to size 12, what size hooks would you say I need to use? & what breaking strain monofilament. Once I have got all this, all I have to do is learn to use it!
blueskip

[placebo]

pole elastic fishing is one of the ways the english fish carp eh?

with a put over rod and stuff!  it's good for mullet fishing in Malta and if the pole is sensitive enough you can go down to 0.08mm for mullet!

great to have a 13mtr since you can fish mullet in some deep places like the cottonera area and surroundings.

[mike.d.]

my sort of fishing, enjoy. used to do it a lot in uk.

[blueskip]

I think I need to undertake a bodybuilding course to handle a 13m pole! & I need another pair of glasses to see 13m in the distance!
blueskip

[mike.d.]

the idea behind pole fishing was for still waters and slow running rivers, with about 5mtr rigs, then unship the pole to 5 mtrs when fish is hooked, i had toyed with the idea of an 11mtr or 12 mtr pole but really a 5 or 6 mtr tele pole is more suited to sea fishing, the main one i use is 5mtr, 300grms and is great for shore fishing. its easy to make your own pole rigs, pick a float and of you go. bye the way the french are masters of pole fishing, its a treat to watch them. 

[blueskip]

I can make it 5 mts if I want to, its in loads of sections that you just "plug in", so if you want it 6 mts long, you plug in the top 6 sections only. I watched some of you guys last year when Placebo & I were catching garfish, & they had some very nice bream close in using the pole.
I will practice on the small stuff from the jetty in Marsascala before I venture into the open sea with it, it will be the not striking that will be difficult to control, apparently you push down with the hand & just let the pole swivel in the left hand so that the tip rises. That will be similar to fishing a dry fly, where you see the fish take the fly, then you pause & just raise the rod tip to connect, cant wait to try it out!
blueskip

[placebo]

would love to see the french pole fishing. We are also good in Malta!

sometimes we fish with 9mtr poles rigged up with 0.10 monos and landing mullets in the 1kg range using a landing net but all on your own. Believe me sometimes you end up breathless!

blueskip next time you come we do pole fishing if you like.

[blueskip]

Of course we will go pole fishing together, Day1 Marsascala Jetty getting used to it catching small wrasse & bream, then from Day2 the wide open sea catching the big ones Do you only use bread/paste as bait? or can you use small korea worm or calamari, from what I have seen of the dough bait its 1 fish in every 100 drops down, it must be easier with bits of worm, that doesn't fall off, or dont the fish eat the worms/shrimps?
blueskip

[placebo]

it's completely different in Malta! pole fishing is a good method of speed fishing.

it's a good practice for fishing mullett when the fish are much closer to shores.
in this method one can use bread flake or else bread paste (flake is better than paste when there is no small fish taking away the natural looking flake)

you can also use worms but ideally these are fished on running ledgering or other ledgering methods.

remember that most nice sized fish caught on poles are mostly caught on bread.
at night times poles are used for bigger breams which come closer to shores.

you can do a lot of different fishing just with a pole.

[fish-noob]

I prefer using korea worms for pole fishing - its good for vopi / paezan / sawrell and other small fish. Shimps are also good but unless you put salt they are too soft imo. bread is used for mullet and xilep.

[SPITEC]

Sorry to correct you fish-noob but bread is a universal bait.Every fish eats bread but not every fish bite on worms and shrimps.Always remember that.The most important thing when using bread is to prepare it for what type of fish you are targeting and if there are small fish around like placebo said.When I use shrimps I never use salt because when you use them soft the hook penetrates much easier.The important thing is that you have a good hook.

[mike.d.]

placebo, i agree the maltese are good with a pole, but when we talk about long poles ie, 11-12-13 and even 15mtrs its a different ball game, i mentioned the french, the italians and the english have all been world champions all using the long pole, the floats are different  most are less than 1 gram, but lets face it, the fish they target are different, i learnt to use the long pole by my uncle who fished in the world championships, so i know a little about it, in my humble opinion a long pole would be of no use in sea fishing, 9 and maybe 10 mtrs is fine.

[placebo]

it is good ......i know some friends who tried it and it is good for mullet in some deep places.

it's not very practical that's what i think ..... like the way we discussed as per fly fishing!

why do they actually use the long pole? what are the advantages?

in my opinion 11 - 13 mtr poles are to be used in 8-9mtr deep sea.

the advantages of pole fishing is that you are fishing directly on the float and when you strike you have no loose mono in water.

Else you can always use the running float method on a reel rod.

[camkev]

Else you can always use the running float method on a reel rod.....I was thinking the same thing.Instead of long poles you can fish  with the running float method,or maybe they dont use this method?

[blueskip]

The problem I have found using a float in the sea with a normal float rod, is that there is always some wind & tide, & its very difficult to get your float in EXACTLY that spot. When I watched the guys fishing with the pole, they drop it in exactly the same spot every time, & because the tip of the pole is directly above the float, you can keep it in the same place. My float drifts one direction in the wind. & another in the swell, meaning that its never quite where I want it to be, & if you are groundbaiting that's no good to you at all, I intend to practice it a bit before I come in my local marina, & see if I can be just a little more familiar with it before I give it the "big test" in Malta!