Retractable carp rods

[philpot 4,981]

Now let me say from the start that I am not an out and out carp man putting 5kg of bait in my swim and staying for days on end after one fish however I have enjoyed the odd overnighter in the summer with a bbq burger in one hand and a gin in the other so you can tell I am not a 'CARP angler' but someone who enjoys various aspects of fishing so onto the subject of the title.  Some years ago I sold my Free Spirit XS rods as I had packed up carping and as per usual the pension will now not run to these expensive rods so earlier this year I bought a pair of cheap Daiwa Black Widow 10' rods, what a mistake to make, so soft it was untrue, poor at casting as well as bending double with an 8lb carp on and with the fact that I was going to rejoin my old carp syndicate again for some summer fun next year, I needed to get something better. 

I looked at various rods but there seemed to be a lot of development in these retractable rods so a 10' reduces down to around 50'', the tip is 50''and butt section reduces to the same which is a big plus for transport but do they work. I looked at a lot of youtube footage and they do seem to be rather good, further investigation with my old pal the bailiff who told me that most of the members were using this type of rod taking fish upto 30lb+ with no issue. I met up with my old pal to have a little play with his outfit which was a Sonik Exractor 3.5lb tc at 10' long as his 'go to' rods leaving his Free Spirit rods at home. Well technology has progressed since I was active on the carp scene and a decent backbone was evident and at a price that was nothing short of amazing, three rods for £120 at one retailer so I bought them. Very impressed with what you get for the money, not to say for one second that they are comparable to the Free Spirit in any way but three XS rods would be approx £1000, there is a huge difference however if my numbers came up, I would be ordering three Free Spirit XS rods without question.

Having a does of covid, I have not been able to try them out but tomorrow I am going to have a session on the pike, the size is not huge at this venue reaching double figures, it will be a nice tester for the rods if I manage to catch any. I will be doing a bit of casting to get the feel from them although the venue does not require long distance casting, it will be interesting to see what it can do. I do quite a bit of fishing in Suffolk along with shooting so taking three rods no bigger than my lure rods in the car just makes life easier when packing the car. 

Fingers crossed these little rods do a decent job for me but I will let you know, warts and all.

Phil

[philpot 4,981]

Sorry..........................having a 'dose' of covid not 'does', silly old bugger.

[tomburras 2,730]

Sounds good, I use these I love them.....

Carp Fishing Rod 11ft 2.75 TC 4pc Carbon NGT Profiler Closed length 89cm Only

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

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The NGT 11ft, 4pc Profiler CTR (Carp Travel Rod) new top end multi section carp travel rod...

For barbel, carp and eels they have been brilliant. I use there travel case with reel fitted. Easy to keep stored in the van and quick to set up. 

 

NGT Rod Holdall For 4pc Travel Set Fishing Angler Angling Carp Bank Case Bag 840

WWW.EBAY.CO.UK

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This rod holdall is designed to carry all our 4pc travel rods with a reel. This holdall is padded...

Hope you get over your covid quickly

[philpot 4,981]

Thanks Tom.  The NGT look to be decent rods having spoken to someone else who has a pair and I do like the rod sleeves, better price than Sonik.

[leegreen 2,169]

 

There you go Phil.

[philpot 4,981]

On 06/12/2023 at 01:44, leegreen said:

 

There you go Phil.

Thanks Lee, I saw this video and the 12' tests the lads did and without doubt the Insurgent was at the top of my list however the 12' is available but thr retractable 10' is out of stock everywhere within an hours drive from me and for me, I wanted to get hold and actually get a feel for the rods but even then very few and far between because they have discontinued them along with the Extractor range. The new Extractor Pro is taking over from the standard rod which is why there are some cheap prices out there. 

As I am getting back into carp fishing and the fact that I cannot afford my all time favourite rod the Free Spirit XS, these Extractor rods will do me nicely in short to medium term. The pond was frozen the other day when I went piking so no tests done.

[Daniel cain 45,249]

Got a pair of 10 ft 3 1/2 lb tc wynchwood agitators for dead baiting,spot on for that and fishing the margins for big carp ..tbh I mostly use my 12ft 2.2 tc barbel rods for just about anything else, mostly fish for carp these days off the surface check out wynchwoods range of rods,sonic rods are cheap for a reason...Ive known 2 lads who had them for beach fishing,and they blew to bits on a 6 m tide

Wychwood Agitator Bait Rod - 10ft SeriousFishing.com

WWW.SERIOUSFISHING.COM

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SeriousFishing.com is a Premier Outfitter of Clothing, Tackle and Gear for Fly Fishing, Sea Fishing, Carp Fishing...

 

[philpot 4,981]

5 hours ago, Daniel cain said:

Got a pair of 10 ft 3 1/2 lb tc wynchwood agitators for dead baiting,spot on for that and fishing the margins for big carp ..tbh I mostly use my 12ft 2.2 tc barbel rods for just about anything else, mostly fish for carp these days off the surface check out wynchwoods range of rods,sonic rods are cheap for a reason...Ive known 2 lads who had them for beach fishing,and they blew to bits on a 6 m tide

Wychwood Agitator Bait Rod - 10ft SeriousFishing.com

WWW.SERIOUSFISHING.COM

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SeriousFishing.com is a Premier Outfitter of Clothing, Tackle and Gear for Fly Fishing, Sea Fishing, Carp Fishing...

 

Thanks Daniel but I have got my rods and whilst I have a couple of Wychwood rods, they are not on my hit list as I am not impressed in fact I have given several away. You think the Sonik Extractor are of a poor quality and that was my thoughts as well but there are quite a number of guys in my syndicate who bought them as 'spare rods' but now use them as their main rods and there are no carp under 20lb in our lake now so these rods have done the job they were bought for including a cat at almost 40lb.  As said, these will ease me back into carping and then it will be a case of buy two Free Spirit XS rods and certainly not Wychwood stuff.

Phil