BUYERS GUIDE TO short feeder rods for F1s

We pick the best for F1 bagging in the cold

WITH virtually all commercial fisheries now stocking F1s, it’s small wonder that the F1 bomb/feeder rod has become the weapon of choice for so many match and pleasure anglers.

To avoid any suggestion that I’m biased against these ever-present hybrid carp I’ll tell you that I really enjoy fishing for them. Initially they went into Lindholme Lakes near Doncaster and Barford Lakes in Norfolk, mainly to help improve winter sport for matchmen, and over the years I’ve watched them grow to an impressive size at venues including Cross Drove, Larford and Decoy.

These fish seem to be quite nomadic, especially in open water, so a good day’s sport is virtually guaranteed.

What’s more, most commercials have islands or fish-holding features beyond pole range, making short chucks with a feeder essential if you’re to catch.

Now, your standard short feeder rod has almost certainly been designed with larger carp in mind, with the result that most of that ilk are just too stiff for those wily F1s. If you’re feeder fishing for them you must at some stage have suffered hook-pulls at the net!

Nobody seems to know why you can start reeling in an F1 that has all but pulled your rod off the rest, only for it to fall off the hook halfway back in, or just as you go to net it. However, the correct rod will ease your pain.

The shorter the rod, the closer a fish will be to the net when it pops its head up, and the better your chances will be of landing it. Since you won’t have to be casting all that far, for my money 9ft and 10ft rods are the perfect length.

Handles don’t have to be particularly long, either, as more often than not, especially when fishing just beyond the pole line, a mere underarm lob of a cast will do the job. A long handle just gets in the way!

The action of a bomb/feeder rod for F1s should obviously be soft and cushioned, somewhere between through and progressive being about right.

A 10ft rod will be better suited to handle the odd rogue carp, but for use with small hooks and light lines a nine-footer will be a more forgiving tool for the F1 hybrid purist.

It doesn’t much matter if the tips are made from glass or carbon and, for me, anything from a 0.75oz to a 2oz rating will suffice – eight times out of 10 the bite will be a knock followed by an aggressive wrap-round.

So, with all that in mind, this week we showcase a selection of the best short-range F1 bomb/ feeder rods on the market.