Live test: Middy ArcoTech K-800 Whip

Mark Sawyer says you shouldn’t be fooled by the name of Middy’s new whip, it’s actually great for fishing for roach to hand and a little light pole work

MIDDY ARCO-TECH K-800 SPEED CARP WHIP/POLE RRP: £199.99

TO SOME, Middy’s new 8m Arco-Tech K-800 Carp speed whip/pole may seem a slightly strange combination. Or, dare I say, even slightly confusing. However, allow me to assure you that in my humble opinion, it is a very decent long whip in its own right. The fact that it comes with an interchangeable hollow Karp 2 Kit that Middy state has a 20 elastic rating should, though, be taken with a tiny pinch of salt! The reason behind that statement is that, although the spare Karp 2 top kit is more than capable of handling such an elastic, you would have to cut-off quite a bit of the tip section to make it stiff enough to use properly with a heavy elastic without risking breakages. In addition, in doing so you will spoil a top kit that with a small amount of pruning (taking off six inches) is ideal for use with elastics up to about a size eight. Now, I have absolutely no issue whatsoever with whips coming with spare top kits that can be adapted for use with elastic. Heaven knows it wasn’t so many years ago that fitting whips with elastics was common practice, especially when there was a chance of connecting with the odd larger fish while targeting silvers. The problem was, though, that back in the day whips were designed mainly for the European market. The telescopic tools were as light as a feather, with paper-thin section walls that unfortunately would fold like tissues when subjected to any stress or strain. However, modern tactics dictate that whips such as the Arco-Tech K-800 are made of sterner stuff. Build specifications like reinforced put-in joints help add to the pole’s overall rigidity and stiffness, and certainly make it possible to fish with as a short pole. For my money, however, the new Arco-Tech would serve you best when used as a whip for fishing to hand. When targeting F1s, stockie carp or indeed big silvers, you could use it with the elasticated top in situ.

The whip’s flick tip section has a solid carbon tip neatly spliced into the second section and has a quite outstanding flat-spot free progressive curvature which is bang-on for silvers and small fish especially in deep or flowing water. Even at its longest length the whip has enough inertia and balance to cope with pole floats from under 1g to way over 5g. While live testing the Arco-Tech Speed whip in the deep-water off the dam wall at Oxfordshire’s Clattercote Reservior, I was asked how I attach the line to the tip-end. I have always thought that attaching whip rigs the old-fashioned way is best – by using two pieces of silicone tubing that reduce the chances of snapping or shattering the fine end of a carbon flick tip. To do this you simply slide a short piece of stop tubing on to the tip around a foot from the end and then slide a 1in piece of tubing on to the rig. Tie a small loop in the end of the rig, before pushing the rig line through the loop and lassoing it behind the stop tube as an anchor. Then twizzle the line around the tip, before securing into place with the tubing you’ve put on the rig. It takes seconds and works brilliantly every time.

“The flick tip is bang-on for silvers and small fish especially in deep or flowing water”