Why use measuring sticks?

Q I know you use measuring sticks when feeder fishing, but do they really offer an advantage over counting the turns on your reel, for instance? A Measuring sticks are, for me, now an essential part of my feeder fishing armoury. I just feel that using sticks is both more accurate and quicker than counting the number of turns of the handle of your reel to work out the distance you’re fishing at.

Additionally, using measuring sticks also gives a great reference point for future use, especially if you keep a record of how you fished and caught in a diary as I do – if you catch well, then you know exactly how far out you have fished in case you draw that area again.

Of course, you could argue that counting turns does the same, but what if you change reels during the season? The retrieve ratio is then different and all the information you have is therefore no longer as accurate, something which will never happen with measuring sticks.

The other benefit of using measuring sticks is when you want to be stealthy, particularly in winter.

Sometimes I might not want to break the water at the start of the match to avoid unnecessary disturbance. By using sticks I can clip my rods up without having to cast out, which just isn’t possible when counting turns.

A question I get asked a lot is how far apart your sticks should be spaced, and while I now have two sets, the sticks I use the most are the ones set at 2m apart – this is purely because I don’t always have the room behind me to set up my sticks at 3m.