Float rod fun for the carp

Korum has put the fun back into carp fishing with a beautifully balanced float rod that’s brilliant for stalking

KORUM CARP FLOAT ROD RRP: 13ft £44.99, 12ft £42.99

THERE are few better sights in angling than watching the tip of your float disappear under the surface as an unseen adversary picks up your hookbait. But in a world of bolt rigs and bite alarms this is sadly a sight that very few carp anglers get to enjoy. The team at Korum is hoping to change all that, however, and inject a bit of fun and pleasure back into carp fishing with this new tempting range of Carp Float rods. Available in 12ft and 13ft lengths with 1.5lb and 1.75lb test curves, the K-Flex carbon blanks have a powerful parabolic action that kicks in steadily as pressure is applied, and both rods will easily cope with big carp. Other features include matt black livery, full cork handles, and rugged nylon reel seats with black metal hoods. You also get eight double-legged ceramic-lined guides.

Of course, the downside of such a powerful progressive action is that it reduces casting capabilities, so if you’re harbouring notions of using one to plonk a 4AA waggler 30 yards out you might have to rethink your plans. They will indeed reach such distances, and more besides, but only when partnered with heavier floats from 20g upwards. That’s not a negative in my book, as I reckon their longer lengths and superb action make these ideal stalking rods – the extra reach can be used to delicately present a baited hook close to marginal reeds or snags. I can already imagine mutterings that most stalking rods are short 7ft to 9ft affairs for dropping leads and PVA bags into holes in marginal weed. So find a reed-fringed lake, get your chest waders on and put a few free offerings into likely looking spots. Chances are you’ll find a few fish feeding, and now you can silently drop a bait right on top of their noses, with instant and explosive results. The reed-fringed waters of Willowbrook Lake in Northamptonshire play host to plenty of decent-sized fish that roam the margins. So on a quiet Monday morning, armed with little more than a landing net and a boxful of corn, I wandered around the fishery with the 13ft Korum Carp Float rod. Twitching lily stems revealed something moving down below, so I scattered a few grains of corn over the area and lowered in a small straight waggler shotted with three No.8s spread down the line. Instantly my double corn hookbait was snaffled, and in a torrent of spray and boils the fish bolted off, leaving a wake worthy of any torpedo. This is the moment when any carp rod worth its salt steps up to the mark. Tightening down on the reel’s clutch and holding the rod on the horizontal plane, I applied side strain that slowly but surely brought the fish to a halt. The rod’s heavy parabolic action had more than done its job in tiring the carp yet, at the net, it had enough flexibility in the tip to absorb my quarry’s last-minute lunges without risk of a hook-pull or a parting of the line.

Cork handles, double-legged line guides and rugged reel seats are important features The Korum rod has just the right blend of power and finesse to contain big carp in the margins