Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Live test: Middy pole
Find out how Mark Sawyer got on with Middy’s new feature-packed and affordable pole
MIDDY REACTACORE XT15-3 13.5m POLE PACKAGE RRP: £799
ACOUPLE of weeks ago a reader e-mailed asking: “What pole would I choose if I was limited to a budget of around £500.” This really did get me thinking. Would I pick a tried and trusted model with a proven track record, or go for a new cutting-edge model with a high technical specification? It was a difficult decision. And in truth, one that I never really got to grips with until Middy’s new 13.5m Reactacore XT15-3, that can be found on the net for less than £500 if you shop around, landed on my desk. It didn’t need much more than a quick scan under the office lights to reveal a stunning pole that has an awful lot going for it. Technically and build-wise it’s one of, if not the most, advanced pole of this price I have seen. For the tech-spec boffins among you, the Reactacore XT15-3 has been constructed using a unique four-layering carbon process called Quad. Each carbon layer is precisionplaced at specific angles which ultimately aids the pole’s responsiveness and rigidity. The Quad section manufacturing process is then further enhanced with a new Maximus wrap system which strengthens the section joints as well as reducing wear and tear. I should also mention at this point that Middy’s new Reactacore pole range is made using the same mandrel as the firm’s hugely popular Shock-Core Fusion and Nano-Core 2 pole collections and is therefore totally section compatible with both of the above flagship predecessors. As with all the models in Middy’s new Reactacore range, the XT15-3 comes with an array of clever add-ons. Depth Lines on the top kits enable depths from 1ft to 3ft to be accurately checked and during this live test I found these marks extremely handy to check that the shots on my rig hadn’t slipped, as often happens when netting fish. A Spine Line ensures that the pole is always fished at its optimum performance, the numbering system used on the pole’s butt sections are placed 5cm apart and should be used for precision feeding. To that you add CKB colour-coded top kits that ensure tip-ends can be cut to fit Middy PTFE bushes, Safe Zone mini butts with dome-top protectors to prevent elbow and shipping back damage on larger sections, and a simply superb S-Slide friction-free finish that makes shipping back fast and effortless.
“I can report that the XT15-3 would make a great all-rounder suitable for most venues”
So as you can see, the XT15-3 is technically quite a piece of work. But in essence, no matter what, when, how, when or why it has been put together, it always comes down to how the pole performs on the bank. So on a bitterly cold late December day I pulled into the car park of Decoy Lakes’ normally productive Six Islands Lake. Trepidation and hesitancy where foremost in my mind. I already knew that it wasn’t going to be a bonanza session. Freezing rain, frosty nights, cold days, leaden skies and easterly winds are rarely conducive with fish willing to feed. Plus, like all commercials at this time of year, the fish shoal tightly in certain areas. If you can find ’em, you can catch ’em. If you can’t then your thoughts are more likely to be along the lines of wondering if anyone makes heated underpants, than they are about a pole’s linear rigidity, downforce, or tip-responsiveness! Undaunted, I set-up my kit and with the pole suitably equipped with a soft set Middy Hollow 8-12 Reactacore elastic through one of its spare Karp Two Kits, I deftly slid the section together up to 11.5m. I tapped a few micros out of the pot and lowered a 0.4g rig baited with a 4mm expander pellet over the top. This became a motion I repeated with the regularity of a metronome for what seemed like hours and hours without reward! The float never moved. Not so much as wobble. It just sat there. On the plus side the XT15-3 shipped out and back perfectly. It felt poker stiff, handily enabling me to ship out without spilling any feed. And it was featherlite in its handling, which is hardly surprising as it weighs a mere 715g at 11.5m. Time passed by, and with staff photographer Lloyd Rogers now so bored and cold, that far
more fun could be had by attempting to throw single grains of sweetcorn back into the can from whence they came it seemed the day was all but lost. But then the float trembled – fish on! The pole’s top-sections lurched over as elastic started pouring out from the PTFE. Now I was getting impressed. The pole which had felt light and precise, and well-suited as a silvers tool, actually had a fair amount of stopping power through its mid-sections. Slowly but surely I started to get on top of the fish, but due to the limited room on the peg, the pole needed to be unshipped twice, which with something hefty attached to the other end, and especially when using a brand new pole can prove to be a, let’s say, sticky, affair. But not this time. The Reactacore joints come apart with the ease of a hot knife slicing through butter. Funny thing, but as can be the way, the rest of the live test session saw a steady stream of F1s coming to the net, and I can report that the XT15-3 would make a great all-rounder suitable for most venues.