Tested by deputy editor of Coarse Fishing magazine, Steve Martin.
It’s coming to the time of the year when you can catch Carp short and down the margins, so you don’t need a long pole to bag up.
The length of the Abyss X Series Pole will let you fish up to margin features, which are far enough away from your peg that they don’t get spooked, and comfortably over lines at the bottom of the near shelf.
The pole comes with a telescopic top three, but to set it up for my session at Wold View I dispensed with the no.1 section so that I could elasticate it with black Hydro.
The downside of a budget short pole like this is the lack of top kits or a cupping kit. Fortunately, you can buy spare top kits for the Abyss for less than £20 each, so it’s worth the extra investment to ensure you can get the best out of the pole. Luckily, the potting kit from one of my other poles fitted, so I was able to feed both my lines.
However, as I only had the one top kit to fish with, I set up two rigs, which I could quickly swap when I switched lines – storing the unused rig on a winder when it was not being used.
I spent the first part of the session fishing the 9m line and although the conditions were far from ideal – bright light and fairly clear water – I enjoyed some good sport from the venues Roach and small Skimmers.
After a few hours I switched rigs and dropped a bait into the margins. The light levels had dropped, so with luck the Carp would have moved in on to the feed. I had to wait a while, but eventually they arrived.
I only managed two Carp, but the Abyss handled them with ease and I was able to quickly draw fish away from the snags and soon had them under control and in the net.
If you are a junior or novice, then this one is well worth a second look!