My Lerc 9151 that I got in 2001. Lovely pole at the time but never got the rave reviews that other flagship poles did that were around at the same time. Nice and slim, well balanced and strong, and a bloody good match carp pole!

It was my first £1000+ pole, and actually nice to fish with at length!

Daiwa Tournament S, still use it now in winter!

Triana Grande Slam 7000.
Picked this up at the NEC one year & thought i’ve got to have it.Everybody was raving about the Tourny X at the time but i wanted the Triana.The price was over 3grand & deals were not as plentiful as they are now,so i thought i’d never own one.A few months later walked into the shop & the owner had ordered one for himself but decided not to use it & put it up for sale! 21/2 grand later with enough spares to last a life time i was elasticating it.
Camley St was my favourite haunt at the time & this pole caught me loads,in fact i caught more on this than with anything else i’ve ever owned.Stiff as a poker & slim it was the dogs dooh da’s.Kept is as a spare when i bought my spectron,kept asking myself why i had retired it,must have been mad.
A friend asked me if i’d sell it a couple of years back,offered me good money for it,so i sold it.Still wish i had it though!!

Tri cast Sovereign ~clap

I used to like my lerc 5400, because no one else I knew had one

it was a nice pole for that price range at the time, but remember trying it alongside the maver metalic (or something like that) and was a bit peaved the maver was stiffer at full stretch, went for the lerc as it was lighter

but to be totally honest, I really love my current pole (Drennan Zircon), and wouldn’t swap it for anything I’ve seen since

Lerc Diatex 7030. Very strong and easily fishable at 14.5m. Wish I’d still got it. Closely followed by the Maver n15. Shame it was only 14.5m.

Daiwa Spectron Competition is the pole for me ! I like it so much i own four of them ! I could have changed the pole a few times but I find the pole just feels right for me with the diameter,lightness and I use it as a true all round pole.

Mine has to be the Daiwa Harrier HHP-110. This could be purchased with 1 and 0.5 metre extensions to take it to 13.5 metres both of which I purchased with the pole. At the time (early to mid eighties) it was light years better than anything else I had seen on the bank and although sold as a “match” pole it could handle double figure carp as well. I owned mine for about 15 years before getting a Tournament X which made my HHP look silly. Now have two Tournament X’s (originals) a Tourny Pro and an XRS 2K4 but don’t love any of them like I did my HHP.

Mine has to be the Garbolino G10 but i now have a Gmax 1000

speccy competition, i now have 2. Perfect for me and i’ve had it up against a z9, tourney x and the new aspire. Not enough of a difference to make me change.

Daiwa speccy comp best pole ever made in my opinion.Wish i kept it!Got sensas 774 now which is ok!

‘Spectron’ I loved it but it hated me,

In recent times i’ve had G10, Daiwa Spectron, Tourny Pro and currently got a Tourny Pro x. Absolutely loved the feel of the G10, it’s made all other poles seem crap since! However….it snapped like a twig and i wouldnt sell one to Bin Laden as the sections blow up like bombs and he might use it against us. So i’d have to say in recent times in the Pro X due to the sheer strength. But when i was 15 i had a Browning Black Magic 2 and it was an awesome pole for the money so i’d have to go with that as a personal fav!

GM Carp 1

i loved my maver k47 its still in the garage but sadly it has extra sections now, also my elite 77 im very fond of

Milo 10-10

My original Daiwa Conny (Silver Butt) – bought it in 91 or 92.
14m + a Browning section that took it to 15.5 (ish)
Slim, with a bit of action. After 15 or so years I replaced it with a Tourny Pro … still miss the Conny (sold it to Tony at Cornerstone for his son to use).
At the time – nearly everyone on the team (Image) had one … including Polly … rather than the Amorphous.

Trabucco dream team carp 1 ……And i had the DT2 as well

Strong but very stiff,only reason i sold it was because of the issues with getting spares.

The original shakespeare excelsior, I still have it in the garage. I remember picking it up for the first time, it was so slim and could be held in 1 hand and at the time I thought it was so stiff. A real change from my sundridge carbon cortina that i had been using for years. I loved it so much I spent my student grant on it.
I got it out not so long ago and was amazed at how floppy it is at 12.5m but I love the pole that much I wouldn’t ever get rid of it.

another vote for speccy comp ~clap a truly awsome bit of kit defo best thing ive ever bought bar none

had to be my garbo tomcat.you could stop a tank with it.gave it to my bruv and he wont give it back.lol

Just been trying to recall the last time I pole-fished and it must have been the winter before last, when the canals weren’t frozen solid like last time.

Choice of favourite is easy for me, same as GLEBE1, the Milo 10-10, although the Shimano Ultegra (red butt section) was another nice canal pole.

Best I ever held but never bought was the expensive (7K?) Daiwa one whose name I’ve forgotten.

Diawa tournament 710 ~clap ~clap ~clap ~clap

stupid price , but what a pole – had to get rid of it due to being to scared of breaking a section , but an awesome pole

Thank you shallowman, that was the one.

She was tall blonde with a great body. Cant remember her name though.

Have owned them all and i mean all!!!SPECTRON COMP 100% ABSOLUTE MEGA POLE.

FAPs black hole, still really miss its bullet nose joints.

the best poles i have owned was preston innovation blue point, followed by the speccy comp, but i now have a colmic x5000,this one will take some beating

For me, fondest memories and first proper pole, so a definite favorite was my DAM tectron, loved it. I still get it out for a sesh when I’m after some hemp roach, is a great pole. I saved for two years for it, and thought it was the bees knees when I was 16 and got it from fishermans friend.

OF the more modern poles I have, the one that really turned my head was my sensas 3664, love this pole though the 774 I use now is better!

Ola Jordan !

Lost count of the number of poles I have had over the years, but the one that stands out the most is the Garbolino Master Ace. Light years ahead of it’s time. I agree with Hillbilly as well on the HHP. I had one of these before the Master Ace and people think that interchangeable top kits are a new idea, but I was doing it with the HHP and the Team Daiwa MatchLite sections over 20 years ago (worked out significantly cheaper back then to buy the Matchlite top kits than the HHP ones). The other pole that stands out to me from the past was a pole made by Century Composites. I forget the actual name of it but it was an amazing bit of kit at the time.

Another Spectron Competition owner here too – an acquaintence of mine was banging on for ages about how much better than my pole his Spectron was, so when he bought a Tournament Pro X, I bought the Spectron off him.

He keeps asking me whether I’m getting on with it or not and the reason is because he wants it back. Can’t say I blame him – it can’t be beaten for the sort of fishing I do with it and I think he made a mistake when he bought the Pro X – it’s not really a canal pole (which is what he uses it for).

Still using my Daiwa spectron it is a great bit of kit, just bought a new number 7 section and apart from a small pro wrap on the 13mtre section where i had a small dig from a pole roller, the pole is in perfect nick, i was offered £600 for it but i am reluctant to sell as it handles so well, may have to keep it as a second pole when I buy my browning Z9 lol

almost parted with the cash the other day but my hand wouldn’t let me!

DAM FUTRON 13.7M hides in a cupboard now but still see the light of day

Anyopne got any telescopic power tops that fit the HHP, WTP or old Connoisseur Z that I have they would sell or anyone know where I can buy any new from? Makes a good margin pole!

my favourite is probably shakespeare flavier which i think was 11metres closely followed by a dam hi-litanium matchwinner.it shows it was a long time ago i think the matchwinner was rated to an 8 elastic,i think the heaviest elastic then was a ten.

I also loved my old 12.3m ‘Leeda Match Carp’ which in truth would have given a banana a run for it’s money but it was as strong as an OX and I caught my very first double figure Carp on it. Like a prat I gave it away to some GIT!!! who promptly sold it,

DW,the century composites pole was the Excaliber.

my favourite pole was probably my Daiwa tom pickering matchwinner.it has that lovely friction free finish,that made the pole slide through your hands even in the rain.

I must admit in the days before commercial carp fisheries I started with the origenal bamboo (even handled my mates sowerbutts weighed a ton though I was a youngster then) and then went to fibreglass using at first flick tips then metal crooks then crooks with elastic through them then to carbon poles however one pole that I really did like was the shakespeare quartzlite a bit of class amongst the dross imo

For me the Shimano TPX-GT which was the predecessor to the Diaflash, (can’t believe nobody has mentioned the Diaflash), was a superb pole.

Other than that the Daiwa 412 caught me a lot of fish and was every bit as good a silver fish pole as it was a carp pole.

Dave, I seem to remember you had a Maver N57 at some stage; what did you think of it?

My favourite pole by the way was my first, the original Shimano Technium. Slim, stiff up to 11 metres with the best finish I’ve come across. I’ve still got it and use it occasionally and other than putting my thumb through the no5 section I’ve had no trouble with it.

I was bought a Shakespeare pole for my birthday around 1982 and I remember it being really expensive at the time, not sure what model it was but it was really cool at the time and I was the envy of all my mates!

It was about 9 meters and telescopic and was a metallic orange colour (in fibre glass i think?)the elastic was black like they sell in sewing shops and it had a bloody great big red bead on the end!

One of my favoutite poles was the tri-cast maestro, wieghed a ton but caught loads of fish on it. Speccy comp was by far the best i have ever owned and only the availability of spares made me get rid. If the relaunched that to the same spec they would imo sell bundles of them.
Now have a 774 which i love.

scaffold…

~naughty yes squeaky and just as dense this is a fishing site not a builders wholesalers lol

WHP was a big step up for me from cheaper poles id had in the past. Shakespeare Quartzlite was lovely on the cut.

I might not be as old as some of you but have had had quite a few different poles over the years. The ones which really stand out for me were a Daiwa 412 and an original Maver Jurassic Carp. Others I have had or used such as the Browning Carboxy (I think red crossweave?) Shimano Diaflash, Garbolino Renaissance, Maver F51 and Tri-cast Armantia were all good but not my favourites. The Daiwa was probably the first really good pole which was mine and although heavy at 14.5m I caught loads of fish on it. The Jurassic carp I liked because it was as strong as hell and could take a 20 solid elastic. I have fond memories of the pole as I caught the biggest carp I have ever caught of 27lb4oz on it and also had a few other big doubles on it. I currently use a Maver ELite 77 which is an awesme pole and have a Invincible for big fish waters where your gear takes a hammering.

@Fred Davis wrote:

~naughty yes squeaky and just as dense this is a fishing site not a builders wholesalers lol

could of fooled me most of the time its a football site..~naughty

After packing in fishing for 10 years because of two disastrous winter league seasons, where I felt I’d let my mates down, I was persuaded to come back.

I went to see Vinnie Smith at Highfield Angling and bought a Tri-Cast Cerberus. What a great pole. I caught carp for the first time and it would skull-drag munters from the snaggiest swims in the world. On a very windy day at Burton Mere on a winter league match my roller tipped over and smashed the number five section. I telescoped it and caught 15lb of skimmers to earn great team points.

I still use it on snag pits ‘cos although my Tourny Pro is strong, it doesn’t come close to my Cerberus. God bless Tri-cast ‘cos that pole got me fishing with confidence again.

Maver H10 – Only 10 metres long but with the top section out and red hydro loaded, I probably use it for 90% of my warm weather fishing and it only cost £80.

squeakey red card, back to the dark side i mean changing rooms

Faps shannon awesome pole not as light and sfiff as the black hole but really strong i sold it to a mate 10 years ago and its still going strong wish id kept it.

DAM Mactron 16m, I cleaned it and polished it after every trip. It was joy to use on the London canals, and caught me loads of fish. The 14m section blew in the canal at Camley st. Paid a diver to retrieve it for me it was like Excalibur when I saw him surface with it.. Got 2 sections smashed by a cyclist, the very last time I used it but still got it repaired. Now it sits in the attic covered in bubble wrap…

Faps Black Hole, poo name, but a brilliant pole.

Like Bully with the Shannon, I used mine for over 10 years.

After about 6 Garbolino poles I now have 2 Shimano XT Competition poles which perfectly suit the fishing I do now.

I have yet to see a better finish on any pole, even flagship poles.

Airity over 2 years old now and apart from the usual Daiwa traits such as having to give it the occasional twist to make sure the joints dont uncouple its bang on I used it the other day and i was just thinking it was as light as a feather at 14.5m and i was thinking about when I had a Maver Reactorlite a few years ago and I could hardly hold it at 14.5m.

I also still use my Maver Red jurassic carp pole now and again,when fishing tight to margin snags,and along the bank to features within it’s reach.bombproof construction,been pushed well past it’s suggested no 16 elastic rating.and had carp up to 18lb.5oz on it,without breaking a section,or looking away waiting for it to go bang.probably one of the strongest poles ever made in my opinion.

Daiwa Harrier Tournament HTP145, still in use as a margin pole ~clap

Has to be my Shimano Diaflash, used it until the top 3 joints wore down and it bubbled when you put the joints in when it was wet through the cross weave!!!!

Used it for everything from canals, carp, snag pits, line to hand, even did 30g pole feder to hand down in Cork a few times – awesome and rated to something stupid like a 12 officially!

Happy days – took ages to sell it!! Still got some of those top 3’s as whips for the kids!

As a kid I remember having the Shakey Victory. It was 11m and I could only use it at 10m as it was too heavy (I was only about 12) but it was super strong and I used to drag carp out of pads with it.

My first decent silvers pole had to be the maver FXB3, absolutely beautiful at 13m. It would be a tough call between the FXB3 and the Spectron Comp that I used for years.

Another vote for the Spectron comp from me.Have a 774 now and am pleased with it.The Spectron is still in the garage and i will never part with it.

Maver K47

I have two of these. First one was bought after seeing it at a trade show. I used to work in a tackle shop so got it at near enough trade price. Second one is a well travelled pole. Was originally bought by Mark_Belgium who used to post on here. He then sold to Rob Foss from Gurnsey who then sold it onto me. Still use the original one i bought and have well over 20 kits for it.

Just ordered a Tri-Cast Trilogy to replace it now though.

Will still use the K47’s on the canals though would be a shame to retire it!

Still got a silstar 3083 put in

Stong pole used only in snag pits once or twice a year. Had it fitted with Leslie’s of Luton blue animal elastic (25+) with 15lb hook length had mid double carp water ski-ing fishing 11m to hand. Would pick up a 4lb lump hammer and swing that to hand.

Just got a Speccy M2 to replace my Speccy comp lovely piece of kit.

ah lass says she loves my pole i think its orite but i think i could do with a longer one but she says its the best shes ever had or seen…. so id have to say…….

my g max 1000

I would have to say the Tournament X,mainly because it was light years ahead of any other pole out there when it was realeased ~clap.Also not to far behind a lot of current models out there today imho.

Oh did i mention that this was the very 1st 9 section 13 mtr pole produced,which all other manufacturers then decided to do likewise. ~shh

diawa excella. very light,surprisingly strong.still the pole i use now ~clap

my favourite pole has to be my old shakespere quadra i had one of the first ones out prob about 18 years ago now was well fishable at 14.5 mtrs and won me loads of money catching carp no problem, one of the best poles in its day! still use it on canals and rivers at the mo and is still going strong not bad for an 18 year old pole!

d.a.m makron 16m best pole every had !!
just sold it and wish never had!
old pole but so strong never let me down even fishing in summer had plenty back bone,
now using me trusty gis9 poles strong and light best of both!

@slim shady wrote:

I would have to say the Tournament X,mainly because it was light years ahead of any other pole out there when it was realeased ~clap.Also not to far behind a lot of current models out there today imho.

Oh did i mention that this was the very 1st 9 section 13 mtr pole produced,which all other manufacturers then decided to do likewise. ~shh

COULD NOT AGREE MORE ~clap ~clap ~clap

Has anybody tried to fish with their old poles? I’m a pole tart and change poles every year or, Ive had most makes over the last 20+ years. Many were crap but I loved my old silver diawa conny, tourny 410 and original Spectron so much that I kept them – just in case (like a lot of stuff in my garage). Was having a clear out last summer and got them all out and had them up against my Z9. They were all really terrible in comparison and I cant believe I used to fish 16m with them! They all felt floppy and heavy. The conny feels heavier at 13 than the z9 does at 16. (but so does a G10 ~naughty)
Things really have moved on especially as the Z9 cost the same as I paid for the Spectron about 8 years ago, and was less than I paid for the 410 about 10 years ago.

Things are rarely as good as you remember – never look up an old girlfriend (or go back to fishing canals)

@Stevie H wrote:

As a kid I remember having the Shakey Victory. It was 11m and I could only use it at 10m as it was too heavy (I was only about 12) but it was super strong and I used to drag carp out of pads with it.

My first decent silvers pole had to be the maver FXB3, absolutely beautiful at 13m. It would be a tough call between the FXB3 and the Spectron Comp that I used for years.

steve believe it or not i still have one of these in my garage shakesspeare victory x titainium ,it was my fist pole bought second hand of tony rixon, just like my k47 i will never get rid 🙂

I’ve had a few that spring to mind: I had a green Garbolino fibreglass 8m that made the Lerc put in that I had been using look so obsolete it was incredible.

The year after that I replaced it with the new black model: What a joy!

Then bought a second hand Pezon et Michel Luxor Grand Prix nearing 10m about 1982-83! The length, lightness and stiffness! I’d love to put that pole up again. It’s still at my parent’s house!

Around about 1995 I bought a Maver B31 and that was a superb bit of kit. Not the stiffest but the joints took some hammer on that.

I then bought a Trabucco SC1 that I still use. A bit wide on the butt sections but oh so strong! Best bit is the light top 4’s of the B31 fit straight on so for silvers and F1’s I can still compete.

Hey Matt, i remember you giving that quadaa some serious stick all over the place when we were with Broadacres!!!
I had one too eventually, and a great bit of kit. how does it stand up to todays poles?

Hi Scott as you prob no i packed in fishing for a bit when i came back to the sport about 6 or 7 years ago i was still using my faithfull quadra at larford and can honestly say it was still a joy to use! used it for a season of carping with no problems i just found that i couldnt compete at lengths over 14.5mtr where every1 else had the edge! you prob remember how much money that pole won me back in its hay day! it still makes me smile when i use it! can remember one day at moorlands when me and keiron were practising seeing how fast we could land carp, i turned up with my quadra id removed the tip section and streched a bush to fit no 2! keiron could not believe it something we’d never seen before! and as far as we know i was the first to do it! anyway the results were amazing! 2-3lb carp were coming in as if they were roach! keiron went straight home and did the same! we had the edge for some time and won a lot of money! think keiron had a matchwinner at the time! keiron often reminds me of that day!

Love my speccy competition untill some theifing t**t stole it ~naughty
Then whent for a Gmax 1000 which wasn’t for me ~naughty
Now i have a Colmic X5000 which i love wever i going for small fish of lumps 1 pole 2 jobs LOL

Daiwa Amorphous Tournament. Best pole ever made.

aerotex carp
super strong but dont breathe on it !!
first pole was a normark black medallion with a crook
i think i nearly killed the first fish i caught on it trying to de telescope the sections back
got a super legion now
dont do enough to change it

Still got an Aerotex carp! only use it at short lengths for catching livebaits for pike now. If it didn’t have a busted no4 (telescoped) I’d probably use it as a margin pole!

Browning 808, the one Bob Nudd used, it was an awesome pole, and i loved it, till i had it nicked!

As Pauld rightly says though, ‘Things are rarely as good as you remember’if we had our old pole against our currant pole, they would probably be rubbish!

In Fact Bob gave his 808 to Stan Piecha, who still uses it to this day!

Two stand out poles for me were the Daiwa Harrier Tournament followed by the Faps Black Hole. Still use the Black Hole top kits as my canal kits on a Milo Superba XT (excellent pole) which replaced a Tourney Pro.

colmic match x5000

ive owned a lot of poles but the ones which stood out for me where my old diawa 412 brilliant all round pole when it came out also a garbolino phsyco power awsomely strong pole for fishing short but the one what is goin to take some beatin is my superg10 which i still use now

Enjoyed reading this thread it has brought back some memories of the poles I have had over the years. I completely forgot about how good the Quartzlite was, it was a brilliant bit of kit. The tourny X was another I really enjoyed using. The tourny Pro was a big favourite until my present pole the Superba XT. I am trying to remember the name of the first pole I had many years ago, I think it was a Lerc glass fibre pole, 6m with a 1m extension!! Expensive in those days and state of art! It has to be my favourite as it got me hooked on pole fishing..

Totaly agree in fact I’m looking for one now

John

Christ on a bike – where did you dig this post up from! 😀

Abu Suveran
Best silverfish pole I have ever held.
Light,stiff and relatively strong.
Recently put pulla bungs in 8 tops and not lot me down F1 and Carping yet.
Gary Whalley regularly frames at Blundells and Partridge with big weights topping 200 lb plus and wouldn’t use anything else.
Bought mine over 10 years ago I now own 3 and got loads of tops and spares.

I keep trying to persuade myself to buy an Air or Airity as they are superb pieces of kit but I just cant retire my Suveran sad I know.
Keep posting
Keep smiling
Kennyb

Enjoyed reading this, some great poles there. My favourite pole was probably the Daiwa Tourney Pro, solid, stiff and reliable.
I’ve just somehow acquired an x5000 so gonna give that a go.

Jambo, you posted nearly an hour and a half ago. Do you still have the pole?

Daiwa Whisker in the 1980,s plus Browning (Red) Spiral Titanium both put in sections.
Tubertini Superstar.
Original Tricast XRS light and strong!
Daiwa Spectron (still got for canals)
Daiwa Tourney Pro (since replaced with Pro X)

daiwa spectron comp best pole i ever had

had a few poles i have loved.century composites excalber 11m then the lightest pole i have ever used colmic rbs 2000. and now my awesome z12

OMG… one of the first ‘half decent’ poles that I had was a Maver Blue Vega and i used to use it at Woodlands Thirsk on the first lake – willow garth and I think that a No.10 elastic was about the strongest you could get and we used to hit these ‘speedboat’ carp, that did nought to 100 in about 3 seconds.

One of the best poles in terms of strength I ever had was a Garbolino Power Maxim. I once fished in the middle of a sunken tree with floating bread and about a No.14 elastic. I hooked a carp about 8lb or so and it did me in the tree branches. I cut the elastic back so it was very very tight and hooked a carp that weighed 12.5lb and it pulled out about 2ft of elastic. It was very very strong. Very very heavy though. Never ever broke a section.