Everyone knows Swiss Army knives. And there’s nothing so outstanding about it – the blade is not that good, nail file is also so-so, and scissors are of average quality. But somehow, almost everyone has them. Why? Because these knives are more than enough for a great number of different life situations, and one knife can replace a box of instruments. And can there be such a thing in fishing?

There are regularly made attempts to create a universal rod. For sure, you need to understand at once that it is always a compromise, and this kind of tackle is known to be inferior to highly specialized models. But its true value is that it covers several positions at once on its own level. When is it needed? First of all, in intelligence trips when it is not fully clear what and how you are going to fish, and to bring the whole car of tackle is impossible. Besides that, such a tackle is relevant for various trips where fishing is not in the first place. It is also good for anglers who don’t go fishing very often, and it doesn’t make sense to have a big arsenal of tackle.

Recently, Briscola float range was enriched with a similar rod named Formula 700 Pole +, and I managed to test one of the first models.

What kind of tackle is that? In its basic configuration – it’s quite a powerful whip consisting of a 5-meter telescopic part and two additional sectios making it longer by 6 an7 meters accordingly. Surely, considering that the three lower sections are the butt ones and, as a result, reinforced, and the telescope itself is also quite powerful, being fairly long, the rod happened to be pretty heavy. But this is an unavoidable price for universality, because in one and the same thing we have the whole set of whips – 5, 6 and 7 meters, with a certain accuracy, shorter variants of this rod could be used, the only thing you need is to have enough of the appropriate rigs. But the presence of detachable sections gives a nice opportunity to use the rod with a shortened rig, i.e. as a pole! Of course, the length of 7 meters for an matchangling pole is not that big. But there are a great number of ponds when this length is more than enough, for instance, commercial fisheries, small rivers. There’re quite a lot if suchlike sectors in big rivers where the riverbed and interesting relief are very close to the bank.

It is worthy of note that the tip of such an improvised plug is situated almost in one place with a float while fishing with a 5-meter telescopic part in its whip configuration. That means that you can use it as a whip and then if you need it you can change for fishing with a shortened rig, more delicate and controllable. If you fish in the river this approach will be most effective.

I tried to model such a situation in one of the roach ponds not far from Minsk.

As it often happens, biting leaves much to be desired. A strong side wind complicated the situation. It removed the rig from the necessary spot, before weather driven roach could manage to swallow the bait. On the whole, fishing with a classic whip was quite difficult.

Remaking the tackle

For sure, in the best case you should also have a spare hollow tip with a bush for elastic, but I chose an easier way, just took a whip, and put a PTFE bush of the appropriate diameter into the second joint. Of course, I lost almost 40 cm of its length, but if it’s very important for you – just select a spare tip. I used hollow elastic with a diameter of 1,8 mm, it having three joints. This rig would be more suitable for rivers or for fishing of small carps, though for roach it also would be all right.

The second section, being a tip in our improvised pole, was perfect for a small piole cup according to its diameter, enabling me to deliver pinkies and small pieces of groundbait to the necessary spot.

After I’d changed the tackle, the situation gradually became better. I started catching roach more often, moreover, the plug enabled to use me a lighter rig. The unquestionable advantage of such a micro-pole is that you don’t need traditional plug accessories – rollers, specila rests and other frills, abundance of which very often scares the fans of floats.

I know several places in rivers where this rod with a plug can bring great results. I will surely try using Formula in these places and tell you about it in my diary.

Alexander Evmenenko

During four years - coach of Belarus feeder team at the World Championships.

At 2015 and 2016 - coach of float fishing team of the Republic of Cyprus on the European and world championships.

Author of articles on the Internet and fishing magazines. Favorite kinds of fishing - float and feeder fishing

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