http://www.tacklebargains.co.uk Tips from Rob Nunn on how to choose the right Carp Fishing tackle as well as some great tips to help you catch more fish. Hello again my name Rob Nunn, consultant for J.R.C today I'm going to have a look at rods, reels lines, just some of the items that may be confusing to a carp angler walking into a tackle shop, it can be quite confusing, what carp rods to buy. They are available in all lengths, sizes, shapes test curves it can be quite confusing, most anglers just want one rod, to cover most situations. When a carp angler goes in to a shop, if he's looking for an all-round rod to suit a variety of waters he may fish be it small, medium or large waters. You need to be looking for something in around the three pound test curve, the test curve on a rod is what dictates how stiff the rod action is. Three pound in the past would have been classed as quite a heavy rod but with carbon fibre now rather than fibre glass the actions of rods have improved dramatically. This rod which is a J.R.C blade X just as an example point. Many rods like it but this is what I've got in my hand, so this is what I will talk about. This rod is a good all round rod like I said three pound test curve, it's 12 feet in length carp rods are generally in the 11 12 and 13 foot range. 13 foot being for more extreme range fishing. 12 foot is a good all round length it will cover most situations you find yourself in on the bank, be it small lakes or even rivers, I'd be quite happy to use the three pound test curve rod. When you are in the shop pick up the rod get somebody to hold on to the other end just to feel the action in the rod, if it's fairly tippy this is what you call a tip action rod, if its bending more into the middle you would call a tip to middle or if its bending right to your hand that is what you call a through action rod. This rod I would call a tip to middle action which would make it a fantastic all round rod moving on from that the reel, reel choice being very important at the end of the day, it's the basic equipment that cranks the fish in, this is an Abu Cardinal free spool reel, er its new on the market there's you know other reels on the market like this, this is a particularly good one erm just let me take a bit of time to talk through what a free spool is, basically when you have a clutch engaged on the reel that's there just for playing the fish, erm and what this enables you to do with the use of this lever clip it back, and it's got an adjustment on here for spool tension and basically you can set that as loose as you like or turn on this dial and get it as tight as you like. and what that enable the fish to do is when you get that take and the carp bolts off the reel will freely spin. And when you reach the rod you're engaged when you turn the handily, switch flips back that's engaging the clutch that you have already got set for the pre-given tension, you require for playing the fish. When looking for a reel I mean this reel has got 6 bearings in there, and the more bearing in a reel generally the better quality the reel is, folding handle, most reels will come with a spare spool which is really handy if you're changing waters and you want one reel to cover most situations, the spool size on this is big enough to handle fairly long range casting, also medium short range fishing.