Wading Sticks

[pond321]

Any suggestions about which to go for?

Sportfish have the sage @ £90 which seems a little excessive

There is a whitlock one at £50 but it is heavy and rather crude

Apparently snowbee do a good one???

Any recomendations??

Cheers

Jon

[salar76]

personally i like the collapsable sticks; i use the simms one. the reason for this is that i rarely use a stick, but i found myself lugging one round anyway 'just in case'. the simms is very light and unobtrusive whilst being strong and reliable when you do need it - certainly hasn't let me down yet.

to my mind, worth the money

[MichaelL]

salar76 said:

personally i like the collapsable sticks; i use the simms one. the reason for this is that i rarely use a stick, but i found myself lugging one round anyway 'just in case'. the simms is very light and unobtrusive whilst being strong and reliable when you do need it - certainly hasn't let me down yet.

to my mind, worth the money

Ive got the Simms stick - for my money its too light. Its great in small-medium rivers, but I wasn't entirely happy with it when using it on a larger river, I'd prefer a bit more weight to it myself, I was forever untangling line from around it as it seemed to bob about everywhere in fast(ish) flows - Its great for travelling, but (horses for courses I know) I'd rather something with a bit more clout if I'm on a big-ish river.

[salar76]

fair comments. i'll be sure to report back when i get a dunking from it collapsing once too often!

[Tyne Angler]

Jon

A solid one piece stick is the way to go. If you are fishing rivers with a decent flow then the heavier the better.

I use the Sharpes Spey staff.

[topsy]

I too use a sharpes staff. Its nicely wieghted so the end does not lift up in the current.

I like the idea of the jointed staff but i think they are an accident waiting to happen if the end gets caught in a rock.

[fenton]

I use a suitable length beating or walking stick, with some lead wrapped around the bottom and a walking stick rubber end to finish it. Cheap and does the job.

[redshrimp]

I made my own a few years ago using an aluminium mop handle. The bottom 6" or so was filled with molten lead to provide weight. A small metal clip, pop riveted just below the plastic grip,allows me to unclip it easily once i reach shore and have to tail a fish.

I havn't mastered posting photos but i'll see if i can get one up.

[MichaelL]

redshrimp said:

I made my own a few years ago using an aluminium mop handle. The bottom 6" or so was filled with molten lead to provide weight. A small metal clip, pop riveted just below the plastic grip,allows me to unclip it easily once i reach shore and have to tail a fish.

I havn't mastered posting photos but i'll see if i can get one up.

nice one... I wouldn't know where to begin re: melting my own lead, how did you manage it?

[sagefly]

Heat it up in a suitable vessel and pour it into the tubular section. Lead melts at a relatively low temperature of circa 330 degrees C.

I think it would be possible to melt the lead in a standard kitchen oven, but would ask the missus for permission first.

I suppose an alternative may be to pour lead shout into the tube and use some kind of epoxy glue to stick them in place.

[ceilidh]

Having tried the multi section ones held in tension by a shock cord, I agree that these can constitute a ( potentially serious) accident waiting to happen, not to mention that some of these are absurdly over priced. At the same time a full length staff can be a nuisance when wading in shallow water, or on a beat where you are sometimes in the water and sometimes on the bank. At the moment I am using a Snowbee telescopic one, which is both cheap and convenient. The locking mechanism is reasonably secure, so long as you remember the potential chance of unlocking it by twisting, rather than pushing, rocking or pulling, if it does get stuck.
My ideal design would be a two piece staff with a screw joint ( like a gun cleaning rod) which had some form of locking device, possibly a spring loaded ball bearing, which needed to be depressed before the sections could be unscrewed. This could be carried in a belt scabbard when not in use, perhaps with a small pocket on the outside to carry a priest.

[JAD]

I made my own from a Hazel stick I cut from the woods near my home and the handle is a vee hawthorn from the same woods I tried to get blackthorn but I couldn't find any that was the right size for the job so with a piece of steel pipe glued to the end and a rubber grommet and then varnished with a cord fastened through a hole drilled below the handle then a cord for going round my shoulders its perfect ;D

By the way I joined the handle to the staff by first drilling a hole in the staff and the handle then used a 6" nail I glued them together with very strong glue.

JAD

[acw]

We ,at High bury have three ,a Sharps heavy 9its the go to one , a whitlock thats nice and a converted splitcane peice of cr-p ,the collapsible ones do just that ,"scary"