I must confess to not being particularly bothered about reading the carping press. On the odd occassion I have dabbled, I've found it to be a little hype-orientated and fashion lead. Fine for those whose boat is floated by such things, but not really what I am after.
However, due to my work I'm currently spending far too many weekday lunchtimes sat in my car, so I picked this magazine up to give me something to leave in the car and flick through over a buttie (the AA road atlas gets a bit dreary after a few reads
):
I've found the first couple of sections a very refreshing change from what I expected. So far I've read the 'rods' and 'reels' section and, far from pandering to current trends, the following messages have come across loud and clear:
1) 2.75Ib test curve rods will cover the vast majority of carping needs in the UK; you need a very good reason to justify going (ahem!) stiffer.
2) Big pit reels offer few benefits too. Interestingly, the author reckons that test casting sessions with decent anglers have show that they provide negligible increase in yardage over standard sized reels.
3) Evidently (shock horror
) casting is more about the angler than the rod and reel.
Some of the articles feel a little padded out for me. However, this means that newcomers to the sport could do a lot worse than pick this up from the newsagents. A big well done to Anglers Mail for disproving my stereotypical view of the angling press and printing some down to earth angling advice.
Mike.