HOW TO PICK THE RIGHT FEEDER ROD FOR FISHING

In the market for a new feeder rod and have no idea where to start? Then make sure you read this. We've gone to angling legend Tommy Pickering to help you figure out what feeder rod will be the best for you. With there being so many feeder rods out on the market at the moment it may be difficult to know what to look for especially with there being so many different sizes and weights around. We recently put together a buyers guide to feeder rods which you can check out here.

Related: Best fishing

BOMB

Typically measuring between 8ft and 10ft, these rods are very soft in action and designed for fishing with light lines and small hooks on rivers and lakes. However, they also make superb rods for winter work on commercials for carp or for all-round F1 fishing. The softer nature means you can’t power a cast a long way but with a bomb or on a commercial fishery, you don’t need to. I’d say 25 yards is reachable.

LIGHT FEEDER

Most light feeder rods are around 10ft and this gives you a little more reach for going further, say up to 35 or 40 yards. You’ll rarely see these used on rivers or natural lakes for bream and roach but they are popular on commercial fisheries for casting to islands or far bank margins and they tend to have a little more power than a bomb rod for catching small carp and F1s.

MEDIUM FEEDER

This is your typical feeder rod of 11ft to 12ft and can do everything you ask of it, from lobbing an open-end feeder 50 yards for bream, pointing it up in the air on a river and for catching a bigger stamp of carp. For big fish work I’d look at a power version of the rod as it will be stronger and make landing carp easier.

HEAVY FEEDER

The big boys of the range that you often see being used on bream venues such as Ferry Meadows and Barston Lakes. A heavy feeder rod can be up to 14ft long to help you throw well over 80 yards. They’re also what you need for tackling powerful rivers with heavy feeders.