I just got back from Westlake fishery after a good 6 hour session with my new pole. There's been a lot of rain in this area over the last few days and the Severn was on the road on the way there. The pole handled very well although for the moment I still prefer rod and reel. It'll take a bit of getting used to. One of the good things is that you can accuratey feed using a cup on the end of the pole. It's also much easier to plumb around than with a rod.

I used a couple of pre made rigs that came with my pole both of which were over-shot. It would be handy if there was a tool to remove No 8s easily instead of tryig to bite them off. I fished the peg on Westlake that's 8-10ft deep so it was a bit of hassle getting the light rigs to play properly.

In the end I had some winter chub, a carp and a few perch and it was great fun just sitting under the brolly listening to 5 Live and watching a Kingfisher.