Every pole angler needs to have a pair of pole rollers if they are to protect their precious carbon.
Rollers keep your pole secure during use, preventing expensive breakages, but there’s far more to it than just randomly placing them behind you.
The style of roller, and where they are positioned are just two of the elements that must be considered to ensure that they do their intended job properly.
Pole Roller Type
There are lots of different pole rollers on the market, but a flatbed version with a divider in the middle is the best type you can get. If there is limited space behind the peg, it allows you to break your pole down twice without both parts rattling against each other on the roller.
Adjustable legs are equally vital, so that you can gain a suitable height and angle for the bank that you are fishing on. Blockers on each end that fold in slightly will also prevent the sections from flying off in windy conditions.
Pole Roller Placement
Your rollers need to be positioned so that your sections aren’t put under any pressure when resting on them. If a long length of your pole is left hanging off a roller, then at least one section will be under too much pressure, and a breakage could occur.
As a simple rule of thumb, I like the end of my fifth section to be on the first roller behind me. This is usually 4m-5m away, with my second roller approximately the same distance beyond that when fishing at 13m or 14.5m.
Pole Roller Height
You want the rollers to be positioned so that they don’t require a major height adjustment as you ship the pole back. If they are set too low or too high, you’ll potentially make it more difficult to play a hooked fish.
The back roller should be a few inches higher than the front, to create a slight angle which allows you to keep your top kit low while shipping back to help prevent hook-pulls. The exact height needed will be different for every swim, due to the gradient of the bank, and therefore a little trial and error at the start may be needed before you get the positioning spot-on.
Line It Up
My focus needs to be on what’s going on in front of me when I hook a fish, allowing myself only a quick glance behind me to locate the roller. If I was standing behind my rollers, looking down the bank at my box, the left legs of both rollers would be directly in line with the right leg of my box. This allows me to ship back straight on to them, making the whole process hassle-free.
Secure Your Pole Sections
It will only take the slightest gradient for the pole to slide towards the water when it’s resting on the rollers. A pole sock that sits on the right-hand leg of your seatbox footplate will prevent this from happening.
It is an essential item of tackle that the end of my pole tucks into so that it’s secure when not in use. I position mine at approximately knee height, and on the outside of the footplate, so that it doesn’t get in my way when I am trying to net fish.