Hydro Elastic........

[sillybait]

Hi,

Just read the post about pole elastics, and just wondered on your veiws on Hydro, Dual Core and Hollow Elastics.

Personally i am a big fan of Hydro, i have all 4 in various poles, and as yet it has never let me down, i think it is worth the money but others have different views.

There are many makes out there now,Whats your preference's?

[BUDGIE]

Not tried any of the elastics you mention yet mate.Why do you think they are so good?

[Carpy]

I have Hydro elastic in my cary pole, it works very well. and needs no maintaience. i have caught many 10lb carp on it, always goes back into the tip no problem.
I have never used Dual core or Hollow elastic.

[Powermesh]

I have hollow elastic on my pole, i have found it very good.
This is a intresting post, More imfomation needed.
We spend Hundreds of pounds on top class poles, and fit any elastic to them.

[hooklength]

I use Hydro elastic, it cost more to buy, but lasts much longer. And i feel better with it with big carp.
I know how far i can go with it.

[Stu]

Don't be limited in your thinking on this one. Hydro is great (it lasts longer than normal elastic, has a wider range of power so is softer on the strike, stretches further and bottoms out much more gradually) but it does have it's limitations. By that I mean you wouldn't want an elastic with those properties when fishing for powerful fish in or very near to big snags. In those circumstances you want an elastic that is set tight and doesn't stretch far, and tensioning your hydro up is not good enough. Instead you want a very tight solid elastic, possibly doubled up, and even reduced in length.

If you think about elastic in the same way you thick about which line, hooks, floats etc you use for different conditions and species you won't go far wrong.

[Carpy]

Nice one Stu good post.
I do use Hydro elastic myself, you don't bump of so many fish with it. In open water, brilliant.
But as you say if you are fishing near weeds or a snag the carp will be in snag before you can get the tension on the elastic.
But i have used 18, 20 elastics with heavy hook lengths to bully the bigger carp. Works great for most of them.
Then you get that one big carp on a mission you hook him, and he decides the only way to go is the middle of the lake. Shipping sections on till i hit 14.5 metres and it still on a mission. Somethings got to go.
Heavy elastic and main & hook length line.
And your pride and joy your new pole costing a arm and a leg.
A know what you mean heavy elastics will move the fish from the snags quickly. But now i never use normal elastic over 16. I want to keep my pole intact for a few years.
Hydro is low maintenance and lasts much better.
And i think all round its best for me. I feel happy and safe with it.
Let me know what you use, i might be converted.

[Andrew Burgess]

I am not really a pole person myself but just wondering about the elastic, what are the main colours at the rating of 18 and 20?

Tried looking in the tackle the other day but couldn't see any about. The nearest was rating to 10 and that was light blue

[Stu]

Carpy,
I use up to a black hydro for most of my open water carping, but I always have another top kit set up with a soft tensioned 10-12 or 12-14 solid elastic. That way if I am catching quickly I can swop over and get the fish in quicker.

I will put up to a solid 16 or black hydro in my main pole - the power kits are rated to a 16. However for snag pits I will use doubled up 10-12 solid elastic in my margin pole. I will also use up to a red hydro in it for very big fish in open water.

You are right about the problem of hauling a lump out of a snag pit only for it to tear off out into the open water. It happens and when it does there isn't a lot you can do but ship out and pray! Just remember to keep the pole at a slight angle to the fish otherwise your top kit may fly off after the fish!

Andrew,
The colours vary from brand to brand, but you wont find many shops holding stock of solid elastics above a 12 these days.

Firstly when the hydro/hollow elastic boom started last year many shops stopped getting in as much big solid elastic, and then (more drastically) the factory in the USA that produces most of the elastic (for the majority of the brands) went out of business. Unfortunately it is only now that many anglers are realising that there is a need for big solid elastic. Luckily I bought a small stock of the Middy Hi-Viz stuff (I'm 99% sure it's the same of the Garbolino) and it's kept me going so far! However, the new latex elastics are not a bad substitute if you doubled up a tight No. 10. The latex is white in colour.

[Carpy]

All good stuff Stu. I always try to hold my pole upwards or away from the fish, to many time i have seen anglers loose the top 2 or 3.
I think most Hydro elastics are rated the same now.
As a rule Andrew
4 to 8 is Blue
12 to 10 is white
12 to 16 is black
16 to 20 is red
Which fits in with what Stu said.

Unlike other types Hydrolastic has a hollow construction, which is filled with a secret high performance fluid.
The elastic stretches first, then, when compressed, the internal walls close in held apart by the fluid.
This performs as a soft-core shock absorber meaning Hydrolastic still has stretch to give, resulting in a valuable 'safety zone' on big fish hook holds.

Are you fishing the open tonight Stu.

[Andrew Burgess]

Thanks for the information Stu and Carpy.

[Stu]

Carpy,
By now you will know I have not fished the open tonight. I didn't book in last week as I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to get away from work today. How did it fish? Better than last week?

Incidentally, I wouldn't recommend anyone holding their pole up to stop a carp when it's running, as it's the easiest way to break a top section. Keep the tip low but at a slight angle and if it's going to stop it will. If it don't at least your top kit or No.4 shouldn't break.

Andrew,
Just a couple of other bits for interest:

As Carpy says there is Hydro (marketed by Daiwa) and hollow elastics. However it goes slightly further than that.

Hydro is a single hollow core of elastic filled with a slippery liquid. It is the liquid that gives it some unique characteristics, i.e. it don't squash down as much onto the bush, due to the liquid inside, as it would do if it were just hollow.

Hollow elastics (excluding Hydro) do not contain liquid inside, however they come in two groups. Some are simply hollow (Preston "Hollow"), while others are in essence two elastics one inside the other. These are often referred to as "Dual Core" which is the brand name Maver uses for its hollow elastic. Dual Core elastics have comparable characteristics to Hydro, although I find them to be slightly thicker size for size. They are though cheaper.

As for colours, strengths and prices here is a rough guide for the Daiwa Hydro, Maver Dual Core and Preston Hollow being a liquid filled, dual core and single core hollow respectively:

Hydro £14-99
Blue 5-8, White 6-10, Black 12-16, Red 16-20

Dual Core £9-99
Green 5-8, Yellow 6-10, Red 12-20

Hollow £9-99
Light Blue 9H, Green 13H, Dark blue 15H, Purple 19H

This list is not exhaustive, Drennan, Vespe and Fox all also do hollow type elastics. There are then the original type elastics which are available up to about a 12 or 14, plus the new white/cream coloured Latex elastics which go up to about an 18.

Try a few and see how you get on. Oh, and we haven't even mentioned those "Lock and load" bushes yet. They add another dimension to the elastic conundrum!

[Carpy]

Stu I went down last night for half a hour, i ask Norman if you were fishing.
It looked like a few were catching. Peg one he had caught about 10 carp. to what Norman new about, and i seen him land 2 nice carp.
He will be putting the match result up latter. I think 38 fished.
O and mabye more info on the "Lock and load" bushes Please

[Stu]

“Lock and Load” bushes

We’ve mentioned above the positive characteristics of Hydro and hollow elastics, including the facts that they stretch very easily, are soft on the strike, bottom out more slowly than traditional elastics etc. All of which are great when targeting bigger fish in open water or mixed bags of fish of various sizes/species. However, one drawback of such stretchy elastic comes when you try to put the brakes on a fish (say to stop it getting in bank-side snags) and also when you are trying to net it. Most of us have probably experienced or seen somebody having to net a carp while using a top4 or top5 of a pole or even standing, in order to compensate for the amount of elastic stretching out of the pole. It’s at these times Hydro/hollow elastics can be a hindrance.

One option to overcome these problems is Daiwa’s “Lock and Load” bushes. For those who don’t pole fish or have recently bought their first pole, a bush is the small PTFE cylinder that fits onto the thin end of the top kit, either internally or externally, that allows the elastic to move smoothly without making contact with the carbon at the end of the top kit. If the elastic came into contact with the leading edge of carbon it would be damaged very easily and would break in next to no time.

Anyway, back to the “Lock and Load” bushes. These differ from ordinary bushes by not being mere cylinders through which the elastic flows. Instead they have a “ball” (it’s not quite a ball but it’s the best way to describe it) fitted inside the end of the bush, which has a hole through which the elastic flows. A point to note is that the elastic and hole diameters should be matched for optimum performance, whereas with an ordinary bush this isn’t necessary. This ball can then swivel within the bush and does so according to the angle the elastic is being pulled by the fish and also the angle created by the angler by moving the pole. The clever part of the bush is that as the ball is turned (from straight ahead) a greater degree of resistance is applied to the elastic thereby slowing the rate the whole length can stretch. At an angle of around 90’ (between pole tip and elastic) the bush will completely lock the elastic and no more will be able to come out of the pole, however the elastic already out of the pole can of course continue to stretch until it bottoms out.

The ability to lock the elastic has its pros and cons. The positive is that you can in essence limit the amount of elastic you are playing the fish on; rather than playing a fish on say 2m of elastic (which may stretch 15m or so) you can play it on 0.5m of elastic which will stretch a lot less. This can be vital when you want to stop a fish heading into snags and also when you want to net a fish.

There is a negative side though is that if you were to hook a fish that quickly swam straight at you, say when fishing shallow, the angle of the line would pull the ball towards the 90’ and lock out the bush possibly before any elastic was out of the pole. You would then be playing the fish direct and the chances are something may break. At best the hook would pull out; at worst the pole would break. The only way to minimise the risk of this happening would be to ship back very quickly, in order to reduce the angle of the ball from 90’ so that elastic could flow from the bush.

So there you are “Lock and Load” bushes. They definitely speed up the landing process (Daiwa claim by up to 70%) but the jury is still out on the risks of broken sections.

Incidentally, these bushes currently come colour-coded in blue, white and black to match the same grade of Hydro elastic at £6-99 each.

[Carpy]

Stu
Lock and load bush's well explained. A picture for people that have not seen one.

I will be looking into getting a new top fitted with one.