How to choose the best carp rods

Choosing a set of rods for carp fishing can be daunting as there is so much choice out there, and it isn’t a cheap purchase, so you want to make sure you get the right ones.

There are lots of different factors to take into consideration, including of course price, but the main one is picking a rod that has a test curve and action that is most suited to the type of fishing that you will be using it for most of the time.

If you’re planning on fishing a lake where you will be casting to the horizon and fishing at long range much of the time, it is pointless buying a set of carp rods that are shorter than 12ft or 13ft, or which have a soft or through action with a lower test curve.

Conversely, if you are fishing smaller lakes all the time or in situations where you are casting at shorter ranges, then you don’t need high test curve 13ft rods which have been designed to put a lead and rig a long way, but which sacrifice fish playing action as a trade off.

What length of carp rod is best?

When it comes to choosing the best length of carp rod there really is no right or wrong answer, and whilst some are far more suitable for certain situations, it does also in part come down to personal preference.

Your build and height are also likely to play a part in your choice, and certainly when it comes to more conventional carp rods, as some people find a 13ft rod too long for them to really get the best out of it – although a lot of that is down to what they are used to using and there is no reason why shorter, slighter built people can’t actually use a 13-footer. You only have to look a surf and tournament casters and what they can achieve, sometimes with even longer rods.

There is no doubt though that whilst a 13ft rod will get you more distance with practice, you still might prefer the feel of something slightly shorter, and in more recent years 12ft 6in. rods have become more of a thing in carp fishing, to bridge that gap, and some such as our 12ft 6in. 4lb rods, which are available in both the Korda Kaizen Green and Korda Kaizen Platinum ranges, will cast a rig incredible distances.

Rods that are shorter than this were always seen more as something which was used for stalking – although if you go back far enough, to the 1960s and 1970s, 11ft rods were the long range choice at the time – but in more recent times, 10ft carp rods have really become popular with anglers.

These 10ft rods are best suited to situations where you are fishing closer in or on small venues, where you don’t need the extra length for casting, and a shorter rod is less cumbersome.

These shorter rods also really come into their own when fishing from a boat, such as on large waters in Europe or even some in the UK, as not only do they make it much easier to play and net a carp, but also for things such as dropping a rig, and even just not getting in the way as much when the rod is laying in the boat.

Since we added three different 10ft models to the Kaizen Green range, to cover everything from small UK venues through to fishing for massive carp in snaggy or weedy inland seas in Europe, they have proven to be incredibly popular – they’ve even found favour with Team Korda anglers such as Danny Fairbrass, who never really saw themselves using one of these shorter rods for their own fishing!

Which test curve rod should I use for carp fishing?

The definition of a test curve when it comes to carp fishing rod is the amount of weight that it takes to bend the tip so that it is at a 90 degree angle to the butt, and this is measured in pounds.

You may also see some rods that have a suggested casting weight, such as 3-5oz, and which means the optimum lead size that the rod can be used with, and is capable of handling, in terms of the upper end of that range. Although this is far less common and most rods are labelled in test curve, even if they also mention a suggested casting weight as well.

What you need to be aware of is that two rods of exactly the same test curve can vary massively in terms of what they are capable of in terms of casting, and also when it comes to how nice they feel for playing fish.

The reason for that is that rods have all sorts of different actions, and it isn’t just how much load is needed to bend the rod tip through 90 degrees, but also the way in which the whole rod bends to achieve that – i.e. is it just the top that is bending or is it bending all the way from the butt, or somewhere in between the two?

There is no doubt that test curves in general have increased, but at the same time the carbon being used to make them has also made advances, and whereas in the past anything over a 3lb test curve was seen as being a real broomstick – back in the 1980s/90s the iconic Daiwa Amorphous rods, which were seen as the best long range carp rod of the era, were most popular in 12ft 2.75lb – these days you won’t find many people using rods of below that.

That is because the actions of rods have also improved greatly, and a good all-round rod these days would be something like a 12ft 3.5lb model – which incidentally is also one of the most popular in our Kaizen Platinum and Kaizen Green ranges – which can cast as far as a lot of people need it to, with 15lb line, and yet is still a lovely rod to play fish on, even under the rod tip, without fear of pulling the hook.

Obviously if you go to either end of the typical test curve range then you will be sacrificing some general attributes for a more specialist tool – something which is an out-and-out casting rod, for instance.

What action should a carp rod have?

As has already been mentioned, the action of a rod plays a large part in how it performs and how it feels.

Years ago carp rods had a through action, and although that can be nice to play fish on, especially of the size that people were typically catching back then, they can feel very floppy and not very responsive when it comes to casting. They also aren’t all that effective if fishing a weedy lake as they just carry on bending until they eventually lock up, and you aren’t actually able to put that much pressure on to extract the carp and land it.

Whilst some anglers still favour a through action rod, something with more of a ‘tippy’ action, but which still bends nicely when playing a fish, is far more common these days and is what most people will opt for.

The grades of high modulus carbon which are used to make carp rods these days, even more affordable ones such as Korda Kaizen Green range, allows a fast tapered profile mandrel to be used to make them, which means that the taper is consistent all the way from the tip to the butt.

This fast taper gives the rod an action which is mainly in the tip under lighter loading and with most of the flex being there, but when it comes under heavier loading it will bend throughout the length of the rod and allow you to utilise the power in the butt section as well. This means that the rod tip is very good at absorbing the lunges and head shakes of a carp when you have it under the rod tip, and reduces the risk of a hook pull.

It also makes this type of rod an extremely effective casting tool, as this type of action allows for very good power transfer through the length of the blank, whilst allowing you to achieve very fast tip speeds, and thus increasing the distance which you are able to cast, once you get used to the rod of course.

The types of carbon available these days also mean rods can be lighter and slimmer than they have been in the past.

The main difference between a really high end rod, such as the Kaizen Platinum, and a more affordable one, such as a Kaizen Green, is that the more expensive one will use a higher grade of carbon which transfers power slightly better, whilst also twisting less when under loading – such as casting – and therefore is more accurate.

But for many anglers the lower priced rods will do the job perfectly well and they will barely notice a difference in how it performs in their hands.

What fittings are best on a carp rod?

Obviously as carp anglers we spend a lot of time sitting and looking at our rods, so of course you want something that you like, but the biggest consideration should be the performance and how it feels in your hands.

All of the fittings should be functional – the handle should be covered with something that not only fits in your hands nicely, but also provides a secure grip such as when casting, and that is why Japanese shrink wrap, with a flared end to the handle, has become such a popular choice, and features on the Korda rods.

Whatever type of reel seat you choose, it needs to hold the reel securely in place and also allow you to switch reels easily if you choose to.

It needs to be of a decent quality so that there is no danger of it accidentally coming unscrewed during a fight and the reel falling off, or getting jammed up with grit so that you can't undo it when you want to.

When it comes to rod rings, there are lots of different types available, which do different jobs.

Ring size is very important, as this is what allows your line to cone off of the spool of the reel, and the easier it goes through the rod rings the further and more easily you will be able to cast.

These days a 50mm butt ring is fairly standard as it works well with the big pit style carp fishing reels, and size of spools on those, which most anglers use. You also need a large enough tip ring that things such as leader knots, or even pieces of weed on the line, can easily pass through it without becoming jammed.

Different rings also weigh different amounts, and the lighter the rings the better as that will have less impact on the action of the rod during the cast, and the speed at which it moves through the air.

But you also need rings that are durable enough that they won’t easily get bent or broken during use, and often the butt ring will be double legged – rings have ‘legs’ so that the actual eye is far enough away from the rod blank that the line won’t slap against it during the cast – and the rest of the rings will be single leg to save weight.

Within the Korda range we’ve actually made the top-of-the-range Platinum rods with single leg guides to squeeze every bit of performance from them, whilst the Green range has double legged rings throughout and aren’t quite as susceptible to getting bashed, especially for any newcomers to the sport.

These rings are lined with various materials, and whilst that has traditionally been silicone carbide, SiC, this material could also be prone to shattering, and advances have included the use of ADAMAN coating, which is ten times tougher than stainless steel and allows for a very low profile guide. This type of coating is used as standard across all of the Korda rods, via the SeaGuide rings that we use.

Whilst ADAMAN is brilliant for reducing friction and improving casting performance, and especially so with monofilament lines, even this isn’t perfect for everything and is why Korda also offers a choice of ceramic guides on our 10ft rods, which are going to be used for boat work with heavy braids. Ceramic coated rings may be quite old fashioned, but it is able to withstand the abrasiveness of braid running across it under a lot of tension, without wearing down the lining of the rings.

Generally though, unless having a rod built from scratch, you won’t have to worry too much about specific rings though, as the ones that the rod comes with will do the job and have been chosen for a specific purpose.

How much does a carp rod cost?

That really is like asking how long a piece of string is, as within reason there really is no limit to what you can spend on a set of carp rods, especially once you start getting into the customised/hand built market.

It really all does come down to how much you want to spend on a set of rods/can afford, and of course how many rods you need.

If you are using three or four rods to fish with then cost definitely comes into play, and even more so if you have several sets for different types of carp fishing. Especially when you consider that as well as casting your rig out, you are also going to want marker and spod rods to enable you to find spots and to accurately bait up where you are fishing – although in some instances a spod rod can also double up as your marker rods, if you’re just clipping it up and don’t need to actually cast the spod at a marker float.

This is one of the reasons why the Kaizen Green rods have proven so popular, even with the Team Korda anglers, as whilst they don’t quite have the performance and build quality of a Kaizen Platinum, you can get three of them plus a spod rod for not much more than a single top-of-the-range rod like the Platinum.

If you have the money though, and really want to treat yourself, then the Platinum is an amazing rod and will continue being at the top of its game for many years to come.

Even ‘off the shelf’ these are lovely rods not only to use but also to look at, but if you really want the ultimate rod for few, then the rod blanks are sold separately and you can then either build them yourself (only advisable if you know what you’re doing!) or get them custom built by a rod builder, with personal touches such as your chosen colour of whipping, line clips, and a handle that is just the right length for you personally, and the option for cork or EVA/Duplon instead of shrink wrap.  

There are opportunities to try out rods before you buy them, such as at some angling shows or similar events – Korda has even held events where all of the Kaizen rods are available for you to come and have a go with.