Rogue

I have been refining my coarse fishing over the past three seasons, trying out different methods, venues and tackle in an attempt to get better and more repeatable results. Along the way I have ditched some gear which I found either not good or not fitting my styles of fishing. At the same time, new bits of tackle have come on the scene and made my trips to the loughs and canals more enjoyable. One of these trinkets has been a big hit with me, a rod pod.

Now when I started out coarse fishing 5 years ago I looked at rod pods and immediately dismissed them as good fro carp or even pike anglers but of little use to a pleasure angler like me who targets roach, rudd and tench mainly. I don’t do overnighters, fish three heavy rods at distance or deadbait for pike, so I figured my cheap and cheerful rod stands/ bank sticks approach would be plenty good enough. Indeed, this minimalistic set up has seen me through many, many sessions and in general it worked. However, the feeling had been growing that I could be doing better if I had the feeder rod more stable than just chucked down on the bank or propped up on a rickety rod rest. So I started to look at my options and entered a world of gadgetry which made my head spin. which was the best design for my needs, how big, how many rods should it accommodate, how small should it fold down to, and of course how much would I spend on it?

I didn’t rush in to splashing my hard earned cash, but in the end I decided a Leeda Rogue was probably the nearest to what I wanted. While far from being the most expensive, it was still a lot of cash for me to part with, but I found one for thirty five quid online and so I bought it there and then. That was many months ago and I have been using the pod since then. I will say at the outset, this pod, and indeed any other pod, is a bit of overkill for the sort of fishing I do. Let’s start with the negatives and get them out of the way. Firstly, it is yet another piece of kit I lug around with me. The Rogue comes in a bag which is handy and at less than 2kg it is not heavy for its size. But it is still one more bag, more time to set up and take down and more space taken up in the car when transporting the gear to the venue. Secondly, even at fully extended, this is a short pod. While this does not give me personally much of a problem I could see how some anglers would be troubled by the shorter than normal length of the pod. The third issue is probably the most serious, I suspect the locking tabs are going to break. They are ridiculously tight and it takes a lot to get them to click into place, to the point where I don’t do that and just sit the goal posts in position. Maybe they will ease off in use but I doubt it.

None of the above are major problems and anyway they are more than cancelled out by the pluses in my book. Once erected, the pod is very stable. Even high winds don’t cause it to move much. It is very configurable, I can use it as a normal pod, break it down and use either one or both of the goal posts and the heights can be adjusted to allow me to fish exactly how I want. Build quality is on par with everything else coming out of far eastern factories.

I have to say that I am really happy with the Rogue. I still sometimes fish with just my old bank stick and rod rest set up when fishing an open bank, but where there are stands to fish from the pod is my preferred option. I tend to set it up to my right mostly and fish the feeder rod off it. The rod is always at hand, so none of that fumbling to grab the rod when there is a bite. Bite detection is easier too as I can angle the rod to exactly the position I want by adjusting the pod.

Would I have paid the full price for this pod? I am thinking the answer is no. It retails for between €60 and €80 here in Ireland and for all the benefits it brings I think that is too much for someone like me. Sure, a dedicated carp angler would get great use out of this pod, but I could spend €80 in much better ways.

Also bought in a sale at the end of last year was a side tray for my Korum chair. This is another expensive gadget but at half price I lashed out and got one. It comes complete with the special fitting which allows it to clamp on to most any fishing chair, including the 23mm square profile on my Korum S23. Again, this is been a really useful addition and one which just adds that bit of comfort when I am fishing. Space for two bait boxes and a cup are all that I required and this one fits the bill to a Tee. I position the tray on my left and have my bait right beside me (previously the bait boxes were deposited on the ground under the seat). The thermoformed tray is sturdy and has drain holes in the bottom so it doesn’t fill with rainwater. All in all, it’s a useful addition to my coarse fishing set up. The only downside I can see is that it is yet one more bit of kit I now lug around with me.

The trick now is to get out and do a bit of fishing. High winds on the days when I was free lately meant I stayed at home instead of hitting the bank. I’ll try to fit in a short session this week if the winds drop.