The eight-metre bolo rod has always been a rod for specialists and for this reason in the past little used both in fresh water and in the sea.
Recently, however, the trend has been reversed, certainly thanks to commercials, fishing techniques and fish that require a presentation and control of the lines used that only the long bolo rod is able to offer.
High depths or the need to carry out long controlled passes at considerable distance from shore in fast mouths are two of the characteristics that advise us to use in fishing a long bolo rod from eight meters, a tool that, as we have already said in the first lines, in a short time has gone from being considered only by specialists, to be almost an element that distinguishes the ability of fans of fishing from the bank with light techniques that possess it.
It must be said immediately that technology has made great strides and now you can find on the market, at affordable prices, light and fast tools and at the same time robust and reliable, able to offer excellent performance in almost all situations.
The eight-metre bolo rod is, however, a rather particular rod that must be fully understood by those who hold it for the first time.
Moving from seven to eight meters is much more complicated than doing so from six to seven, because in this case also change the fishing grounds, the lines used and often even the way to set a session.
The ideal is to choose an all-round rod, which can therefore be used both with ballast weights of 2-3 grams and with floats of 8-10 grams. The rings must be of the highest quality, very light and well bonded and on top, bottom and third piece is a must the assembly of intermediate sliding rings made of carbon tube, so as to harmonize the action under stress.
Even the plate must be perfectly positioned to allow its use with the butt cap of the rod leaning against the groin, in the classic position of those who fish under running water.
When to use it
Eight meters is not an everyday rod, but it can become one in the case of continuous attendance of particular spots characterized by high depth, fairly high current, fishing line away from shore and need, to optimize fishing action and presentation of bait, to use special lines and weights.
We discovered it a few years ago when we started fishing and catching beautiful gilthead seabream, fishing in the past and triggering sea-rings such as muriddu, American and Korean worm in a spot characterized by a depth of six and a half meters, average current and fishing line at about 20 - 25 meters from the shore.
It was necessary to fish freshly detached from the bottom with floats of 4-6 grams ballasted with a shoulder of about 120 cm and especially to catch we had to control perfectly the flow of the float throughout the fishing action alternating actions of retention to long free passes. With the eight we managed well the launching, the depth, the control of the pass and also the fish once flooded.
Since then, we have used this rod size many times even in places with very different characteristics from the one described above, but always characterized by something special.
Another classic place could be, for example, a canal or a river near the mouth and therefore characterized by different currents due to the tides, with depths from 3 to 5 meters and fishing line on 20 meters.
Using a setting on the two grams, always with shot leads, you can present maggots in a very natural way as long as you control the past in an impeccable way. In this, the eight meters helps us a lot by always allowing us the direct contact with the float and the ability to act in hold without bringing too close to shore our ideal line of fishing.
Another classic place could be found in ports where fishing is allowed and the depth ranges between 6 and 8 meters. In these spots you can find points characterized by a little 'current and others instead of standing water or almost.
In the latter case, it is also interesting to point out the possibility of using the eight-meter almost as if it were a pole rod, perhaps extending the leaded crown up to 2 - 2.50 meters, using weights of 2 grams, looking for the catches during the phase of falling of maggots towards the bottom and fishing just detached from it.
The lines
As we have already mentioned, we can successfully deploy the eight-meter weight using ballast between 2 and 8 - 10 grams, a range that allows us to successfully deal with almost all the fishing situations that we face.
The first type of line we are analysing is the most profitable, but most difficult to achieve and use correctly, i.e. the classic crowded line of variable length according to requirements, made with shot of decreasing diameter from top (bulk) to bottom (junction with the terminal).
These leaded crown must be more or less long and heavy depending on the current present and the type of presentation of the bait that we will have to make.
Fishing with maggot in still water or with very little current, we can easily make a shoulder strap up to 2 meters long, then slower to bring our bait into fishing and also suitable for intercepting some eaten down, a situation quite common in the summer.
Fishing at the mouth under conditions of average current alternating with phases of calm and fast starts, we will instead have to study a geometry of universal plumbing that must still be combined with a weight and shape of float suitable for these continuous changes.
An upside-down pear indicator with an average weight compared to the limit requirements (if with 2 grams you can fish well in slow waters and with 6 grams you can choose a model of 3-4 grams in fast waters) is always a base from which to start.
The ballast should be distributed over 100 - 120 cm of line and made by crushing shots of decreasing diameter using three for each number starting from the bulk with the number 2-3 to arrive at the terminal with the number 9-10. If the current generated by the rising tide is strong, it is better to make the leaded line on a shorter stretch of line (90 - 100 cm) also because of the fact that this, being salt water and therefore with a higher specific weight than fresh water, tends to move near the bottom.
Situations diametrically opposed to those described, but above all the use of different baits and heavier than the usual maggot also allow you to make much simpler settings, but equally profitable.
Think, for example, of long-distance fishing on important seabeds by triggering sea-rings, mussel fishing, fishing with a very small crab or fishing with shrimp in deep and fast waters. In these cases, the large bait allows us to approach and present the bait in a much less sophisticated way than if we were fishing with a maggot.
Grouping about eighty percent of the ballast in a torpille can be a practical and very profitable solution, especially if you can arrange the remaining 20% of ballast in order to optimize the presentation and the work in the water of the bait we have chosen.
Usually we make a leaded crown with 3-6 small diameter pellets before the terminal, but it will be the contingent situations that will make us decide in one way or another.
A particular use
The eight-metre long bolo rod is very useful for tackling stations with shallow depths, low uniform current and a fishing line between 8 and 10 -12 metres, typical conditions of many of the natural mouths.
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In this case, using instead of the traditional float a stick float weighing between 0.75 and 1.50 grams, ballasted with the classic equidistant plumbing called "shirt buttons", exploiting the length of the rod and the properties of the float in question you can perform long passes, perfect and above all always very controlled and this on the fishing line optimal and without any kind of problem.
Try and you will see that results, especially when fishing sea bass with the bait touching the bottom.
